Seedlings childminding

Summer 2026 complete.

☀️ Summer Holidays 2026☀️

We've had lots of fun enjoying being outside. Beach, parks, walks, woods, den building, castles, bus trips, sunflower maze, lots of water play.
The holidays have gone by in a flash.

As the school term comes to an end we also come to an end of an era. We say good bye to some children who have been here for nearly 5 years and some who started when they were babies and will be heading to start big school.

These children have filled our house and hearts with so much joy and fun. It's been amazing watching you learn and grow (some now as tall as me 🙈) it's going to be very strange not having you here, I wish you all the best for your new chapters, go shine like the super stars you are. You will be missed.

Thank you for all my lovely gifts and kind words it's been a privilege to look after you 🥹❤️

What a great end to the summer term, water play, toddler groups, dancing, treats, water fight and a trip to fishers farm.

Strawberry picking 🍓 the children had great fun searching for strawberries today. They made a very good yummy snack.

Butterflies 🦋

This week some of our activities were all about butterflies after our visit to the butterfly house where we saw lots of different colourful butterflies it inspired us to get creative 🦋

A little snap shot of last week:
Softplay fun
Forestschool
Sensory room
Fruit kebabs

The story of the hungry caterpillar
Making caterpillars and watching our own caterpillars grow

Our week, under the sea theme 🐠🦀🐙🐟🦈

Tuff trays
Potion making
Cutting and sticking
Trip to the farm
Morning at active play and bounce
Stories
Practicing our names
Park trips
Sea life centre trip

Our trip to the Sealife centre this week. We saw lots of sea creatures, learnt their names and facts about them. We watched the turtles and sharks being fed and listened to some facts about them, Dotty the shark was 26 years old 😮

Couldn't of said this any better myself, absolutely spot on. Us childcare providers are being made to look like the big greedy ones when actually the government are the ones giving out incorrect information. They are funded hours not free.

This is not my normal kind of post, but I have a substantial following now and it only feels right to use this stage to advocate for my community of early years educators.

The debate regarding “hidden nursery fees” is painting early years settings as the issue. Whilst I am not naive to the fact there will be some nursery owners who take advantage of the system, to undermine and discredit the entire childcare sector to suit the political agenda is both unfair and deeply irresponsible. Blanket criticism not only damages the reputation of dedicated professionals, but risks further destabilising a sector that many parents rely on day in day out.

The government created a system branded as “free childcare” while knowing full well the funding rates do not cover the actual cost of delivering high quality care.

That is the real issue here.

Early years settings strive to support families and deliver accessible, high quality care. However, additional charges are often unavoidable because the current funding system does not cover the true cost of delivering these places.

Funded hours ARE NOT FREE. For 3 and 4yr olds, settings receive almost half their hourly rate from the government to provide the same service as a fully paid space. Imagine the government walking into your established bakery business, telling your customers they can buy your cakes for free, but then only fund half the ingredients. But the truth is, we aren’t paying for cakes. We are paying for our children’s future. Their education. Up to 90% of a humans brain has developed by the age of 5yrs. Yet the government proceeds to underfund the entire early years sector and then paint them to be the untrustworthy.

Parents are paying for qualified staff, safe ratios, training, cleaning, resources, emotional support, safeguarding, hygiene standards and environments where children feel safe, secure and able to thrive.

I see the outcomes of high quality care every day. Children leave us confident, capable and ready for life because of the incredible work practitioners do under enormous pressure.

If the government genuinely wants parents back into work and wants economic growth, then it has to stop undermining one of the sectors that makes that possible.

Parents deserve transparency. Early years settings deserve respect. And the government simply needs to stop promising free childcare if they are not prepared to pay providers the true cost of providing that care.