Amanda’s Little Adventurers

04/09/2026

🍂📚 Autumn is arriving at Amanda’s Little Adventurers! 📚🍂

Mark has been busy starting our Autumn term window displays, and of course we had to begin with one of our absolute favourites… The Gruffalo! 🐭🌲🤎
We think he’s done an amazing job! 😍

Next up we’ll be adding Stick Man and some lovely autumnal scenes to bring the season to life around our setting. 🍁🍂🌳

Our cosy storytimes will be filled with some of our favourite autumn books too, including The Gruffalo, Stick Man, The Leaf Thief and The Oak Tree. 📖 We’ll be slowing things right down, enjoying the stories together, talking about what we can see, learning new words and following the children’s interests as our autumn adventures unfold.

And because a few of our Little Adventurers are currently dinosaur mad 🦕🦖, we’ve created a little Dino invitation to play!
They’ve been loving learning the different dinosaur names, so we’ll be building on that interest through small world play, imagination, language, sorting, counting and lots of child-led exploration.

We can’t wait to have everyone back next week and see what captures their curiosity this term. 🥰

Cosy stories, dinosaurs, woodland adventures, crunchy leaves and plenty of slow, happy play… our favourite time of year is nearly here! 🍂🦖🌲📚❤️

26/03/2026

📚 School Readiness 📚

Early years learning shouldn’t be about getting children “ahead”…

It should be about giving them something solid to build on.

Too often, school readiness gets confused with pushing formal learning earlier but without strong foundations, that learning isn’t secure.

At Amanda’s Little Adventurers we focus on what really matters first….

Communication and Language
PSED
Physical Development
Play, play & more play
Confidence
Resilience
Relationships
Routines
Wellbeing
Early Maths

Because these are the skills that hold everything else up.

When children arrive in Reception with strong foundations, they don’t just cope, they thrive.

And that’s what real school readiness looks like. 🌿💛🌟

06/03/2026

Today we have a very special visitor — our grand-dog Ruby. 🐶

Having a friendly dog visit us can be a wonderful experience for young children.
It helps them learn to be gentle, calm and respectful around animals, while also building confidence and empathy.
The children love observing, talking about and interacting with our furry friend, which encourages language development, curiosity and caring behaviours.
Of course, all interactions are carefully supervised to make sure both the children and our four-legged visitor are happy and comfortable.

It’s a lovely way to bring a little extra joy, learning and cuddles into our day! 🐾

We love you Ruby. 🐶🐾🐕

05/03/2026

🌈 Manners Matter at Amanda’s Little Adventurers - Little words make a big difference. ☺️

We gently teach children that kind words and good manners matter every day.

Through our daily routines, role play, stories and conversations, the children learn how to communicate with kindness and respect.

✨ We practise saying:

• Please – when we ask for something
• Thank you – when someone helps us
• Excuse me – when we need to pass or speak
• Sorry – when we make a mistake
• Kind words – when playing with our friends

We model good manners throughout the day so children learn naturally through kindness, patience and gentle reminders.

Good manners help children to:

🌿 Build positive friendships
🌿 Show kindness and respect
🌿 Develop confidence in speaking
🌿 Feel valued and listened to

At our setting, manners are part of our everyday culture, helping our little adventurers grow into thoughtful, kind people.

Thank you for supporting this at home too 💛

20/02/2026

✨ We’ve just had our Ofsted inspection. ✨

We are absolutely delighted with our latest Ofsted report and feel incredibly proud of what has been recognised within our setting.

Here are just some of the strengths the inspector highlighted:

🌟 Strong standard in Behaviour & Attitudes.

Children were recognised as happy, settled and confident. They build secure attachments, show kindness to one another and are developing wonderful emotional awareness — learning to name and talk about their feelings.
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🌟 A nurturing, respectful culture.

Ofsted highlighted the warm, trusting relationships children form with us and how this supports their confidence to explore, play and learn.
🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

🌟 Communication & language is a key strength.

Children are supported to develop their listening, understanding and speaking skills, with a strong focus on conversation, vocabulary and self-expression.
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🌟 Inclusive practice.

We were praised for identifying children’s individual needs quickly and working closely with parents and other professionals to ensure every child gets the support they need to thrive.
🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

🌟 Focus on wellbeing & emotional development.

Children are taught to understand and manage their feelings, helping them build the foundations for lifelong emotional wellbeing.
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🌟 Nature-based & outdoor learning 🌿

Our love for the outdoors was recognised, with children enjoying regular walks, exploring woodland areas, visiting the beach and learning how to care for the environment and planet.
🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

🌟 Independence & life skills.

From taking off their shoes, setting the table and pouring drinks, to learning practical habits like recycling — children are developing valuable everyday skills.
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🛡️ Safeguarding: Met
Safeguarding was recognised as effective, with a strong culture where children are kept safe and feel safe.

⸻

We are so proud of this outcome, our setting and of the environment we’ve created for our little adventurers to learn, grow and thrive every day 🌈

Thank you to all our families for your continued support — we couldn’t do it without you 🤍

Amanda & Mark.
Amanda’s Little Adventurers ⭐️🌟

20/02/2026

✨ Our first 6 weeks back together in 2026✨

What a lovely, gentle start to our term it’s been. ☺️

After the Christmas break, the children have settled calmly back into our routines, enjoying lots of child-led play centred around their interests and wellbeing.

We’ve explored Winter, polar animals and the Northern Lights, watched and cared for the birds in our garden, made bird feeders, recycled materials and learnt how we can help look after our planet.🌍
We’ve celebrated Valentines Day, Chinese/Lunar New Year and Pancake Day.

Our days have been filled with woodland walks, park trips, jumping in puddles, farm visits, soft play adventures and baking delicious cookies. 🍪

We’ve spent lots of time focusing on kindness — looking after one another, being gentle, building friendships and supporting each other’s emotional wellbeing. We’ve read books together, sang together and danced to our favourite nursery rhymes. We shared lots of lovely activities together for Children’s mental health week.

The children have also been growing in independence — setting the table, pouring their own drinks, learning to put on their own shoes and coats and making brilliant progress with toilet training.

We are super proud of each and every one of our little adventurers — you are all shining so brightly. ✨🌈💛

17/02/2026

17/02/2026

Half term fun at the farm. 🫶🏻🐴🐰🐮🐔🐷

12/02/2026

🫶🏻☺️

12/02/2026

This week we’ve been learning all about Chinese Lunar New Year and how it’s celebrated around the world. 🐉🐲

The children have enjoyed exploring traditional colours such as red and gold, listening to Chinese music, looking at lion dances, and reading stories to help us understand the celebrations and their meaning.

We’ve also been tasting a delicious Chinese meal together — a lovely way to experience different cultures through food! 🥢

We love introducing the children to festivals from around the world, helping them learn about diversity, traditions and celebrations in a fun, hands-on way. ❤️