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Encouraging children to get outdoors in nature with a fun activity that will keep them engaged.

Create a nature Journal with your children to help them have a better understanding of nature and to encourage them to ask questions about the nature that surrounds them.

Go on a walk to the park, forest, pond, stream, woodland, beach. Use your journal to make notes and draw what you find most interesting. Write down what you see and hear, stick special leaves and flowers that you find in. Draw around leaves and create leaf and bark rubbings on the pages.

Take some watercolours and crayons to use - what colours can you see?  Take this journal with you over the summer holidays to make a record of the adventures you have been on and the nature that you have found. Take it to the beach and draw shells, fish and seabirds. Take it to the pond and sketch the tadpoles, frogs and ducks. Stick any feathers that you find into your journal. Stick in a photo of you collecting natural treasures or j...

Growing plants and veggies with the children

As you all know we love being outdoors so this week we chose to share with you our growing and planting adventures.

We feel that children should be aware of where their food comes from and this way they can learn and experience this first hand as well as taking ownership in caring for their plants each day. We feel there are many benefits in doing this including educational as well as opening more time outdoors.

The children are always keen to help in the garden . We plant many veggies and also keep chickens. They like to feed the chickens snacks and collect the eggs which they enjoy for their lunch. We also use these for our baking sessions too.

We visit the garden centre often to buy our supplies such as compost, seed potatoes and seeds which encourages independence choosing and paying for the items. One little girl has a toy bunny which she takes every where - during our last visit to the garden centre she picked up a packet of car...

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 something new to spot...

This week we are joined by Hygge in the Early Years Member Amanda Fisher who is sharing with you her journey on approaching Hygge in a Children's Centre. 

I have worked in Children Centres for 9 years, prior to that working within a preschool setting whilst my own children were little, I am currently privileged to manage a Children’s Centre in a deprived area with a wonderful community spirit.

I always strived to create a warm, welcoming and homely environment; indeed it is the one thing the centre is congratulated on frequently by visitors.  I wanted to extend this feeling throughout the centre which is what lead me to explore The Hygge Accreditation, the ethos is one which I feel most relates to what I want to create and offer to families, a sense of warmth, joy and belonging. 

The centre is a hive of activity throughout the week and one of the highlights is the Stay and Play session we offer weekly. We welcome families with children from birth and are privileged to be able to w...

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 
• off the message that Literacy only happens inside. 
• Are childre
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