Little Olive Tree - Playful Learners

We have had a lovely end of the Summer term exploring Australia - matching animals with the Montessori vocabulary cards and reading 'The Koala who could' by Rachel Bright - a lovely book that one of the children brought in from home. We also created an imaginary small world play scene with playdough - Ayers Rock with Australian small world animals. We investigated together what the different animals eat and made the food out of playdough to feed the animals. We added sharks and other sea animals to the water tray and talked about the Great Barrier Reef. We have had a wonderful time exploring continents this half term. It has been a lovely year at Little Olive Tree Montessori. It is sad to say "goodbye" to one of our children but we have so many joyful memories that we will cherish ❤

This half-term we also made our own play kitchen area, using wooden crates, wooden food and loose parts, such as wool, pom poms and wooden blocks. We used glass jars to add wool as pretend salt and pepper. Imaginary role play using loose parts, can develop children's creativity and imagination. This caused me to reflect on a wonderful online course I have recently attended with Wunderled: https://www.wunderledteaching.com/ exploring why play is the gold standard for children's learning and development in the early years not worksheets for developing early literacy and mathematical knowledge. Loose parts child led play can develop:

1) Head - Cognitive abilities, such as cognitive flexibility and symbolic thinking - problem solving and developing creativity and imagination when adapting loose parts to symbolise other objects, for example wool becomes noodles.

2) Hands - It also develops the hands such as fine motor skills, hand strength, bilateral co-ordination and visual-motor integration develop as children practice opening and closing containers, stirring, pouring and scooping, using two hands together, sequencing everyday actions and coordinating eyes and hands when transferring objects.

3) Heart - Loose parts play and child-led play enables joyful learning and development as children make independent choices, develop autonomy, stay deeply engaged and develop relationships through shared play.

This half-term we continue to learn about the different continents by exploring the Montessori Continent boxes - this includes stories, artefacts, souvenirs, Toob animals to match with the Montessori vocabulary cards, baking and cooking food (exploring different herbs and spices), listening and dancing to music from different countries...

It has been lovely exploring books, spices, animal toys and other artefacts that children have shared from home - developing communication and language and personal, social and emotional development as children develop the confidence to talk about what they have brought from home.

Montessori approach to introducing Geography to young children - children are never too young to learn about the world 🌎
https://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/continent-boxes-add-excitement-to-geography/

To avoid over-tokenistic representation of continents I have included stories that represent the real life of children growing up in these continents to give a balanced view.

Following the peace education and anti-bias approach to education I ensure daily practice celebrates all cultures.

The Guilletots Playful Learning blog states:
The main principles of this way of working with children include:
• construct a knowledgeable, confident self identity (for children to be confident about who they are)
• develop comfortable, empathetic and just interaction with diversity (for children to be accepting of difference)
• develop critical thinking (for children to be critical about injustice)
• and the skills for standing up for oneself and others in the face of injustice (for children to act upon injustice)
(Ref: https://theguilletots.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-our-continent-boxes-tokenistic.html)

We have enjoyed exploring the North America continent box this week 🌎🐿️🦫🦦🦝🦌🐕‍🦺

Love this post from Angela Hines. Very interesting and valid points regarding the fundamentals of childhood throughout history regarding the importance of nurturing, caring and responsive relationships ❤

Angela Hines original post:

What can the history of child care teach us today? More than you might think.

When we look back at the evolution of child care—from villages and family networks to modern early learning programs—we discover that while methods have changed, the needs of children have remained remarkably consistent.

🏕️ Lesson 1: Children Need Relationships

In ancient communities, children were raised by families, elders, and neighbors. Today’s research confirms what those communities already knew:

❤️ Relationships are the foundation of learning.

Before children can learn, they need to feel safe, connected, and valued.

⸻

🎭 Lesson 2: Play Has Always Been Learning

Long before curriculum manuals existed, children learned through exploration, observation, imitation, and play.

Today, neuroscience and child development research tell us the same thing:

🧠 Play builds language, problem-solving, creativity, self-regulation, and social skills.

Play is not a break from learning.

Play is learning.

⸻

👩‍🏫 Lesson 3: Educators Matter

History has moved child care from simple supervision to intentional teaching and development.

We now know that:

⭐ Skilled educators change outcomes.

⭐ Positive teacher-child interactions matter.

⭐ Early experiences shape lifelong development.

⸻

🤝 Lesson 4: Families Are Essential Partners

Whether in villages, homes, or classrooms, children thrive when families and caregivers work together.

The strongest programs don’t replace families.

They partner with them.

⸻

🧩 Lesson 5: One Size Does Not Fit All

Montessori taught us about independence.

Piaget taught us about developmental stages.

Vygotsky taught us about relationships and scaffolding.

Together, they remind us:

🌱 Children develop differently.

🌱 Learning is individualized.

🌱 Growth happens when support matches need.

⸻

🏛️ Lesson 6: Child Care Is More Than Child Care

History shows that child care has always been connected to the health of communities and economies.

When families have access to quality care:
✅ Children benefit
✅ Parents work
✅ Businesses thrive
✅ Communities grow

⸻

The Big Takeaway

The greatest lesson history teaches us is this:

💡 Children have not changed nearly as much as the world around them has.

They still need:
❤️ Relationships
🎭 Play
🌱 Exploration
🤝 Connection
🧠 Skilled guidance

The tools may evolve. The research may expand.

But the formula for helping children thrive remains surprisingly timeless.

The best way to move early childhood education forward may be to remember what history has been teaching us all along ❤

Angela is American so her poster mentions the US early years programme 'Head Start' established in the 1960s - probably similar to the Sure Start programme in the UK (late 1990s-2010) that addressed inequalities in the early years.

Interesting fact: Did you know Head Start began the television series 'Sesame Street' in 1968.

Here is the UK history of childcare:

(Reference: https://www.mortonmichel.com/news/history-of-childcare)

Instead of Head Start in the 1960s the UK had a limited nursery system with a focus on traditional stay-at home motherhood. The Plowden report, published in 1967, found that the few existing nurseries had twice as many children on their waiting lists as places (sound familiar). The report recommended that all children should have some access to early years childcare. The remit of childcare fell to the Ministry of Health rather than education where 'day nurseries' would meet the physical rather than the educational needs of children while the mother went to work. These changes led to the 1970s 'Playgroup Movement' with an amendment to the Nursery and Child Minders Act (1948) - the first UK legislation to officially to formally recognise and regulate childminders. In the 1970s the 'Playgroup Movement' resulted in 4,000 new settings registered across the country driven by mother's setting up provision where there was none before. Provision was led by mother's with a deep understanding of the importance of play for childhood development.

Since then there has been many changes in childcare in the UK over the years including the 1980 National Childcare Campaign and feminist movement calling for universal access to childcare and more equality in the workplace. In 1987 there was the introduction of The Children Act, 1987 linked to the National Convention Rights of the Child - this still drives many decisions regarding policy decision making and research in the UK. In the late 1980s and 1990s the nursery sector became more professionalised with more trained early years educators leading provision resulting in a more varied choice of provision, offering more hours and different educational activities.

In the 1990s wraparound care for older school age children became popular. In 1997 the new Labour government introduced a number of new childcare reforms with the first "free" early education entitlement and in 2001 the Early Years Directorate formed at Ofsted, with a responsibility for inspecting early years providers and setting new National Standards. The focus was now on education rather than care, so as to give children a better start in life. This strategy resulted in almost 700,000 new places created by 2001.

In 2006 there was the passing of the Childcare Act, 2006 - this set the groundwork for the Early Years Foundation Stage in 2008. It was controversial at the time as it set a curriculum for the early childhood sector that many felt was too restrictive and devalued the importance of play. However the critical importance of early childhood development through ongoing research highlights the role of good quality early years provision and interventions.

The financial crisis that began in 2008 led to stagnant wages and unaffordable childcare costs. The controversial "free" hours entitlement to childcare led to a rapid change in childcare provision with smaller community settings struggling to stay open and larger nursery chains growing in size. Childminder numbers began to decline rapidly and are unfortunately still declining. The current early years funding model ultimately does not cover the cost of provision leading to the early years sector buckling under the strain and parents left without childcare. There are many ongoing debates at the moment regarding funding provision, lack of adequate childcare places, qualifications, curriculum and pedagogy.

However, what remains important at the heart of all of this is championing the rights of children, which includes balancing the rights of early years educators and the rights of working families. This includes fair access to funded childcare for all (including low income families and students - currently middle and higher income families are benefitting the most from funded hours, which means the children living in poverty who need the best start in life are missing out on quality early years education). Early years educators require adequate funding, decent working conditions including decent hours and wages, educational training and career progression. Working families require more rights in the workplace regarding flexible work arrangements and better maternity and paternity rights. This requires a new early years workforce strategy and changes in the rights of families in the workplace. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for early years education.

A homage to our beautiful outdoor space - a wonderful place to develop wonder and curiosity about the natural world. Regular time spent in the same local natural environment, whether a garden, woodland, beach or local park, develops children's deeper interconnections with nature.

Learning about nature and our beautiful world needs to start in our local area for children to appreciate the changing seasons and learn about nature. It is wonderful to watch the birds building nests in the garden, to watch the bees visit the flowers and to learn about the lifecycle of plants 🌿🐝🪺🐦🪻🌼

Slow and mindful pedagogical practice in an outdoor space can provide so many benefits for children's development including a sense of wellbeing and belonging. Being in outdoors spaces with children has so many benefits including releasing cortisol and serotonin - great for the wellbeing for both children and adults. Children also develop communication and language, social and emotional development, physical skills, mathematical and literacy skills, creativity and imagination, understanding of the world and STEM - investigation and exploration that supports critical divergent thinking.

Gardening has so many benefits when developing children's understanding of the world e.g. the lifecycle of plants, the importance of soil, worms and composting, identifying plants and animals, growing vegetables, herbs and flowers...
https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/get-gardening/wellbeing-benefits-of-gardening-for-children

Exploring the lifecycle of butterflies 🐛🦋

Exploring the artwork of Eric Carle with the use of vibrant colours and patterns. Beautiful works of art created.

Interesting fact: Did you know Eric Carle painted on tissue paper using bright acrylic colours and used wavy brushstrokes. A lovely way to explore art with children. We will be exploring this further over the half-term.

If you are ever worried about the mess of children's creativity then just look at Eric Carle in his studio at the link below - love it ❤

Find out more:

https://carlemuseum.org/about/about-eric-carle/artistic-process

We have enjoyed exploring the land, water and air mat and jars. So wonderful for developing knowledge and understanding of the world. We used sustained shared thinking to talk about the importance of rain for making streams, rivers, lakes and waterfalls that flow into the sea 🌎💦💧🐬🦋🐌

https://mylittlekeepers.com/montessori-monday-land-water-and-air-jars/

Land, Air and Water Mat: https://marulatree.co.uk/product/land-air-and-water-categorisation-mat/

Strategies for supporting children with sensory needs ❤

This week we collected a handful of dandelions from the garden and made dandelion playdough. We talked about not collecting too many dandelions as it's important we leave most of them as they are pollen and nectar rich flowers that are loved by bees and butterflies - developing knowledge and understanding of the world and empathy and care for wildlife and nature 🐝🦋

Three beautiful stories that explore the relationship between dandelions and the wisdom of children:

Three Dandelion Stories from tales from the lilypad:
https://talesfromthelilypad.podbean.com/e/three-dandelion-stories/

Interesting facts about dandelions:

1) The botanical name for dandelions is 'Taraxacum'. Botanists have identified over 200 micro-species of Taraxacum in the UK;
2) The nectar-rich flowers are loved by bees and butterflies;
3) Dandelions are evergreen perennials with a taproot - thick dominant central root that can locate deep water sources during times of drought making them drought tolerant;
4) The seed heads are also known as 'dandelion clocks' - the seeds disperse in the wind. The seeds provide food for bullfinches, greenfinches, goldfinches and serins;
5) The leaves, flowers and roots are edible and they have a long history of medicinal use;
6) Gardener's friend or foe? Many gardener's now welcome dandelions into their gardens due to the many benefits for wildlife. However, they are invasive so many people choose to grow them in less cultivated wildlife patches in the garden as a way to boost biodiversity in the garden.

Facts from: https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/dandelion