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

Openwoodgate Preschool - Our Hygge Journey

Sep 05, 2024

Hygge in summertime is not that different to hygge in Autumn or wintertime. I was inspired to continue our Hygge journey over the summer holidays even though our setting is term time only.

Here are my top 10 ideas for creating inspiring Hygge activities for your little ones...

 1. Sunflower Soup

A super quick and easy water play activity requiring very little set up.

All you need is a large pot full of water (i like to colour my water), bowls, spoons, sunflowers (I tend to use ones that are almost past their best) and any other added extras you like! (Pipets are always fun and good for fine motor development)

2. Ice play  

Sticking with the water theme and with the British summer being a bit unpredictable you have to grab these hot days when you can! And what better way to cool off than with an ice play activity?

All you need is a couple of things...

Ice (make sure to freeze the day before if doing a large volume), cutlery, pots and pans! You can add in coloured water, flow...

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How To Flourish This Autumn with Hygge in the Early Years

Sep 01, 2024
How to flourish this Autumn with Hygge in the Early Years...

As the leaves become crunchy underfoot here are a few simple ways to enjoy Autumn.

%uD83C%uDF42 Batch cook some delicious meals
🧡 Take a woodland walk
 
 
%uD83C%uDF42 Create some natural displays in your home and setting with pumpkins, squash, twigs, pine cones and acorns.
 
 
🧡 Make a blackberry crumble
🍂 Hang an autumn wreath on your door at home and setting
🧡 Fill jars with autumn leaves and fairy lights

🍂 Make a gratitude list and be thankful for the moments and things you have

🧡 Set up a seasonal small world scene of your local area
🧡 Add seasonal items and books to your nature shelf

 

 For more seasonal ideas see my Re-Wilding your Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programme 

Some books to inspire you: 

 

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How to create your own rock pool

Aug 24, 2024

Create your own rock pool in your setting to explore. This is one of the ideas shared in my Rewilding Wanderlust Nature Study Programme. 

You will need;

  • sensory tray (any tray will do)

  • sand

  • pebbles

  • shells

  • sea creatures - paint rocks if you don't have any

You can lay out the items required for the children to create it themselves or do it as a collaborative task.

1. Simply add sand to your tray creating a circular space in the middle to pour your water

2. Add pebbles

3. Add water to the centre where there is no sand. The water will soak into the sand surrounding but this is totally natural.

4. Add shells

5. Add some sea creatures or perhaps children could make some rock painted crabs or fish to add? 

We added blue food colouring to the water to give it a more blue ocean colour but you don't have to.

Tag me on socials if you give this a go.

Find out more about my courses on my website.

 

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20 Hygge Nature Crafts for Children

Aug 21, 2024

Try these Hygge Nature Crafts for Children. Some wonderful nature-based craft ideas to inspire you.

1. Make a stick nest

Add a pine cone bird - pine cone with feather for a tail and wings

2. Clay or playdough Faces

Use homemade playdough or air dry clay to create creatures and faces on the bark of trees.

3. Bark Rubbings

Create bark rubbings or leaf rubbings then use them in your other craft activities - perhaps on your nature bracelet or wand?

4. Flower Pressing

Flower pressing has long been a wonderful nature craft activity. If you don't have a press just use heavy book lined with paper to press your flowers. These can then be used in crafts later in the year - perhaps on a Cosy Hygge Jar with fairy lights inside?

Or, create an air dry clay trinket bowl with your pressed flowers stuck on with a layer of pva on top to protect them.

Or, add them to candles to decorate them.

5. Leaf and Stick Butterflies/dragonflies

A cute nature craft using nature.

6. Hessian R...

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How to Create a Hygge Welcome at your Setting

Jul 22, 2024

Welcome is a key word for our Early Years environments, as we welcome new parents and children to our settings and establish routines. Our practitioners continue to reflect upon how welcoming their entrances are to parents and children. Here are a few examples from last year.

The entrance to Nursery at Spring Lane Primary School

The entrance doors to Reception at Bourton Meadow Academy

The entrance to Nursery at George Grenville Academy

Part of the entrance display for Nursery at Lace Hill Academy

A welcome display for Reception at Lumbertubs Primary School

Our welcoming environments were inspired by a Hygge approach.

What is a Hygge approach?

Building a sense of togetherness between home and school reflects a Hygge approach. It is so important to us.

Positive relationships and the happiness of our parents and children are strongly linked.

Campfire Education Trust schools have worked hard to ensure that all our new starters feel a sense ofbelonging as soon as they e...

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5 Simple Lavender Activities

Jul 16, 2024

Lavender is a versatile herb with numerous properties beneficial to health, wellness, and everyday life. Its calming aroma, therapeutic benefits, culinary uses, and role in personal care and household products make it a valuable and widely appreciated plant.

Lavender can be grown from seed and is a great sensory ingredient to explore. It attracts pollinators like bees and butterflies, making it a beneficial plant for your garden. Add it to playdough, potions, make lavender perfume or dry it and add sachets to your room indoors to create a beautiful calming scent. Lavender oil has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, making it useful for treating minor burns, insect bites, and skin irritations. You can also use it in cooking and natural cleaning products. Lavender has a calming effect, relaxing you, aiding sleep and reducing stress and anxiety.

Here are five simple sensory lavender-themed activities for children:

1. Lavender Sachets

Create little la

...
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How to have a Hygge Day in the Summer

Jul 04, 2024

We shouldn't be saving up hygge just for the winter, the Danes celebrate and embrace hygge all year long. They swap cosy knits and fluffy socks for getting into nature and creating simple moments for free!

Here are a few ways you might embrace hygge this weekend...

Wake up slowly and have a breakfast with the family. Take your time over breakfast, chatting about your day ahead and even light a candle(why not invest in some pastel coloured candles). This is a time to be enjoyed and not rushed! There is a big belief here on how you start your day sets you up for the rest of it. So sip your coffee slowly, open the windows and let a breeze in and enjoy this time.

Go for a morning walk into nature and try and visit a place of water. Often Danes will enjoy a morning swim outdoors (all year round!) but perhaps you could dip your toes in!

In 2016 in Copenhagen, bikes out numbered cars! Why not get on your bike this weekend and go for a family ride.

Take a trip to the seaside and hunt for shells a

...
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Sweden Part 1

Jun 27, 2024
 

We’ve just got back from a wonderful few days in Sweden. We stayed at a couple of different places; a treehouse on a farm called @traktforesthotel and a water chalet on a lake at a Swedish vineyard. 

We flew Manchester to Gothenburg and then hired a Volvo. 

We took a two hourish drive into the countryside to stay at Trakt Forest Hotel. Along the way we passed so many roadside wildflowers. In particular the foxgloves lining the roads along with the Cow Parsley was very pretty! 

 

When we arrived at the Trakt Forest Hotel we checked into one of five tree houses built on the farm. These were so peaceful up in the forest and felt very private and not overlooked. There were a number of different experiences you could tag onto your stay. We added the outdoor sauna to ours. You could kayak at a local lake or take a forest bath. They all sounded wonderful but unfortunately time didn’t allow us to do all. 

 

Our treehouse was beautifully designed and made. With all the interiors created b...

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How To Make a Nature Journal With Your Children

Jun 23, 2024

Encouraging children to get outdoors in nature with a fun activity that will keep them engaged.

Create a nature Journal with your children to help them have a better understanding of nature and to encourage them to ask questions about the nature that surrounds them.

Go on a walk to the park, forest, pond, stream, woodland, beach. Use your journal to make notes and draw what you find most interesting. Write down what you see and hear, stick special leaves and flowers that you find in. Draw around leaves and create leaf and bark rubbings on the pages.

Take some watercolours and crayons to use - what colours can you see?  Take this journal with you over the summer holidays to make a record of the adventures you have been on and the nature that you have found. Take it to the beach and draw shells, fish and seabirds. Take it to the pond and sketch the tadpoles, frogs and ducks. Stick any feathers that you find into your journal. Stick in a photo of you collecting natural treasures or j...

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A Swedish Midsummer

Jun 21, 2024

A time of coming together with a slower approach

Midsummer in Sweden

Midsummer comes on the 21st June and this is a time when it feels as though the sun never sets. In fact in northern parts of Scandinavia it doesn't! 

In the 1500's this time of year was seen as a magical time where fertility levels were high. This was celebrated by the Swedes decorating the outside of their homes and farms with green foliage.

As we moved into the industrial period mill workers would come together at Midsummer for a wonderful feast of pickled herring.

More recent traditions have seen the making of floral crowns from the wildflowers and maypole dancing in the local area. 

On Midsummer Day in Sweden many of these traditions remain. It's also very much a time of coming together with family and friends over delicious meals. Pickled herring is still a feature on the midsummer menu along with a grilled dish of salmon or spare ribs. 

The evenings are spent gathered around a bonfire, enchanted by the ...

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