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Autumn Leaves and Conkers Please - Conker Activities from Gemma's Childminding, a Hygge Accredited setting.

'We love to incorporate natural, eco-friendly and recycled products into our play. Our activities are very much child-led these days rather than adult-initiated. I find that being around nature whether this is outdoors or bringing nature indoors really supports the children's learning and wellbeing.

I've noticed some real changes in the children since adapting to a more 'Hygge' based environment and embracing a slow pedagogy.

Some snapshots of how we have enjoyed incorporating conkers into our everyday play this season.'

Woodland Theme Autumn Display

We set up a small display of interest for the children to explore. Lots of natural resources including conkers, pinecones and leaves. We incorporated various lights and some magnifying boxes for them to identify the different textures and colours up close.

They especially loved feeding the conkers to the woodland animals.

Pl...

Seeing their own reflection in a mirror is magical and wonderous for babies. Do they recognise themselves? The awe and wonder of what else is reflected in the mirror, perhaps a parent, a favourite toy and their surroundings. Taking mirrors outdoors adds another dimension such as the trees, flora and fauna, the sky and clouds are also all reflected magically in the mirror. Babies will gaze for a long time into a mirror tray for example - trying to touch what they can see.

5 reasons why mirror play is important for babies:

1. Helping to develop visual senses

2. Encouraging gross motor movement - inspiring babies to reach and touch

Add some nature to a mirror tray, or droplets of water. This encourages sensory exploration, inviting them to reach out and touch the mirror and the items. Why not put on some music and have a little dance with your baby in front of the mirror. This is a fun way to encourage movement and coordination.

3. Developing a sense of self

Babies will start...

I love maps and have got quite a collection now at home! As a child my grandparents would also have their maps and travel guides out and I used to be fascinated in looking at them. I would love going on long car journeys and following our route on the AA road map (before the time of Sat navs) and they would always give me such a sense of excitement. These days I love using maps for planning road trips around new places or finding a new Wainwright to walk in the Lake District.

Maps are a great way of creating that sense of Wanderlust in young children and there are many ways we can support this in our homes and learning environment. Perhaps having a world map on the wall with places pinned off that have been visited by someone we know, when visiting a local park with children encourage them to use a map to discover where they would like to go, a collection of maps in a basket in a book corner along with some travel guides and postcards, a globe to explore and lastly going on an adven...