Helly Beans Childminding

Outstanding....we are celebrating...🎉🎊 our final report and outcome from our inspection on the 2nd July has been published. Outstanding in all areas. 😊

Update on places and availability...we have been so busy over the last few months and have just settled in some new families. With the families waiting on places and due to start in the coming months, we are now full until September 2027.

Massive thanks to all my lovely families, over the past few months we have been so busy celebrating birthdays, graduation to reception, births of new babies and Christmas. We have had lots of fun and laughter while exploring the natural environment with our friends over the summer. We have taken all the children to the seaside, every child experiencing the joys of nature in our wonderful local woodland, and also several trips to pick our own pumpkins. We have new babies both personally with a new grandson in October and families have new little ones that will be joining us this year. Large photo drop but pictures tell a story of the last few months of joy and learning. So excited for this year 🎉😊

First update on our chicks, they are very happy and settled at the farm, and growing well 🐥🐣

Over the last 6 weeks we have been learning about how important it is to care for animals and the life cycle of chicks, we got some fertilised eggs from a local farmer, incubated them and watched them hatch. The children checked on them every day and helped feed water and keeping them happy and settled. We all got plenty of time to hold them before last week when they were rehomed in a lovely family farm near Haworth. We will be getting updates on them over the next few months and are even going to visit them again later in the year. 🐣🐥

Good evening everyone, we have been very busy over the last few weeks enjoying ourselves both inside and out.... even in the rain ☔ and more rain ☔ we have been learning through play from cooking up potions to making perfume 💐to painting our dinosaurs or singing and dancing together 😊

HellyBeans Childminding has been really busy with supporting families with school holiday childcare. It's been a fun Easter break with lots of updates/photos to follow in the next week... Just a quick shout out to @ Millie's Gorgeous Gifts for a bespoke order she completed for us. I sent her my ideas, measurements and colours. Well, it's like she had the same visual entirely and "Wow" is the only word to describe what she produced. I wanted a country vintage style feel, table cloths, tea towels, bunting and cushion cover, she even made some shopping bags for the children. If anyone is looking for quality fabric items such as these I honestly can't recommend her enough. The children definitely had the "Wow" moment this week and the language and communication that has come from developing this role play area has been amazing. More to come from HellyBeans Childminding as we are developing our sustainable provision with items to support the curiosity approach, lots of hand knitted items to move away from plastic food. It's a work in process but this summer should see the children having "high tea" with style 😍

Just a few photos from our week of celebrations for world book day...The importance of sharing just 5 minutes a day reading with your child has been documented as one of the most beneficial experiences of your child's early development. Even in the womb as you read aloud your baby is listening to your voice and is soothed by this...books shared daily can foster feelings of safety and comfort in young children. We at HellyBeans Childminding have introduced core books within the playroom that are available for the children, this creates opportunities for increasing our confidence, language and communication skills....all areas of learning can be developed by children embracing a love of reading. So whilst we have had a lot of fun on world book day, dressing up in outfits, our children have a love of books and will be active learners in the future

Happy Mother's and Others Day....last week we were busy celebrating our special people, "the ones that look after us", "my mummy snuggles me", "my nan takes me swimming", " my grandad helps me feed the birds"....we enjoyed sharing with our families our cards and presents. 💐❤️💐

We have been talking with the children how we keep ourselves healthy and happy. The children explained about how "apples are good for you" and "cleaning off the germs from the mud" was important. Some of the suggestions were totally unprompted and showed evidence of how children draw from their experiences, such as "relaxing with facemasks and dancing exercises and trampolining". My personal favourite is, "being at home sweet home" ❤️

Healthy food and healthy minds...Here at HellyBeans Childminding we are fortunate enough to be able to provide freshly cooked meals daily for the children. Even in the first few weeks of coming here parents feedback has been so positive, in that their child is now eating a more varied diet and is willing to try new foods. The children are enjoying the social interactions at lunchtime and look forward every day to asking what's todays dinner. Children's feedback says it all, "yummy 😋"

Quick update on places, we are full up to September 2024, we are also supporting a couple of families with school holiday care. All of our current families that are not children starting reception September 2024, have chosen to stay with me until 2025. This means that I have limited availability from September 2024, therefore if you need childcare please contact ASAP.
People sometimes question the benefits of children being with a childminder instead of a nursery, that sometimes do not recognise the educational benefits of being in a smaller, home from home environment. I usually advise that as a parent you should chose a setting that feels right for you, your child and family. Childminders do differ in experience and knowledge, yet a passion to be part of these little people's learning journey is within every childminder and the strong relationships that are formed by children with their childminder can foster life long skills.
I am so fortunate to have just started on my Childminding journey and have fantastic relationships with the children and families, that they have recognised the wealth of learning and care that childminders provide.