The Fiveways Nanny

What a lovely day at Witterings Beach, supporting mum with G21m and B4y.
And what a treat to be on a sandy beach!
Lots of fun was had digging a big hole, collecting rocks to make shapes, writing letters in the wet sand and last but not least splashing in the water!

Welcome to Summer 😎

Makaton is a lovely way to start communicating with babies before speech development.

Learning just a few basic signs is quick and easy, and within a few months you and your baby will be communicating and understanding each other!

I’ve been using Makaton with a baby from age 8 months. We’ve been signing basic words such as milk, more, finish, nappy, drink and eat. Through Makaton, she is able to communicate her wants and needs better, which helps with feeling independent and understood.

Our most recent learnt word has been ‘help’. Being able to communicate this one little word has been revolutionary! It has really empowered her to seek help whenever she needs it, rather than sounds of frustration!

Makaton has also helped with memory and concentration skills and has encouraged her social interactions with others. Combining signs and words has also encouraged speech development.

Here are some free resources to get you started:

https://makaton.org

https://youtu.be/aSonSBa1yNM?feature=shared

Have fun!

Makaton sign for help Join in with Mrs Widdup showing us this week’s sign of the week.

Inspired by the National Trust book, Seaside, M (17months ) and I took a trip to the Sea Life Centre. We saw many different sea creatures including sharks, jellyfish, turtles and fish in all shapes and sizes!

Standing right up to the the glass enclosures, M observed with curiosity how the various sea creatures moved and interacted with their habitat. The floor to ceiling aquarium was mesmerising for children and adults alike!

The trip brought alive what we had seen in the book and M enjoyed making fish ‘sounds’ and asking the little fish to come to her.

We finished our trip to the seafront with an open air lunch under the bright blue sky and a "hello" and wave to Mr/Mrs Seagull!

Home-made play dough is quick and easy to make with just a few ingredients.

This creative activity helps children build up muscles in their tiny hands as they squish, roll and flatten the play dough.

Using different tools helps them develop hand-eye coordination as they use them to manipulate the material.

Each play activity gives opportunity to use different words. Today we used new words including roll, squash, cut, pat, square, circle and triangle.

Have fun!

Happy Mother's Day!
Thank you to all the "mums" who have loved us, cared for us, supported us, taught us, encouraged us and helped us. ❤️

We thank all of those who showed us the way, supported us, nurtured us, taught us, loved us and set us free 💜💚

Dressing Up Is Fun (and Important)
Do you remember dressing up as a child? Perhaps you enjoyed trying on your mummy’s shoes and hat or wearing a family member’s tool belt and asking them what needed fixing?

Dress-up is not only fun, it is also an important and useful activity for your child’s development. Here are just a few reasons why to encourage it:

Imagination: When children dress up, there is no limitation on who they can be and what they can do. They can be a pirate sailing the seas in search of treasure, or an astronaut exploring the moon. Rudolf Steiner the founder of Waldorf education, believed that imaginative play in early childhood is the key to creative thinking during the adult years.

Emotional Development and Empathy: dressing up allows children to put themselves in someone else's shoes and think about what they might be feeling. This increases empathy for others. How does a doctor feel when they are examining a patient (a.k.a. me!) with a poorly tummy?
Children regularly experience new or changing situations which can bring up a number of emotions. Dressing up and playing out those situations in a safe and imaginative environment allows children to process these emotions thereby helping with emotional development.

Communication and socialisation: Being in-character allows children to use vocabulary they might not use in everyday life (“ahoy there matey!”)
Also, deciding who is going to play what role and the story to be played out requires discussion, negotiation and turn taking.

Here are some everyday items you can collect for your child’s dressing up box:
Hats, scarves, gloves and belts
Sunglasses
Apron
Handbags or briefcases
Old necklaces
Small plastic bottles (for pretend medicine administering)
Long pieces of fabric

Wishing you and your child hours of fun dressing up!

Playing outdoors in nature benefits children intellectually, physically, emotionally and socially. There's a lot less structure than organised indoor play, and so children can choose how they interact with nature. This encourages creativity and imagination:
on this occasion, N and I discovered dragons, flew like airplanes and petted a snake!

Here are some outdoor activities to do with little ones:
Dig in the dirt with a stick
Watch the clouds passing by
Jump in puddles
Smell the flowers
Build things with twigs and mud
Listen to the birds

Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I love living and working in Fiveways. There's so much to see and do within walking distance for little legs. One of my favourite places is the community garden on Cleveland Road. It's a great place for children to see and understand how fruit and veg grow. Direct interaction including touch, smell and most importantly taste (!), helps inquisitive minds understand the process of how food grows and often encourages them to try new vegetables. 🍎🥕🥦