Mel's Minding

Today we wrapped up in our waterproofs and headed off to Forest School. The rainy weather certainly didn’t stop the fun!
The children had a great time with their friends and enjoyed creating wonderful muddy concoctions in the mud kitchen and embracing all the sensory experiences that come with a wet and muddy day outdoors.

Forest School provides so many opportunities for children to develop their confidence, physical skills, communication and understanding of the natural world. Rainy days can be some of the best days for learning and exploring outdoors!

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing!” 💙

🍓 Strawberry Picking Fun! 🍓

Today we enjoyed a lovely trip to the strawberry fields with the little ones. The children had great fun searching for the ripest strawberries and filling their punnets with delicious fruit!

We saw a bee which prompted a conversation about pollination, remembering our bee theme from a few weeks ago. We used our counting skills, explored colours, textures and smells, and developed our fine motor skills as we carefully picked the strawberries.

Most importantly, we spent time outdoors, enjoying nature and creating happy memories together. 💙

What is your child’s favourite fruit to eat? 🍓 🍏 🍊 🍌 🍇

🦋 Butterfly Release Day 🦋

We have been busy over the past few weeks learning all about caterpillars/butterflies and their incredible lifecycle!
Today was a very exciting day as we released our butterflies!
We received them as tiny caterpillars from Insect Lore and the children have enjoyed watching them grow, form their chrysalides and finally emerge as beautiful butterflies. It was lovely to see their excitement as we carefully released them into the garden. Before we released them we used a toy butterfly so the children could practice being still and careful and have an idea of what to expect.
Everyone reacted differently to the experience, one of our littlies felt a little unsure about having a butterfly land on her, but one decided to land on her shoe instead! The other children were keen to hold the butterflies and watch them up close.
This experience provided fantastic opportunities for children to learn about nature, life cycles, caring for living things and respecting the natural world around us. 🐛➡️🦋

Have you ever released butterflies or watched caterpillars transform? We’d love to hear about your experiences!

The children have been enjoying lots of mud kitchen fun in the garden this week!

They have loved getting creative, using real carrots, teabags and other natural resources to make their own recipes in the mud kitchen. 🫖🥕🍃

Messy play like this supports many areas of the EYFS including:
🌱 Communication & Language-chatting, role play and learning new words.
🌱 Physical Development-pouring, mixing, scooping and stirring.
🌱 Personal, Social & Emotional Development-sharing, taking turns and working together.
🌱 Understanding the World-exploring textures, smells and nature.
🌱 Expressive Arts & Design-using imagination and creativity freely.

Outdoor play is so much fun! We love to be outdoors, whatever the weather! 🌦️

What do you think your little one would like to make in our mud kitchen? 🥕🪴🥣

🐝 World Bee Day 🐝

Today we have been celebrating World Bee Day by learning all about our tiny buzzing friends and why they are so important to our world! 💛🖤

The children have enjoyed getting creative making their own little bees with playdough, glueing and sticking and using coloured rice in their play. We also talked about where bees live, what they eat, and how they help flowers, fruits and vegetables grow. For our snack the children tried some honey on toast and they all liked it! 🍯

🐝 Bee Facts:
• Bees help pollinate plants so food can grow 🍅
• Bees seem to prefer purple coloured flowers 💜
• Honey bees communicate by doing a special “waggle dance” 💃
• Only the female bee can sting 🐝

Did your children learn anything new about bees today? 🐝

Today we visited a childminder network group at The Hub and we had such a lovely morning! The children enjoyed exploring, climbing, sliding and building their confidence in a fun and safe environment. Activities like soft play help to develop physical skills, coordination, balance and social interaction, whilst also encouraging friendships and communication with other children.

It was also a great opportunity for us as childminders to connect, share ideas and support one another whilst the children learned through play 💙

We have enjoyed a lovely morning at our local park this week. We met up with Dinkys Tiney Home for some outdoor fun and creativity. The children enjoyed making beautiful nature butterflies by sticking daisies, leaves and other natural treasures onto butterfly wings. 🦋

Of course there was plenty of time for climbing, sliding and exploring on the play equipment too! 🛝

Days like these help build friendships, encourage creativity and give the children lots of opportunities to learn through play in the fresh air. 💙

Celebrating Childminder Appreciation Week 💙

A little shout out to all of my fellow childminders who fill our little ones’ days with love, care and fun! What a privilege it is to be part of their journeys and watch them grow 💙

Shout out to all of my fellow childminders 🙌

Little soup makers! 🥣
Our 2yr olds have enjoyed helping to prepare vegetables for our homemade leek and potato soup, lots of peeling, chopping and pouring. Although Mel-Mel prepped the onion so there were no watery eyes!
It was a lovely hands on activity supporting their fine motor skills, language and early independence, and they were very proud of their work! 💙