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“Strive to make everyday the best day of your life, because there is no good reason not to.” Hal Elrod

FREE Webinar: How to Bring More Calm Into Your Early Years Teaching (Without Doing More)

20 Hygge Nature Crafts for Children

Jun 05, 2026

🌿 Feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to constantly plan activities?

What if children didn't need more activities, but more time to wonder, explore and simply be?

In my FREE 30-minute training, I'll share the three simple Scandinavian-inspired shifts that helped me create calmer days, happier children and a more joyful way of teaching.

✨ Watch the free training here.

Perhaps it's because as a teacher, summer felt like a chance to finally breathe. Or perhaps it's because some of my happiest childhood memories happened outdoors, with very little planned at all.

I remember long days building dens, making potions from flowers and spending hours outside until someone called me in for tea. Nobody worried about whether the activity was educational. Nobody had printed a worksheet. We were simply allowed to be children.

Now, as a mum to Oliver, I find myself wanting the same thing for him. We lean towards the Scandinavian summers we've experienced (Read more about that here)

Not a summer...

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My Summer Plan Is… Not to Have One

Jun 04, 2026

As an early years teacher, consultant—and most importantly, a mummy—my plan for the summer might sound a little unconventional:

I’m not making one.

No packed schedules.
No endless checklists.
No pressure to fill every day with activities.

Instead, I’m creating space for something slower, softer, and more meaningful. I've created a short little guide for you to dip in and out of which is available here. Here's what I'm gently focusing on to help shape a slow and beautiful summer together:

1. Embracing a Gentle Daily Rhythm

Inspired by the slow-paced family life I’ve observed in parts of Scandinavia and Canada, we're leaning into:

Unhurried mornings
Time outdoors each day
Cosy rituals like reading, crafting, and sharing food
No fixed agenda—just flow.

2. Decluttering Our Play Spaces

Before the holidays begin, I’m simplifying our environment:

Rotating toys
Clearing out the excess
Creating calming, open-ended spaces that invite creativity and
...

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8 Play Ideas with Dandelions

Apr 27, 2026

Dandelions are beautiful, fascinating plants! Attracting Bees and little hands a like. There is nothing sweeter than blowing a dandelion clock and making a wish! They're known for their bright yellow flowers that turn into fluffy, white seed heads. Despite being considered weeds by many, they have several interesting characteristics. For example, their seeds are dispersed by the wind, which is why you often see them popping up in unexpected places. Additionally, dandelion greens are edible and nutritious, containing vitamins A, C, and K, as well as calcium, iron, and potassium. Some people even use dandelion roots to make tea or coffee alternatives. Overall, they're resilient and adaptable plants that have found their way into folklore, cuisine, and even herbal medicine.

Dandelion Biscuits

Baking together is a lovely activity, working together and sharing what you have made.
Dandelion Playdough

Add dandelions to your homemade playdough mix for a spring dough.
Loose Parts

Wh
...

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Early Maths

Apr 10, 2026

Scandinavians don’t teach early maths the way many of us do…

And I think they’ve got this one right.

They don’t rush 3, 4 and 5 year olds into sitting down to “do maths”.

Instead, they make maths relevant, meaningful and rooted in real life.

It unfolds through:

play

movement

nature

everyday routines

real experiences

So rather than constantly asking children to count on demand, record numbers or complete adult-led tasks…

they might be:

counting pinecones

pouring and measuring

comparing stick lengths

noticing whose boots are bigger

sharing snack

baking and making food together

spotting patterns in nature

ordering loose parts by size, length or shape

counting jumps, steps and turns

Because before a child can truly understand the number 5…

they need to experience 5 in a way that actually means something to them.

5 stones.

5 jumps.

5 spoonfuls.

5 footsteps.

That’s what makes maths stick.

...

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Play Based Learning This Easter

Mar 24, 2026

With Easter upon us shortly it's easy to get back into the habit of dressing each area of provision for the celebration.

Instead focus on leaving a few hooks in your adult initiated sessions that will grab your children's interest and lead them curious to know more. It could be sharing an Easter story for instance and then having one or two areas of your provision with provocations in linked to this. This then invites the child to explore and learn more. It also means that children that don't want to explore this can still head into the areas of provision to develop their own lines of enquiry or take the lead on their own child led play.

Taking this approach also frees you as an adult up from spending so much time filling every area of provision with resources and instead can really prioritise your time and focus your efforts on the things that will make the biggest impact.

With this in mind I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the provocations and hooks that I h...

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What has impact on our children?

Mar 13, 2026

In early years education it can sometimes feel like we are constantly being shown the next beautiful set-up.

Perfect shelves.
Carefully curated resources.
Rooms filled with new equipment.

And it’s easy to find yourself thinking:

"My practice will never be as good as that setting… they have such a big budget."

But let’s pause for a moment.

Because this belief is one of the biggest myths in early years practice.

The truth is this:

You don’t need a tonne of resources to make learning happen.

Children do not need endless toys, constant new equipment or shelves filled with plastic resources.

What they need most is something much simpler.

The Most Important Resource in the Room

The most powerful resource in any early years environment isn’t something you can buy.

It’s you.

Children thrive when they are surrounded by adults who are:

• interested in what they are doing
• responsive in their interactions
• curious about their thinking
• willing to slow down and listen

When adults...

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Provocations Not Working?

Jan 26, 2026

Angie shared something this week that really stayed with me.

She created a lovely basket of bird resources — books, cards, little figures — thoughtfully chosen to invite curiosity and care after seeing me share an idea online.
And within minutes, the birds were in pockets, shoved under cushions, torn, missing.
Books damaged. One resource fought over. Another gone entirely.

Only one child sat and truly engaged.

After 15 years in early years practice, she said:

“I’ve never had this before. I’m running out of ideas and it’s making me sad.”

This isn’t about naughty children.
And it’s not about poor practice.

It’s a really honest window into something many educators are quietly noticing.

✨ Some children are not yet ready to care for delicate, open-ended resources.
✨ Some are carrying a deep need for movement, pressure, and sensory input.
✨ Some are exploring through impulse, not intention.
✨ Some have had very little experience of slowing down with objects.

And when that’s the case, a beautiful book bask...

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Really Really Cold Weather Play

Jan 26, 2026

Somewhere along the way, we were taught that play needs ideal conditions.

Dry days.

Mild temperatures.

Perfect resources.

That outdoor play is something we do when it’s convenient.

But children don’t experience the world that way.

I advocate for free, child-led outdoor play — all year round. And yes, it looks different in every season.

This January in Canada, we were outside every single day — even at -22°C. And the children didn’t just cope… they thrived.

Cold-weather play does take more intention. But once you find the rhythm, it stops feeling like a barrier and becomes part of the day.

We dress for the weather, not the activity.

Merino base layers. Balaclavas and buffs over cold cheeks. Trapper hats. Fleece mid-layers (with rechargeable hand warmers tucked into the pockets). Insulated waterproof suits. Liner gloves under mittens. Proper snow boots with grip and warmth.

...

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January Is a Big Transition for Little Ones 🎄➡️🌿

Jan 09, 2026

Christmas doesn’t end neatly for young children.

For us, it may feel like a clear finish line — decorations down, routines back, a fresh start to the year.
But for young children, Christmas is something entirely different.

It’s been weeks of songs, lights, stories, visitors, excitement, late nights, disrupted rhythms — and then suddenly… it’s over.

And developmentally, that’s a lot to process.

Children need time to live their experiences before they can play them through

Young children don’t process experiences in the moment — they process them afterwards, through play, repetition, talk and storytelling.

That’s why January can feel wobbly.

My own three-year-old is still singing his favourite Christmas songs — the ones that brought smiles, praise and attention just last week. Now he’s confused when those same songs don’t get the same response anymore.

Nothing is “wrong” here.
This is how learning works.

Children replay what mattered to them.
They return to it ag

...

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Behaviour in Schools is Changing

Dec 16, 2025

Behaviour is changing in our schools.

More and more educators I work with are saying the same thing:

“The needs of our children feel different now.”

And they are right.

But it’s not just children who are changing.
Our world is changing — rapidly.

And if both are true, then our education system, our curriculum and our expectations must evolve too.

We cannot keep responding to today’s children — who are growing up in an entirely different world — with yesterday’s models of education.

That doesn’t mean lowering standards.
It means reimagining what those standards are for.

The world our children are preparing for no longer exists

For generations, education prepared children for a relatively predictable future:

stable career ladders
linear pathways
repetition and compliance
success defined by sitting still, listening quietly and producing the “right” answer

But that world no longer exists.

Many of the jobs our children will do:

haven’t been invented...

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