Jade's Childminding Service

21/09/2026

It's giving...

🍂✨️ AUTUMN VIBES ✨️🍂

Exploring autumn treasures gives children lots of opportunities to learn through their senses and play!

🌰 Fine motor skills – Picking up, holding, sorting and arranging natural objects strengthens little hands and fingers.

🍂 Sensory exploration – Children can feel different textures, shapes, weights and temperatures.

👀 Observation skills – Looking closely at leaves, conkers and pine cones encourages children to notice colours, patterns and changes in nature.

🔢 Early maths – Sorting, counting, comparing sizes and making patterns supports early mathematical thinking.

🗣️ Language development – New words such as crunchy, smooth, prickly, heavy, tiny, brown help build vocabulary.

🎨 Creativity – Natural treasures can be used for transient art, patterns, pictures and imaginative play.

🌳 Understanding the world – Children can learn about seasonal changes, trees, plants and where their treasures come from.

🤝 Social skills – Collecting and exploring together encourages sharing, turn-taking and cooperation.

🧠 Problem solving – Children can experiment with balancing, stacking, sorting and arranging their treasures.

❤️ Wellbeing & connection with nature – Exploring outdoors encourages curiosity, calmness and appreciation of the natural world.

03/09/2026

It has been a busy couple of weeks, after a VERY busy summer holdiays, settling back into routine and welcoming new friends. 🫶🏼

Here's a wee snapshot of what we've been up to. ❤️

29/08/2026

Brilliant 👏 Christine Mathieson Welly Walkers Childminding Family

🚨New Childminding Matters episode out now!

Showing how risky play can be done safely, practically, and in a way that supports children’s development.❤️

👉 Join Nyree Cooper, SCMA’s Learning & Development Lead, and special guest Christine Mathieson - a childminder from Aberdeenshire, as they chat about the benefits and challenges of risky play in a childminding setting, building confidence in offering risky play and you'll also hear about Christine's setting, how she incorporates and manages risky play in her setting.

👂Listen now via your members dashboard for top tips, strategies and ideas on working with risky play in your setting

22/07/2026

✨️✨️✨️

Have you ever wondered why your child wants to play the same game, read the same book, or repeat the same activity over and over again?

It may look repetitive to us, but for children, repetition is purposeful.

Each time they revisit an experience, they’re strengthening neural pathways, refining motor skills, expanding language, building confidence, and making deeper connections with what they’re learning. Repetition gives children the opportunity to practice, experiment, and master new skills at their own pace.

As adults, we often seek novelty. Children seek familiarity because that’s where learning happens.

So the next time your child says, “Again!” remember—they aren’t simply passing the time. They’re building their brain.

Play with purpose. Learn through play. 🤍

04/05/2026

💧 Why Water Play Matters

Water play is fun, calming, and full of learning opportunities! It helps children explore, create, and discover through hands-on experiences.

---

🎨 Colour Mixing Benefits

- Learn how colours change and combine
- Explore cause and effect
- Make predictions and test ideas
- Encourage creativity and imagination

“What happens when we mix red and yellow?”

---

🧪 Measuring & Pouring Skills

- Understand full, empty, more, less
- Develop early maths and counting skills
- Explore volume and comparison
- Build problem-solving abilities

“How many cups fill the jug?”

---

✋ Physical Development

- Strengthens fine motor skills
- Improves hand-eye coordination
- Develops control through pouring, squeezing, and stirring

---

🗣️ Language Development

- Introduces new words: mix, pour, full, half, splash
- Encourages conversation and questions
- Builds confidence in expressing ideas

---

😊 Emotional & Social Benefits

- Calming and relaxing activity
- Encourages sharing and turn-taking
- Builds confidence through independent play

---

🌈 Learning through play, one splash at a time! 💧

30/04/2026

This beautiful weather can stay please! Lovely morning at the beach on a treasure hunt walk. 🐚 🏴‍☠️ 🪙

02/04/2026

I haven't posted for a while so here's what we've gotten up to in a very busy first week of the Easter Holidays! 🐣 🐰

Our highlights have been...

✨️ A litter pick at our local play park
✨️ Watching our caterpillars grow
✨️ A visit to the stoney beach where we painted rocks and searched for sea glass
✨️ Our local fire fighters breakfast morning (on again next Wednesday at Macduffs Men's Shed - great way to spend the morning!)
✨️ An explore in the Montcoffer Woods - the rope swing is always a favourite
✨️ And of course, lots of playing in Jade's garden

Now to recharge for week two! 🫠❤️

16/02/2026

You know you're in the right job when...

💖✨️ You wake up absolutely buzzing to answer the door to some of your favourite little humans on a Monday morning after a week and a half off (which was amazing as my husband and I visited Krakow - child free for 4 whole days!!!) ✨️💖

Can't wait to see the rest of the mindee's throughout the week and get all their stories. 🥰

I think the fact it's pancake day tomorrow has also added to this Monday excitment in me. 🤣🥞

03/02/2026

🤗🤗🥰🥰

29/01/2026

❤️❤️

Not everyone could do this work... 🫶🏻

Not everyone could explain the same thing twenty times with patience still intact.

Not everyone could live in the quiet chaos — the mess, the noise, the constant motion.

Not everyone could recognise what a child needs without a single word being spoken.

Not everyone could dance like no one’s watching, sing nursery rhymes like it’s a sold-out concert (even when they can’t sing), or step fully into a child’s imaginary world — again and again — because it matters. 🙌

Not everyone could give their whole heart to a job.
Care this deeply.
Think about children long after they’ve gone home.
…And yet, early years educators do — every single day. 💗

But this work doesn’t just take heart…
It takes resilience, time, unpaid hours, and emotional energy — often under constant pressure, changing expectations, and funding that doesn’t reflect the reality of the role. And sadly this week I’ve heard from yet more incredible childminders and educators leaving our sector, after being pushed too far. 😣

Not everyone could do this work.
And if things don’t change soon, there may be fewer and fewer people left who can.
Because when a profession built on care isn’t cared for in return, people don’t leave because they stop caring — they leave because caring and passion alone aren’t enough to sustain a system. 🥺

Early years matters.
The people who do this work matter.
And they deserve to be valued, supported, and trusted — not just in words, but in action. 🌈🫶🏻❤️