Mel Riches Childminding

08/07/2022

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The weeks are just getting busier! The garden is thriving! The wildflowers are blooming and the bees are very happy. We did some maintianace in there on Monday! I quickly lost all my helpers when we found a slug and a couple of woodlice 🤭
Stay and play at school, sports day, toddler group and a day at the park meant spending most of the week outside with another week of beautiful weather! 2 more weeks of the school term and the weather is looking to be very hot again next week so please bring sunhats 😎🌞
Hope you all have a lovely weekend! 🌈

05/07/2022

Today we went back into school and watched Faye do sports day for the very first time 🥲

Plus, a treat for all the children at the end 🍦

04/07/2022

News regarding the childcare crisis. 🙄

We're loosing over 3,000 childminders a year in the UK since the covid crisis.

https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Feducation-61969468&h=AT0ZGFKNWE8x7-_jqg26Z9bfU30LnsyLOiSb5A1gMM7k117VBA0P_G1v51TPLK50_Zt8XAhAqCKsYYCi_ABAko3EJPHV3wBMYxinmws62-gp0zDHO-T3orFoHUcE6Gel2A

England would follow Scotland's model of one adult to five children, but most nurseries object.

01/07/2022

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We harvested some beans and used the in our role play area. We used our tools to chop the pods and find the bean. Some of us enjoyed having a taste!
The weather has held out for us this week so spent alot of time outside. But even on our wet day, we used the puddles to our advantage with puddle jumping and some more colour mixing that the children requested to revisit.
In the garden we have found some ripe strawberries and a egg shell which prompted many questions!
We made a safari world in the tuff tray and used the paint sticks towards the end of the week to make an animal picture.
We have also visited school for stay and play, toddler group and the library.
We have sports day next week! Will be nice to go into school again for an event. Do I dare say back to normal? 🙈

Happy weekend everyone! 🌈

28/06/2022

* INVOICES DUE *

All invoices have now being sent. Just a reminder that payments are due on or before the 1st of each month.

🙂

24/06/2022

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Some of the children have shown an interest interest in chick's and nests, definatley encouraged by the chick's at school! So this week we have focused on a book called 'Peely Wally' to inspire some activities. We did a focused session painting Peely Wally himself, focusing on making the colour orange, encouraging the children to mix the paint and notice what they were doing. We also painted Peelys egg using balloons in the garden. We even made Peely out of playdough at toddler group 🥰

We also have taken part in lots on play that encourages the transporting schema. Our favourite was definatley the water tub. Lots of filling and emptying too, (plus the plants got lots of water on a very hot day 😎)

We finished the week exploring the 'dens' and a picnic tea in the garden!

Phew 😄

The last of the birthdays this weekend as Todd turns 3! 🥳 No cake this time, we're opting for ice cream instead 🍦

See you all next week 🌞

19/06/2022

Thought I'd share my weekend work! 🎂 🌈 🍭

The cake topper was made by the same lady who made your easter bags 👀

Her Instagram :
https://instagram.com/dorrisdesigns?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Wishing all the dads a happy fathers day today! 🙂

17/06/2022

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What a week 🌞
We started with a trip to the park and celebrated Fayes 6th birthday 🎂
Weeve spent alot of time outside using some natural materials to enhance our play!
We went to toddler group and story time at the library this week (where we had extra treats with some buns!)
We have done car painting, bubble foam, water play and some crafty bits for Sunday!
We were also very excited to see one of our pumpkin plants sprout a giant orange flower literally overnight 🤩
This weekend my kids are having a joint birthday party. So for me that just means more baking - a "lollypop rainbow cake" as requested. 🍭 🌈

Wish me luck 🤞

Happy weekend!

14/06/2022

🥬 ... Garden to plate ... 🥬

There's something very satisfying about growing your own ingredients to cook with! This is something I really want to increase as time goes on! Hoping to extend with some deep planters so we can have some staples like potatoes and onions.
Today we're just utilising the herbs in a roasted tomato pasta sauce, which will also double up as pizza sauce later in the week. But we currently have growing:
🟢thyme
🟢parsley
🟢chives
🟢mint
🟢strawberries
🟢raspberries
🟢rhubarb
🟢beans
🟢pumpkins

Wish us luck for a decent harvest 🤩

10/06/2022

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First week back and already off to a busy start. Started the week in pouring rain and ended in glorious sunshine! We used the rain to our advantage and did some colour mixing and painting with the puddles. The family book has been a huge hit. This children have loved looking in it, it's promoting lots of language and interactions between them. Im in trouble for not putting the guinea pigs in the book so thought id share mine and Pancakes lastest selfie here 😆
Stay and play sessions are back on at school so we went here for the first time on Monday. Today we spent a VERY long time watching them resurface the roads 🙈 and of course a play in the park 🌞
We have a very exitable girl turning 6 on Monday 👀 so my weekend will involve wrapping presents, making cupcakes and blowing balloons. See you all next week!

Mel 🌈

05/06/2022

🏠 🛖 ... Home Book ... 🏚 🏡

Thank you all for your pictures contributing to the home book. Its now complete and looks like this so if you see it laying around feel free to look at it, or ask to see it 🙃

The aim of this was to link home and setting. Children are expected to make connections between features of their family and also notice differences in people. This will be a useful tool to support that. It also aims to help children identify things that 'belong' to them (with a lack of a better phrase!) And those that belong to someone else.

We had also added some familiar locations to our dolls house, further building their sense of community and provide new language and narrative opportunities for role play.

Finally, I've done a little online refresher course regarding equality and diversity over the holidays just to finish us off.

Last term upcoming. See you all next week for summer! 🌞

26/05/2022

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Made some changes to the garden this week and set up a tray of compost with tubes/tubs/pots/scoops etc. Free to use as they saw fit and left out for them to revisit and practice their skill. Honestly, they've all played here most of the week! Lots of transporting and filling and emptying, (more schemas for you!)
We incorporated our love of vehicles into some painting, finally made it to the park which was open for once, jubilee celebrations at toddler group and finally used dry pasta in the role play kitchen, (which was also a massive hit) 🙌
Cutting you all short again this week as have another wedding tomorrow!
Invoices and keeping in touch forms have all been sent. Hope you all have a lovely half term and jubilee weekend! 🇬🇧
P.s. See last picture for one of my favourite Aldi Special Buys to date. 🤭