Lucy’s Little Lambs, Childminder East Hull - Yorkshire, UK

How are we all enjoying this beautiful summer weather? Sunshine ☀️ It’s glorious isn’t it?! 🌞

We have had to get a little creative in the garden to make it a safer place to play as it’s the perfect sun trap. Shade achieved! Amazing what you can do with a bit of Tarp and some imagination- giant den it is ! 🤣⛺️

I’ve included a few more pictures below of a some of the things the children have been getting up to over these last few weeks 💕

A photo drop of some of this last months activities and outings 😍

After months of tears, sleepless nights, frayed tempers, squashed toes, utter berwilderment and hammered fingers, we finally did it. The playhouse is finally up and fit for what will hopefully be, years of amazing fun and growing imaginations!

Needs decorating and furnishing properly for the finishing touches but I can live with that now my garden no longer resembles a construction site 🤣

As the months and weeks go on I have less and less time to post here. I prioritise looking after the children in my care and the direct communication with parents over using what little free time I have on social media. That doesn’t mean the fun has stopped behind the scenes, on the contrary. But when I can I will always take a moment in time to celebrate and share some of the wonderful experiences the Little Lambs get up to whilst in my care.

But todays post is a little different and it’s bit of sunshine brought to you from the Algarve whilst I’ve been recharging my batteries.

I truly hope all my families are having a wonderful Easter break and so looking forward to welcoming my Little Lambs back again on Monday 17th April 🙂

What if what we have taken from them is what they need most? Let them connect with nature and immerse themselves in free play + wonder and see where that takes us. 🐛☀️🤍 #letthembelittle #naturekids #homeschoolmama #preschoolhomeschool #naturalparenting

Easter time 🐣🐇💝🥚

Has there ever been a video more relatable?! 🤣

Why Mum's can't make plans! #mumlife #mum #instamum #mom #kids #family #mumsofinstagram #comedy #funny #funnyvideos #newvideo #content #comedian #character #reels #pov #afterschool

It’s been almost a month since I last posted photos of activities and the learning that we have been doing. They’re such wide ranging from learning how to use a glue stick to make Chinese dragons, mark making drawing on chalkboards and holding colouring pencils and felt tips to paper, we’ve practiced our motor skills for kicking and throwing balls whilst running around to strength those all important upper body muscles in preparation for sitting in chairs at school. The younger lambs have been learning to climb, and discovered more of the world around them by introducing every day objects as sensory play. We practiced our jumping skills to better our balance, and some lambs were lucky enough to experience a short snow flurry and got to dance outside in it.

Of course these picture only capture a tiny moments in time and so the children learned and did so much more besides.

Next week we shall be celebrating Valentine’s Day and getting our craft on so the children can make some special gifts for their loved ones.
We shall be discussing random acts of kindness and asking the children about different ways they can show love and care to help others, and we shall also be having fun in the kitchen making pancakes for shrove Tuesday to name but a few things on the agenda.

I hope the children who are not with us this week have an amazing break and look forward to seeing you when you return. But for those of you joing us in the holidays we look forward to welcoming you all back!! :)

This week I took delivery of a new Wendy house, I think I’m more excited than the children and may well keep it for myself once it has been built 😂
The photo below is how it will hopefully look once our DIY skills have been put to the test 😅

Forest school update: 🦉🐜🐞🐛🪲🕷️🦌🦡🦊

Last Friday a meeting was held between the Strategic Manager of Open Spaces from Hull City Council and myself. This was to discuss my ideas for creating a forest school space on some registered green land close to my home.

Excitingly, he absolutely loved hearing the various stages of ideas I proposed for the site. I wanted him to understand how children of our city are so disadvantaged in lacking this important dimension to learning outside, that is seemingly so accessible elsewhere in the country.

Obviously he wanted to make sure my thoughts on the importance of nurturing the site was of high priority. And I also gave a little speech about how children can not only learn to care for nature but learn from it. Gaining skills such as risk taking, building strength and agility, expanding their creativity, aiding positive mental health, widening their imagination, learning cooking and growing in independence to name just a few, so he understood what the purpose of a forest school was.

Further more, I expressed a desire to plant more native trees on the manicured green grass to the front of the small wood and myself and the children could encourage more wildlife to the area too.

Amazingly, it turns out that the site is of high ecological importance. How exciting is that?! Due to the nature of potential rare species of plants supposedly growing there, an ecological survey must be carried out. This will now take place in May and a report will be made. The forest school plans can then be assessed to make sure it will not impact on their habitat, of which we both felt almost certain the forest school could do the reversible instead.

Once this has been done, fingers crossed we will then be able to navigate a more fully formed plan for the forest school, and have a both useable and secure site ready for the summer months 🌲 🌳 🍃🍁🍂🦉

Aww I’m feeling appreciated 🥰 thank you for letting me help celebrate your little ones 1st Birthday yesterday Ionela. The children really enjoyed the little tea party and party songs 🎊🎂🎈

This month so far we have been learning about January, Winter, the Weather and exploring what animals live in the cold. We had several visits to The Deep to meet the penguins and discussed the animals of the deep oceans. We got to experience gale force winds and driving sleight and rain (wasn’t intentional but an experience none the less 🤣), we built new friendships, and began the foundations of sharing and understanding others feelings, we danced, we stimulated our senses, we made winter art and most of all we played…!