Wild Things - Droitwich

07/08/2026

Our theme over the summer holidays is "Under the sea" - perfect for bringing out the sand and water play and making the most of the gorgeous sunshine.

To help our Wild Things learn, we use BSL signs as well as saying the words. This gives them two different options to communicate with us, and we find even the babies can pick up on signs used consistently and in context long before they can speak. It also supports language acquisition through the use of gestures and signs, which forms additional connections in a child's developing brain.

For children who are learning more than one language, using the same sign consistently across both (or all) spoken languages provides an additional link to cement the meaning of both words.

Here is a link to our favourite 'sea creatures' BSL video. What's your favourite sign?

Learn the signs for these sea creatures in BSL: Subscribe: https://...

04/08/2026

Dear families, just to make you aware of a change in the setting that your child might notice, and question. Our rats have always been a big part of our day - watching them eat, drink, jump and climb as well as the older ones having strokes and cuddles with them.

After many years of running a large mischief - we had 8 at one point - we were down to our last two elderly rats, Eira and Snowflake. Unfortunately, this evening, we had to make the hardest quality-of-life decision imaginable.

Young children do not have our understanding and feelings about death and usually respond best to simple, factual explanations. If they ask, I will simply be saying that the rats' bodies got very old and stopped working properly, and they died.

Over the next few days the living room will be rearranged slightly, which can sometimes unsettle young children who like predictability and routine, but I will keep disruption to a minimum as far as I can.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

25/07/2026

We are all ready to take our Wild Things under the sea over the next few weeks. We will be reading 'The Snail and the Whale' and 'Commotion in the Ocean', spending lots of time keeping cool with water play, enjoying our beach themed tuff trays, building sand castles and of course popping lots of fishy bubbles!

11/07/2026

My heart is fit to burst not just as a mum, but as a childminder after watching my daughter and a much loved former mindee dance at Indigo @ The O2 in London last weekend, and at our local theatre this weekend. You are both incredible, and it's a pleasure to watch you on stage ❤️

It’s almost SHOW TIME 🤩

We cannot wait for this weekend! Over 170 of our dancers are taking to the stage to perform in our annual show 🤩

This year’s theme is A Night at the Movies 🍿

We’ve got dancers as young as 3 performing and I must say they are all SO excited to take part in the show 🫶🏼

If you’d like to see our dancers in action, grab a ticket before sell out 🎟️

https://www.ticketsource.com/whats-on/droitwich/the-norbury-theatre/a-night-at-the-movies-presented-by-entw9-dance-school/e-vgdvbl 💜

📸: Chris Ford

08/07/2026

The additional measures we have taken since the last heatwave are making a big difference to where we sleep and play in the afternoons. Thankfully, only 14 more school runs to endure 😂

25/06/2026

Cool water is so inviting in this heat - but check that it really is cool before you let your child in.

***UPDATE 2 - lemons, lemon juice and other citrus fruit can cause a skin reaction when in contact with the sun - take care if using these in your play in hot weather***

***UPDATE - one hour in full sun raised the water temperature to over 42 degrees, but, scarily, the part of the tuff tray where there was no water - the edges, and where it had evaporated off the base - were over 48 degrees. That's hot enough to actually burn your skin. In fact, the thermometer didn't stop there, but my phone alerted me that it was turning itself off due to excessive heat!***

Our tuff tray was filled with fresh cold water this morning ready for our activities, but by lunchtime it was the same temperature as the air - 33 degrees. Not so refreshing!

We always keep our water tuff trays in the shade in hot weather, but I was curious to know what just 30 minutes of full sun would do to the water. Result: the temperature rapidly increased to 40 degrees - the same as a hot bath for an adult, and just 4 degrees below the minimum water temperature that could burn your child's skin.

Lighter coloured plastic didn't raise the temperature so much - just to 35.5 degrees in the same length of time. It may be worth investing in a light coloured tuff tray for summer play - we certainly will be.

Also remember that water in your hose heats up, too - if you are using your hose to fill a pool, spray your child out give your dog or cat a drink, run it for a few minutes first to let the cooler water through.

For those of you with pools, if they have a dark cover on, that water can also get pretty warm - 35.9 for us this afternoon.

25/06/2026

We took every measure possible to keep our Wild Things cool today - fans, frozen water bottles, dehumidifier, a bowl of damp flannels and muslins, even our pushchair was wearing a pair of shades and each occupant had their own individual fan keeping them cool for the school run.

Our garden kept us cool with the sprinkler, refreshing fruit potion tuff tray, huge amounts of shade and drinks, and infinite things to do.

Once the temperature started to creep up, we headed back inside for a cool, delicious snack of homemade lollies made from mashed strawberries and raspberries, and the juiciest fruit available - plums, watermelon, oranges and bananas.

Our Wild Things are loving the story of the Three Little Pigs just now, and we practiced our huffing, puffing and howling until it was time for our midday collection.

22/06/2026

The weather warning for our area has now been increased from Amber to Red. Our hot weather protocols remain the same, but with increased vigilance for signs of heat stress.

Our measures have proven effective today, everyone has really enjoyed our water flavoured with a few slices of cool, refreshing cucumber. The watermelon starter was a hit at lunchtime, and the mud kitchen and water-filled tuff tray were extremely popular in the garden this morning. I somehow only needed to give two reminders about keeping hats on - I'm in shock 🤣

What are you doing to stay cool this week?

21/06/2026

With the Met Office having issued an amber warning for heat health for our area for this coming week, I am implementing our heat warning protocols, as detailed in the 'heat warnings' section of our webpage on sun safety (link in comments).

In particular, this includes temporarily withdrawing our requirement for long trousers - we will not be venturing beyond the house and garden, except for school runs so the risk of insect bites is much lower than usual. Staying as cool as possible is the priority.

I will advise towards the end of the week whether our heat warning protocols will continue next week, once the forecast is more certain.

19/06/2026

The temperatures are rising and so is the fun! This week we have celebrated not one, but two wild birthdays, and enjoyed a very appropriately-themed birthday session at Debutots. We've had plenty of garden fun, continuing our farm theme by giving our seedlings bigger pots, ready for going home to families for Father's Day. We made new friends at playgroup and practiced our turn taking.

Our recipe book is live and receiving some lovely feedback:

"This is amazing!!!"

"It's so informative and such a helpful guide for new parents."

"This really demonstrates your passion for early years, your new PANCo role and what am amazing child minder you are!"

We plan on adding to our recipe book with each seasonal change, supporting families with information, handy tips and delicious time saving, nutritious recipes that the whole family will love.