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It's easy when there's a special day or time of year to dress all your provision around that particular theme. In my first year of teaching when it was bonfire night I would dress all my areas of provision around this particular theme for the week. Enhancing each area with things like;

-Firework themed play dough mats

-Adding red and yellow cellophane and kitchen roll tubes to the junk modelling table

-Putting black sugar paper up on the art easel and luminous paint colours.

Taking this approach to learning each week meant that there was always something in each area of the provision that the adult had decided the children should make often with the adults own example. Or maybe it would have been a tick sheet activity that everyone would have been called to take part in. Getting everything ready the week before was exhausting and I would often feel disheartened when I had set an activity up and the children used it in a different way.

This type of approach can leave very little...

Who loves potion making?

Today we have made some great mixtures but even better so much learning has happened- From predicting to problem solving!

We’ve explored making ‘Witches Blood’ and watched it fizz and bubble as the bicarbonate of soda combined with the vinegar.

The whole fam under one roof, Christmas bakes in the oven, winter roaring outside the front door: It doesn’t really get much cozier than Christmas.

Christmas…oh that’s right I mentioned the C word and it's only the start of November! I have Michael Buble de-frosting as we speak and in this weeks blog post I’m going to be sharing my first few ideas with you for supporting behaviour over the festive period. 

Over the last few months we’ve been getting ready for our Christmas training events at KSEY Consultancy and I know that so many of you are super organised (a bit like me!) and want to get things ready early. I always used to use my half term week in October to do the majority of my Christmas shopping and start writing my Christmas cards…a job I really do love doing.

As I said we’ve been planning Christmas for a little while now…we worked with our fabulous photographer back in August to get some great Christmas Product snaps, we’ve booked in our Complimentary Christmas Event for Me...

Christmas is such an exciting and wonderful time of year, but it can also become over whelming on the senses if we are not careful. Jane (Environmentasthe3rdteacher), an Early Educator in Australia, shares with us how she sets up a calm environment in her school while also ensuring the fun of the festive season.

You may think I’m a little strange but I have never really been one for traditional Christmas colours or the typical tinsel tree both in my home (much to my own children's dismay) and in my Pre Primary class. I prefer like in many of my set ups, natural products. When it comes to a Christmas tree often it involves a branch or driftwood with seed pods, twig stars and fairy lights. This year in my classroom I decided to set up a little Christmas area separated from the rest of my room by draping organza from the ceiling with twinkle lights woven through and
around.

I wanted to have a few different choices here including a sensory table which will change weekly i.e. fake snow etc...

The Art of Letting Go by Cornisheyfsteacher

I was often told that it takes a certain type of person to become a teacher – even more specifically; an early years teacher. Passionate, caring, organised, dedicated, inspired, motivated, resourceful, thoughtful… the list is endless. The responsibility and privilege that comes with the job, having a chance to make a difference and be a part of, arguably, the most important stage of a child’s development, is an honour to say the least. I love my job, I enjoy my job, but I completely understand why it is one of the most challenging professions to be in. The workload, the expectations, the weekends lost to ‘I just need to catch up on…’, the last minute scrutinties, lesson observations, it is never-ending. I am at the start of my career. Now approaching my third year of teaching in a Reception class. I want to share the start of my journey, some of my biggest revelations and the sense I have made of a sector that is continuously evolving.

I am the Area Manager for Daisy Chain Nursery and over the

last year the nursery owner has worked hard transforming the

nursery into a home from home approach. The company has 2

settings and I work to support both settings whilst managing

the Liverpool site. The nursery Owner works closely with

myself and the teams and has completed a lot of the

environment work and the research behind it, educating the

teams along the way.

When the initial decision was made to change the nursery

approach we started by adapting the furniture and muting the

colouring to provide a more natural approach. We immediately

noticed a change in the behaviour of the 2 year old children

and also the children who have special educational needs. more

comfortable. hey seemed a lot calmer and the environments in

general seemed to be calmed as the children were being

stimulated by the toys and the activities rather than being over

stimulated by the general environment.

We began the process in the ...

As a result of the Hygge training undertaken, we have taken on board the basic principles of Hygge, despite having previously implemented small elements of the ‘Hygee’ idea and building our ethos upon the idea of creating a cosy, inviting and special environment for the children in our care, we felt as a result of the training and further investigation into the Hygge principles and how this can relate and be implemented into Early Years Settings, we made a conscious decision to plan and create our learning environment around these principles as we believe that creating these ‘special moments’ and inviting, relaxing, cosy environments has incredible benefits on the children in our care in terms of their well-being, mood, behaviour and emotions.

As a setting, we have always tried to limit the amount of plastic on offer, but as a result of this training we decided to make even more of a conscious effort to do so; instead bringing in more loose parts, natural resources, soft furnishin...

Dottie’s Nursery and Dots and Tots are
currently taking part in the Hygge in Early
Years Accreditation to transform their
learning environments and practice. Look at
this fabulous lunch time transformation!

In Norway and Denmark mealtimes are seen as a time to come
together as a unit over some much-loved home-made food. Yet in
England I often visit settings and schools where lunch time feels
rushed, noisy and a process rather than an event to celebrate in the
day. Not only are young children often fussy eaters but they might
be worried about opening their yogurt, leaving the comfort of a
familiar room or being with different staff who support lunch time
cover. When planning lunch times these factors need to be
considered;


• Are the children in a familiar environment?
• 
 Are the adults familiar to the children and available to support
them and talk to them?
• 
 Does the menu offer a variety of choice across the week? Cooked
with seasonal produce.

• Is the lunch time environment c
...

Reading this from one of my Hygge in the Early Years Accredited students makes me feel so proud of their journey and all they've achieved.

Nurturing, supporting and allowing my students to flourish is what gives me a warm glow and makes me love my job even more!

"Starting my business back in December 2018 I was approached by a local authority officer who was supporting me with my ofsted registration. Sharon asked me “Laura I’ve never seen a provision like this before it’s wonderful what is your inspiration? What approach do you follow?”
I couldn’t reply I didn’t know myself, the only word I could give was “Hygge” but back then I didn’t truly understand the concept of hygge in the early years I just wanted to create an environment that brought the outdoors indoors, that was cosy and calming. A nature led approach that welcomed new children into my provision with a burst of light and opportunity.

It made me reflect and research, I wanted to be able to give my parents and OFSTED the...