Mini Explorers Childcare - Strensall

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Mini Explorers Childcare - Strensall OFSTED registered childminders based in Strensall, York. We provide a nurturing home from home environment that children will love and enjoy.

We use a play based curriculum that can be tailored to meet the individual needs of every child!

🍂 Another lovely week at Mini Explorers! 🍂We’ve had another busy week, with lots of autumn activities, creative play and...
09/10/2026

🍂 Another lovely week at Mini Explorers! 🍂

We’ve had another busy week, with lots of autumn activities, creative play and adventures out and about! 🍂😊

🍂 Monday– Autumn fun & name recognition

We started the week with a fun autumn-themed tuff tray, exploring our lovely woodland animals! 🦊🦔 We headed into the garden to practise our counting skills using pinecones, enjoyed lots of imaginative play in the mud kitchen and had fun scooping and pouring water. 💦

As we’re beginning to recognise our names and the letters within them, we got creative in the afternoon by printing the first initial of our names! 🎨🔤

🚜 Tuesday– New friends & a trip to Murton Park

We welcomed one of our new starters for a settling-in session, and it was so lovely to see how kind, gentle and welcoming the other children were. ❤️ She settled in amazingly well, and it already feels like she’s been part of our little setting for ages! 🥰

We also headed to Murton Park for the first time since its changes, and the new tractor area was a HUGE hit! 🚜 The children absolutely loved exploring and having fun together. We’ll definitely be visiting again!

🎨 Wednesday– Little builders, self-portraits & phonics fun

Wednesday morning brought lots of imaginative play as the children enjoyed building with our Stickle Bricks and exploring HappyLand. 🏡

We then got creative with a self-portrait activity! Using mirrors, the children carefully looked at their own reflections before drawing themselves. It was lovely to see how much concentration they put into choosing the correct colours for their eyes and hair. 🪞🖍️

Our older children also practised writing their names. This is something they’re really enjoying at the moment, so we’re making the most of every opportunity to build their confidence and early writing skills! ✏️💛

Emma also set up a fun phonics game for the children! 🔤 She sounded out CVC words, such as d-o-g, and the children had to blend the sounds together before finding the matching picture. They loved racing against each other to see who could be the first to splat the correct picture! 🐶👏 A great way to practise their letter sounds, blending and early reading skills through play.

🍁 Thursday– Autumn walks & cosy treats

The weather certainly reminded us that autumn is here! 🍂 We enjoyed a lovely sunny walk around Haxby, stopping off at the park for a play before heading for a well-deserved hot chocolate or warm milk together. ☀️🛝☕ A lovely treat to warm us up!

✨ WHAT A WEEK WE’VE HAD! ✨It’s been another busy week at Mini Explorers, filled with days out, creativity and a very spe...
26/09/2026

✨ WHAT A WEEK WE’VE HAD! ✨

It’s been another busy week at Mini Explorers, filled with days out, creativity and a very special celebration! 🥰🍂

We’ve also welcomed one of our new starters for a visit this week, who will be joining us properly over the next few weeks. It’s been lovely for the children to be able to get to know them and help them settle ready for next week 💛

🍂 MONDAY- Conker fun!
We headed out to find and collect conkers, ready for some autumn activities back at the setting.

First up was a fun sensory tray where the children used little hammers to smash open the conkers and investigate what was hiding inside! 🔨🌰

We then got creative and used our conkers to make some gorgeous artwork. We rolled them in different coloured paints before moving them around the trays, creating some fabulous patterns, colours and marks. 🎨

🏙️ TUESDAY- A day in York!
We had a lovely trip into York and the children did some fantastic walking! It was such a gorgeous day. ☀️

We visited the library, where we enjoyed looking at and reading books together and doing some colouring. 📚🖍️

Afterwards, we headed to the Museum Gardens for our lunch before having time to explore. The children particularly loved playing on the rocks and practising their climbing skills! 🌿🪨

🚜 WEDNESDAY- Willow Farm!
We spent the morning at Willow Farm, where the children had a brilliant time exploring and playing. There was lots of fun on the park and with the toys, and the bouncy castle was definitely a favourite! 😆

🎂 THURSDAY- Birthday celebrations! 🥳
We finished our week with a very special birthday and an outdoor party! 🎈

The children had lots of fun playing party games, including musical bumps and musical statues, with plenty of dancing. And, of course, we had lots of time playing with one of their absolute favourites… the rocket! 🚀

What a lovely week! 💛

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Hayley & Emma xx

🌱 We’ve got an allotment! 🌱And… we may have slightly underestimated how much work there is to do 🤣🤣We’re really excited ...
19/09/2026

🌱 We’ve got an allotment! 🌱

And… we may have slightly underestimated how much work there is to do 🤣🤣

We’re really excited to have our own little space where, over time, we can hopefully create a lovely area for the children to grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers. 🥕🍓🌻

Josh Dennis and Col have made a great start on clearing it (thank you! 🙏) but we’ve definitely still got a fair way to go! 😂 We’re hoping to get it all cleared and ready for early next year, ready for the children to get stuck in.

We’ve even found some potatoes already, which was very exciting! 🤣🥔

There’ll be lots of planting, watering, learning… and probably a LOT of mud! 🤣

We’ll be getting the children involved too and they’ll be able to help us along the way as we start planting and growing things. 🌱

We can’t wait to see what we can turn it into! 🍓🥕🌻

🍁 A lovely start to the Autumn term! 🍁Over the last few weeks, we’ve welcomed some new children and they have slotted in...
18/09/2026

🍁 A lovely start to the Autumn term! 🍁

Over the last few weeks, we’ve welcomed some new children and they have slotted in amazingly! You’d think they’d been with us forever! 🥰

We’ve had some lovely little trips out and, last week, we started thinking about the changing weather and the trees around us. We had a lovely visit to Strensall Common, taking our tree book with us and reading it together before heading off to see which different trees we could spot 🌳🍂

Throughout the week we enjoyed lots of walks, made bark rubbings and used our wooden cameras to help us identify the different leaves we found along the way. 📷🍃

This week we’ve continued our Autumn theme with a walk around Moorlands, collecting lots of beautiful leaves along the way. We then used them to create some gorgeous pictures, including painting a little snail and using a leaf as its shell! 🐌🍂

We’ve also managed to squeeze in trips to playgroup, Castle Howard, Yolk and the library too! 📚🐥

It’s been such a lovely start to the Autumn term, with lots of exploring 🍁❤️

✨ OUR 2026 LEAVERS ✨ The baby pics! 😭 They’ve all grown so much 💕
29/08/2026

✨ OUR 2026 LEAVERS ✨

The baby pics! 😭 They’ve all grown so much 💕

It’s been a wild week!! Between saying goodbye to some of our children who have left us this week (we will miss them all...
29/08/2026

It’s been a wild week!! Between saying goodbye to some of our children who have left us this week (we will miss them all SO much… but apparently they have to go to school 😂😂😂 boooo!) and Ofsted, it’s been quite the week!!! 😅

The feedback you have given us has honestly been incredible to read, and the lovely gifts, cards and kind words from our leavers have meant more to us than you’ll ever know. 🥹❤️ We honestly cannot thank you enough!

It’s been such an emotional week, but we are so, so proud of every single one of our children and feel incredibly lucky that we get to be such a big part of their little lives. 🥰

We really are so lucky to have the most amazing families. Parents & children, we genuinely appreciate you all so much! ❤️

Thank you for all of your support, always! … our holidays have DEFINITELY come at the right time! 😂😅☀️

Hayley & Emma ###

We’ve had such a lovely week this week… but it’s definitely been a HOT one! ☀️🥵 🏴‍☠️ Monday – Pirate Party!We kicked off...
14/08/2026

We’ve had such a lovely week this week… but it’s definitely been a HOT one! ☀️🥵

🏴‍☠️ Monday – Pirate Party!
We kicked off the week with our Pirate Party! We did LOTS of dancing 💃 and played some brilliant party games, including Musical Starfish ⭐️.

The children decorated their very own pirate swords ⚔️ before setting off on an exciting treasure hunt! They worked together following the clues until they finally found the treasure! 🗺️💰🏴‍☠️

🧚‍♀️ Tuesday – Nunnington Hall
On Tuesday we headed over to Nunnington Hall for a gorgeous day in the sunshine ☀️. We enjoyed a picnic in the gardens before getting stuck into lots of lovely fairy-tale-themed outdoor activities.

The children had great fun with Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage races 🎃 and Robin Hood’s archery practice 🏹. We also played badminton, had lots of races, explored the dressing-up box in the gardens and enjoyed some lovely outdoor painting 🎨🌿.

We finished our visit with a trip to the Lion’s Den play area for even more running, climbing and exploring before heading home!

🏖️ Wednesday – Bridlington Beach
With another hot day forecast, we decided there was only one place to be… the seaside! 🌊☀️

We had such a lovely day with plenty of time for sandcastle building, paddling in the sea and even kite flying on the beach! 🪁 The children had a yummy lunch of fish and chips, followed by ice creams and lollies to help us cool down 🍦😋.

We also received lots of lovely comments from people about how well behaved the children were, which was so nice to hear. As always, we were incredibly proud of how they behaved throughout the whole day ❤️.

⛳️ Thursday – Mini Golf & Summer Trail
Thursday was a very, very hot one! 🥵☀️ So we set off nice and early to enjoy some mini golf and outdoor games at the Designer Outlet before it got too warm.

Once the temperature started rising, we escaped inside into the air conditioning – thank goodness for air con! 😂❄️ We then completed the summer trail, searching around the outlet for six hidden seagulls 🐦

#ʟᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴘʟᴀʏ

🏴‍☠️ Pirate Day is in full swing! 🦜⚓️Our little pirates are having the best time! 🏴‍☠️💰 Lots of pirate fun and mischief ...
10/08/2026

🏴‍☠️ Pirate Day is in full swing! 🦜⚓️

Our little pirates are having the best time! 🏴‍☠️💰 Lots of pirate fun and mischief happening here today! ☠️🗺️✨

#ʟᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴘʟᴀʏ 🏴‍☠️⚓️

We’ve had another lovely, busy week at Mini Explorers! 🥰Monday 🪻We enjoyed a beautiful day at Yorkshire Lavender, explor...
09/08/2026

We’ve had another lovely, busy week at Mini Explorers! 🥰

Monday 🪻

We enjoyed a beautiful day at Yorkshire Lavender, exploring the fields, spotting bees and butterflies 🐝🦋 and talking about pollinators. The children also loved the sandpit, mud kitchen, giant dominoes and outdoor play.

Tuesday 🎨

A more chilled day in the setting with lots of child-led play! The older children enjoyed Lego building, while the younger children explored cars, Mega Bloks and sensory play. Some of the children also got creative making their own colourful bug masks 🐞.

Wednesday 🚂

A train-filled day! We started with our wooden train track before heading to the National Railway Museum. The children had a great time with Trainmaster North & East Yorkshire and they loved building tracks, exploring the trains, watching the model railway and enjoying lots of imaginative play.

Thursday 🌱

We finished the week with a trip to Lotherton Hall. The Punch and Judy show was a huge hit 😂, followed by exploring the gardens and enjoying the summer activities, including carnival games, sand play, space hoppers and badminton! 🎪🏸

Another week full of adventures, learning and lots of fun! ❤️

📢 Space Available 📢Unfortunately, due to a last-minute cancellation, we now have an immediate childcare space available ...
31/07/2026

📢 Space Available 📢

Unfortunately, due to a last-minute cancellation, we now have an immediate childcare space available for Monday to Wednesday.

It’s very rare that we have a space like this become available, so we expect this space to fill quickly. We will be contacting families on our waiting list to see if anyone still requires a space for September, we are also open to new enquiries.

✨ Funded spaces are available ✨

If you would like more information or would like to arrange a visit, please send us a message.

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Strensall

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