School readiness – preparing your child for Reception Class

School readiness…its something you’ll probably hear quite a lot if you have a child who is preparing to start Reception Class in September, but what does it actually mean??

How can we, as parents, make sure that we are helping and not hindering when preparing our 4 year olds for big school?

Most of my Teaching career was spent teaching Reception, and so this is something I thought long and hard about when passing on information to Parents. What would I hope, as their Teacher, they could do already? What sort of things would I discuss in the Parents meetings for new starters? Where would my expectations be bearing in mind I don’t yet know the children or what level they are at?

Its not what you might expect….

Why I didn’t return to Teaching after the birth of my first child

I loved my job as a Primary School Teacher. I had specialised in Early Years during my teacher training and landed a role teaching Reception in a one form entry school in West Yorkshire. Play based learning is my passion. Children and their development both intrigue and fascinate me. (Make me invisible for a day and I’ll spend it watching a child at play and analysing every little thing they do). I felt like I’d found my calling and I genuinely loved going into work every day and making lots of small differences to the children in my care. I felt privileged to be in a position where I was making a difference in those critical early years of life.
   

I’d just started to put plans in motion to further climb the rungs of the career ladder when I found out I was expecting. I’d been recommended for a position elsewhere, closer to home which felt perfect for me, but suddenly the moves I had been making in this game of life felt like they were being played for someone else. As much as I wanted to climb higher, I felt a huge responsibility towards any future school, or children, to place myself in a position which I knew I would be leaving shortly afterwards – albeit temporarily! I decided I had no choice but to stay put and continue to strive for inspirational learning opportunities and fun, worthwhile days within my current Reception Class. I had an amazing Teaching Assistant and Support Assistant who totally ‘got’ my ethos and did everything they could to help me guide my class towards the type of learning environment befitting of 4 and 5 year old children. I carried on...

Natural Lip Plumper that works | CODE LIP | Review & Giveaway

Are you looking for a natural lip plumper to make your lips look fuller without botox, fillers or a lip plumping tool?  In this blog post I give the CODE LIP 'Lip Intense Plumper' a try along with the CODE SSL Soft Smooth Lip Liner, along with a giveaway to win your own! Includes before and after photos. 

Disclosure: AD: Gifted.  I was sent the Lip Intense Plumper and the lip liner in return for an honest review and to host a giveaway.

Honest review, as always...

How to set up a Life cycle of a Frog Tuff Tray Pond

We have recently been learning all about frogs and tadpoles during a visit to my Nanna's house, so we decided to set up a life cycle of a frog tuff tray pond, including a quick video...

We were previously gifted a packet of the green 'slime baff' which we used for this activity (half a pack) to create the swampy, slimy pond. Have a read of what else we did to create this sensory, slimy, frog pond tuff tray....

Guest Post | My son banged his head and now he's deaf | Living with EVA

Sudden hearing loss in a child can come as a huge shock. Not only does it change their perception of the world around them and put them in a potentially frightening and unfamiliar situation – it also changes the lives of those around them, who interact with them, who are used to dealing with and speaking to them in a certain way or a certain tone. It is a steep learning curve, not just for the one who has lost their sense of hearing, but those who now have to learn different ways of communicating. 

 

The year before last, my younger sister, Laura, called me to tell me that my young Nephew, Oliver had suffered sudden hearing loss due to a bang to the head and what we later discovered was EVA – Enlarged Vestibular Aqueducts.

I am going to hand over to Laura now to tell you their story….

19 Tuff Spot Tray Activities for open ended Play

I love our tuff tray, (probably even more than the children do), and although it can be a challenge to set them up sometimes - I love the wow factor a new tray activity brings to young children and how excited and enthusiastic they are to go and explore straight away! I know that my carefully laid resources will be scattered around within minutes, but honestly, that's the beauty of it. A well played with tuff tray, where learning opportunities arise, does not come from children feeling like they can't touch, move, reorder or explore. A day without some 'mess' has usually been an unproductive one....

I often post new tuff tray ideas over on my Instagram or my Facebook page - usually they never make it into a blog post because I'm just too excited to share our learning straight away! Please pop over and give me a follow if you'd like to keep up to date with new activities.  You can also subscribe to my blog here. I've picked out 19 of our current favourites here for you to enjoy and feel inspired!

The sleepless family - an experiment in better quality sleep | Review & discount

Disclosure: We were sent the Dream Pillow, JuveRest pillow and Sleep Master mask in return for an honest trial and review. Competition prizes will also be provided by the brand.

Sleep. It's hard to come by as a parent of small ones isn't it?

When we have enough of it, we can do pretty much anything. When we don't have enough of it, the opposite is true. Lack of sleep affects our diet, our mental health, our physical health and the ability to be the best version of ourselves. Its the reason I've sat in front of this laptop many a time, unable to type a single word. Its almost certainly to blame for the extra lines on my face and probably a few bad choices I've made along the way.

If you are a parent you will understand the helplessness and lack of control you feel when you really want to sleep, but you can't because your child is awake. When they are small, things like Colic or Reflux can play a big part. As they grow, separation anxiety sets in and you may find yourself asking the question like I did here: Should I give in and try controlled crying?  Bigger still and nightmares can impact on the quality of their sleep.

Add in lighter evenings, lighter mornings, snoring partners and aches and pains - its a wonder we manage any sleep at all to be honest!

In order to help combat some of these sleep issues, we have been trying out some sleeping aids ( which will work wonderfully along side these three sleep solutions I have written about previously) for us and for the children, which we are also offering in a giveaway at the end of this post:

The Dream pillow for children,  the JuveRest Sleep Wrinkle Pillow and the Sleep Master Sleep Mask.

Imagine that you’ve been planning the most amazing surprise party for months and months – the kind where you get to go home with an awesome party bag, the best present in the world and a happy glow that can only come from the most joyous of moments…the only caveat being that you probably wont know exactly when this ‘surprise’ is going to be sprung upon you so you have to be ready! Goodness you’re ready. You’ve got it all mapped out, written down, decisions made. You know exactly how you’re going to behave during and after the event. It’s going to be PERFECT!!

This ^^ is your life as a mum-to-be.

The day of the party arrives, and despite there being no alcohol on the premises, you find yourself shouting and slurring like a teenager in a park after a litre of white lighting. The music is SO much louder than you’d planned it to be and you spend most of the time feeling like you need the loo. The event goes really quickly, and before you know it, you’re back home in bed with a hangover, a boob job, the worst period in the world and an inability to remember your own name because you’re JUST SO TIRED. Oh, and tears. Lots of crying tears*

*Not always yours.

This is your life as a first-time mum.

It’s hard. It’s wonderful. It’s exhausting. It’s happy and sad rolled into one. Its feeling like you’re doing everything and nothing every second of every day. It’s the highest rollercoaster with the lowest drops. You smile for the cameras and then feel physically sick waiting for the next twist and turn. You get to the end of the ride and feel so goddam proud of yourself, sometimes you queue up and give it another go!

Dear First-Time Mum, here’s what you need to know:

Cuthbert the Crab and his Shoelace Shenanigans | How to tie your laces | Review

[Disclosure: We were sent this book in return for an honest review. We know the wonderful author of this book, Sally Beattie, personally - she has a wealth of experience of working with young children as well as being a fabulous mum to her own children.]

Do you remember how you learnt to tie your shoelaces? I found it really tricky until someone taught me the 'bunny ears' method and I remember the school Nurse watching me in fascination as if I was some strange breed because I couldn't do it the 'normal way'. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realised that LOTS of you learnt the same way and it is, in fact, an easier way for most children to tie their laces...

This book, Cuthbert the Crab and his Shoelace Shenanigans, not only makes me feel reassuringly normal (it demonstrates how to tie your laces using the bunny ears method) it is a wonderful introduction into the tricky task of learning to tie your shoelaces...

Honey Bees tuff tray activities - learning through play

Spring is (almost) in the air, we've seen our first buzzy little friend roaming the emerging flower beds and bees still really need our help to thrive - so what better way to teach the next generation all about the importance of bees than a Bees Tuff Tray Activity!

 

It started out with the purchase of a pack of 'bee pollen' from a local supermarket - I was intrigued to learn more about it and I wanted Arthur and Charlotte to join in with a real hands on 'learning through play' approach. I sourced a number of resources which you can find over in the 'bees activity' section of my Amazon store here and got to work planning some activities:

Parenting Outdoors - Jacamo Menswear Review

Discosure: We were sent the menswear items from Jacamo in return for an honest review.

Jacamo deals in clothing from sizes S - 5XL and aims to provide nothing but legendary style choices to today’s modern man - whether that be a smart look, casual or everyday style. They are part of the Ethical Trading Initiative, and have a range of brands available so that you should be able to find everything you need online for a complete outfit. With next day delivery available, and a range of return options - it makes clothes shopping easy for busy parents!

With his love of fashionable attire, Mr Arthurwears, aka, the Husband/Daddy was tasked with the job of choosing himself a few select pieces for an outfit review from Jacamo. I am lucky enough to have married a man who loves shopping and clothes more than I do ( I know - rare breed!) and I have no doubt that this request to pick something out came as a refreshing change from my usual requests for him to stop buying more shirts, shoes, ties, jackets etc etc...

I had the equally as difficult task of having to take photos of my husband (see my instagram feed for a behind the scenes photo) for the purpose of this review, and even better - I didn't even have to write it myself! I shall now hand you over to the man himself....

Helping Children to be Safe around Dogs | HEY DOG | Book Review

We were recently sent a copy of the book Hey Dog! Let's Talk! by Wendy Keefer - an illustrated guide for children to help them understand dogs and learn to communicate with them in order to keep them safe.

I developed an intense fear of dogs as a child after my own dog passed away when I was 4, and I am very keen to make sure my own children don't pick up on this and react in a similar way. Likewise, it is important to be able to explain what IS appropriate and okay to avoid potentially dangerous situations without making them feel that every dog encounter is either dangerous or completely safe. It does, of course, depend on the dog and the situation - but I felt completely clueless as to how to go about teaching this! 

Within the past year, Arthur has started to become frightened of dogs himself - something that Charlotte is picking up on. This book has come along at the perfect time, enabling me to help Arthur to learn more about how to understand dogs and also giving me the tools to try and do the same as an adult....

Products for Men that Women Swear by...

Disclosure: This post includes some gifted items (marked with *) including those sent for the giveaway. 

Clearly, it’s no surprise to most of us that women can and should be able to use products which are aimed specifically towards men. There aren’t many things in the world that aren’t truly unisex when it comes down to the bare bones of it...unless, of course, you are talking about something like - I don’t know - the male condom....although studies have shown that more women actually buy them compared to men.

  

We try to avoid gender stereotypes as much as possible in our household, so it will come as no surprise to you that there are a few products I now buy and use for myself which were originally for my husband. I also asked some of my fellow bloggers if there are any male marketed products which they swear by (and vice versa in some cases) .... Plus, I have a nice little giveaway for you which you can enter at the end of this post...

10 things you don't know about me

I've had quite a few new followers recently, so in the interest of you all getting to know ME a little better, I am veering away from my usual type of post and diving head first into this one - 10 things you don't know about me!

Those who do know me well know that I'm not really one for putting myself in the spotlight, or tooting my own horn - it's taken me a while to get used to having photos of myself (rather than just my children!) on my Instagram feed, but I think I've made good progress there, so here you go.....

Love is Love - An LGBTQ engagement poem

For James and Stuart on your Engagement x

I wrote this poem a few years ago now, and it has been sat in my notes, waiting for today - the day when James (my wonderfully supportive and caring big Brother in Law) finally became engaged to Stuart (the man who secretly filled my biscuit tin with chocolate biscuits and my freezer with ice cream at the end of his visit - if that doesn't tell you what a lovely person he is, I don't know what will). There aren't many things in life which can fill your heart with joy and settle your soul like the moment you realise that someone you care about has found someone who really cares about them... and like all moments of high emotion, words tumbled through my mind in rhyme form, waiting to be written... So here it is...

Should year 1 children still have continuous provision and Learning Through Play?

“The dilemma still exists as to whether play can provide any kind of ‘excellence’ in relation to ‘real’ learning for children as current and future citizens” (Moyles 2005, p. 3)

  

As you perhaps know, Learning Through Play is a huge passion of mine - the benefits of which I feel are far reaching and long lasting. This blog post focuses on a research investigation I undertook whilst training to be a Teacher: "Should year 1 children still have continuous provision?" - it is a watered down version of the original, but I hope will encourage you to make time and space for play based learning for both younger and older children, whether you are a professional or a parent, based on research fact alongside personal opinion....

Project Playroom Extension - Laminate Flooring and Underfloor Heating

Last year, I wrote about our extension building work - Project Playroom Extension - Planning and Building. Once the build itself was complete - we had to wait for quite a long time for the concrete floor to dry out enough to continue with our plans and lay the laminate flooring.

This wasn't something I had planned for when thinking about our 'timeline'. Naively, I assumed that once the building was finished we would just lay the floor and everything would be finished, but it took just over 3 months to dry enough for the next step...

Teenage suicide - what are the warning signs and how can you help?

Last month, the lives of some of my closest family were changed forever as one of the younger members, Quinn, took her own life a few short weeks before Christmas. Quinn was just 17.

The passing of anyone you know and care about feels like a huge loss, but when they leave this life by choice, the “what ifs” feel louder, the responsibility feels heavier and the ability to make sense of it all feels so out of reach. We know we aren’t to blame, and yet we still can’t help but wonder if we could have done more...

Last year, when Arthur was still 2 yrs old - I spent almost my entire Christmas Eve sat on Arthur's bedroom floor trying to help him get to sleep as he was afraid of Father Xmas visiting our house!! I had a bit of time to kill, so I wrote this poem... I'm hoping that we don't have a repeat of this in a couple of weeks, but I am absolutely certain I wont be the only one if so....

Christmas Eve Poem for Parents

'Twas the night before Xmas and all through the house, 

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse....

Miele Complete C3 Pure Red Bagged Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner - Review

We were recently sent a Miele Complete C3 Pure Red Bagged Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner to review from AO, here is how we got on...

It's been a while since we've had a bagged vacuum cleaner, we've been using a hand held vacuum  for a few years now, but we always said that if we were to switch back to a corded vacuum then a Miele vacuum would be one of our top choices. My Parents in law have a Miele vacuum and rave about the quality of their products so we were really keen to see if this lived up to the hype! Plus, we haven't been able to use the storage vacuum bags for clothes since switching to a handheld vacuum because you need a 'straight' edge to get the suction! As it happens, we've also been doing a lot of clothes sorting lately so this product review was perfect timing for us...