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How do you resource opportunities for small world play? 

 As an early years teacher I would ensure I had small world opportunities in every area of provision. For instance adding small world creatures and loose parts to my malleable area and observe how children make their own props for imaginative story telling. My maths area would also offer challenges around a small world problem in KS1 provision. ‘Like the pirates have found some coins and have to make a total of 20 for Captain Blackbeard by adding coins together.’

 Here are some of my top ingredients for resources and organisation; 

• Offer small world and block play together.  
• Add collections of loose parts to encourage creativity and imaginative story telling. See right brained mom for ideas.  
• Foliage- real and artificial  
• Add a light element; projectors, light box, rope lights and fairy lights.  
• Take small world outside and use natural settings  
• Mirrors  ...

Telling stories always gives me that higgle feeling of joy and being cosy. 

My book recommendations 

• How to Catch a Star 
• Four Seasons in One Day 
• The Snowman 
• Lost Words 
• I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree - A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year: National Trust 

Classic books 

• Not now Bernard 
• Where the wild things are 
• Hansel and Gretel 
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears 
• Gruffalo 
• Bear Hunt 
• Little Red Riding Hood 
• Dear Zoo 
• Mr Gumpys Outing 
• Whatever Next 
• Peace at Last

Ideas to support practice 

• Get outside to story tell 
• Listen to music and move to the story it creates (Four Seasons in One Day) 
• Tell a story with just props 
• Tell a story in the forest 
• Tell a story with a torch in the dark 
• Tell a story through movement (Going on a Bear Hunt) 
• Link your small world area to a story. 
• Hold a bedtime story night...

•  Consider seating; offering sofas to sit on that are a bit more comfy

•  A dining table to invite staff to come together over lunch

•  Lovely homely place mats  

• Plants

• Photos in frames of things you’ve done together as a team (Parties, local walks, summer bbqs)

• Soft warm lighting from lamps

• Flowers in a vase on the table

• A selection of teas and coffees

• Fruit basket

• Soft furnishings; cushions, throws

• Lending library of books

• Homely accessories- wicker hearts

• Room spray

• Declutter the space and organise

• Fairy lights

• Garlands (e.g felted leaves)

• Calming colours whites and greys mixed in with some warmer yellows.

• Consider how you might get as much...

1.  Identify Negativity

    

What a delightful afternoon I’ve had. Sometimes we just visit places where everything we know and believe in (to do with early years) just happens!

As I arrived the Reception children were putting their full waterproof suits and welly boots on. “Its Bush craft afternoon!” I was told by an excited voice. “Yeah Mr Hemingway (From Pennine Bush Craft) and Meg (the Sheepdog) come every Monday and we get to play in the woods!”
Josh Hemingway is a trained in NCFE Level 4 qualification in Bushcraft Leadership at the Woodcraft School in Sussex and founder of Pennine Bushcraft. He delivers regular sessions in settings and schools which are focused around children having time and space to think, solve problems and build up key survival and life long skills.

After seeing an article on using natural dye to colour the play dough we decided to give it a go with Dandelions. The field near us was about to be cut and so we rushed to collect as many daffodils as we could to use in our recipe before they were destroyed. 

We love Dandelions and so do the bees! So it's really important that we don't take these away from the wildlife they support. As they come back year after year and have one of the longest flowering seasons of most plants many gardeners actually dislike their success and try and get rid of them! 

To make our natural play dough we followed this recipe we found online;

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon cream of tarter
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 10-15 dandelion flowers with petals pulled out

Method

• Take your dandelion heads and put them into a cup of boiling water. Stir with a fork.
• In a mixing bowl add your other ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
• Once...

1. Consider your culture 

• We want to make learning so irresistible that they can’t  wait to start exploring 
• these key skills. The way we set up our learning environment plays an important 
• part in this. It helps to shape the culture we are trying to promote for our children. 
• Take a look at your provision and consider the following questions; 
• Have your Literacy displays turned into wallpaper that goes unnoticed? 
• Do children often struggle to find their favourite book because you have so many 
• out? 
• Have you offered cosy spaces to sit and share books? 
• Are children having to hunt to find a pencil to write their name on their painting? 
• Do you as an adult label children’s work? 
• Are your books often shoved back into the book case and look tatty?

Consider your role when it comes to promoting Literacy skills. 

• Are your guided and focus Literacy sessions only organised inside? Perhaps giving...

1.  Identify Negativity 

   First identify what it is your feeling negative about. Make a list of all the solutions you can think of to solving the problem you have. Moving towards positivity and hope. Then commit yourself to taking one of these actions next time you feel this way.