Lilybugs Childminding service

Warm bubbly padding pools, ice and foam messy play, painting wind chimes and lots of happy faces ❤

This week we have decided to ditch the nappies for all our children we feel are ready. We apologise for surprising a few parents with this, but we had a few little ones ready and the others simply decided it was their time too.
We are very proud to say we've had no accidents and all our teenies have successfully been dry all day in the setting ❤

What a busy few weeks of summer holiday we've had!
We've danced in the rain
Played animals
Painted junk modelling
Melted ice
Made rainbows
Been on bike rides
Played with clay
Built towers
Fed the ducks & geese
Met cats on walks
Hunted gruffalos
Played magnets
Chased bubbles
Cuddled chickens
Played in our science trays
Paddled in the pool
Played trains
Read stories
Sang sings
Danced around kitchens
And eaten our body weight in watermelon slices and ice pops!

*** Reminder that Lilybugs Childminding service & Where the Wild Ones Play both have annual leave dates booked in across the rest of August. Please check your holiday lists as a reminder of the dates ❤ ***

Today we spent the day at the park! 💚

11 children, 1 teenage helper, 2 grown ups, lots of sun cream, a picnic dinner, a few ice lollies, and lots of singing.....
A lovely morning all round 💜

We've taken delivery of our new water bottles today! 😍
We had a rather mismatched collection and a few that leaked more than they should, so we decided to treat everyone to brand spanking new ones!
All named ready for the children to use in the garden and out on walks.
We will still used proper glassware when seated at the dinner table.

Don't worry if you can't spy your little ones name (I'm sure you parents can work out who is who 😉) we've got a few more on order to complete the set for our new starters in September 🧡

Today was another round of suncream and swimsuits!
Splashing, painting, washing baby dolls, counting, building, threading, painting, and more splashing! ❤

Today we layered everyone in lots of suncream, put our swimsuits on, ate our body weight in ice lollies and played outside in the pool.
Perfect summers day 👌❤

The first few days of the summer holidays are done with 👌
I had promised my own children a lazy few days, so we've enjoyed playing at home and using the garden this week ❤

Sometimes early years education is not pretty activities that take an age to set up.
It's not expensive resources designed to teach.
It's not bright colours and sparkles.
It's not singing and crafts and days out.....

It's masking tape on the kitchen floor whilst you make breakfast, to meet the need of the child who likes to pick at things. ❤
Possibly the favourite activity of the morning ❤

Friday ❤

A fabulous day enjoying some messy garden painting and ice lollies in the sunshine with our friends ❤

A day in the life of us......

Early morning is taken up by breakfasts, welcoming children, and taking our older children to school.

9am till 11.45am is our busy time filled with activities planned to give our children the best start in life and introduce them to new experiences whilst their parents are at work.
We fill this time with cookery sessions, playgroup visits, messy play, forest schools, park trips, playdough, feeding the ducks, crafts, and a never ending rotation of fun !

At 12pm all the children sit together for a homecooked lunch, using glasses, metal cutlery and crockery. Only our babies use plastic forks and plastic plates, as our 2 and 3yr olds are incredibly grown up and sensible 💜

After lunch is nap time. All the children get cosy with a blanket, tucked up with fairy lights and classical music for a nice rest.
The grown ups use nap time to clean up after lunch, wash high chairs, wash pots and prep for the afternoon.

After the school run the children enjoy free play at whichever setting we are at, they have access to the play kitchen, doll houses, bricks, cars, crafts, trains, and endless rounds of toys.

During the school holidays we retain the routine where possible in order to keep the children happy and settled ❤

We all love a beautiful photo to show what we do, but we also like a realistic before & after.
It's not always pretty set ups and calm peaceful play.
But there is always learning ❤

Today's photos sum themselves up.

Colour mixing, safari small word, waterproofs, mess and so much fun ❤

***Just a small reminder that Lilybugs Childminding service is now closed until Monday morning.
Where the Wild Ones Play is open as usual for the rest of the week***

On Monday we made flapjack!

Cooking with the littles doesn't always go to plan and this week was a perfect example of that. We forgot all about our flapjack and over cooked it slightly (whoops!)
So our children got to enjoy a tasty batch of flapjack chunks rather than actual slices 😁
Delicious all the same!

Today we went on an adventure down the sett valley trail and visited the children's play park at Derby Rd fields.
The new equipment is perfect for toddlers to use!
The children had great fun climbing, sliding, and swinging, but everyone's favourite was the roundabout! 😍

(Personally I'm rather smitten with the dragon hopscotch!)

It's definitely somewhere we will visit again! 😁

Foodie Mondays!

Today we made blueberry and blackcurrant loaf cake!
Absolutely delicious 😍

The children all took turns in mixing the ingredients to create a fabulous cake mix together!

We talked about why we must clean our hands, and the table, about where milk and eggs come from... about growing the blackcurrants in the garden and how we buy the blueberries in asda 🤣

It was also a rather cold soggy wet day, so everyone enjoyed a nice warm cup of tea to warm up this morning.
Tea breaks may need to be added into our day more often 🧡
(With decaf teabags of course)

*** School holidays ***

School holidays are fast approaching, and this is the perfect time to remind everyone that we do not offer holiday club care.

We have offered this service in the past, but going forward we are an early years only setting as this works best in regards to ratios, space, and my own children (who already have to share their mum with other children all summer)

We haven't offered before and after school care at all this last 18 months and it has worked so much better in allowing us to focus our attention exactly where it is needed with our toddlers. 💜

Most schools in our area now offer before and after school care so there is plenty on offer when the children leave our care and head off to their next stage of life 🧡

Youth Matters New Mills CIC are being their usual fabulous selves and arranging a trip to Blackpool!
Contact them for further info 💜

A busy week filled with outdoor play, playdough, slushie making, chickens, ice lollies and lots of suncream!

Tomorrow we are making blueberry and blackcurrant muffins! 💙💜

A bit of info as we head into holiday season.....
Avoid the blue swim wear!
Yes we know most boys stuff comes in blue, and we know the shark print shorts are extra cute....but buy orange or pink.
Your baby will be safer in orange & pink. 🧡💟

Matalan, amazon, asda, and TU-sainsbury *ALL* currently stock orange & pink swimwear for kids.

Pick safety over cute prints!

The children have been very busy enjoying the sunshine this week!
We've brought our toys outside, and enjoyed the fresh air, the freedom to run around and even a few cheeky ice lollies to cool us down 😁

*Huge apologies to all our neighbours as the children have been rather loud this week. We have lots of two year olds who are currently learning to deal with their very big, very overwhelming emotions.
Sometimes that does means tears of frustration and needing to be told 'no thankyou' (which nobody likes)
It's very hard learning to share and take turns when you don't really want too.
🤷‍♀️❤

A little helpful info for those families with school age siblings 👌

It's not feeling very much like June at the moment. Theres been far to much rain and wind for our liking!
We've been keeping everyone's tummies warm and full with home cooked tasty lunches across both settings!

The children are fed home made, hot, nutritious meals every day, packed full of tasty ingredients!

Meals are included for all children free of charge here, as we want to make sure all of the children have access to these tasty dinners every day ❤

Today the little ones made sausage rolls!

We talked about halves and quarters whilst cutting the pastry today.
We talked about washing hands before we touch food.
We discussed whether anybody has ever made sausage rolls before, and how the oven needs to be super hot to cook the sausages in the middle!

A simple but successful food session today ❤

This coming week we will focus on all things baking!

We will make sausage rolls, decorate biscuits, make cakes with playdough, and visit our local bakery for some treats!

And I've turned the play kitchen into a bakery for the children.
There's wooden cake, home sewn cookies, card pennies, and a fabulous pretend bakery display from our Potts bakery tea towel we bought a while ago 👌

If you are intending to use 2 year or 9 month funding come September please follow the link below and check your eligibility.
Your childcare provider needs to know if your child is eligible for the funding, so that they can allocate spaces accordingly.

Please note that this funding is not for all children, you must meet the requirements stated below to be eligible.
We need to know who will require a space ASAP 😁

https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/?utm_source=Search&utm_medium=keyword&utm_campaign=Childcare_Choices_2024&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpZWzBhC0ARIsACvjWRNxy3hj8ZOSJKuefAM0hAUDu9s-Gwp7YEo67T6J8r4WxPMwC7NzaLoaAlZXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

(Follow the yellow tab at the top of the page)

Today the children wanted to see baby lambs. The nearest place I could think of that may have lambs was goytside farm.
So with waterproofs and wellington boots on we headed for a walk to the farm.
Only we didn't get that far, because we found a work van, some bollards and a footpath closure sign instead..... so naturally we spent an hour just being children amd making the most of our waterproofs by splashing in muddy puddles!

The children had so much fun. There was mud in their ears, up their noses, and in their hair. They jumped, they ran, they splashed and they made a wonderful mess!

It also needs to be noted that they were incredibly well behaved and stopped splashing to let other people walk past with their dogs, because not everybody wants to get wet 👌

Once the children had finished getting soaked we headed home to get cleaned up.
Kim ran a nice warm bubble bath, and the children enjoyed a warm bath and a hair wash before being wrapped in a towel and taken to sit by the fire by Verity to warm up properly. Fresh clothes and a sneaky chocolate biscuit later and you wouldn't even know they were ever in the mud 😁

All the children's clothes are currently in the wash and most of the coats were washed and dried at nap time today ready for home 👌

A fabulous day had by all!

One of little ones has an incredible collection of plastic animals toys they they often bring in to show. All the children love to share these animals, so I had to scour ebay for some of our own!

Meet our new animal collection.... the children have loved these today and they very quickly became a favourite!

Its a term time Monday which can only mean one thing..... cookery class with our minis!

On the menu today was cheesy broccoli muffins!
The children took turns mixing flour, butter, eggs, cheese, veg, sweet chilli sauce, and other ingredients.

We talked about washing hands and wiping tables, to clean up before and after our cooking session.

We looked at where eggs cone from and what cheese is made from.

Everyone taste tested the veg as Everyone is rather partial to brocoli here!

The children had so much fun making these muffins, however the outcome was a bit hit and miss. Some of the children loved the taste, and some were unimpressed that I put veg into muffins.
(I have promised that the next batch of muffins will be sweet ones instead)

We are adding to out cooking equipment next week by buying individual mixing bowls and wooden spoons for all the children, to go with their chopping boards, rolling pins and safety knives 👌❤

Lunch today was jacket potatoes with 50/50 beans and cheese/tuna mayo

Friday fun with my little ones ❤