Fern Friends Childminding

Goodbye for now 💗

After a year of being a childminder around my two girls who are (just turned) 3 and nearly 2, I have been doing a lot of soul searching.

The journey with my mindees has been a great adventure, however doing it from home whilst my girls are so young certainly provided challenges that I honestly didn't see coming. Silly me..

Anyway, so we've decided to move to Portugal to spend the next year with family before our eldest starts school. To truly be together and learn even more about nature than we do now.

We're moving to a small farm 😃

I want to thank all of the parents for trusting us and of course the children who were a pleasure to care for! My girls have an extended family thanks to you all and we couldn't be more grateful for the experiences gained 💖

Oh and of course a HUGE thanks to Chrissy whom without, none of this would be possible. Neighbour, friend and dream team buddy!!

I may be creating an account for our journey on the farm and additional learning opportunities, so stay tuned 👍

Love you all 😘

A curiosity kinda' afternoon 💖

These items are always accessible to the children...
But put them in a different location, create an invitation to play, adding in a couple of mediums (herbs, dry grains etc) and they're off!

I love seeing small hands at work like this. Pure exploring 👌

SIMPLE SNACKTIVITY 🥄

The tuff tray was full of rain from yesterday and had a few trucks sitting in it from earlier this week.

The thought was, what can the children enjoy shovelling and scooping with the trucks that takes minimal prep time?

Breakfast cereals 🥣

Develop skills with the Mortar and Pestle, crush, pour, scoop and eat!!

Oh and some mark making once the tray was really dusty 😅

Perfect and available in under a minute 👌

IMAGINATION 💕

When a trip to the local park ends being a fire making session.

Collecting bits on the way, making the fire when we arrive and then opening a shop to sell 'marshmallows' and sticks to use on the fire.

Love. Love. Love.

And 100% child led.

CANAL TRIPPIN' 😎

We hired a little narrowboat today called Kitty to explore the Basingstoke canal.

Although keen to spot wildlife, the children also just enjoyed climbing up and down the inside benches... Ticks off physical development 🤔😂

I enjoyed it, they did too and it was something different! Also I feel more and more happy these days when I know I'm supporting a small local business. I'm sure it's much needed after last year 👍

Give it a go!

Penny 💕

We are so blessed to be based amongst nature and kind people.

Today we took a short walk before lunch to see our local friend Penny and her owners were kind enough to let us meet her up close. The children loved it!

We also experienced wonder and awe from the good ol' classics... Flowers, butterflies, bees, sticks and.. fire hydrants 😂

Simple, but oh so good ❤️

MEET DUNCAN 🐓

We're on holiday for 2 weeks 🤗

Week 1 was visiting the in-laws at their farm in Portugal and the girls are continuing to learn through play and nature.

They absolutely loved feeding the animals each day; collecting freshly laid eggs, picking fruit and vegetables from their land, waking up to Duncan each morning (noisy!), exploring the tractor, giant sand pits and so much more!

We also helped Oupa (South African Grandpa) recycle his plastic and keep those nasties away from the animals.

But most of all, we loved spending time with family that we haven't seen in a year and a half ❤️

Thoroughly enjoyed it!

FORGET THE FOOTBALL ⚽

. we're off to the farm!

We spent the morning teaching the children about different types of animals; being kind to them, how to care for them and personal hygeine when dealing with animals.

Elm Nursery is a beautiful, small but comprehensive, family run nursery with a children's farm, playground, cafe and farm shop.

One of my favourite Surrey destinations with children 👌

ASSAULT COURSE 💃

Physical development in full force today with climbing frames, slides, ramps, tunnels and ball 'pits'.

We used this as an opportunity to get the children to follow direction; throw balls, bang the Cajón etc. They were excellent at being mindful of others, working together and navigating the Pikler in a slightly unusual set-up.

We even got the cars out later to use the ramp whilst having a rest 😊

A colourful and fun day that can be re-created with household items and some imagination 👌

TICKS

You know you're nature bunnies when you need to use your kids' magnifying glass to check and remove a tick. It just so happens it's a product too 😂

On a serious note, keep an eye out for these creepies during the summer months, this is the second tick I've removed this month.

Most ticks are harmless, but symptoms of an infected bite can take around 2 - 4 weeks to manifest, so you also need to keep an eye on your precious ones during that time.

Until then, continue to explore 💗

MUD CAKES 🧁

I'm a proud Mum to 2 children under 3 and childminder to 8 other children across the week, so I need quick, easy and fun.

After 2 weeks of sunshine and lots of sand and water play, which all then got torrential rained on (!) I needed to update the tuff tray for our garden free play. This setup was so easy to do after a little thought, garden snipping and cupboard raiding.

Scooping, pouring, mixing, decorating, imagination play and so much more 👍

We even managed to entice those who aren't yet comfortable exploring with messy play.

WIN 😊

This Rainy Monday..

We hit the Aquarium 🐟

Followed by the shortest walk along the coast before the weather turned for the worst 😂

We've been playing with sea creatures in our water play for the last couple of weeks so it was really nice to show some in the flesh and get up close.

Also, seeing the sea feeds my soul a little, so even if it was grey and brief, it was nice 👍