Kirsty's Little Munchkins

🐛 Our caterpillars have grown so much! We have been checking them every day and they get bigger and bigger, today they have moved to the top of their enclosure so we are hoping they are about to turn into a chrysalis.
🧮 We have introduced some early maths such as positioning, shape, counting and measuring.
🌍 The children check how the caterpillars are growing daily and are enjoying learning how to care for living things, which links into ‘Understanding the World’.
🎨 We have also been making some lovely butterfly paintings and collages and reading the Hungry Caterpillar book of course!

Less than 25% of children now read for pleasure. What a sad and terrifying thought. Reading has always been one of my greatest pleasures and one I love to share in my setting.

My son’s English teacher once looked at me with a sorrowful expression during Parents’ Night and asked me ‘And does he have access to ANY books at home?’

I took this quite badly, as I had by then written and published several books. In addition, my house was (and still is) full of what my beloved husband refers to as ‘MORE wretched books,’ before asking with a sorrowful expression of his own ‘Why do you need so many wretched books?’ and I answer something along the lines of ‘Why do you need so many wretched gadgets?’ and a ‘spirited’ argument ensues about how you can never have too many books/ gadgets and which were more useful/ important (books, obviously. Always books. Books can still be used in a power cut or in the event of some sort of apocalypse, assuming you have candles or daylight. Come the Rise of the Machines, he will regret his gadgets, whereas I will be out there smiting terminators with hefty copies of bonkbusters).

Despite the plethora of books covering every surface, for many years my son remained stubbornly resistant to them, to the point that I did often wonder if he actually could read (the jury is still out on my husband on this subject). Eventually though, one day he picked up a book that had piqued his interest. A few weeks later, he asked me to order him a book he had seen that he wanted to read, and immediately regretted this as I wept with maternal joy and attempted to clasp him to my bosom and express my pride that he had finally become aware of a world beyond Minecraft, Roblox and idiotic YouTube gamers. I was, apparently, being ‘a bit extra’ and ‘like, soooo embarrassing, Mother.’

A big part of his conversion from ‘reading is so boring’ to ‘maybe this could quite interesting’ was probably having books in the house- books of his own, books of mine, even the solitary book owned by my husband about how to build a car. Which he hasn’t read. Though he did look at the pictures.

However, a dreadful and sad fact is firstly the dramatic decline in the number of children reading for pleasure- less than 25% now. And that one in ten children in Glasgow own no books at all, and have no books at home (and I’m sure that figure is similar in other cities across the UK too). I can’t imagine a life, a world, without books, and it is utterly miserable how many children are missing out on the imagination, the worlds, the stories contained in those pages.

So today I visited the new HarperCollins warehouse site, to help with their partnership with The Children’s Book Project, to donate and distribute 20000 books to primary schools in underprivileged parts of Glasgow. Some are new books donated by HarperCollins and independent publishers, some are books people have kindly given at donation points in Asda stores, but the important thing is that these are not books for classrooms, or school libraries- these are books that children can choose themselves and take home and keep, and that will hopefully start to help them see that reading is not just a chore to be endured in school (and that was very much my own view of reading in school- I HATED it, but LOVED reading for myself outside of school- again though, I was lucky enough to live in a house filled with books).

I honestly think that the most important thing, no matter what career or industry a child wants to enter, is imagination. From putting men on the moon, to building sewers for sanitation and public health, from the first man realising a cave was a better prospect than being eaten by a sabre toothed tiger to skyscrapers thousands of feet high, everything we have, including my husband’s beloved gadgets, is down to someone having the imagination to think ‘I wonder what would happen if we did X or Y’. And the best thing to develop a child’s imagination is to read, to visit other worlds, other lives and other stories.

So it was amazing to be part of this today, and to hopefully have played a small role in fostering a love of reading, and a spark of imagination in future generations. And does anything really convey the glossy, high glamour world of publishing like your very own personalised hi vis vest?

It is Childminder Appreciation Week so I’ll be sharing some facts about Childminding. Did you know that Childminders are inspected under the same framework as Nurseries? 🥰

Good morning!

We have had an exciting delivery. Our first batch of caterpillars 🐛 of the year have arrived from Insect Lore

The children are very excited to watch them grow. Last year we successfully released 5 butterflies 🦋 whilst learning all about the of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to beautiful butterfly!

We love reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and seeing it brought to life day by day. The caterpillar lifecycle is very quick so the children get to see changes every morning.

This book was given to my eldest son Charlie when he was born in 2003, by our good friend Emily. I have read it with so many children over the years hence why it looks a little worn but it still holds a dear place in my heart. I used to read it to Charlie every night from when he was a newborn baby! Now he lives in his own house but still reads it to the mindees when he comes home to visit. We really are a great big family 🥰

‘A child cannot thrive academically unless they feel safe, understood and emotionally regulated’

Having worked with children with SEND in both my own and school settings, including CCA and ACE settings, I can fully relate to this. I have observed first hand the calming and grounding effects of animals and in particular horses. A childminding setting is small and flexible enough to offer a holistic approach and often an ideal place for a child with additional needs.

This is an area of specialism of particular interest to me, for which I trained outside of my working day and using my own funds, as most childminders do in order to offer the highest level of care and support to our families. I would love to be able to open an alternative provision such as this!

‘Equine-assisted learning can be as mainstream as maths or English for neurodivergent children’: charity speaks out ahead of Government's school reform An equine charity has called on the government to consider alternative learning provisions in its plans under its SEND consultation.

I have had quite a few enquiries recently and some visits to the setting from prospective clients. It’s lovely to meet new families and have the chance to show them around but I’d like to be clear that this is NOT a nursery. I offer a small, home from home childcare setting with the emphasis on HOME. I understand that this isn’t suitable for all families and wish those that choose another setting well, not every setting suits every child.
I’m still in touch with many of my old clients and still see those in the area in person, most weekends. Half of my current clients are families returning with siblings. This is because the children become part of an extended family where we care about one another. I care about my setting, I care about the children and I care about their outcomes. I am proud of the service I offer and work with the Early Years Improvement Team at Leeds City Council plus undertake regular CPD to ensure I am offering the highest standards. Things may appear ‘messy’ when children are playing, they may come home with dirty knees on their trousers and their artwork may not be perfect but they are all confident, happy learners and when the time comes they are school ready which is why at my last inspection I received an Outstanding rating.

Fayo the pony (yes we really do have a pony and yes the children are safe and supervised when they visit him!) says - If you can be anything, be kind!

Learning through play is the basis of this setting. Being child led and nurturing each child as an individual is central to everything we do. If a child loves to learn you will never have to teach them. Create learning opportunities in the environment and extend them for those children that are ready, but allow them the room to develop their imagination, explore and create (per Tina Bruce). ❤️

You don’t.
Because play is not a tick-list. ✨

In a gentle, heart-led approach, we slow down and protect play. We don’t direct children around the room or ask them to collect experiences. We trust their instincts, their fascinations and their natural drive to learn through play.

🌿 What would Scandinavian children do?
In Nordic settings, children choose where they play — and stay there for long, unhurried stretches. It’s totally normal to spend the whole morning outdoors building dens, digging, climbing or cooking mud soup with friends.
They’re not rotated. They’re respected.

Play isn’t seen as a break from learning — it is learning. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, long chunks of uninterrupted free play are protected daily because the outcomes speak for themselves: wellbeing, confidence, problem-solving, independence, social strength.

🌿 Children don’t learn in compartments.
One rich moment of child-led play can cover multiple EYFS areas naturally.

A child building a fox den outside isn’t just doing “construction”. They’re:
📐 exploring space & measure • 🗣 building language • 🤝 negotiating roles • 💪 using gross motor strength • 🌍 drawing from stories & nature knowledge

All woven together — joyfully, without adult rotation.

🌿 Research backs this up.
EPPE highlights deep involvement and sustained shared thinking.
NAEYC (2022) reminds us:

“Free play… encourages children’s initiative, independence and problem-solving.”

And as Dr Peter Gray says:

“Play is not a break from learning — it is learning.”

When we stop chasing checklists and start trusting the process of play…
✨ Children flourish
✨ Behaviour softens
✨ Curiosity deepens
✨ Learning becomes authentic

This is the heart of Hygge in the Early Years™ — warm, connected, child-centred practice rooted in trust. 🌿

🌟 Ready to bring this Scandinavian-inspired approach into your setting?
Join me inside Hygge in the EY™ — where we blend Nordic pedagogy, wellbeing and play into transformational training.

👉 Find out more at www.hyggeintheearlyyears.co.uk

Still in November… even when the weather is cold we still make sure to enjoy the outdoors! Visits to see the pony are always a favourite 🐴

And now on to November! The tradition of Bonfire Night is such a great learning opportunity for the children. We drew fireworks all over the patio with chalks, tried (and failed - you can’t win them all!) to make Parkin, learned about hibernating hedgehogs and squirrels and painted lots of colourful pictures. One of our favourites was this firework picture using kitchen roll tubes.

⭐️ Cut a kitchen roll tube in half
⭐️ Cut up the sides about halfway evenly around
the tube. Older children can do this with help
using children’s scissors
⭐️ Push the tube onto a surface so the edges
flatten out
⭐️ Squeeze out paint in your chosen colours
onto a plate - you can use a paper plate,
I use ceramic plates then wash them up
⭐️ Let the children push their tube onto the
paint then print onto their paper. We chose
coloured paper to make our display brighter!
⭐️ Choose another tube and print that colour
over the last print to layer it up
⭐️ Repeat to cover your paper!

The under and over two’s all loved this activity, using their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, listening to and following instructions, developing early language skills and introducing new descriptive vocabulary such as ‘bang’ and ‘whizz’ and working on colour recognition.

Still playing catch up! My eldest son Charlie’s birthday falls at the end of October so we took a trip to visit him in Gloucester. Charlie remains on my DBS register as he sometimes comes to visit, which all the children love as we miss him being here. My children grew up with my business and love all the small visitors to our home, we often spend time together outside of working hours and keep in touch with many previous mindees.

I like to take lots of pictures when I travel and share these with the children when I return. It’s a great prompt for activities and expands their world view to see all the different places. The app we use to share info can be updated by parents so we get to see everyone out on their travels too!