I spy life childminding East Markham

07/08/2026

Only a few more hours to go, and that’s me officially done for the summer! ☀️

I absolutely love working through the school holidays (almost as much as I love taking half of them off! 😂).

There really is something so special about having children of all different ages together. Watching them play, learn, help each other, and build friendships is magical. The younger ones learn from the older children, while the older ones develop confidence, patience and kindness. It’s one of my favourite things about childminding.

We’ve packed so much fun into the holidays! We’ve walked the plank, made treasure maps, built floating boats from junk modelling, hunted for treasure, decorated treasure chests, enjoyed pirate picnics, made sand slime, created healthy fruit juice slushies, decorated biscuits, painted our own masterpieces, explored with clay creations, and squeezed in plenty of games, adventures and laughter along the way.

A huge thank you to all my wonderful little explorers for making the summer so much fun. ❤️

Now it’s time for a little break before we do it all again. Wishing everyone a fantastic rest of the summer, and I’ll see you all in a few weeks! ☀️🏖️

28/07/2026

All set up 🏴‍☠️

01/07/2026

I can’t wait to show the children what we have out this week. The robot activities have naturally led in to a new interest….

06/06/2026

This week has been all about robots… but why robots?

Before half term, the children couldn’t get enough of our robot stories. Rather than moving on to a pre-planned topic, we chose to follow their interest. When we build on children’s fascinations, we can dive much deeper into meaningful learning.

This week we set up a simple story invitation. There were no planned activities or instructions, just a selection of robot books and some carefully chosen resources to spark curiosity and support the children’s next steps.

Our role this week was simply to observe, listen, join in when invited and follow where the children’s ideas led.

Some of our favourite moments included:

🤖 discovering a great robot song.

🔋 Discovering that robots need charging, which led to us “charging” ourselves on the wall. Once we were fully charged, we could dance super fast! We also changed each other’s batteries and practised moving like robots.

🎵 Exploring the sound buttons and learning how to record our own voices.

👯 “Look Helen, they are the same… twins!” as the children noticed similarities and made connections between different robots.

These moments might look simple, but they are packed with communication and language, creativity, problem-solving, imagination, physical development and social interaction.

The best part? We now have lots of ideas for next week, all inspired by the children’s own interests and discoveries.

We can’t wait to see where our robot adventure takes us next.

07/05/2026

Please help support our beautiful little setting if you can 💛

We’ve just signed up to Easyfundraising, which is an amazing way to help us raise money for our children’s new climbing frame and outdoor play area — at absolutely no extra cost to you.

If you sign up (it only takes a couple of minutes), big brands donate a percentage to our setting whenever you shop online. This includes places many of us already use regularly like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Argos, Currys, TUI, Booking.com and so many more.

From your weekly food shop to holidays, electricals, clothes and gifts — you pay exactly the same price, but the retailers give something back to our cause.

Every little bit really will help us continue developing our outdoor space and creating exciting opportunities for the children to learn, grow and thrive through play.

Please, please consider signing up and helping support our little setting 💚 Every click and every shop really does make a difference.

Thank you so much for your support ✨

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/i-spy-life-childminding

Help us when you shop with 7,000+ brands. Join now.

06/05/2026

Spring is definitely in the air and we’ve had the loveliest few weeks 🌸

So much fun, laughter and real, organic learning as always. By following the children’s interests, our days have been filled with planting seeds, creating obstacle courses, painting boxes, exploring water play, hunting for insects, reading lots of stories, and plenty of dancing and singing… and that’s only a small part of it!

At the moment, our planning is very much led by the children themselves. By really knowing each child and keeping their next steps in mind, we can turn any moment into a learning opportunity.

One lovely example was when a child found a big paint brush in the garden and began “painting” the bridge. We added water so it made marks, and by the next day this had naturally grown into painting with pots and boxes too.

That’s the magic ✨
It’s never really about the activity itself — it’s about the curiosity, the engagement, and the learning happening within it.

I absolutely love seeing where their interests take us next 💛

20/04/2026

People often think I have “days off” when I don’t have children here… but the reality is very different.

Those quieter days are usually filled with paperwork, training, planning, or creating new ideas to make our setting even better. There’s always something happening behind the scenes.

I’m really excited for tomorrow though—I can’t wait to show the little ones their new personalised hand towels!

Hand washing is such a big part of our day. The children genuinely love it, and it’s amazing how much learning we can build into something so simple. It encourages independence, confidence, and good hygiene habits—but it’s also so much more than that.

We’ve turned it into a fun routine with our own counting song to support proper hand washing and early numeracy, followed by a hand drying song. It’s one of their favourite parts of the day, and without even realising it, they’re learning through something we have to do anyway.

Now we’re adding colours and name recognition into the mix too.

A good reminder that learning really doesn’t have to be complicated ❤️

13/04/2026

Themes for little ones… what do we think? 👀🐞🦋

I’ve had a little re-jig of the playroom ready for after the Easter break… and I may have got a bit carried away 😅

The children aren’t even back yet, but before we broke up a few of them were absolutely fascinated with spotting bugs—ladybirds, butterflies and anything that moved! So I’ve taken that interest and run with it…

🌿 Mini beasts, spring and growing 🌱

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We are very much a child-led setting, but I do love creating an environment based around what I know the children are interested in. That’s when the real magic happens ✨

To them, it’s just play…
But behind the scenes they’re developing communication, confidence, problem solving, motor skills, turn-taking and so much more 💛

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A little look at what’s ready for them…

A physical play area for climbing, balancing and creating their own obstacle courses

A new table space for puzzles and construction—this has already been a bit of a game changer as we started it before the break. Having a dedicated, calmer space really supports focus and engagement

A cosy calm corner with bean bags, sensory resources and books to support quiet time and big feelings

🐞 And of course… our mini beast area!
With books, role play, posting activities, early counting, life cycles and lots of opportunities for curiosity and exploration

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Now I just can’t wait to see where the children take it…
What they’re drawn to first, what captures their imagination and how it all develops over the next few weeks.

Because as long as they are happy, engaged and curious… the learning will always follow 💫

28/03/2026

A busy few weeks here… and child-led learning at its best 💛

One of the things we are so passionate about is following the children’s interests — because when learning is meaningful to them, it becomes fun, engaging, and truly sticks.

Do we have a plan? Absolutely.
We know where each child is on their learning journey. For some, that might be learning a new word or sound. For others, it’s beginning to regulate emotions, taking first steps, learning to jump and run, recognising colours, or starting to make marks and drawings.

We know what skills the children need next… but how they get there is led by them ✨

Recently, a very unexpected visitor — a cockerel in the garden — sparked a whole chain of magical learning opportunities.

We explored:
🐓 What sound a cockerel makes
🌾 What it eats (and even fed it!)
🐔 The difference between a cockerel and a hen
🥚 Where eggs come from

This curiosity led us on a walk to collect our own eggs. Along the way, we:
🧺 Counted how many eggs we needed
💰 Talked about money and paying
🛍️ Practised real-life skills in the community

Back home, we cracked the eggs open, explored what was inside, and then cooked them for breakfast — a full journey from curiosity to real-life experience.

Moments like this are why we love what we do 💛
Learning doesn’t need to be forced — when it’s child-led, it becomes something truly special.

02/02/2026

I have one childcare space available for a child on Tuesdays and Fridays, starting in April.

We’re a warm, home-from-home setting based in East Markham, with lots of free play, learning and outdoor fun. Funding is accepted, and our last Ofsted inspection was graded Outstanding, which we’re really proud of.

If you’d like more information, please message me or have a look at my page to see the kinds of activities and care we provide
https://www.facebook.com/share/1ARVC9A8nw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Ofsted Outstanding Childminder based in East Markham.
Breakfast and afterschool club
7.30am-5.45pm