Little Gem's Childminding

What an exciting week we have had making the most of the glorious sunshine ☀️ we’ve spent lots of time in the garden and have planted some fruit and vegetables in our new planter (with thanks to my amazing Dad ❤️). We talked about what is needed to help things grow and we have continued to water our fruits and vegetables throughout the week, we can’t wait to enjoy them at snack time when they are ready!

We visited Cotebrook Shire Horse Farm where we got to groom a pony, feed the chickens and ducks, get up close with a Shore horse and see the foals 🥰🐴 we also embarked on a nature walk where we saw some exciting animals being fed by their keepers, this included otters, ferrets, foxes, Scottish wild cats and even a barn owl 🦉

We had our toddler group on Wednesday where we focused on physical development, we particularly enjoyed crawling through tunnels and into tents as well as making lots of food in the kitchen area.

On Thursday we had a music class where we sang songs, copied actions and tried to follow a beat with instruments. We then enjoyed water play outside which was lots of fun, we practiced tipping and pouring and it helped us to cool down in the heat.

We finished the week off with a visit to Chester Zoo where we saw lots of different animals and even arrived at the lemur enclosure in time to see them follow the keeper in a line to where they were going to be fed 😍

First week of the Easter holidays was a lovely week, we saw old faces return for the holidays and they were greeted with such excitement from their friends 🥰

Lots of outdoor exploration, our first visit to Ness Gardens which was beautiful, a catch up with friends and some Easter bakes 🤤🤤

This week we have been celebrating Holi, World Book Day and a the first bit of sunshine!

We have had a trip to the forest, brightly coloured activities at play group and a music class with “Live the beat” to name just a few highlights!

A very short week for Little Gems this week as we closed for some family time 🥰

Thursday we enjoyed a Chinese New Year theme with a sensory tray of coloured rice and Chinese bowls / spoons. We also decorated a Chinese Dragon made out of cardboard boxes 🐉

We finished off the week with a pancake theme, enjoying a pancake tuff tray and pancakes for snack 🥞🤤 we also had a wet visit to the park which we had all to ourselves! 🛝

Look what the hubby found 😍 if this wasn’t meant for me, I don’t know what was!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all ❤️

In recognition of children’s mental health week we have been talking about emotions today 😃

We looked at ourselves in mirrors and created faces using facial feature rocks as well as shapes on the light box. We also read the story of colour monster and talked about how the characters were feeling.

We also made “love potions” with Valentine’s Day approaching this weekend 🥰

With half term closures next week we have focused on pancake day today 🤤🥞

We enjoyed mark making in flour, using gross motor skills to flip playdough pancakes in the pan and counted the fruit on top of pancakes which is great for our mathematical development.

We also enjoyed making cards for our loved ones using glue, card and heart shapes ❤️

Last week was national story telling week!

We explored

* Room on the broom at Delamere Forest
* Owl Babies at Blakemere
* Three little pigs, Goldilocks and Superworm at playgroup
* The tiger who came to tea on Thursday
* We’re going on a bear hunt in the wooded area by us

With all this fun we almost forgot that we were working on our fine and gross motor skills, our communication and language and our literacy to name just a few!

Learning can be so much fun! 📖

This morning we visited Chester Fire Station with the Chester Childminders Association. We got to see the fire engines with their flashing lights, the firefighters showed us all the different compartments and what was inside and we even got to climb inside and have a look around! A fantastic morning thoroughly enjoyed by all 🚒🔥

What a lovely week we have had easing ourselves into the new year!

We have explored new resources, returned to our play group where we enjoyed playing on the slide, role play area and reading stories together. On Thursday we spent the day with some friends enjoying sensory tuff trays, musical instruments and riding bikes and we finished the week off with a trip to mootrition and a nice glass of milkshake 🐮🥛Happy New Year everyone 🥳🥰

What an exciting day we have had today with a visit from two police officers who brought both a police van AND a police car! 👮🚔

We got to go into the holding cell, sit in the car / van, we saw the flashing lights and “drove” the police car! The police officers also showed us some of their trusted equipment such as body cameras, handcuffs and batons!

We talked about safety, good behaviour and kindness 🤝🥰