Fun Days at Esme's

17/03/2026

To all my girls past and present,

You might not see the impact you’re making.
But the child who feels safe with you, will remember that feeling. 🫶🏻

The child who learns to trust because of you, will carry that forward.

The child who feels seen because you noticed the little things, will grow in confidence.

The work is quiet…
But the impact is lifelong. 🙌 🥹

04/02/2026

Sometimes people forget that childminding is more than a job. It’s a whole world we build inside our homes — a place where children grow, play, learn and make friends.

What many don’t see is the amount of training we do in our own time. Evenings, weekends, late nights with a cup of tea and a laptop… Child Protection, Pediatric First Aid, Playwork course, Speech Therapy, Autism course, ADHD course.. all unpaid, all unseen.
We do it because we care about the children we look after.
Because their safety, their development, their happiness and yours — it all matters to us more than words can say.

If there is a child with certain behaviour issues and I don’t know for sure what I am dealing with, I look it up and if need be, I will do a course to update my knowledge.
They arrive as tiny humans… and somehow, without us even noticing, they grow into confident, capable little people ready for their next chapter.

And that’s where my heart is sitting today.
I look at my 3 year olds and know the time will be here soon to say goodbye.

Two who have been with me since they were just one year old.
Two who joined me at two yeas old.

I’ve watched most of them learn to walk, talk, climb, negotiate, problem‑solve, make friends, and find their voice.
I’ve watched them grow into themselves, day by day, moment by moment.

And even though I’m so proud of them… I’m already missing them in advance as I am missing my last 3 girls leaving us in September.

That’s the part of childminding people don’t always see. The quiet goodbyes. The lump in your throat. The way you stand at the door after they’ve gone and think, “Wow… we were part of their story.”

Childminding is like any other job in some ways — the paperwork, the planning, the training — but in so many ways, it’s nothing like any other job at all. It’s heart work. It’s family work. It’s love, disguised as a profession.

To all the childminders feeling the same… I see you.
To all the families who trust us with your little humans… we thank you.
And to the children moving on this year… you’ll always have a piece of my heart tucked in your backpack. 😘
I am very lucky to run a holiday club as well in Llangorse School.
This way, for many of you, it’s not a goodbye, just a “See you soon”. 🥰

23/01/2026

The weather is atrocious but that has not dampen our fun here at Fun Days. 🥰

16/11/2025

What a week we had. A birthday, a walk outside when the rain finally held of for a day, celebrating Remembrance Day and making Poppy’s ( we love sticking and glueing) and to top it all off, we had a Children in Need day, coming in our pyjamas, filling up Pudsey with our finger prints and having a Teddy Bear picnic 😍

13/11/2025

12/11/2025

In the 1950s, every kindergartener knew the ritual: crayons down, lights low, and the soft hum of a record spinning through the air.
Naptime wasn’t a break — it was part of learning.

Teachers dimmed the lights, tiptoed between mats, and whispered, “Close your eyes.”
Kids rested, dreamed, or just stared at sunbeams dancing on the ceiling — learning something we’ve since forgotten: that rest is part of growth.

Then came the tests.
The “readiness.”
The race to get ahead.
By the 1980s, naps were gone. The mats rolled up. The lights stayed on.

Today, five-year-olds spend more time in structured lessons than third-graders did in the 1950s — no pauses, no quiet, no chance to just be.
And we wonder why they’re anxious.

Maybe it’s time we remembered what our teachers once knew:
You don’t grow by running all the time.
You grow in the stillness too.
Even big kids need naptime sometimes.

11/11/2025

Research shows that your child’s future strength in math may begin far earlier than worksheets, drills, or number flashcards. It begins with music.🎶

Not with forced early academics.
Not with tracing sheets at age 3.
Not with memorizing equations.

But with rhythm. With clapping games.
With melodic repetition. With spontaneous kitchen concerts made of spoons and pots.

Because music doesn’t just entertain.
It reorganizes the brain.

And here’s the deeper truth:

In early childhood, music is one of the most powerful neurodevelopmental tools we have.

Their brain is learning:
“How do patterns form?”
“How do sequences unfold?”
“How do beats stay steady?”
“How do sounds repeat and predict?”
“How does rhythm anchor attention?”

Music doesn’t just help children enjoy learning.
It builds the cognitive hardware for learning.

This isn’t “just play.”
It’s neural choreography.

And practicing that truth often looks like repeating the same song twenty times, banging beats with joyful abandon, singing off-key while dressing dolls, or drumming fingers on the table while thinking.

We often mistake this as noise.
But neurologically, it’s organization. It’s regulation. It’s pattern acquisition. It’s sequencing rehearsal.

Modern neuroscience is clear:

🎵 Music strengthens:
• auditory discrimination
• working memory
• spatial reasoning
• pattern recognition
• self-regulation
• emotional resilience
• and the brain networks used for math, reading, and executive function

Why does this matter?

Because the child who hums constantly today,
the child who taps rhythms on everything
the child who sings in the bath, the child who can’t sit still without drumming their legs is rehearsing the brain skills they will one day use to: solve equations, organize thoughts, control impulses, focus longer, and approach challenges with creativity instead of fear.

Music isn’t extra.
It’s essential cognitive nutrition.

So instead of silencing their rhythm, we can nurture it:

→ Clap patterns and let them copy
→ Sing instructions instead of saying them
→ Dance freely during transitions
→ Leave simple instruments accessible
→ Turn routines into rhythmic rituals

We are not encouraging chaos.
We are cultivating neural growth.

We are not raising a noisy child. We are raising a child whose brain is synchronizing, sequencing, and strengthening one beat at a time. 🥰

07/11/2025

🎆🎇🧨

30/10/2025

23/10/2025

👻🎃💀

15/10/2025

Bubble Painting fun 🤪