Penny’s Little Squirrels

So that’s it!
I have had the pleasure of looking after some AMAZING children that have brought so much joy to my heart and made me feel so privileged to be a part of their childhood. I have had the BEST parents and have looked forward to our chats, rantings and crazy drop offs and pick ups and I will miss my current ones sooo much!
I have made new childminder friends that have been such a great support group and I wouldn’t have been able to last this long without them.
The time has come to move on, but childminding has given me some wonderful memories and some great people.

We had a busy week of crafting last week to get ready for Christmas. Clay ornaments, melted snowman biscuits, Christmas puddings, Christmas tree cupcakes and some 3D Christmas cones.
Happy Christmas everyone.

I love a wintery beach.
Our own wide open space to run as fast as we can, be our own designers, builders, mathematicians, problem solvers and to learn so much through play. We build on our imagination, our senses, our resilience, our physical capabilities and make amazing memories.

Our little Robin friend at Quarr on Monday. We fed him and talked to him and in return he sang to us so beautifully.
The children and I love it here and we could spend hours playing and exploring. This time we bought mistletoe, which sparked a conversation about how the seeds are spread and where it grows.

We’ve been decorating our playdough Christmas trees this week, making mince pies and we just had to take a trip to Busy Bee’s Christmas World, but not trip is complete without cake!

The Squirrels were debating today what the word would be for a group of marshmallows?
A flock? A shoal? A swarm? We decided a fluff!
Any more ideas?

We loved our trip to Borthwood last week to make our Christmas wreaths. We had hot chocolates with marshmallows to warm us up and enjoyed a bear hunt with swishy swashy leaves, a splashy sploshy river, squelchy squirchy mud, a swirling whirling leaf storm, stumble tripping through the big dark forest until we found a narrow gloomy bear den.
We weren’t in any rush to get home though.

For our tomorrow, they gave their today.

Guy Fawkes Night seemed the perfect excuse for a little fire safety this week.
We’ve had fire drills, practiced our stop, drop and rolls, spotted the ‘H’ for Hydrant and found where they are, chatted at length .................. about various scenarios 😂 and had a little fun with songs, stories, baking bonfire cupcakes and toasting marshmallows on our own fire.

We grew our own pumpkins this year! Slightly disappointing in size, but not bad for our first attempt and perfect for some of the activities we had in store.
This week we’ve had bowling, a geo-board pumpkin, pumpkin stress balls, songs, stories and some hilariously fun party games.
Happy Halloween everyone!

The Squirrels have started a little Halloween craft this week with swirling ghosts, ghost poppers and some wonderful witches brew ooblec.
I’ve seen some amazing cutting skills, knotting, drawing, creative thinking, problem solving and the most incredible team work and helping others.