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

Story Telling

Jun 11, 2019

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...
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3 Ways To Add Hygge To Your Provision NOW

Jun 11, 2019
There are many ways that we can inject that warm, cosy hygge feeling into your classroom. To avoid overwhelm I have some top 3 tips that you can try today.
 
Step 1.Story Telling Opportunities
 
Happiness Psycholgist and author of he Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living, MeiK Viking describes one of the aspects of hygge living is the pleasure that is found in everyday activities. Story telling plays a big part in finding joy and pleasure in life and especially so if it contains humour (which is shown to reduce the stress hormone!). The coming together for meals or the long walks in the wild offer many opportunities for telling stories in Scandinavia. Perhaps you could have a bigger focus on story telling in your practice; outside, in the woods and in tiny nooks of your provision. You don’t need to set up a large area for story telling to happen in. An inviting invitation to play on a shelf will do, inside a box or even in a hat! The stories...
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Creating a Hygge Staffroom

Jun 11, 2019
We spend long periods of our days at work and during our downtime in the day it’s important that we have a space to relax, come together and recharge our batteries.
 
Here are my top tips on how you can bring that hygge feeling into your staffroom.
 
  •  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...

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Be More Optimistic

Jun 11, 2019
Feeling more optimistic has a link to our level of positivity and happiness. When we feel more optimistic we approach a task with increased confidence and strength that it will go well. Yet it's really easy to get stuck in a cycle of self-doubt when it comes to things going wrong.
 
  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.
 
For me my house sale has recently fallen though. My initial thought was “Oh no this is terrible what are we going to do now. Then I turned the situation around and thought well at least now we have more time to find our dream home (as we were about to move in with relatives), I'm saving money (as our next house will be bigger and have a more expensive mortgage) and lastly, I'm feeling...
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Bush Craft

Jun 11, 2019

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.

As it had been a bit windy Mr Hemingway asking the children to help tidy up the woodland area. He carefully explained that the children needed to look for branches that had fallen down and then prop them up...

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Dandelion Playdough

May 22, 2019

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...
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3 Ways to Strengthen A Literacy Rich Learning Environment

May 16, 2019

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...
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Bring Calm Into Your Day

May 16, 2019
Forest Bathing originated in Japan in the 1980’s and it’s a way of immersing yourself in a woodland setting. Giving yourself the opportunity to disconnect with the world, social media and the business of day to day life. It’s particularly important when we consider that we are creating a generation of people that spend very little time outdoors. A recent piece of research by the Environmental Protection Agency, showing that the average American spends 93% of their time indoors. Alongside this by 2050, 66% of the world’s population is projected to also live in cities which could add to how we are so disconnected with nature.
 
How can you forest bath?
It can be done in a small group or on your own. First find a clearing in the forest and take your shoes and socks off. This allows your feet to connect with the earth below. Science also shows us that this also allows the brain to deal with pain reduction and inflammation.
 
Next bring your...
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Leading with Optimism

May 16, 2019
Feeling more optimistic has a link to our level of positivity and happiness. When we feel more optimistic we approach a task with increased confidence and strength that it will go well. Yet it's really easy to get stuck in a cycle of self-doubt when it comes to things going wrong.
 
  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.

 
For me my house sale has recently fallen though. My initial thought was “Oh no this is terrible what are we going to do now. Then I turned the situation around and thought well at least now we have more time to find our dream home (as we were about to move in with relatives), I'm saving money (as our next house will be bigger and have a more expensive mortgage) and lastly, I'm feeling tired so at...
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"No Time to Play"

May 16, 2019
Do you sometimes feel like you're not spending quality time interacting and playing with the children? Perhaps it often feels like you're jumping from one task to the next or having constant interruptions for children that need help.
 
Two things I used to find helpful.
 
1. Take 10- 15 minutes standing back in your provision during an average day. Watch what's going on and make a note of every time a child comes up to you and asks you a question. At the end of your 10 minutes look at the list of questions you've had. What do they tell you? 'Can I have some glue?', 'Where is my coat?' or 'I can't find the sellotape?' Then consider your learning environment and think about what you need to do to support the children's independence. If there is something children are generally finding tricky like using scissors run a masterclass on this.
 
2. I also used to organise myself and my team in a loose rota. (This would have some degree of flexibility due to...
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