Little Nest

18/08/2026

Wednesday morning feels🧡

12/08/2026

I've never been big on plastic toys but this one is definitely an exception🙏

DUPLO is fantastic for preschoolers because the larger pieces are easy for little hands to grip while still offering lots of opportunities for learning through play.

What preschoolers learn through DUPLO play....

Fine-motor skills – connecting, pulling apart and manipulating the bricks strengthens little hands and fingers.

Hand–eye coordination – children learn to position and connect pieces accurately.
Problem-solving – they experiment with how to build, balance and make structures stay together.

Creativity and imagination – there are no limits to what they can create: houses, animals, vehicles, people and whole imaginary worlds.

Early maths concepts – children naturally explore counting, size, shape, patterns, sorting and comparing.

Language development – building together encourages children to explain their ideas, describe what they're making and engage in conversations.

Social skills – sharing pieces, cooperating and building together teaches turn-taking, negotiation and working as a team.

Persistence – when a tower falls down or a creation doesn't work, children have opportunities to try again and find another solution.

Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

03/08/2026

30/07/2026

Learning about fire safety.
Practical life skills.
Connection to nature.
Learning through doing.
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

29/07/2026

Hello all,
Some of you may know that I did my original training with Kimberley Crisp many moons ago.
Throughout the years I have attended many Professional development evenings and weekends with her.
She is passionate about the Pikler approach. This is an early childhood philosophy developed by Dr Emmi Pikler in Budapest that
focuses on respectful caregiving, natural motor development and self initiated play.
It emphasizes three core pillars :
Building deep trust during routine care, allowing total freedom of movement and encouraging independent exploration.
I incorporate much of this philosophy into the care I provide for the children as it aligns with my core beliefs.
It's really interesting and a beautiful respectful and heart centered way of caring for children.
As the children are getting older and school is on the horizon it's natural for parents to want children to be able to write their name etc and be so called school ready.
I am happy to help the children do this once they show an interest and ask me. I wont push unless it's something they feel ready for.
If this is something parents do at home I'm totally happy to support if the children ask me but there will be no pressure from me otherwise.
Every child develops at their own pace and earlier academics does not necessarily mean better in the long term.
Infact one of my sons started school fiercely intelligent, skipped a class and I thought it was wonderful until I realized he completely lacked social skills which would have set him up way better for success in the classroom. I wished I knew then what I know now.
While your beautiful little humans are with me I will be nurturing strong attachments, physical confidence and independent thinkers.
If your interested, look up about the beautiful Pikler approach.
Your tamariki deserve it🧡
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺
Emmi Pikler, MD 1903-1984

16/07/2026

Morena everyone,
Our dearest little friend Jess gained her angel wings yesterday after work.
She had stopped eating and was very tired. I got her a piece of fish to see if I could entice her to eat and she loved it. Felt so much better knowing she had something in her little tummy.
For the last 18+ years she has featured in my daily posts and in the children's journals.
She has been the most friendliest, loving and smootchy cat I've ever met.
She has always placed herself right in the mix with the children enjoying their company and insisting on pats and tickles under the chin. She has been so tolerant and has had the perfect personality to teach the children about being gentle and caring with animals.
Wherever we were, Jess was right there too. If we were baking, eating or doing crafts at the bench, Jess was up at the barstool too.
If we were reading or drawing in the lounge room, Jess would be right there too. Infact as soon as I began reading, if Jess wasn't there already, I would hear the cat flap open and she would appear and jump up looking for a knee to perch on. She absolutely wouldn't take no for an answer so I told the children to bend their knees if they didn't want her on them 🤣
She always came into the playroom to greet the children and their families once again looking for pats.
Outside she was always there too. Absolutely everytime I got up of my chair outside she would quickly hop on it.
She was always up at the carpentry table when the children were doing crafts but gave it a wide berth when they had the hammers out (wise girl)
Yesterday while the children were painting rocks Jess got amoungst it and ended up with a green paw.
On Monday it was so funny, the children were crafting at the table outside. Jess hopped up and sat right in the middle of Leo's piece of paper and he carried on gluing around her! I couldn't believe he didn't try and push her off!
Gosh she will be missed.
Thankyou to everyone for all the love and pats you have given Jess over the years ###
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

13/07/2026

Evening folks,
We had such an incredible morning together celebrating Matariki Little Nest style around the fire pit.
The children were involved from start to finish. Part of the of Little Nest philosophy is for the children to have responsibilities and meaningful experiences.
I absolutely love that within our small group there is time and space for all the children to build positive awareness and engage authentically.
We all enjoyed delicious sausages, beautiful orange kumera, kawakawa tea with pineapple sage and honey and a couple of marshmallows.
While the children were eating the kumera I read them one of our Matariki books where 'Uncle Joe' cooks kumera on the fire too.
Its been such an incredible start to the week. Blessed to spend the day with the children and soak up some glorious winter sun after a very chilly start.
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

02/07/2026

Kiaora team Little Nest,
It's been a lovely couple of weeks building up to Matariki with the children doing arts and crafts and reading.
They have enjoyed making lanterns using old tins. We picked up some sheets of beeswax at our local honey shop and the children made candles for their lanterns. Holes were drilled in the tins to allow the candle light to glow through. They are very sweet.
We made some delicious star shaped shortbread. The children always love baking and most of all taking some home to share with their whanau.
It was fun experimenting with the star cutters in paint and making night sky pictures.
The children made some Matariki playdough, black as black and loaded up with glittery stars.
Great to plant some violas and have some color in our winter garden.
We have enjoyed making salt dough mobiles this week.
The dough is simple to make and takes half a day to bake slowly.
The mobile stars were painted the next day with some metallic gold acrylic paint and glitter was added before the paint dryed. Then the mobiles were assembled onto driftwood sticks that the children collected at our local beach earlier in the week.
I think they look awesome and the children were stoked with their finished creations.
It takes a while to make these things with children coming on different days. Often we repeat activities two or three times. I love that this is possible in this environment where slow childcare is at the forefront and spending our days together means every child gets to explore a variety of authentic experiences.
So grateful to be working alongside such incredible supportive families and their gorgeous little humans.
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

06/06/2026

Morena everyone on this chilly Sunday morning.
I've got the fire ticking away, incense burning and just vacumned in anticipation of my families arriving in the morning.
Last week when a parent was dropping their child off they walked in exhaled a big breath and said its so beautiful and peaceful here, I could stay all day.
I hear this alot and think yusss!! If the parents feel that way then hopefully the children will too. This makes me very happy. It's always my priority to create an authentic welcoming home for the families to feel at ease in.
I took a few pics of our little playroom space to share.
Have an awesome day🙏
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺

09/05/2026

Morena everyone and especially to all the beautiful Mumas out there.
I wanted to wish you all the most happiest and heartfelt mother's day.
Bringing up children is such a privilege and I am in awe daily with the gorgeous Mum's I encounter and their absolute devotion they show their lil humans.
Seeing the children thrive with their Mum's cheer leading them on is very special 💖.
I feel very blessed to be part of these family dynamics and being witness to such loving relationships.
The children have been busy this week making their Mum's rosemary and lavender bathsalts.
We dried the herbs from our garden and mixed them with Epsom salts and chunky pink Himalayan salt. We think the Mum's deserve a relaxing and peaceful soak in the tub.
For the Mum's not so keen on baths, their little humans made a canvas instead which are very cute.
The children also made some delightful 3d flower cards. We were stoked with how they turned out.
Have a wonderful day everyone xx
Little Nest
Real friend's
Real grass
Real growth
🪺