Small Wonders Childminding

It’s with great sadness that the time has come to say goodbye to Small Wonders as I close my doors for the last time on the 29th October.

I have loved my time minding and will miss the children greatly but for the sake of my own family, its time to move on to my next challenge.

Thank you to every single one of you that has been a part of this journey with me, it’s been an honour and a joy to be part of your lives and I will always look back on this time with fondness.

Please do all stay in touch and let me know how your amazing little ones are getting on 😊

Note to self: topping up the dwindled oats with Ready Brek is NEVER a good plan. Sorry parents if you find it in pockets, pants, nappies and shoes but if it helps they had an awesome time and it is still everywhere in my house despite 5 hoovers throughout the day 🤣

It’s always hard to say goodbye even when they’ve only been with you a very short time. Every child is so so special and I love being a part of their lives 🥰

Today we are using some tools to measure and pour lentils into the bottles. We are learning about more and less and heavier and lighter but most importantly, the children are having lots of fun. Two are now playing scientists where they are making potions that make people better 🥰

Ps. Yes, my floor is totally covered in lentils now 🤣

Yesterday, the children had a challenge to remove all the ocean animals from the ice. They worked together really well to find solutions and didn’t give up easily despite it taking a long time to do.

Well done Small Wonders ❤️

Two weeks off and how do I spend my time?! Getting set up for when I’m back to work of course 😉🤣

Easily, without question, the weirdest, most challenging term so far is done.

I have to say though, returning has been so much better than I was expecting due to the most amazing children and parents that I have the pleasure of working with. Everyone has adapted so well to our new normal and have shown such maturity and understanding throughout.

Thank you to all of you for understanding and respecting the rules and generally for having such amazing children who keep me going with a big smile on my face every day.

Thank you all for all my lovely gifts too, I’m very lucky ❤️

See you all in Jan for much more fun, games, laughter and love ❤️ 🌈

Over and Out!

This was very popular with the Small Wonders today 😊 we enjoyed hiding bugs in the lentils, seeing which side of the scales is heavier and ordering the pumpkin numbers 🥰

🍂Wooo, autumn is here! 🍂

You know how much I love it by now!

Cloud dough outside tomorrow but indoors we will be having a number and shape type of day. These were last used 9 days ago and have been in a box since so we know they are safe to use again (and would have been sooner if we had wanted to). The harder to clean toys I tend to rotate rather than attempt to clean every night by keeping a note of when they were last out to keep everyone as safe as possible

Today the children had great fun playing with cloud dough (basically, 8 parts flour, 1 part oil- I used wholemeal flour hence the colour) so I think we’ll play again tomorrow.

All utensils and bowls have been washed (thank you Mr K), cloud dough thrown and table disinfected. Seems so wasteful but with a local setting having a positive case of coronavirus, we are constantly reminded how careful we need to be at the moment.

It doesn’t stop the children playing as long as we follow a good hand washing regime and don’t reuse materials. Also, making up fresh tomorrow is a great opportunity to practice our counting and mixing skills again ❤️

And we’re back!

What an amazing first full week back to Small Wonders ❤️

This week has mainly been about settling in new Small Wonders and resettling those that have been away for 6 months. We’ve had lots and lots of outdoor play with Luna Pup and really enjoyed getting to know each other.

Once children have gone, the very strict cleaning regime starts and my trusty cleaning caddy comes out to play to keep as safe as possible along with other steps such as single use towels to dry hands (reusable though so washed on hygiene wash every night), hand washing and toy quarantine for those that can’t be cleaned. All children and adults have been absolutely amazing at adjusting to our new normal too.

So proud of all my amazing little ones, they’ve have all been superstars this week and every single one has impressed me on a daily basis.

I so so happy to be back and have absolutely loved my week, thank you all for being a part of that. I’m so lucky to work with such amazing families ❤️