Julie Thompson Childminding

19/08/2026

We had a day out at Willows Farm, with our friends at Maria Kelly Funtimes, and took advantage of all the activities on offer, the children enjoyed seeing the animals, the tractor ride, watching the Lily Bobtail show, playing in the Peter Rabbit adventure playground, as well as the soft play and the sand pit.
We had lunch there and enjoyed exploring on a thankfully cooler day.

21/07/2026

First day of the summer holidays for us and we visited a beautiful spot Ashwell Springs, the children enjoyed playing in the water, searching for fish, splashing around with their buckets, nets and watering cans.

28/06/2026

By the end of last week all our caterpillars had made coccoons and were placed in our net while they developed into butterflies, and on Monday our first butterfly emerged from the coccoon, and the 3 others soon followed and the children were very excited, we were watching 4 beautiful butterflies, strengthening their wings, feeding on the fruit, they especially seemed to love the watermelon, before we released them in the garden on Thursday. Before we released the them the children enjoyed a butterfly painting activity🦋

This topic is a strong area of learning for Understanding the World, it gave children the opportunity to;
Observe changes over time.
Learn about lifecycles and living things.
Explore habitats, food and the needs of insects.

19/06/2026

Over the last couple of weeks we have been watching our caterpillars grow, and now they have formed their cocoons/chrysalises, and we have moved them into the net to wait for them to evolve as butterflies, which has helped the children to build patience, while we wait for the changes to occur.
We have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and the children have been creating caterpillar artwork using a range of materials.

02/06/2026

I repotted the sunflowers and have watered them through the hot weather, now they are ready for the children to take them home, and care for them, watch them grow and bloom into beautiful sunflowers 🌻

07/05/2026

The children were highly engaged with a great sensory messy play activity with jelly this morning at playgroup. It supports lots of areas of learning and development in the EYFS.
The children explored the texture, temperature, smell, colour, and movement through touch and manipulation.

05/05/2026

Cant believe our sunflowers have already started to grow, after planting them on Thursday 😊🌻

01/05/2026

We made the most of the sunshine and spent a lot of the morning in the garden yesterday, whilst outside as well as enjoying the climbing frame, sand play, rolling the balls down the pipe, and the hoops we planted our sunflower seeds which all the children joined in with. Its a great activity for learning about the world around them, and building confidence, we talked about Spring, growth and parts of the flowers as they will grow. The children took turns sharing the spade and the watering can, and I explained I will water them regularly until they sprout and start to grow, then they can take them home to plant in the own gardens, and see how tall they grow 🌻❤️

01/05/2026

One of my little ones enjoyed helping to make some savoury muffins for their lunch the next day. Baking with under 3s is a simple activity that actually supports all the developmental areas, as we as promoting Healthy eating awareness
Using savoury ingredients (like vegetables, cheese, herbs) helps introduce different tastes and supports early conversations about food and healthy choices. It’s less about the muffins themselves and more about what children experience while making them. Great work they were very tasty😋

24/03/2026