Little Larks

An invitation to play.

Today we are celebrating World Bee Day 🐝

Who'd like to be under the sea?

Sensory play with ice today. It's fascinating to watch the children lining up, stacking and building with the ice blocks. It's a wonderful activity for supporting vocabulary too, we've already talked about the ice being cold, freezing, hard, slippery and smooth.

The children have been having lots of creative fun with the play dough they made themselves. A lovely way to explore different textures and ways of building.

Today we're using our imaginations to visit the seaside and exploring the textures on the beach.

A few pictures to give a little peek into the world of Little Larks.

Loose parts, open ended play and natural materials make up our every day.

I have a space becoming available in January. 2,3 and 4 year old funded spaces available :)

Our caterpillars arrived today, the children are all excited to watch them grow and change. :)

Celebrating Thanksgiving today with some lovely crafts. We have a lot to be thankful for :-)

Today the little ones made cheesy twists to have for lunch with homemade chunky tomato salsa. :)

Little Larks will have a space available for a child in receipt of the 15 hours, 2 year old funding; "Talking Twos" from September.

The sessions available are 9.30 to 2.30 Monday, Tuesday and Thursday during term time.

Please get in touch if you are interested :-)

There is something for everyone in our new Post Office role play area. Mark making, posting, sticking, cutting, weighing, delivering... the possibilities are endless. :-)

Welcome to our Healthy Eating Cafe!

Packed with opportunities for "large doll play" (which helps develop symbolic understanding in children aged approximately 15-18 months) for our littlest friends, writing practice, addition and coin reconigiton skills for the older children and role play for everyone this has already been a big hit. :-)

The home corner has been transformed into our very own Doctors Surgery.

This half term children will be learning about "people who help us" - doctors, nurses and surgeons. We will also be looking at our bodies, especially our bones.

For the youngest children the crepe bandages, stethescopes and water-filled gloves will provide new sensory experiences.

Who needs a check-up?

I sometimes talk about "in the moment planning" when explaining how I like to do things. Yesterday was a perfect example.

The children were out of ideas for what to do, they looked to me for inspiration. I got out a bag of animals, there was no planned activity, no learning objectives, no expected outcomes.

After a moment looking through the animals one child suggested they make name labels for them. A quick cut out of some tags, some lengths of ribbon, some pencils and some letter stickers for those not yet ready to form their own letters and just like that we were learning phonics, sounding out and blending phonemes, working on letter formation and getting the animals ready for their parade.

Telford & Wrekin Council

This information might be useful :-)

The government have published their new website Childcare Choices https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Visit here for all information on free hours, childcare vouchers, tax free childcare and lots of other information on help and support available to you with childcare costs.

This is a great one stop shop so please tag and share with any other parents you think would find this useful.

Find an Ofsted inspection report

I am pleased to announce that following my Ofsted inspection last month, I have been rated "Good". My inspection report can be read on Ofsted's website at: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY498196

reports.ofsted.gov.uk Enter either the name or address or the URN of the provider you are looking for. If you are unsure of the address, then select a remit or provider type to refine your search.

Talking Early Years & Childcare Telford & Wrekin

I will be offering the 30 hours funding from September. Please get in touch if you would like more information :-)

Did you know from September 2017 some 3 and 4 year olds will be entitled to 30hrs free childcare.

Take a look here to see if you meet the criteria http://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20069/early_years_nursery_and_childcare/793/talking_34s/2

Speak to your childcare provider directly to find out how they will be applying this.

Please tag and share with anyone you think you needs to know about this.

Little Larks has moved!

As of January 2017 Little Larks has moved into a brand new house on the Woodland View development in Lawley.

The children are able to enjoy our spacious lounge with a new home corner as well as a dedicated play room filled with wonderful arts and craft materials and creative resources.

We are currently working hard in the garden, installing a play frame and renewing the much-loved mud kitchen and open-ended resources.

To kick off the December festivities, I set up a wrapping station for the children. They delighted in exploring the different materials and wrapping up their favourite toys.

We practiced writing our names on the gift tags, tying knots in the ribbon and using our scissor skills to cut the paper.

Sensory play dough. I can't wait to see what the children create with these bright and tactile resources. :-)

This week we have made the most of the mild weather to get outside and explore volumes and measure using a variety of beakers, tubes and bowls.

The children have looked at measuring spoons and talked about what the numbers on them represent, they have made predictions and tested them.

One activity which seems universally popular is the rhyming sack. Even the youngest children love listening to the songs and rhymes chosen from the sack.

I'm always on the look out for small props to add to my collection, a flying saucer and a rocket ship are currently top of my wish list.

Please comment below if you have any good ideas for more props. :-)

This has been one of my favourite activities this week. The children collected the 'Autumn Treasures' on a walk around the local area.

We've searched for minibeasts with magnifying glasses, talked about the similarities and differences between the leaves, explored textures - spiky pine cones and smooth acorns, shiny pears and rough bark, then finally we have created works of art, using gloopy glue to stick everything we'd found onto cards.

Hours of fun and learning using the natural materials you can find on your doorstep. We love autumn!

All set up for baking flapjacks this afternoon.

Not only do the children adore baking, but it provides so many fantastic learning opportunities for them.

Weighing and measuring the ingredients supports their mathematical skills, pouring and mixing improves motor control, and you should hear some of the amazing words they learn - oozing, gooey, lumpy, drizzle...

These flapjacks will be coming with us to Lawley Ladybirds this Friday to help raise funds for the Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Little Larks

What could you do with a couple of hours of free time?

Little Larks Childminding as a space available between 12:00pm and 2:45pm every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during term time.

Funding is available for eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

If you would like to request an information pack or arrange to come and meet me and view the setting please visit www.facebook.com/littlelarkschildminding or email [email protected]

Before and after school places are also available for older children who attend Lawley Primary School :-)

I am an Ofsted Registered Childminder based in Lawley.

I offer flexible, full & part time care on a year round, term time or school holiday time basis.

I've been making the most of the nice weather to improve my outdoor provision. The last couple of days have seen some big changes to my outside space.

Pleased to announce I am now officially an Ofsted registered childminder. I will be open for business from Wednesday 4th May :-)

I finally had my registration visit from Ofsted yesterday. I am pleased to say it went really well and I have been told to expect my registration certificate in the post in the next three weeks :-)

I am presently spending many evenings preparing for my Ofsted visit. This week I have been focusing on getting my forms and records in order. I've decided to create my own forms, it is a little extra work but this way I know everything is relevant and meets the current guidelines.

My business cards arrived today, it's the small things like this that make me feel very excited.

Contact me for an information pack or to ask any questions. :-)

I had my pre-registration visit today, I received some lovely compliments about my bright and spacious playroom.

I have to say, I am absolutely loving some of the new resources I have got to help me celebrate diversity and multiculturalism.