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

Hygge Case Study: Starting with a very colourful environment

Nov 19, 2020

Little Bird’s Preschool is a charity run preschool which sits in the heart of the beautiful town of Swanage Dorset. It has always been a popular preschool over its history and has certainly moved with the times. As with many Preschools the Little bird’s environment was very colourful and busy with bright pictures, posters and backing paper covering every possible wall and space. Nearly all the toys and resources were plastic which limited the children’s imaginations.

Step forward to January 2018. The Preschool was taken over by Jodie Edmunds, and Jude French became her deputy. Together they had a vision to transform Little Birds into a more natural and simulating environment. The other preschool practitioners jumped aboard, and the process began. Being a charity run preschool it meant that we had to do a lot of fundraising to enable us to buy resources and start the transformation. Our preschool office was situated within the school’s staff room which made it very hard for us to have ...

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A Hygge Case Study: "I was at one of the lowest points in my career."

Nov 19, 2020

When I started the Hygge in the Early Years Accreditation, I was at one of the lowest points in my career.  I work full time as a childminder and was waiting for hip replacement, the pain affected my sleep and I worried how I would manage and afford time off.  This I could cope with, but I also felt I had no time for myself, struggling to run voluntary groups I’d always managed and juggling family life.  The Hygge course helped me take a good look at my life and realised I was stuck in a rut, doing things out of routine, not necessarily what I wanted to do.  The children were happy but I noticed they too were playing with the same toys, doing same routines and places.

I decided I had to priorities my own wellbeing and I wanted to make changes in my work place too. 

As part of the course I set the following three Hygge action points:

  • Improve own health/wellbeing
  • Establish joint weekly Forest School sessions
  • Reduce the use of non-natural and non-recyclable materials and resources
  • ...
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Hygge Case Study: 'The fire in my belly has returned!'

Nov 19, 2020

I registered as a childminder in 2008 after the birth of my second daughter.  At this time, my first daughter was 17 years old and I had worked full time in an office from her being 9 weeks old. As you can imagine I felt like I had missed out on so much, so with my second daughter, I did not want to miss anything this time around.  I’d worked in an office for over 20 years and I always knew I was on the wrong career path, however, having a mortgage and bills to pay, together with earning a good salary, I felt that there was no other alternative.  Having my second daughter changed all this, and the thought of moving away from office admin to more caring and nurturing career which I had always craved, (and being at home with my baby daughter) was an exciting opportunity I could not miss.

Childminding is a career I have grown to love over the years. I must admit, initially I did wonder whether it was for me, it was such a different role to what I was used to, I felt isolated and it was a...

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Hygge Case Study: A Hygge Cabin

Nov 19, 2020
 
My name is Keeli Wallace (you can find me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/keelischildcare/).  I'm an outstanding childminder in Rochdale. I started my journey 3 years ago when I left teaching at a school as an early years teacher.  I felt I was different and have searched for that "something" during my time as a childminder. 
 
I stumbled across hygge and strangely I felt at home. I felt I had found "my place" and a community that felt the same as I had for so long. 
 
I love changing my setting to cater for the children.  I always have. As a teacher i was told not to and to keep things the same (how boring!). So my journey as a childminder then made my husband crazy as I changed things sometimes weekly as I didn't think it "felt right". The children of course loved a change and played with things they hadn't seen for a while. 
 
Then once I completed the hygge accreditation in 2019 I got the idea I wanted a separate space to make my home and work life more hygge. I was l...
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A Hygge Case Study: Creating a homely and child led environment

Nov 18, 2020
 

In this case study (taken from the Autumn Conference) Nikki shares with us how she transformed her nursery. 

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Hygge Case Study: Making Hygge Work With Nursery and Reception Classes

Nov 18, 2020

Before starting on our Hygge journey I must confess I didn’t even know the meaning of the word. I had recently become EYFS manager, in charge of an onsite school nursery and two reception classes. I had taught in the nursery for 4 years and this was my first year teaching in Reception. I have always had the belief that children learn through play and should be co-educators to their learning. During my time in nursery I had begun to move away from plastic toys and make resources more natural and open ended, however this had been a slight battle with the previous manager and also budget! Before beginning the accreditation we trained in and began implementing In The Moment Planning, initially in the nursery then moving it into the reception classes too. We found in nursery it was fantastic and the learning that was happening was amazing. It was harder to implement in Reception due to there being two classes of 30 who could move between two classes, a shared activity area and outside. I wa...

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Winter Small World: Bring The Enchantment

Nov 18, 2020
 

As winter approaches I wanted to share some thoughts and inspiration on the different ways you can create enchantment and magic in your play.

I do believe there should be an element of beautifulness in your play. If you don't want to go and play there and learn more than neither will the children. That's why when I set areas up I like to pay attention to the details I create. Adding in mirrors for a different perspective, considering the opportunity to add light, different textures to stimulate the senses and elements of nature. I like to include open ended resources and books that allow the learning to take the direction the child desires. I put the time into creating something that will have impact on the children's learning and development. That's why I don't do reams of forward planning and masses of paperwork and instead put this time into the environment (but that's a whole different blog post!).

Now I think that it's  important to note here that the child matters! For one minu...

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A Lockdown Hygge Birthday

Nov 18, 2020

This year i found myself (like so many others!) turning another year older while in a national lockdown. A time usually spent celebrating with loved ones and friends I wondered if i could still enjoy all the lovely hygge moments under the restrictions of the current pandemic. In this weeks blog post I want to share with you exactly how I spent my birthday and how I brought in the hygge magic.

I began my day with a slow breakfast of pastries and coffee while we opened a few presents and cards that had arrived in the post from friends and family. I received some rather lovely hygge related gifts; candles, fluffy socks, salted caramel chocolates (my favourite!) and a very snuggly warm fleece (a perfect present to keep me warm as i'm forever cold).

I decided to have an at home pampering morning and ran the bath, lit the candles and put on my favourite podcast shows. It was very relaxing laying in the bubbles and flower petals of my birthday bath bomb knowing that I could just be present ...

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Getting Outside with Babies and Toddlers

Nov 09, 2020
Getting Outdoors With Babies and Toddlers
 
This is something i get asked about all the time in our Wanderlust Child Nature Study (ÂŁ5 following this link https://www.hyggeintheearlyyears.co.uk/.../J2njmxJo/checkout) so i thought we could share a few of our own ideas here.
 
Below are some ideas for around the year but it's important we don't just save all our outdoor play for the sunny and warmer weather. In Scandinavia babies and toddlers go outside in almost all weather as they believe children need to grow up knowing how to cope with extreme weather conditions. Life can't just stop because of the snow or the ice...otherwise nothing would ever happen!
 
The important route to making outdoor learning work for all is by wearing the appropriate clothing and footwear. Waterproof suits and layers are always good.
 
Baby Carriers
Getting outside every day with little ones is so important on the health and the wellbeing. Why not try a baby sling or carrier. Snuggl
...
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How To Hygge This Autumn

Oct 22, 2020

With the pandemic and many of us facing even stricter restrictions it’s easy for our mental health to suffer. Especially as we see our loved ones less, spending more time indoors and the financial implications this has on many families. As well as many families worrying about the health of loved ones affected by the virus.

 

This week I wanted to come to you and offer you some hygge inspiration to get through this difficult time. To begin with lets go back to looking at what hygge is? It’s been a popular buzz word over the last few years- especially linking it to home interiors or how to celebrate Christmas in a hygge way. Hygge does include interiors and Christmas but there is actually more to it than that.

 

Hygge is all about embracing a feeling of cosiness, warmth and togetherness. Learning how to take the simple everyday ordinary and make it feel wonderful. Like the quiet few moments you take to watch the flame of a candle dance around as you hug a mug of tea! Or its going out...

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