Welly Walkers Childminding Family

04/09/2026

🌿 **Week 3 at Welly Walkers – Circles, Spheres & Spirals** 🌀

After noticing all the wonderful **hay bales dotted around the fields beside us** last week, our curiosity naturally led us towards circles, spheres and spirals. What better way to learn than to follow the children’s own wonder and see where their questions take us?

I went back in time to **Claire Warden’s Virtual Nature School**, revisiting the inquiry videos and thinking about those all-important **“I wonder why?”** questions. This gave us lots of inspiration for our own investigations and experiences.

Our inquiry took us in so many directions:

⚪ Creating **clay spheres**, exploring shape, texture and how we can transform a piece of clay with our hands.
**Balloon painting**, experimenting with movement, pattern and the circular marks the balloons created.
Creating our own **dot pictures**, inspired by *The Dot* and exploring how one simple mark can become something much bigger.
We enjoyed stories filled with circles and movement, including **Shark in the Park** and *The Dot*.
We developed our **gross motor skills** playing the balloon and fly swap game with the residents of **Doocot View**, alongside Emily and Jade’s minded children. What a wonderful intergenerational experience!

And then something very special happened… Jade heard that we were investigating spheres and gifted us a **coconut**! What an amazing real-life object to add to our inquiry. We explored its shape, texture and natural form — proving once again that sometimes the best learning resources are the ones nature and our community provide for us.

🎵 At **Mini Music Makers**, we were spinning around with Kylies ' I'm spinning around 'bringing movement and our circular investigations into our music session.

At Highland Dancing, we held hands and moved together as we sang **“This Is the Way…”**, creating our own circles and enjoying the rhythm of moving as a group.

Of course, we had our much-loved visit to **Durnhythe**, spending time singing and connecting with the residents.

On Wednesday, we headed off on a hike to **Montcoffer Woods**, continuing our exploration of the natural world and noticing the shapes, patterns and spirals that are all around us if we take the time to look.

🌱 **Permaculture is woven throughout our learning at Welly Walkers.** We follow the children’s interests, observe what is happening around us, make use of the resources nature and our community offer us, and value the relationships we build with people and place.

Our garden also became part of our inquiry this week. 🌿 We gathered herbs together and used them to make our own **fresh pasta sauce**, connecting growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing food. This is permaculture in practice — caring for the earth, caring for people and learning that resources can be valued and used thoughtfully.

And to finish our week, we took our circles and spirals down to **our beach**, creating them in the sand and allowing our inquiry to continue through open-ended, sensory play.

From hay bales in the fields to coconuts, clay, herbs, music, movement, woodland walks and patterns in the sand — our learning really does begin with **wonder**.

**“I wonder why?” can lead us anywhere… and we love finding out together.** 🌿🌀💛

29/08/2026

Oh me, still haven't plucked up the courage to listen to this, it went live yesterday but my super kind CM friends have given me positive feedback 🫣 oh can you spot the typo SCMA said they will rectify well done Shannon Button you get the A star for proofreading 🤣 handy for 3rd year at Uni ❤️

🚨New Childminding Matters episode out now!

Showing how risky play can be done safely, practically, and in a way that supports children’s development.❤️

👉 Join Nyree Cooper, SCMA’s Learning & Development Lead, and special guest Christine Mathieson - a childminder from Aberdeenshire, as they chat about the benefits and challenges of risky play in a childminding setting, building confidence in offering risky play and you'll also hear about Christine's setting, how she incorporates and manages risky play in her setting.

👂Listen now via your members dashboard for top tips, strategies and ideas on working with risky play in your setting

28/08/2026

Just do it you know you want to x

A gentle reminder about the upcoming Introduction to Engaging Children in Permaculture.

We are looking forward to gathering with educators, parents, and facilitators who want to explore learning with children in nature through the lens of permaculture and Children in Permaculture pedagogy.

If you’ve been curious about this course, there is still time to join us!

Learn more or register here: https://buytickets.at/childrenspermaculture/2085564

28/08/2026

Here is what Cajun who I met up at Findhorn had to say about the Children in Permaculture Course we both undertook this Summer, great work Cajun x Great course

28/08/2026

Week 2 of Settling In 🌿

Week 2 of settling in has been a lovely and busy one, with a few more of our groups returning and lots of familiar routines, adventures and smiling faces.

We visited Portsoy Mini Music Makers for music and movement, giving the children opportunities to express themselves, build confidence and enjoy learning through rhythm, song and play. We also returned to Highland Dancing with Anne McArthur, our Dance Teacher. The children were delighted to receive their trophies and certificates following their dance tests at the end of last term. There were certainly lots of proud, smiling faces at home time as they showed off their achievements!

We enjoyed a visit to the Well Café here in Portsoy, where we had the opportunity to mix and mingle with children of similar ages while also building valuable multi-generational connections with the wonderful volunteers who run the café. All money donated to the Well Café goes to Save the Children, so Welly Walkers are always more than happy to make our annual donation. These experiences connect beautifully with the permaculture principle of People Care, helping children understand the importance of community, kindness and caring for one another.

We were also delighted to return to Durnhythe Care Home, where we enjoyed singing with the residents and staff. Building these ongoing relationships across generations is something we value greatly and reflects the permaculture idea of integrating rather than segregating — recognising the value, knowledge and joy that comes from bringing people together.

Our adventures also took us further afield as we caught the number 35 bus to Banff to visit Wrack Woods. Using public transport gave us another opportunity to explore our wider community while thinking about more sustainable ways of travelling. We also visited Boyndie Visitor Centre, where we followed the Butterfly Trail and enjoyed exploring the natural environment around us. These experiences encourage the children to observe and interact with nature, one of the key principles of permaculture.

Back at Welly Walkers, we have been spending lots of time exploring our garden and outdoor environment. The children have enjoyed the indoor and outdoor sandpits, as well as our water world, learning through sensory and open-ended play. These areas allow children to explore, experiment and use resources creatively — linking with the permaculture principle of using and valuing renewable resources.

Here in the cabin, we have been developing some lovely daily routines. Each day, we have been looking into our cases where we carefully store some of our resources, encouraging curiosity, independence and respect for the materials we use. We have also settled into a lovely routine of sharing stories after lunch, creating a calm and nurturing time together.

We have been finishing our day with Blippi toothbrushing, helping the children develop their self-care skills and build healthy routines in a fun and positive way.

It has been another wonderful week of connection, exploration and learning. From caring for our community and building relationships across generations, to exploring nature, travelling sustainably and developing independence, we continue to see so many natural connections with the principles of permaculture. 🌿💚

21/08/2026

First week back at Childminding and we've welcomed two new starts to our Welly Walkers family. 💚 We’ve spent the week getting to know each other through adventures at Kirkies Woods, Crannoch Woods, Portsoy Adventure Park and Myrus Playground.

We enjoyed stories, songs and Makaton at Childminding Bookbug Banff and Macduff Libraries and had our first fire pit of the year with our cousins, Emily's Childminding keeping it simple with beans on toast. 🔥🍞

This week reflected the permaculture ethics of People Care, Earth Care and Fair Share as we built new friendships, explored nature respectfully and shared experiences together.

Next week our local groups return and we’re looking forward to visiting Durnhythe Residential Care Home for multigenerational singing and participation. 🌱 Durnhythe care home 😁👍

19/08/2026

Lovely to see everyone's first day back at school photos, well it's Welly Walkers year 12 ( 2014 Welly Walkers started) and first day back today after our Summer holidays, with 2 new starts on my first morning and we've had a fantastic first day back 🥳 saw this picture and had a giggle after spending hours/ days deep cleaning and getting everything perfect for this morning knowing that this is the really Welly Walkers below. 😁👍

27/07/2026

Just had the most wonderful day up at Findhorn Eco Village, met up with Cajun a student I met on the CIP (Children in Permaculture) course just before the Summer Break. So lovely to meet in person, Cajun has lived at the Park, Foundation, village ( so many names and so many transitions I learnt today). It was wonderful to have her years of experience and stories to make exploring the wonderful gardens, permaculture and areas of tranquility very special. Her years of working with children from the village and The Steiner School was fascinating. When you're a lone worker just remember you're not really alone, meeting other students and learning from them can be just as important as the courses you meet them on. 🌞 In the quite garden I was invited to choose an Angel stone ( an interpretation of Angel cards for those of you who know Angel cards) I chose the stone and turned it over reading the word WISDOM couldn't help but smile 😁.

11/07/2026

Thank you Kate Bookham who came up from Dunblane for our Outdoor training around firepit, knots and Schema play outdoors. Of course we had the rain today out in Kintore but that didn't stop us. Met some lovely Childminders from the Shire and it's always lovely to spend the day with Zoe Sadler , Shannon Button , Emily Armstrong and Jade Scott . Lovely to see Myra Mcrobbie also for a wee catch up 🌸🔥🌲,