LSA Childminding Lynsey & Steve Maughan

28/09/2026

LSA has had a lovely few weeks since we reopened after our Summer holiday ☀️

The children have loved reflection times telling us all about their holidays, sharing photos/videos, and celebrating a few birthdays with lots of party songs, dancing, and singing 🎉🎤

We have packed so much rich learning and laughter into our days.

Here is a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to:

Daily Routines & Early Literacy:
We’ve been changing our calendar to practice counting, number recognition, and phonics, and we love singing our days of the week song. 🌧️🌤️

Active & Creative Play: From singing about farm animals to going on Autumn treasure walks, we’ve been super busy! We collected conkers, sticks, and leaves on our walks, which we then used back at the setting to paint & create with 🍁🎨

Exploring the World:
We've been learning about transport sizes and colours, and enjoying mini rugby, sensory groups, playgroups, and sports like football and basketball and hula hooping ⚽

Early Science & Sensory: We explored water and bubbles, mixing letter and animal sounds with early lessons on forces and movement 🧼💧

Fine Motor & Imagination: The children have loved puppet shows, colouring, cutting, and exploring the roleplay shop and dolls
🎭🛒

Exciting News:

We are learning to sign!

To ensure our setting remains as supportive and welcoming as possible, Lynsey has officially started her training for her British Sign Language (BSL) Level 1 qualification!

We are weaving signs into our daily routines, and the children have taken to it beautifully!

All of our school children have already fully learned how to sign their names and have proudly become our "Sign Captains," helping the younger ones practice.

Meanwhile, our youngest learners are discovering the starting letter of their names and are starting to sign these during our daily Hello Song👋✨

It has been so lovely to receive videos from home of the children practicing their signs with their families, too!

We were sent a video from one family of their little one proudly showing off the letter for their name, and another of one of our very youngest children who proudly began to sign the starting letter of their name while their family sang Happy Birthday to them with their cake and candles! 🎂🕯️

We’ve also started learning signs for different types of transport to match our theme, alongside helpful daily signs like "thank you", "sorry", and "happy" 🚗✈️

We’re even bringing our new signing skills to our weekly residential home visits so the children can connect with the residents in a wonderful new way!

👣 Beautiful Milestones: Some of our younger children are practicing learning to walk and talk at the moment!
They are getting so much encouragement from their friends - especially the school children - which is just lovely to watch 🥰

A really fun time xx

13/08/2026

13/08/2026

The children at LSA enjoyed a brilliant last week at LSA before we officially closed for our summer holidays ☀️

Alongside lots of fun at the setting, which included playing with lots of toys, games, and creative activities, the older children continued to help their younger friends with their standing, walking, and talking skills 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Here is a look at what we got up to during our final action-packed week:

We visited our friends at the residential care home with a special Navy and Maritime theme to celebrate the reopening of the Hull Maritime Museum💙

We tapped instruments to traditional sea shanties (perfect for everyone, including the babies!) and we explored maritime toys and puzzles.

We also shared books packed with old photos of Hull’s history, Hessle Road, and trawlers, which sparked some wonderful storytelling from the residents ⚓

Following its massive six-year transformation, we headed along to the newly reopened Hull Maritime Museum!

The children loved exploring the immersive new galleries, seeing the iconic North Atlantic whale skeleton, and discovering hundreds of historic treasures never before seen by the public!

We also visited Ferens Art Gallery which was lots of fun 🎨

We enjoyed a wonderful Marina walk, had a picnic outside The Deep, enjoyed delicious ice creams and treats and stepped aboard the recently restored and reopened Spurn Lightship!
The children explored what life was like for the crew who lived on board and discovered how its brilliant light served as a vital beacon for nearly 50 years. 🗺️💡
We even checked out the ship's tiny galley kitchen!
We learned that the lightship actually had no official cook onboard, so the crew had to make their own stews 👨‍🍳

On our last evening before closing we enjoyed a special evening meal chosen by one of our older children for their last day.
They are getting ready to commence their high school journey after being a valued part of LSA for many years 🎓🎒

12/08/2026

Today has been a fun but incredibly emotional day as one of our minded children left to start secondary school.

After looking after her for 10 wonderful years, it truly feels like the end of an era! 😢❤️

It's not goodbye forever though, because her younger sibling is staying with us! :)

We enjoyed a special day out with a fun picnic and amazing ice cream treats, followed by macaroni cheese for tea, which she chose herself 😋

There have definitely been some tears today, especially when she gave us these beautiful gifts that her and her family clearly put a lot of thought into.

She even took the time to draw us another picture today, which we are going to laminate 😊

She also made us the most amazing card which is just stunning.
What she wrote means everything and more 🥰

We are going to miss her so much, but we are looking forward to seeing her secondary school photos and catching up when she comes to collect her sibling with her parents.

Best of luck at your new school 🎒✨###

09/08/2026

What a brilliant Week 3 of the summer holidays at LSA 🌞

We have had the absolute best time filled with laughter, learning, and so many wonderful adventures.

Here is a little look at what the children got up to this week:

🏖️ We went along to the Community Garden to take part in a fun 'holiday in a day' session!
The children absolutely loved playing in the giant sandpit with buckets, spades, and crafts.
We also enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch there and had a blast splashing around when they brought the paddling pool out 💦😊

We also headed to the local leisure pool for a brilliant swimming session! This was lots of fun splashing around, building water confidence, and exploring the pool. Afterwards, we enjoyed a mini bookworm session inspired by the children's author Julia Donaldson, where we had lots of fun exploring activities and resources relating to her wonderful stories, including The Gruffalo and Superworm 🏊‍♂️🪵
🐄 We had a fantastic day out at Honeysuckle Farm!
The children absolutely loved meeting all the different animals and feeding them.
The children also had a great time playing on the giant straw bales in the play barn alongside enjoying our picnic lunch together 🚜🌾

💫 We visited a fantastic sensory room where the children explored lights, colours, and music in a fun, interactive way, alongside playing sensory-based games.
We also visited the library to enjoy some storytelling and independent reading before heading back to the setting for more children's choice fun 📚🎵

👨‍🔬 We also enjoyed a fun scientist session to practice becoming real scientists!
Incorparting some of what we have learnt recently about fossils🌋🧪

🏡 Alongside all of this, we've been to the park, animal centre and even spotted an amazing Heron bird alongside lots of fun at the setting playing with a variety of toys, games, and creative activities.

We also continued to be so proud of the older children as they continued to help our youngest little ones as they practiced their standing, walking, and talking.

A truly magical week of fun, learning, and friendship for everyone 🥰

01/08/2026

What a brilliant Week 2 of the summer holidays at LSA 🌞

We have had the absolute best time filled with laughter, learning, and so many wonderful adventures.

Here is a little look at what the children got up to this week:

🏖️ Some of the children had an incredible day out at the Beside the Seaside event!
They loved exploring a giant sandpit - digging, building sandcastles, and making mini forts.
A huge highlight for some of the children was making pedal-powered smoothies by hopping on a special exercise bike and cycling hard to power the blender!
While at the event, some of the children also enjoyed exploring sea and beach sensory-themed toys and books. Talk about healthy, active, and creative fun 🏴‍☠️🐋

🧣Some of the children this week went on a fun Charity Shop Treasure Hunt for unique vintage props like funny ties, hats, silk scarves, and jewellery. On another day, they and some of the others took these treasures to the local residential home that we visit for a beautiful, eco-friendly photoshoot with the residents, alongside also enjoying a few mini LSA photoshoots at the setting.

It was such a lovely way to learn about sustainability, reusing items, and spreading joy in our community 🧣🎩

🚂 We also went on a fantastic trip to the Transport Museum where they rode on vintage trams, walked down a real 1940s high street, and loved getting hands-on with crafts and activities.

We also played a variety of fun lawn games outside together, relaxed on giant deckchairs, and enjoyed a lovely picnic together
🚂🚍

🦕 Some of the children also became paleontologists for the day! Steve from the local Dinostar museum helped them learn amazing dinosaur facts, create their very own fossils, alongside having a blast digging for fossils in the sand together 🪨🦕

🎶 We also enjoyed a fun Music & Mayhem session that included lots of dancing, singing, and exploring rhythms.
This was followed by a lovely calming sensory session filled with beautiful lights, colours, and gentle music 💫

🦋 Some of the children loved going along to a fun, butterfly-themed session. They completed a nature trail, learned interesting facts, and crafted beautiful wings and wands. And the older children really enjoyed helping the younger children with some of this 😊
We also enjoyed a very special walk around the zoo to see the meerkats and the tortoise especially🦋🐢

🏡 Alongside all of this, they have had lots of fun at the setting playing with a variety of toys, hula hoops, and enjoyed fun skipping challenges.

We have also been so proud to watch our older children continue to help our youngest little ones as they practice their standing, walking, and talking.

A truly magical week of fun, learning, and friendship for everyone 🥰

24/07/2026

The children at LSA have enjoyed an absolutely brilliant first week of the summer holidays ☀️

They have been so busy playing, exploring, and learning together.

Alongside lots of fun children's choice times at the setting - which included helping our younger children get stronger at standing and learning to walk-some of them enjoyed visiting our friends at the Residential Home.
They took along mini chalkboards to create beautiful chalk masterpieces with the residents, played fun games of noughts and crosses, and ended with a lovely little sing-along 🎶

We also had lots of fun at a lively session in the park that was packed with songs, colourful parachute games, and lots of bubbles.

This was followed by a fun walk exploring the park and seeing lots of animals, including some turtles-so amazing🐢

Our mini scientists had a blast at a 'World of Wonder' session, taking part in fascinating science activities while also exploring the different play spaces where they could run, jump, climb, and read stories.
They also loved going on the seesaws, and some even braved the treehouse slide 🔬🧗

We embraced lots of messy fun at a local Community Garden!
The children loved pond dipping (and even found frogs!), went on an amazing bug hunt, and played with creepy-crawly slime, tractors, diggers, mud, and leaves before enjoying a lovely outdoor picnic.

We also used the garden's private compost toilet, which got everyone talking and learning about how we can help the environment! 🕷️🪣🌱

With Pride in Hull happening this weekend, the children enjoyed dressing up in their brightest, most colourful clothes for a spectacular Rainbow Disco and activity afternoon.

We had so much fun, especially being treated to an amazing gymnastics show!

The older children loved playing with our younger friends as they practiced talking, waving, clapping, and finding their noses during fun songs together.

It was a beautiful way to learn more about how everyone is unique, and what it means to be a kind, welcoming community where every single child and family belongs ✨🕺🏳️‍🌈

A wonderful week for sure ☀️

17/07/2026

We are feeling incredibly spoiled and deeply grateful today 🌸🍫🕯️✏️

We have been showered with love from some of our amazing term-time families and also the lovely family who left us the beautiful online review as their little boy prepares for big school in September (previous post) ❤️

We feel so privileged to receive such beautiful gifts, chocolates, and gorgeous plants - including the stunning Flamingo Flower plant, the gorgeous bouquet of fresh flowers, lovely candles, and some wonderful stationery treats like the cute pencils and pens!

We were also treated to some generous spending money for holiday drinks, which is so incredibly kind and much appreciated🍹☀️

Even though we are still open and welcoming children through the holidays, receiving cards like this reminds us why we love what we do so much.

We feel so lucky to have you all as part of our LSA family 🏡✨

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer and we will see our term-time families back in September ❤️☀️

Thank you all from Lynsey & Steve 🥰 xx

16/07/2026

Awww we feel so privileged to get this review! 🥰 We have had the most amazing three years with this wonderful boy and we are absolutely going to miss him and his amazing character so much. It feels like just yesterday we were waving his big brother off to school, and now it's his turn! Thank you so much to his lovely family for entrusting us with their boys over the years. It truly means the world to us 🥰Although it's sad he's leaving, we are so excited to hear all about how much he loves big school in September 🏫And we can't wait to welcome their little brother, lots more fun and memories to make! 🫟 🎨 😊xx

05/07/2026

Father's Day surprises this year were inspired by the older children during their LSA Council meetings ✍️

Previously the children have grown special 'sustainable' gardens to continue at home.

This year, they wanted to choose another meaningful gift that protects our planet 🌎

After lots of discussion, they decided they would like to plant a tree for their Dads, Step-Dads, and the special people in their lives.

The children learnt all about how planting trees helps our planet, nature, and wildlife 🐦 🐝

Together with some of the children we researched which trees would be suitable, taking into consideration size, environment, and safety for the younger children handling them.

We even looked into how pollen can be managed as the tree matures!

This research helped us guide the care sheets that the children shared with their families 📝

The younger children then embarked on adventures to a variety of garden centres.
We couldn't find the exact trees we wanted in person, so together we used the computer to research further and ordered them to arrive at the setting.

The children were so excited waiting for the delivery and helping to unpack them 📦

Next came the preparation of soil and sustainable plant pots, alongside discussions about roots and plant care 🪴

Together, the children cared for them until it was time to take them home.
A few trees sadly did not survive.
While disappointing at first, it gave us a wonderful learning opportunity.
We took cuttings to grow new trees so we could continue to help the planet 🌎 and ensure everyone still received their special gift 🥰

Alongside all of this, all of the children created their own cards, pictures, and poems.
Even our youngest children absolutely loved exploring the texture of the paint and soil as we helped them create their special surprise 🎨

We hope everyone who received a tree enjoys taking care of it with their child. We hope they love replanting it, watering it, and watching it grow over the years.
It is a beautiful reminder of how small their child was when they gifted it to them 😊

LSA is really excited to see updates and photos of their trees that the children share during our reflection times 🤔