HoneyBees Home Nursery

H O N E Y B E E S & W I L D F L O W E R S
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It has always been the dream to have an outdoor setting. I’ve been searching for the perfect outdoor space since before I even opened HoneyBees 🐝 and I’ve been lucky enough to finally find it!

It is the most perfect space in Blakedown. Lots of open space, a woodland, a wildflower meadow in the summer, a nearby lake, lots of wildlife… it is such a beautiful setting for children to flourish while connecting with nature in the great outdoors 🌳

We expect to begin our new outdoor adventure in April following the Easter break, which also coincides with a house move. We are relocating to Pedmore, Stourbridge, where we’ll be based in a garden lodge, with both the new outdoor setting and our allotment being just a few minutes drive away from my new home 🏡

The move enables me to grow my staff team, allowing us to work in two groups;
HoneyBees (1-2s) and
WILDflowers (3-4s).
We realise the positive effects of mixed age groups on childrens’ development, and all ages will have opportunities to enjoy the space together everyday…after all, HoneyBees are always found amongst the WILDflowers! 🐝🌼

The September waiting list is now open, so please message to enquire. As always, spaces are extremely limited due to our low adult:child ratios. Parents of 3-4 year olds wishing for their child to be added to a wait list for WildFlowers Outdoor Kindergarten, please bear in mind that any younger children joining us as HoneyBees (12 months-2 yrs) 🐝 will automatically be guaranteed a space at WILDFlowers 🌼 so will need to be prioritised over the waiting list.

Before contacting us, please ensure we match your requirements:

We are a term time only setting.
We open Monday-Thursday 7.30-4.30.
We take children from 12 months old.
We do not offer half days or school pick ups.
We are an OUTDOOR setting, which means…
We get muddy, we get wet, we run a lot and we fall down, we climb, we scrape our hands and knees, we are outside rain or shine.

BUT, it also means…
We build strong immune systems, we develop a deep connection to the environment, and we have increased confidence, mental wellbeing, emotional regulation, physical health, resilience, creativity, and team-working and problem solving skills.

We are renovating the stable block to make use of in extreme weather at the outdoor setting, as well as to use for napping and changing etc, but our WILDflowers 🌼 will predominantly be outdoors year-round. There is no such thing as bad weather- only bad clothing. If you don’t like the idea of your child being out in the cold or getting muddy then we definitely aren’t the setting for you!
But the outdoors is the most beneficial environment for little humans to learn and grow 💛 We just need to dress appropriately (thin layers, waterproofs, fleeces, windbreakers, hats, scarves, gloves, sun hats, sunglasses, sunscreen).

If you would like to join our HoneyBees family on our new WILDflowers adventure, then please message to enquire for a childcare space starting this Autumn term 🐝🌼

Government Funding, Childcare Vouchers, and Tax-free Childcare accepted.

We are beyond excited to make lots of new amazing memories in this beautiful new space 💛

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Ice Age 🧊🦖❄️🦕

We’ve gone back to the Ice Age! Can you help to rescue the dinosaurs and their eggs that are trapped frozen in the ice?!

How many can you save? Why are they stuck? What can we do to get them out? What is Ice made of? Why does it melt? What does it feel like? Why does it make our gloves wet?

So many questions = So much learning 🦕🩵

We have been graded
🎉🎉O U T S T A N D I N G ! !🎉🎉

I am just so unbelievably proud and overwhelmed!!

Childminders don’t just ‘mind’ children. We are so many roles in one; an Early Years Teacher, a Carer, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, the SENCO, a Paediatric First Aider, the Health and Safety Officer, a Cook, a Cleaner, an Admin Assistant, a Social Media Marketer, an Accountant, an Employer…

(I could include the others like storyteller, artist, gardener, photographer, baker etc but we’d be here all day) 😂

…and juggling every role during opening hours just isn’t possible, so evenings and weekends are often spent working too! But..

…Nothing could be more fulfilling than seeing the curiosity on a child’s face when they are lost deep in the learning process, the wonder when discovering something new, or seeing them light up when they proudly accomplish something for the first time!
Watching them explore, learn, develop, and grow while building the closest friendships makes all the hard work worthwhile.
It’s the most fun and rewarding job and I’m so grateful that it’s mine 🙏♥️

And now I feel even more blessed 😇 as we have received the highest possible grading with no recommendations, as the inspector said there is nothing that she could suggest whatsoever to improve our practice! 🥹 Hearing such wonderful feedback from someone who has years of experience inspecting early years settings for Ofsted and CM Agencies really does mean the world 🌍 You can find the report in the comments ☺️

A huge thank you to the whole HoneyBees family 🥰🐝
My assistant Hayley, who is just an absolute superstar (I couldn’t ask for anyone better with the children!),
the parents, who are always 100% supportive of everything we do,
and the HoneyBees 🐝🐝🐝 who make my world better everyday by wanting me to be a part of theirs 🌍🥰♥️

The Garden Centre 🪴 🌱 🌺

The Allotment 🌱

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We have had the most amazing summer with many hours spent at the allotment!
We have grown and harvested peas, beans, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, onions, spring onion, radishes, potatoes, cabbage, sweet peppers, and kohl rabi. The only thing that didn’t do well were the strawberries, as the birds and field mice got to them before we did 🙈😂

We’ve also grown the tallest sunflowers, poppies, sweet peas, and a giant allium; which we measured each time we went and thought it would never stop growing! It’s now time to start planting winter cabbages and leeks for our winter harvest, and preparing the patch for our spring bulbs.

Rain or shine, we’ve had the most fun times at the allotment with lots of learning during every visit! We’re so grateful to have such a wonderful outdoor space available to us and I’m so proud of our little green fingered HoneyBees!

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Honey & Lemon Playdough 🍯 🍋 🐝

It’s not just a stick!

It’s a magic wand.
It’s a dog lead.
It’s a stick insect.
It’s a walking stick.

But the winner just had to be “Amy…shhh!! I’m fishing!” 😂😂😂

Happy Holi!!♥️🧡💛💚💙💜💗

As part of our ‘festival of colours’ this week the HoneyBees have been let loose with Holi powder, covering themselves and each other in beautiful colours! We even added some to spray bottles before diluting it to make vibrant spray paints, which they used to give our tepee a colourful makeover.

Just how beautiful is the end result?! 😍

Great work HoneyBees 🐝👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Saint Nicholas Day 🎅🏼

We loved learning all about Saint Nicholas Day 🎅🏼 a Romanian tradition where children polish their boots and leave them on the door step in the hope that St Nick will fill them with an early present!
My door step isn’t quite big enough for 10 pairs of wellies, so the fireplace had to do! 😂but he still managed to find them (well, they were so clean and shiny after lots of cleaning, how could he not?!) and left every HoneyBee a gift 🎁
Thank you to the parent who very kindly made up the goody bags for Santa to deliver, and for sharing this lovely tradition with us 🎅🏼🇷🇴❤️

Tataki-Zome Lavender Bags 🔨 🌺🪻💜

We used tataki-zome to print floral designs onto fabric bags. Tataki-zome is an eco-friendly Japanese method of nature printing, where instead of using inks or paints, flowers are hammered onto the fabric which then gets dyed from the natural pigment found in the flowers and leaves themselves.

Once happy with their designs, the HoneyBees then scooped dried lavender into their bags, which all smell absolutely amazing and are ready to go home 💜