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If you don’t know by now, children and colours are like sunshine and the seaside- they can’t be imagined one without the other. I can remember the faces and personalities of some of the only children I’ver met who didn’t enjoy colour mixing. They were those children who would watch on act a safe distance; making connections, eyeing mixing techniques suspiciously, and delighting in the joy of others as they played. Perhaps not in Nursery, but certainly by Reception, these children would have joined in, whether it be for only a minute, or many many days of carefully considered work.

Unaided and unprompted, children see blobs of primary colours as invitation enough to mix. We have all placed, at some point in our teaching life, paints in beautiful pre-mixed palettes, awaiting children to paint a Picasso-esque masterpiece, only to find them making brown for the millionth time with a brush stirring in either hand. Whilst this genius of fine-motor control...

How has your week been? Did you find your new rhythm or at least start to think about the changes you are making in your daily life to get yourself into the new swing of things? I hope you enjoyed my take on daily rhythm which I shared with you last week. This week I want to talk to you about getting that rhythm into your children’s lives and particularly how I’m engaging my son into our activities.

Some people find it harder to get boys to engage in work than girls but forget the typical stereotypes surrounding boys as they are truly just myths and the best way to engage your boy is to play to his interests. Talk to them, find out what excites them and what they actually want to learn about.

I have worked with lots of boys over my childminding career. I think I have looked after more boys than girls in actual fact. Each child has been completely unique. Their interests have differed and also their own personality attributes. Typically boys are headstrong 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...

Emotional strength is a funny old subject. I mean, what even is it? And how do we get it ourselves, let alone instil it into others? 

It’s generally agreed that there is a rise worldwide in mental health issues, particularly amongst children and young adults. But I can’t help questioning the figures we base this on. According to data, about 13% of the global population, some 971 million people, are currently suffering from some kind of mental disorder. But… is this new? Or are we just more aware of it? Is it now more acceptable to admit that we’re struggling? Are there now more avenues we can access for help? Are we now perhaps more socially aware and recognise that men or children can have issues too? Dementia is apparently the fastest-growing mental illness but is it? Or are we living longer and therefore there are just more age-related issues in the demographic?

In all honesty I can’t quite formulate an answer to all these questions in...

This week our guest blogger Jamie is sharing with us the delights of Child Interest Planning. Follow Jamie at https://www.instagram.com/jaybruce/

Following a child’s interest…perhaps the most recognisable term coined in the Early Years. Setting up continuous provision based on interest was one of the first things I learnt when I started working with three, four, and five year olds here in the UK. The children inform the environment, shape their own next-steps, and, in turn, bolster the learning of the children around them by sharing their growing breadth of ideas. To me, there are two categories of ‘following interest”, which are actually quite different in practise. One might be more familiar to you, and the other you might see as more intuitive; a day-to-day occurrence that you have never put a name to.

1. Individual Interest Informs Set-up

Daily set-up which takes into account the interests of an individual, is a brilliant way of...

My outstanding member Sam Goldsworthy Childminding not only features in our Wanderlust Nature Study Programme but is also one of our regular blog writers. 

We hope you enjoy her blog post this week!

This week we are writing about our favourite nature based learning ideas - as many of you are probably aware we absolutely love taking the children out and about to experience nature daily. We feel this has so many benefits such as building confidence, managing and taking their own risks, improves concentration and cognitive skills. It also provides many learning opportunities such as problem solving, outdoor maths, arts, literacy and many more.

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 We often visit the local woods. We go to the same woodlands each time as the children are comfortable with their surroundings and they have built a rapport with these woods. We talk about the different flowers and leaves that we can see growing or fallen from the trees. This changes with the seasons so there is always...

Today we're joined by guest blog writer Nicola Hacking (follow at the curious case of the girl and the dog) sharing her love for nature and the impact on our wellbeing. 

The importance, role and vision of outdoor access in the early years has increased in leaps and bounds over previous years. We’re seeing a move away from traditional learning, with nurseries developing fabulous free-flow access, inspiring outdoor equipment and even ones based entirely outdoors in natural spaces. Children draw in the dirt with sticks, sing from the branches of trees and snooze lazily in hammocks, snuggled up in layers of cozy clothing. Practitioners hand out hot chocolates and giggle as they sneak an extra marshmallow for themselves and try not to develop too bad a t-shirt tan.

But why the shift? Or is it something in our very souls that’s been trying to burst out?

Scientific research tells us that time spent outdoors reaps a multitude of health benefits. These...

A wonderful guest post by my member Jennifer Wooldridge (@mamasden)

Are you settling into your new rhythm?

Change can be really hard and they say it actually takes up to 7 weeks before we adapt. Think about times you may have been on a new health drive, whether a diet or starting at the gym the first few weeks are always the hardest.

We all have a daily routine which we are used to but now have to create a new balance in our lives, a rhythm at home over the coming weeks and this will help establish a new normal, a new sense of balance in our lives. I know we have all been feeling anxious of late but we need to start reflecting on the change and creating a new calm in our family lives.

Let’s take this time to recharge our batteries and to think about what we have taken for granted and the fast paced lifestyle we are used to. We have all had to stop and think and change our ways, whether willingly or for the greater good. But for lots of our children they have lost their...

Join our Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programme here for £5 instead of £120

Hi, I’m Jenny from Little Robin Education. My background is a bit mixed, I have a biology PhD, and then became a secondary school biology teacher. I now stay at home with my two boys, aged 1 and 3, and run my creative business Little Robin Education from my front room! I specialise in nature education for young people, and make and sell nature flashcards designed to inspire a love of the outdoors in children.

I’m here on the Hygge in the Early Years blog to give you six simple outdoor activity ideas to do with preschoolers. Some of these activities require access to outdoor space, which I know isn’t easy for everyone at this time. I will suggest an inside version for each activity in case you’re isolating.

1. Egg box colour hunt

My three year old loves painting at the moment, but sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle to get him outside. I’m hoping...

Today we're joined on our blog by our wonderful guest Sam Goldsworthy. Sam is an experienced childminder (go and give her a follow at https://www.facebook.com/SamGoldsworthyChildminding/) with a passion for learning outdoors and today she shares her wisdom for supporting learning at home in the garden. 

The garden is such a rich learning space within our setting which we access daily.

We often spent time outdoors just lying on the grass together watching the clouds float by talking about the shapes that we can see in the clouds. We then shut our eyes and talk about what we can hear around us - usually this is birds cheeping, the wind blowing through the trees and maybe cars and helicopters too. This sometimes leads in to Yoga in the garden - flapping like a bird, standing tall like a tree, lying straight like a stick.

We use natural treasures such as leaves, pine cones, flower petals etc that we find to make potions in our mud kitchen which encourages many...