Roxanne's Little Explorers Childminding

Our last day 🧚🌈 ✨ 💦

The hardest part of childminding will always be the goodbyes.

You spend so much of their little lives together. You learn every smile, every funny phrase, every tiny hand reaching automatically for yours. You watch them become braver, more curious, more confident and more completely themselves.

And all the while, you hope you’ve given them something they’ll carry with them. A love of muddy knees, wild places, tiny treasures, puddles, flowers, sticks, stories and the quiet magic hiding in ordinary days. 🌿✨

Then somehow, the last day arrives.

So today was for fairy wings, picnic blankets, laughter, little adventures and one final day of being us.

I am so unbelievably proud of the little people you are becoming, and so grateful that I got to be part of the beginning.

Go and find the magic, little ones. You already know where to look. 🦋🌱 🌈 ✨

🌿 Something I’m really proud of…

This little world I have created. 🪵 ☀️🐓🦋 🌈

It’s muddy, slightly chaotic, usually covered in half-finished potions, sticks, flowers, water, blocks and whatever else the children have decided is VERY important that day 😂

But that’s exactly why I love it.

I’ve spent years creating a setting where children have the space to explore, experiment, build, grow things, get filthy, follow their own ideas and just properly play.

We follow the seasons, spend as much of our time outside as possible and try not to overcomplicate things. Sometimes the best activity really is a pinecone tied to a piece of string. 🌲😂

I’m proud of the space, obviously… but mostly I’m proud of the childhood that happens in it. 🌿

And getting to share a little bit of that with other early years people is pretty lovely too.

So yep… this is mine. And I’m really proud of it. 🤎

YPO

🪵 WHY CHILDREN NEED “HEAVY WORK” 🌿

It might look like they’re just moving blocks… but there’s a whole lot more happening underneath. 🙌

“Heavy work” is the name often given to activities where children push, pull, lift, carry or move against resistance. Think hauling a big block across the garden, pushing a loaded wheelbarrow, dragging a log, digging, climbing or carrying a bucket full of something wonderfully important. 😂

And this kind of play provides lots of proprioceptive input.

Proprioception is our internal sense of where our body is and how it’s moving. Receptors in our muscles, tendons and joints provide the nervous system with information about body position, movement and force.

So when a child picks up one of these big blocks, their body is constantly working things out…

🧠 How heavy is this?
💪 How much force do I need?
🤲 How should I hold it?
👣 Where do my feet need to go?
⚖️ How do I keep myself balanced?
🪵 How on earth am I going to get THIS over THERE?!

All of that physical problem solving can support body awareness, coordination, balance, motor planning, strength and spatial awareness.

And THIS is one of the reasons I love big, open-ended resources so much.

We don’t need to tell a child, “Right, now we’re going to work on your proprioceptive system.” 😂

They have an idea.

They need that enormous plank over there.

So they lift it.
Carry it.
Drag it.
Turn it.
Balance it.
Ask a friend for help.
Change their plan.
Try again.

The “heavy work” has a purpose within their play. 🌿

And to them?

It isn’t an exercise.

It’s just play. 🤎🪵

Kinda chic, actually… 🌿🤎

To spend my working days surrounded by little people.
To have a polytunnel for an office.
To wear wellies to work.
To consider sticks, pinecones and handfuls of mud perfectly good resources. 😂
To watch a pile of simple wooden blocks become a house, a bridge, a shop, a stage… and something completely different five minutes later. 🪵

There’s a lot about childminding that isn’t particularly glamorous. There are muddy knees, endless snacks, wet socks and approximately 4,762 things to carry everywhere we go. 😂

But getting to spend my days outside, watching children explore, create, wonder, test ideas and make memories?

Yeah… kinda chic. 🌿✨

And I wouldn’t swap this little outdoor life for much. 🤎

🪵🌿 WHAT’S IN THE ADVENTURE CRATE? 🌿🪵

Let’s unpack it… 👀📦

Inside you’ll find our 22-piece handmade wooden block set, created for BIG building, open-ended play and little imaginations.

No batteries. No flashing lights. No prescribed way to play. Just beautifully simple wooden pieces that can become whatever children decide they need that day. 🤎

WHAT’S INSIDE?

🪵 4 × small rectangles
🪵 4 × medium rectangles
🪵 2 × long rectangles
🪵 2 × extra-large long rectangles
🪵 2 × triangles
🪵 2 × squares
🪵 5 × large planks
🪵 1 × medium plank
🪵 1 × small plank

Including our 1, 2 & 3 circular cut-out planks for peeking, posting, building, balancing… and approximately 7,492 other things we haven’t thought of yet 😂

🌿 Handmade by us in Sheffield
🌿 Pressure-treated European whitewood
🌿 Suitable for indoor & outdoor play
🌿 Sanded with rounded edges
🌿 Designed for open-ended, child-led play

🌦️ BUILT FOR OUTDOOR LIFE

They’re made from the same sort of pressure-treated timber commonly used for garden fencing and sheds, so when cared for properly you can expect a similarly long lifespan.

They’ll naturally weather and change colour over time because they’re REAL wood 🤎 Allow them to dry properly, avoid leaving them sitting in standing water or permanently damp conditions, and store somewhere ventilated when you can.

You can also give them additional protection with a suitable outdoor wood treatment, just as you might periodically treat a fence or shed, to help extend their lifespan further. 🌿

We deliberately don’t add this extra treatment ourselves. Doing so would add materials and labour to every set and ultimately increase the price. One of our biggest aims has always been to keep these blocks as affordable and accessible as we can, while giving you the option to add further protection at home if you want to. 🤎

Every set also arrives with our care & information sheet 🌱

✨ 22-piece block set: £145 + £25 P&P
✨ Adventure Crate + block set: £195 + £35 P&P

22 pieces. One crate. Endless adventures. 🌿🪵

DM to order 💌

🌲🐶 PINECONE PUPPIES! 🐶🌲

This is exactly why I love loose parts so much. Give children something with no predetermined purpose and watch what happens… ✨

These pinecones had been collected by the children and, with nothing more than a piece of string tied around them, suddenly they weren’t pinecones anymore.

They were puppies. 🥹🤎

And goodness me, these puppies were LOVED!

They were walked through the river, named, introduced to each other and carefully looked after. The children chatted about their puppies, cared for them and created their own little stories around them.

Then the play evolved again… 💦

They started playing fetch 😂 Throwing their puppies upstream and watching as the current carried them back down towards them.

Without an adult-planned “learning objective”, they were discovering how the river flows, experimenting with what happened when they threw their pinecones in different places, predicting where they might travel and working out where to stand to catch them again.

All through PLAY. 🌿

And if we pop our EYFS glasses on for a second 👓…

🌎 Understanding the World – exploring the river, its current and natural materials
💬 Communication & Language – naming puppies, sharing ideas and storytelling
🤎 PSED – nurturing, caring, cooperating and developing their imaginary play together
🏃 Physical Development – balancing in moving water, throwing, pulling and catching
🎨 Expressive Arts & Design – imagination at its absolute best: turning an ordinary pinecone into something entirely new!

And the best bit?

It cost practically nothing.

🌲 A pinecone
🧵 A piece of string
💦 A river
✨ And permission to play.

No expensive resources. No instructions telling them what the toy is supposed to do. No carefully planned adult outcome.

The idea belonged to them, and because it belonged to them, the play just kept growing.

That’s the magic of loose parts. 🌿

A pinecone can be a pinecone…

until a child decides it’s a puppy. 🐶🤎

I moved my blocks this week….. and wow what a difference!

📍Location matters more than you think…

When children don’t engage with block play, we often blame the blocks.

But sometimes… it’s the environment.

A thoughtfully placed block area invites children to slow down, imagine and build for longer.

Here are a few simple ways to create a space children will keep coming back to:

🌿 Place blocks in a calm area, away from busy walkways and noisy toys.

🧱 Store them on low, open shelving or in accessible crates so children can independently choose what they need.

🏡 Leave enough floor space nearby so children can spread out and create.

💛 If you can, leave creations out. Returning to a build encourages perseverance, planning and problem solving.

🍃 Add a few open-ended extras such as loose parts, fabric, natural treasures or small-world figures to inspire even more imaginative play.

✨ And remember… you don’t need a huge playroom. Small spaces work beautifully too. Children may simply build on a smaller scale.

Sometimes the biggest change isn’t buying more resources…

It’s creating an environment that quietly says,

“Come and play.” 🤎

Now, I know I don’t want to leave my blocks spread all over the lawn permanently… 🤣 But I’ve noticed that every time I bring them back out into an inviting space, the children dive straight back in. That’s the secret. 🙌 It’s not about constantly buying new resources, it’s about making the ones you already have irresistible to use.

🌱 Save this post for the next time you’re refreshing your play space. 🌱