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Hello there,

I have just returned back to work today after having a really lovely week off. I've called it a hygge staycation and it's been simply wonderful for re-charging the batteries. This last year has been such a busy one that I haven't had quite as much time as I would have liked to simply stop and switch off from work. I know that doing this is really important for my wellbeing and this quieter down time also helps with new creative ideas. Which may I add i'm full of and can't wait to get going again.

As I write this blog post many of you will be taking holidays and staycations local to home this year with the pandemic and I thought it might be helpful to share some of the ways you can switch off and get your hygge fix even without going away.

We began our week off together by taking a 20 minute car journey from our home to the tiny cobbled village of Howarth. It's an area steeped in history and with the famous Literature background of the Bronte sisters it's a very popula...

Many of you have now signed up to our monthly collection of Wanderlust resources delivered direct to your letter box (Begin your subscription here). With an aim to support and inspire Wanderlust learning in the home and setting each month. 

For those of you have bought our May collection (available here as a one off) I wanted to provide you with a few other simple ideas that you could do around the themes in the collection. 

1. Be a dreamer

The patch for this month is to 'Be a dreamer' which has to be one of my favourites. Isn't this what we want for all our children? Have you ever sat down and asked them what they want? Why not talk about what a dream actually is and share some of yours. Then create your very own vision board to show the things they hope for. This could be a collection of images symbolising their dreams stuck onto a piece of paper. Then place it somewhere that you will see often as this increases the chance of it happening. 

You could also have a chat about where ...

'And so the rain invites a street of colourful umbrellas to blossom.' Angela Abraham

I love the quote above and it reminds me that it's so important to see the beauty in the rain. After a very dry April the rain we received here in Yorkshire yesterday was very welcome. 

I wanted to share a few rainy day ideas for you this Spring to support your nature based practice. 

1. Head outside and smell the rain

We're often in such a race to get out of the rain, perhaps running to get inside, that we forget to actually experience the rain. Get dressed up in suitable waterproof clothing and head outside to smell and feel the rain. How does it sound? What temperature is the rain as it hits your skin (does it feel warm or cold?) What shapes do we notice the raindrops make as they hit the ground? Can you take 5 big deep breaths in and feel the rain calm your senses? As you tune in and smell the rain this is called Petrichor and it is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. 

2....

Literacy outside should look very different to what opportunities you offer inside. Think about the richness the outdoors brings and try and create learning moments in nature. We don't want to just bring out alphabet posters outside and stick them on a fence. Instead think of how literacy can be applied in the outdoors in a meaningful way. 

To get you started i've shared a few of the ideas from my Literacy Wanderlust Planning Guides (available here)

1. Nature Study: Create a  Themed Nature Backpack

What do I need?

• Spotter sheets (see my butterfly digital download here)
• Clipboards
• Rucksack
• Bug viewers
• Magnifying glasses
• Notebooks and pencils
• Camera
• Books on butterflies, mini-beasts and trees

What do I do?

Create a themed nature back pack based on your children's curiosities. It could be on butterflies and include a spotter sheet, life cycle information, identification cards, anatomy of a butterfly, butterfly life cycle story stones, fiction and non fiction books on bu...

Am I Failure For Giving Up My Leadership Role? This is something that at least three people have said to me in the last week and having been through these exact same thoughts myself I thought it deserved some time on the blog this week. 

Let me begin by saying that actually giving up a job that was stressful, making you poorly and feeling as though you couldn't cope was a decision showing your strength. 

Being a leader or a manager might have meant a bigger salary and more responsibility and feeling as though you're doing the social norms of climbing the career ladder. But actually who is all of that for? What good is the higher salary if you never have the time to invest in making new memories? If you're spending each moment of the day chasing your tail and missing out on valuable time with those that you love. Or that your health suffers so badly that it makes you ill or has long term consequences for living well. 

The real secret to more joy and happiness in life is having freedo...

"If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.” Alfie Kohn

In the Reggio inspired approach there is lots of work to be done on developing our own image of the child and discovering what it is about each individual that makes them capable learners. Our own experiences as children, parents and educators shape what this can be and it's important to recognise the strengths and capabilities our individual children have. 

I believe that young children are capable of high levels of engagement in their learning. But how can they show this if i'm always the one deciding what we should do around the agenda I have as an adult? Doing this sets them up to fail.

Therefore my understanding of the child must be backed up by the practice and environment I create. This can be done by really listening to the child and exploring the curiosities they have and discover what drives them to know more. 

This can be done by identify...

Guest Post by childminder Jodie Williams @jodiewilliamschildminding 

Teaching children about nature and giving them the opportunity to be outdoors exploring is a very important part of our day. I found the child thrived when doing outdoor activities especially in the local woodland areas.

They love to collect objects, bringing them back to the setting and incorporating them into their play and exploration.

Over the past year it has become more important to be able to be outdoors, exploring in our own little group setting. Which has helped all of us to cope with the current pandemic & changes.

This is why I have now started to change how I teach and the resources I use. I haven’t got much space to store lots of one use resources. So this change has definitely allowed me to minimise resources to ones that provide the most learning opportunities.

We now have a lovely collection of natural resources. A variety of baskets containing small logs, log slices, stones, & sticks. Also ...

I know through my interactions with you online that many of you would like a little bit of support in setting up a provocation. 

Firstly I hear you ask, what is a provocation? A provocation can come in many different forms, but it is always intended to provoke thoughts, ideas, and actions that can help to expand on a thought, project, idea or an interest. These are an important aspect of child led learning seen in the Reggio Emilia Approach. By setting up a provocation we are allowing young children to see, experience and make decisions about the world themselves through their own explorations. It could be from a book, a photograph, interesting objects. The interaction with the provocation can involve problem solving, working imaginatively, form new ideas and make their own conclusions. 

As the provocations are open ended with the concept of the child finding their own answers rather than being told them there is no right or wrong outcome from working here. The process of the learnin...

What does a purposeful learning environment look and feel like for the under 2’s?

Your environment for this age range needs to be very different than that offered for a 3-4 year old.

Its about setting up cosy nooks with a basket of books and hand puppets, treasury baskets to explore holistic play, a little space that represents home life to them with dramatic play equipment (dolls, cooking utensils, shopping baskets, phones etc), different platforms to work on at varying heights that allow them to squat, stand and explore things like loose parts/ twisting/ manipulating objects on a larger scale. Opportunities to explore light, dark, shadow, projection. Magnatiles and other construction are wonderful to include too! Consider sensory play too; perhaps a tuff tray on the floor. A space to rest with calming fairy lights in jars or a projector.

There is also the need for outdoor play for this age range! Check out this post here for more information here on getting babies outside. 

Most i...