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This guest blog has been written by Colette Hearity a mixed EYFS KS1 teacher. Colette completed her PGCE at Edge Hill University and has worked across key stages throughout her teaching career, although her true passion is within the Early Years Foundation Stage.  
She recently completed the NaSENCO Award and currently leads Early years SEND, Science, History and Spanish in her school.
You can follow her @eyfsearlyyearsideas

The Truth behind Transition

As us teachers are dragging ourselves through the final few weeks of term the thought of transitions should be at the forefront of all our minds.

It is vital that we make this time in children’s academic journey as smooth as possible, especially as lots of children find the step up from Early Years into Key Stage 1 so daunting.

But why is this?

Whether it’s due to the jump in expectations, the more formalised learning or just no longer believing they are, ‘playing all day’ children’s wellbeing after joining KS1 and beginning the rigo...

The blossom is in full bloom here and so I wanted to share some of the best ways you can bring it into the children's play.

'The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life. It's a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short. '

Homaro Cantu

Don't be too busy to rush past the blossom trees but instead let them be a remind that life is short but beautiful and to look up and notice them. 

1. Look up

Look up at the blossom and see all of it's beauty. If possible go and lay under a blossom tree with the children and practice a moment of stillness. What do the children see, smell, hear and feel? Why not place a perspex mirror under the tree or some water play (always supervise) to reflect the blossom and provide an interesting perspective in the play. 

It's also a wonderful sensory experience to take your shoe...

his is a question I get asked by parents and teachers often. How do I enthuse my child with a love for nature? How can I get my child to enjoy being outside.

These are lots of suggestions I offer; How do we grow a wildling?

- Sharing our own enthusiasm and passion for nature. Our brains mirror (mirror neurons)those around us so our love for nature can be truly infectious for young children.
- Invite children to join you in the every day nature tasks you do. For example watering the plants, picking herbs to cook with and feeding the birds.
- Embrace the mud, the wet and the cold.  Yes children will get muddy but they will wash. If we show our worries or concerns about them getting muddy they will pick up on this.
- Teach children how to get ready for the right weather. If children are cold or wet they will soon change their enthusiasm for being outdoors
- Join in with their play. Point out nature to them and be excited by the child’s innate curiosity in nature.
- Model curiosity in nature and ...

Easter is big in Denmark. It kicks off the summer season after a long, dull Nordic winter, and the Danes go all in for it.  a

For Danes Easter means being together with loved ones, relaxing and having fun making new memories.

Here are a few ways Danes celebrate Easter.

Decorate the Home

Like everywhere else in the world, the egg is a major symbol of Easter, also in Denmark. It symbolizes new life and a new beginning. For decoration using egg shells, you can blow out your own egg by making a tiny hole at the bottom and top with a needle. You might decorate some hard boiled eggs and have them on the side to admire. You could collect some twigs from your garden and hang home made salt dough decorations on them too.

Spring flowers are also collected and displayed inside the home to embrace the element of nature.

Get Together

During Easter, Danes celebrate mostly the arrival of springtime and with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday being national holida...

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...

As you know from our Rewildong Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programmewe love supporting children's play through nature and the outdoors. Here are 10 nature play ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day. 

Head outside and look for heart shaped leaves. Find other nature to decorate these with and then take a photo. This can then be turned into a card. 

Set up a natural maths provocation around the story of Clara Button and the Wedding Day Surprise. 

Create a natural batch of Playdough by leaving out the food colouring. Pop on a board along with some flower petals, cake tins and cutters. 

Set up an invitation to explore loose parts

Use magnetic tiles and nature to create hearts

Create a Valentines Day Shelfie like  @_little.thinkers_

Make some Forest love potions

Make the words Love and decorate them with nature

Make a heart shaped nature wand 

Make Woodland Love Tea

Set up a flower shop and practice the gentle art of flower arranging

Set up a senso...

We've has such a long cold spell here in the U.K that it feels as though we've been living under a sheet of ice now for quite a few weeks. 

Instead of staying inside and being wary of the ice we've taken inspiration from Scandinavian pre-schools and headed out in the ice and cold. 

During the winter months in Scandinavia months on end are often icy, cold and snowy. It's a way of life here and the mentality is that we can't just stop life because of it. Instead ice on the ground is an important lesson for young children to learn. How do they move on the ice? What do they need to wear on a very cold day? What will melt the ice? What's the best way to warm up on a freezing day? - All important life lessons!

As a family we've been getting well wrapped up and heading out into our local area. Visiting the moors and exploring the puddles on our street that have turned into ice. It's opened up lots of facinating discussions and experiments. 

Here I share with you a list of other ways you...

Birds

Don’t fill January with too many plans. Take time to watch the birds either from a window or while you're outside. Think about the questions your children ask or the comments they make. Use this as a starting point for a bird provocation.

1. “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. ‘Chinese proverb

Hum a tune, whistle a melody or sing your heart out.

Take some time this morning to listen to the bird song. Nature often reminds us how wonderful the world is even when things feel tough or out of our control.

Nature also reminds us that nothing is ever constant in this world and is forever changing. If time’s are hard for you right now know that this time will pass soon.

1. Survey the birds in your garden or your local area with a bird spotting sheet
2. Make pine cone bird feeders
3. Get up early and listen to the bird song with a mug of hot tea
4. Set up a story crate around birds with books and small world props.
5. He...