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In this video from our Free 5 Day challenge (Join for FREE here) we explore how to document and support child led interests. 

By the end of our 5 days of training together you will be enthused to make learning happen outdoors and have a bank of knowledge and ideas on how to make it happen. Taking inspiration from Scandinavia.

I walk you through bringing more nature into your day through a series of short sessions and a little task for you to try. 

Day 1: Why nature based learning is needed
Day 2: Daily rhythm in nature
Day 3: Creating an environment for outdoor learning
Day 4: Child Led Learning in nature
Day 5: Provocations in nature

Kimberly 

By Jennifer Wooldridge @mamasden

Today marks the start of our next 3 weeks of lockdown but i’m hoping that the next 3 weeks are going to be easier than the first 3 weeks now that we have adjusted to our new normal, adopting a new rhythm and discovered our new routine. I am somehow managing to find time to engage the children including my son by including lots of nature play and science. I’m focusing our activities by playing to their strengths and following their interests.

I think that the main thing I will take from all of this is that my children can lead their own learning if I listen to their play and conversations and then throw in a little bit of sit down learning in line with this. But we are largely spending our time playing and learning in the moment and I really want this period of time to be reflected on as a fun family period rather than a scary, uncertain time.

So instead of focusing on one particular topic this week I thought I would share with you my top 5 lockdown r...

Mud play is enjoyed daily over here at Sam Goldsworthy Childminding. It is either explored at our local forest school, at the woods or in our setting garden. We feel it helps to connect the children to nature where they are enjoying the calmness of being outdoors and also builds up their childhood memories as well as being great for their immune system being out in mud and dirt!

We have a mud kitchen that was purpose built between our trees in the garden.  We have added many items such as weighing scales, cake tins, bun cases, saucepans and spoons as well as a range of natural items including shells, stones with different vegetables painted on them, pine cones and sticks.

We have noticed that this type of outdoor play encourages lots of learning opportunities to the children. These include rich language opportunities learning new words such as sticks, pine cones, berries etc - the children are communicating, negotiating, problem solving and listening to each other. It also inco...

This difficult time really makes us reconsider the actual purpose of education. It just shows that at the end of the day we shouldn’t be just preparing for a test that may never happen. This is the test for this generation.

Child led learning is our way of not teaching something just for Ofsted but a way to build problem solvers, support those who wonder and chase the impossible and it gives them a sense of empowerment. Allowing our children to not just survive but be extraordinary  in any situation.

My Christmas gift to you…

I could give you a present, or an advent calendar full of daily treats…but ‘things won’t give you moments of joy this Christmas. I’ve thought long and hard about this one and I want to give you 2 gifts this year; love and time.

So here is my letter to you doing just that

Dear Educator,

I know you care greatly about your job and work long hours doing everything you can possible do to give the children in your care the very best start in life.

I get that as I do too!

In the process of doing the ‘best we can’ we risk neglecting our loving family and friends that are around us.

But in our job…the saddest thing is that if we leave tomorrow, we will be replaced in a flash.

Yet then it’s too late…you’ve already missed so many precious moments you won’t ever get back. Think of all the giggles at bath time, seeing an elderly relative face light up when you spend time spend time together or the delight in your cat chasing some Christmas ribbon.

Joyful moment...

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum states that every member of staff must have appropriate supervision meetings with a member of the leadership or management team. Nursery managers must also have these with perhaps their nursery owner or the management committee or local authority.

 The purpose of the meetings is to support staff and their needs, identify the progress and development of the children, discuss any safeguarding concerns and celebrate success. The meetings also offer a good opportunity to deepen connections and relationships and be a time for self reflection.

 How can we embrace more Hygge in them?

Equality

Being equal is a key part of the Danish culture and so when organising a place for the meeting to take place makes sure it’s somewhere neutral. For example not in a managers office as this way it eases some of the stress staff might have with going into a leaders space.

We also want to make sure that there is shared responsibility for the meetings and ther...

My Wanderlust: A Nature Study Programme is an online programme that challenges the way we live our lives and encourages us to get outside more! Encouraging our next generation of scientists, explorers and adventurers.

Click Here! 

I know that November can be a less appealing time of the year to get outside with the gloomy damp weather but actually it’s a great time to learn and have fun!

First of all you just have to have the right clothing to prevent anyone getting miserable and cold (that includes you and your team!). I provide my children with a set of waterproof overalls that they need to wear if they are learning outdoors. I prefer the seperate waterproof over trousers with braces so these can still be worn in the warmer months with a t-shirt underneath or layered up over the winter. We also invest a part of our budget each year in supplying water proof gloves, wooly hats and waterproof boots and liners. This includes having a bank of clothing for our staff to borrow too. A c...

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...

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...