Little Explorers Education

06/06/2021

One of my all time favourite pictures of my daughter is this one where she is crouching in front in her favourite mud pies! I can’t tell you the hours she used to spend with her Little Explorers friends mixing, collecting, baking, digging, exploring and squishing in mud! Mud is one of our favourite things and did you know that messing around in mud is actually proven to make you feel happier! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Scientists have now confirmed something that children have always instinctively known; playing in mud is a joyful experience. Research shows that dirt contains microscopic bacteria called Mycobacterium Vaccae which stimulates the immune system and increases levels of serotonin in our brains the endorphin that soothes, calms, and helps us to relax. Regular exposure may help reduce a child’s risk of anxiety and stress. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Research also shows that playing in non treated mud can also strengthen immature immune systems. "Without exposure to everyday germs, which can be found in mud, children miss out on building a stronger, more robust immunity to sickness,” Dr Ryan Harvey. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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A healthy serving of untreated dirt can contain more than one billion bacterial cells per gram. The microbial boost that a child needs to train their immune systems to respond to real threats. “Your immune system needs to be trained. It needs to constantly be working and turning over and, if it doesn’t have that kind of attention, it can cause more disease,” Dr. Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago and coauthor of the book Dirt Is Good. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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So in short - mud is joyful and healthy ! (Just make sure you check the area is clean from rubbish, pesticides and ensure there’s no animal faeces or debris etc).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This past year especially has proved we need to boost our immunity so let’s all get muddy together! Check out my blog outlining some muddy play ideas too!

https://littleexplorerseducation.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/all-you-need-is-mud/

Tell me if you’re a mud fan below 💦!

05/06/2021

29/05/2021

Just finishing off some lovely training support for the wonderful .

Don’t forget I can cater for all training and development needs for your early years setting and provision. I do bespoke packages and offer a wide variety of practical and inspiring training and development with a key focus on nature in early learning.

🌿Don’t forget to come and follow me for more information and please do reach out if you have any training or staff development needs.

🌿 Early Years Consultancy with a focus on Nature and Outdoor learning.
🌿 I offer a range of support and individual packages for childminders and childcare settings
🌿Ofsted Outstanding Forest Childcare provider and early years training and development consultant.

Please do get in touch with any questions.

04/03/2021

Happy World Book Day - Eliza’s favourite book and character made out of an apple (which was meant to be made out of a potato) naturally!

“Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world” Matilda -Roald Dahl

04/03/2021

Happy World Book Day!

There’s not enough ways to say how much we love books here at Little Explorers HQ, we are creating passionate storytellers, creative and imaginative book lovers, we love all books and find a book for every moment - books bring us fantasy and fairytales, facts and nature study, inclusion, diversity, inspiration, history, geography, a little funny fear and lot of joy and most of all they bring us together. On every adventure and journey we have a story in our bag and a song in our heart 💙💛!

What’s your favourite read ?

02/03/2021

Play is My Passion! ..... next to sleep of course 😉!

But these two things are so intrinsically linked! You may not know this but in my previous life I was an Early Years Consultant and worked in early years education for my career supporting providers, schools and families in the importance of quality early years play as the foundation for all learning. Play is children’s natural way of exploring the world and is vital to all aspects of children’s development. Through play, children develop language skills, their emotions and creativity, social and intellectual skills. Play is natural and spontaneous and I am hugely passionate about accessing play in the natural environment and I also run an outdoor forest school holiday club over at Little Explorers Education

My passion is to combine the importance of play into your routines and lives for your babies and children and for every family I work with we talk about enhancing all types of play into their daily routines to support their sleep needs, emotional regulation and to support positive behaviour and communication. Some of my favourite types of play include :-

~ Heuristic play
~Treasure baskets
~Big body play
~ Quality Time play sessions
~ Active Play
~ Invitations to play
~ Parents as the play object
~Role play
~ Nature play
~ Child led play
~Open-ended play
~Sensory play
~Adult led play
~ Messy play
~Multicultural play
~Developmental play
~Playlistening

Article 31-UN Convention on the Rights of the chid states-
“That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts”

So there’s my passion for play and watch this space for some exciting new collaborations to bring you more wonderful play opportunities and hopefully some more sleep too ! 😄💛💙🙏🏻💦🌈☀️🌧

30/01/2021

Needing some chill time?

Join us for Relaxation Club on Monday 1st Feb at 8.00pm via Zoom.

Relaxation Club runs once a month and each session includes two guided relaxations, and a discussion on using different mindfulness tools to support our parenting journeys.

The session is very informal, PJ's very welcome!

Book online: https://themilkhub.co.uk/product/relaxation-club/

25/01/2021

Really great article about focusing on resilient building not home ‘schooling’ x

Learning to stay calm in the face of frustration will be much more impactful in kids' lives than completing specific math problems.

23/01/2021

I talk a lot about temperament and sensitivities for children with the familes I work with and in my recent workshops this has come up a lot. Also from personal experiences with my own little one this describes her to a tee! A useful visual of what it may look like for your little sensitive ones. 💛💙

Yes! All of this.

(Credit: www.instagram.com/dr.annlouise.lockhart & www.instagram.com/mombrain.therapist)