Loretta Youngs Childminding Services

Take a peak at our most recent fun, learning and exploring!

🔥 LAST REMAINING SEPTEMBER PLACE 🔥

A long term Monday/Tuesday space will be available from 1st September. (Or could actually start 24th August). This childcare place is available between 9am-5:00pm, all year for children aged approximately 22+ months (This is to fit in with existing children) based in central Kempston just by Sainsbury’s.

* Can accept Funded children for 15/30hrs
* Fully insured PACEY Member and ICO Registered
* Paediatric First Aid trained
* 34+ years continuous Ofsted Registration
* Numerous EXCELLENT parental references and reviews
* 180+ Certificates of further training undertaken
* Can accept all Government Funding/Tax Free Childcare payments/all Workplace Vouchers

Please visit www.childcare.co.uk/profile/loretta-young for lots more in depth information and more excellent reviews.

You’re welcome to call me on 07736 644977 to discuss your individual childcare requirements.

How much do you think we crammed into 4 days-a lot that’s what! We braved the torrential rain and explored a lovely new toddler group. It offered many excellent play opportunities so that’s definitely one to revisit. We also went to our Monday group on Tuesday due to the B.H. where a great time was had.

We took our new magnify glasses and bug catchers on a fabulous expedition. The children inspected and caught to observe various insects, inspected cobwebs on a bench, various tree barks and even dead flowers. We walked along the river, meandered through woods, climbed trees, saw various birds and read information sheets on the area. We also checked out the boat hire….watch that space!

Of course we went train spotting and one train went past so quickly, it made us all jump out of our skin! We went shopping for fruit with mini trollies and picked lots of daisies, buttercups and dandelions at various locations. We admired horses in fields and water features in a garden centre.

We returned to the church where we previously gifted some new watering cans but could only find one of them. We did find others though and the Littles delighted in using the stand pipe tap to fill them in order for us to water random flowers. Sadly the church was locked and we did actually try all the big and small doors don’t y’know. While there, we checked on their building progress only to find the new building remained untouched since the last time we looked due to no funds as the Vicar told us this last time. We then took our 6 footballs for 3 children and had a spot of footy on the village green like you do and why the devil not eh.

At home, we’ve tried to keep as cool as possible with plenty of oscillating fans, lots of water to drink, stripping off for sleep and going on our beds instead of in them, played in the shade, picnics in the shade, all washed down with plenty of sun tan lotion. We even used the built in blinds on my car which I’ve never even used before!

On the play table outside, we had a session of water with bubbles along with various resources to use-a nice little pastime where they can literally just get on with it! Another afternoon we made Frog City with our new resources complete with fake frogspawn (peas) lily pads, stones, leaves and some mini frogs. We also used magnetic shapes to form some excellent structures and had bike races on the patio.

Since all the garden furniture has suddenly reappeared, we got comfortable on it and used our hand/eye coordination and concentration skills to carefully chop the fruit we’d bought to make fruit salad which the children took home to eat. No week would be complete without our regular Grasmere Fitness but this week we went down the bottom of the road and strutted our stuff in public.

Boosh! 💥

Another fabulous full on week for The Grasmere Gang! We went on a nature walk (or rather run) and stopped off at a park, climbed loads of trees, admired flowers and found the firemen practicing how to rescue a horse. A lovely fire lady came over and explained to the Littles what was happening as they watched in amazement. We went wild in the isles with mini shopping trollies and chose a plant and card as a leaving gift for one of our toddler group leaders. We admired our reflections in M&S which caused giggles. One morning we found an abandoned car and discussed the dangers of this along with finding some nasty dogs poo nearby so we remembered the adjectives we used last week when we found the huge birds poo on the windscreen-awful/nasty/horrible/disgusting/yuk/eughh……what a life and it’s a very real one! We walked the big bridge in our hi-viz jackets to wave at the lorries and got a huge amount of honks this time-much to the delight of the Littles. Along with a couple of park visits and toddler groups for socialisation and lots of fun resources to use that just about sums up our mornings.

At home we used paint and cotton buds to replicate the blossom trees we’d seen earlier. We had a go at paint blowing with straws too which didn’t turn out as good as I’d hoped tbh. We extended our fine motor skills building structures with magnets and playing Jenga. A spot of fab chalking was done when we took our new giant chalks and found a nice spot to do chalking and make a hopscotch. Lots of good concentration and hand/eye coordination skills were used hooking ducks in the garden with our new duck fishing set. Of course we finished off the week getting our hearts racing by doing our regular Grasmere Fitness followed by a rendition of Musical Bumps and Statues.

Boosh 💥

Woah our fantastic little Grasmere Gang raised £125 in sponsorship money doing a buggy push/bike ride laps of the garden at our MK group. All funds raised will go to subsidise the summer outings and Xmas trip/party for the children of the group. Well done to my little people and we had so much fun doing this too. Everyone got a medal and certificate to recognise their achievements which was cute. We had a great time at the giant slide park, played football/basketball and also visited the giant dinosaur briefly…but got rained off!

A lovely morning was had with our theatre company where the theme was everything safari. There were lots of fun, games, singing, dancing and plenty of animal noises and footprints to recognise. We also spent time in the library while there and finished off having our lunch out at Greggs which is always a hit.

We went train spotting twice by request, used mini trollies in Morrisons, fed the best ducks in the world (IYKYK!) and explored a perennial wildflower meadow. Here, we admired and named all the wood carvings, compared different shaped leaves and balanced and jumped from a huge log while sing 5 Little Speckled Frogs.

Other than this we went to a couple of toddler groups which are fabulous for offering additional activities and resources and a nice opportunity for the Littles to meet up with other friends outside of our setting. There’s always an opportunity to get wet, messy, use paint, climbing apparatus, do additional craft activities with lots of other play opportunities thrown in. What’s more, we love the singing, stories, music sessions and bubbles!

At home we used our critical thinking and fine motor skills to construct some great models and structures with Lego one afternoon and another day with magnetic shapes. We had fun pouring and scooping rice into various containers which is very much a ‘leave them to it’ activity. We used wooden coloured shapes to form some lovely images making sure we placed them exactly correctly. Another afternoon we used giant tweezers to select mini coloured dinosaurs and placed them carefully in the corresponding coloured container. As usual, we finished off with our regular Grasmere Fitness and at the children’s request added on Musical Statues and Musical Bumps for some concentration and additional laughs. If anyone else would like to contribute to our grand total for our sponsor money-please PM me. Thankyou.

🔥 One 2/4 day place remaining. Please see post below for more info. Snooze ya lose!

🔥 Vacancy post 🔥

This week we went to an Antiques Centre where one of our clever Littles found and actually named a gunball machine! We enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods, fed the ducks and picked flowers. We shopped with mini trollies, named our purchases and stacked them on the conveyor belt. We’ve been to toddler groups for social interaction and to use a wider range of resources and made a pasta lunch at one. Unfortunately we’re no longer able to take photos at our favourite one but we checked out their fabulous new outside area with their new mud kitchens, new sand pit, new bridge with roadway, quiet pagoda area and wonderful wall mounted water pumping station. Lots of fun and giggles as you can imagine but no pics of this sadly. While there, we also enjoyed a 45 minute session with the brilliant Tobys Tails which is always a hit. After our walk in the woods, we had a huge birds muck on the windscreen. Obviously I had to sort that and the children thought of the similar meaning words to describe-how awful/disgusting/yuk/horrible/nasty/eughh.

At home we had lunch every day at the mini picnic table in the garden. We played with the wooden farmyard while singing Old McDonald, used our coordination skills pouring and collecting corn flakes and had the giant car mat out. A fabulous music session was had where one of my grandsons joined us. This actually ended up with another good game-after packing up one pair of cymbals were randomly left out. We took turns to each choose a number between 0-10. Everyone had to count to that number and once reached the deciding person had to do cymbal bangs corresponding to that number. Good game. Good game! Needless to say there were lots of jumps and closed eyes! Of course we ended the week with our regular Grasmere Fitness strutting our stuff and getting our hearts pumping where the children take the opportunity to recognise their own initials on their T-shirts.

🔥 An unexpected 2 day place has become available-please see the post below for full details 🫶🏼

Ofsted Registered Childminder based in central Kempston has the following childcare places available:

🔥 Immediate temporary Thursday/Friday place available until the end of August. Thereafter you have the option to do Monday/Tuesdays from 1st September instead.

🔥 A long term Monday/Tuesday space will be available from 1st September if the above place isn’t extended into September.

These places are available between 9am-5:00pm, covering all days and all year for children aged approximately 22+ months (This is to fit in with existing children) based in central Kempston just by Sainsbury’s.

* Can accept Funded children for 15/30hrs
* Fully insured PACEY Member and ICO Registered
* Paediatric First Aid trained
* 30+ years continuous Ofsted Registration
* Numerous EXCELLENT parental references and reviews
* 180+ Certificates of further training undertaken
* Can accept all Government Funding/Tax Free Childcare payments/all Workplace Vouchers

Please visit www.childcare.co.uk/profile/loretta-young for lots more in depth information and also check out my busy page for our weekly posts Sunday evenings to see how we rock! https://www.facebook.com/LorettaYoungRegisteredChildminder/ There are numerous excellent patentable reviews on each platform.

You’re welcome to call me on 07736 644977 to discuss your individual childcare requirements.

Take 5 to see what we’ve been up to this week!

Woah a picnic with a giant dinosaur this week! A lovely sensory walk in the woods comparing soft and smooth bark and lots of fun and meeting our little friends at toddler groups. An extra long massive slide was so much fun along with more exercise and fresh air at a park. We fed x2 different ducks including the best ducks in the world (IYKYK!) We went train spotting, picked daisies and bought herbs from the supermarket using our coordination skills with mini trollies. Throw in a bit of football, basketball and singing and that was our out and about.

At home we chopped our herbs, adding fruit slices and water for a wonderful sensory experience. Following on from visiting the giant dinosaur we recreated a mini make believe dinosaur world and also said hello to some big ones. We built fabulous Marble Run structures and another day collected jewels into secret boxes using giant tweezers both promoting concentration, fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination and strengthening our muscles with that important pincer grip. Our critical thinking skills were extended with matchy matchy puzzles covering the template base with the correct wooden coloured shapes to form the pattens depicted. We used flowers to decorate felt trees in the garden to replicate the spring flowers we’ve seen on our travels. Of course we finished off getting our hearts pumping with our regular Grasmere Fitness session.

Boosh! 💥

A proper good old mix this week for our mornings out!

….fun at The Spooky House, a fabulous Sensory Club morning, exploring nature in The Secret Garden, a trip to a different Fire Station, trying out a lovely new Music Club, lorry honks up the bridge, Toddler Group where everyone sang HB to birthday girly, train spotting, collecting flowers and a birthday Mac Attack!

At home we planted the flowers we’d picked, explored our teeth/dental resources, got creative with playdoh, shared books and stories together. We also enjoyed some calm, focused fun with cereal threading, spent time riding bikes and of course kept up with our regular Grasmere Fitness session.

Boosh 💥

What a busy 4 days finishing off with a lovely birthday party with Princess Anna for one of our girlies. We spent everyday out in the sunshine mostly doing short bursts of the most simple things in life, pottering, tinkering and exploring. Apart from being constantly exciting, this keeps the children eager and focussed on what’s coming up in the next short burst.

We started off on Tuesday walking to a local schools farm. On the way the children admired wild daffodils, found a very friendly cat, checked on Van Ted (IYKYK!) looked at the Churches Easter display and all their associated decorations, admired the Easter postbox topper, stopped for a photo shoot and practiced their Green Cross Code.

This farm was a first for us and was absolutely fabulous and the children were able to get up close and personal holding, stroking and grooming many of the animals. They had a massive field with numerous activities and learning opportunities. We really enjoyed our visit and it’s a shame it’s not open more often!

Wednesday-we went train spotting and watched the cranes. Afterwards we went to the Fire Station then to the little park. Onto the zip line for a few quick whizzes before running the ramps at the skatepark. Over to the basketball courts to do some shoots and a touch of footy. A quick explore in the woods before the children had a running race on the playing field. We then headed down to the Mill to feed the ducks.

Thursday-we headed to a garden centre to collect something I’d left there at the weekend. The Littles smelled lots of flowers, had a look at the giant fish, admired the Easter displays and found a Dinosaur Park where you climb up him and slide down him! We then headed to the Rocket Park for fun and games before heading to the Retail Park where birthday girly chose her own birthday present.

Friday-we headed off to The Fairy Garden where we got in tune with nature. There’s so many wonderful activities and pastimes there for the children to enjoy-it’s a real gem to explore. We crossed the river and spent time climbing trees and running from one to another. The Littles collected sticks and used them to brush against a tree to see wood shavings appear from their sticks onto the bark. A great opportunity for an additional sensory experience using our hands to feel the trunks and describe this.

At home we kept busy with water play-tipping and pouring, rode bikes on the patio, hung pegs on bath towels, coloured insects on sticks, coloured Easter door hangers, formed coloured peg pattens, played mini dollie’s, read books, made collages using Easter stickers and had lots of laughter doing our regular Grasmere Fitness session.

🔥 All childcare places are now currently taken. New opportunities will be available in September when 2 Littles start big school. These will be between 9am-5pm for children approximately 21+ months in order to fit with the remaining children 🔥

For detailed profile please visit: www.childcare.co.uk/profile/loretta-young