DanDan's Playhouse: Ofsted Registered Childminder

Our Schoolies group have too, been busy with the flower care station, working together to pot our beautiful new Salix tree at the front of our setting.

They showed fantastic teamwork as they helped prepare the pot, add the soil, and carefully plant the tree. Through this experience, they learned about caring for living things and the importance of working together towards a shared goal.

The Salix tree has quickly become a special part of our outdoor environment, standing proud at the front of the setting for everyone to see. The children take great pride in it each and every time they walk through the door, eagerly checking on its progress and pointing out any changes they observe. Whether it’s noticing new growth, changes in the leaves, or simply admiring how well it is settling into its new home, their enthusiasm and sense of responsibility shine through.

The Early Years Edit

Our Flower Care and Change Station has now been growing and evolving for a whole month and will continue throughout the rest of the year.

This one activity prompt from the The Early Years Edit curriculum, has inspired so many different activities. The children have planted a herb garden, planted their own individual strawberry plants, repotted flowers, helped care for them as they grow… the list goes on!

For our littles, these experiences support curiosity, communication, and understanding of the natural world. They also help to develop fine motor skills, patience, responsibility, and a sense of pride as they nurture and observe changes over time.

We can’t wait to see how our garden continues to grow and what new discoveries it will bring, including all the new mini-beasts we keep finding as a result of the flowers & plants.

I can honestly say my garden has never looked so beautiful and I may be a new fully invested gardener 🫣😂

💜 Lavender Playdough 💜

This was such a lovely sensory activity that helps develop fine motor skills, creativity and imagination, while the calming lavender scent creates a relaxing play experience. 🌿
The Early Years Edit

Our take on the purple petal sensory studio…
With the lovely weather we’ve had this week, this was a perfect opportunity to cool the children down, whilst engaging in a fun sensory experience with so many different learning opportunities…

The Early Years Edit

The Early Years Edit

The Early Years Edit’s magnifier mapping walk…

Just WOW! 👀👀👀
This electronic magnifying glass was a huge hit on our minibeast hunt today!
Just look at the details we got to see the creepy crawlers in, and not only that we could take photos to take back to our setting to continue the conversations and learning!!

The children were excited to look closely and talk about what they could see, noticing tiny legs, wings, and different colours.

The flash cards, also from The Early Years Edit, were such a handy tool to take a long with us! Using them, gave the children a clear goal of what to look out for during our mini beast exploration 🐞🔍 They loved spotting the bugs and matching them to the pictures on the flashcards, sparking lots of excitement and conversation. A simple activity that supported their observation skills, language, and early recognition through play.

Flower shop role play from The Early Years Edit curriculum pack! 🌸🌺

Two days of enjoyment and learning with this lovely flower shop set-up! From dramatic play and colour sorting to hand-eye coordination and mark making, there have been so many opportunities for exploration and development.

If you look closely, you might even spot the newest member of our playhouse family… 🐾🐰

🪱 Wormery & soil exploration from The Early Years Edit curriculum pack!

The children listened so carefully to the instructions and worked together to layer the different materials, in the correct order. They used a variety of tools safely and confidently while learning all about how worms help our environment.

Our babies enjoyed the activity too, exploring all the different textures and sensory experiences involved. For the little ones who weren’t too keen on getting their hands muddy, our older children made mini wormery sensory bottles instead, which were a huge hit!

It was lovely to see all the children engaged in their own way, building confidence, curiosity and having lots of fun outdoors. We can’t wait to observe the worms over the next few weeks and see what happens underground! 🪴🔍