Improving writing skills in the Early Years

When thinking about strategies for helping our youngest children to improve their writing skills and eventually become successful writers, you may be surprised to learn that this does not start with the use of a pencil! Before the age of 5 yrs (and often later) the bones in a child’s hands are still developing and are not fully formed. This means that producing letters on paper can be challenging, and often detrimental to their overall physical development. Before focusing on the smaller movements such as pencil grip and fine motor control, children need lots of opportunities to build on their gross motor skills – working on their chest, shoulder and arm muscles as well as developing motor muscle planning in order to appropriately sequence body movements for a controlled and desired outcome.

It's not just their larger muscle development which forms part of the pre-requisites needed for successful writing later on – the act of writing and mark making itself needs to be purposeful, engaging and most importantly…fun! I could spend hours writing about the benefits of play-based learning, tailored to children’s interests, but essentially this is the long and short of it: If you want a child to be engaged with their learning, the learning needs to appeal to them and must be fun. If something is ‘fun’, we enjoy doing it, and when we enjoy doing something, we process it, retain and remember it much more effectively…we become more successful, because we enjoy it.

So…

Music and Movement for Preschoolers and Babies

Did you know that movement helps us to hear music in detail and enhances our understanding not just of rhythm, but also of pitch and tune?  Experts believe that it can also be good for the brain, especially parts that deal with spatial and temporal reasoning. Learning to play an instrument may even increase your child's ability to do maths (Livingstone, 2005).

In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of music for young children, discuss music classes for babies and provide you with some musical activity ideas for babies and preschoolers.

EYFS Writing | Success Criteria grid for Self Evaluation

Help children to be more independent when self-checking and evaluating their writing, by offering an EYFS success criteria grid with visual prompts of sentence writing steps. Children can mark their own work before asking a friend to peer review...

This blog post includes a video demonstration and a free print to download (including a cursive option) so that you can use this sentence writing success criteria grid within your setting, or at home with your child for home-learning. I introduced this to my own Reception class towards the end of the year in the Summer term, and have done the same for my own Reception aged child at home...

57 EYFS Tuff Tray Ideas

I love our tuff tray, (probably even more than the children do), and thinking up tuff tray ideas - and although it can be a challenge to set them up sometimes - I love the wow factor a new tray play 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 EYFS 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've picked out 57 tuff tray ideas (originally 19 but I keep updating!) of our current favourite EYFS tuff tray ideas here for you to enjoy and feel inspired! I also have a post showcasing our best sensory tray play ideas here.  If you want to learn more about tuff trays first - have a read of our complete guide to tuff trays here. 

You can find many of the resources mentioned over in my Amazon affiliate ideas list here (click here for USA version).

Valentine's Day Tuff Tray | Sensory Play | Playdough Recipe

Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, this sensory tuff tray is sure to provoke some language and discussions around love and kindness whilst offering lots of learning opportunities in a very child-led and open ended exploration...

To preserve the sweet memories of this parent-child crafting session, you can pair the activity with custom pin badges as exclusive holiday keepsakes.

This sensory play opportunity actually starts before the tuff tray activity, in making the Valentine's Day playdough together with your child/children! This post explains and demonstrates how to make this together, and then moves on to the resources and the learning opportunities this provides....

Technology Ideas for the Early Years

When we think about what ICT and technology looks like for young children, it can be easy to assume that the focus is placed firmly on screen technology such as computers, ipads, tablets and other screens, but this isn't the case at all...

 

Technology for children, particularly in the Early Years, involves objects which work in different ways, for different purposes...Equipment which involves 'technology' to achieve an outcome or an effect. Mechanical toys with simple mechanisms, which allow children to investigate those "what will happen if..?" ideas...and of course, child-safe resources for children to act out scenarios within their play which may mimic real life technology used by adults.

Within this post I am going to suggest some ideas for technology for young children which can help to enhance learning through play by offering exciting resources. I will also be adding a list of technology ideas to my Amazon Associate storefront (affiliate) for you to browse through.

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?

Unlike parenting high school children, where you may find yourself embarking on a Tutor Hunt - Its not what you might expect….

How to make Fairy Butterfly Wings with Pressed Flowers

My little girl absolutely loves to put on a pair of wings and dress up a fairy or a butterfly, but the wings we have which are made from the same material as nylon stockings have ripped in places and shed glitter like there's no tomorrow! I decided to make a custom pair of wings at home, using home pressed flowers (in the microwave!) and contact paper - which give more of a natural, iridescent 'flutter', (much better than laminate wings!) look incredibly delicate and so beautiful and personalised....

(Blog originally published April 2020)
 

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

The best thing is that the lead up to making these links into some special experiences - you can forage in your garden for leaves, flowers and petals...or whilst out on your walk. We included some tête-à-tête daffodils that the children picked for me whilst I was poorly in quarantine to cheer me up and make me feel better, some tulips we had before lockdown and some cherry blossom flowers collected from a daily walk (also my favourite tree!). This activity is perfect for learning and teaching symmetry, discussing differences and changes, noticing patterns and details, following instructions and role play....

Benefits of Using Food in Sensory Play

Food is a crucial part of our lives, and it can also play a vital role in children's early development. Sensory play is an excellent way for young children to explore the world around them, and the use of food within sensory play can offer a multitude of benefits. 

In this blog post, we will discuss why using food within sensory play is so essential and offer some activity ideas for babies and young children. We will also address common concerns and demonstrate how using food in play outweighs any negatives associated with food waste.

Forest School Activities

Are you looking for Forest Schools activities for your home or setting? Perhaps you’re wondering how to set up a DIY Forest School, considering the benefits of sending your child to forest school or simply wondering what a Forest School is?

 

This post is here to answer all of your Forest School questions, we’ve got some fab book recommendations to get you started and information from our very own Forest School expert – Kim Jarvis from Wirral Wildlings Forest School.

How to add Culture and Diversity to your home and learning environment

 How can we make sure that  we are including or adding culture and diversity into our everyday learning environments? 
It is so important that we give children the tools, exposure and understanding of differences and similarities, between themselves and others, from an early age. We want to create an environment where certain differences are viewed by children as usual, every day life. Where all children can readily access resources that are made with diversity in mind, so that children grow to learn that we are all different, and we are all the same.

Today, I have Lauren, an Early Childhood Educator with a wealth of training and experience within culture and diversity, explaining a little about how we can add culture and diversity into our learning environments both at home and in a setting...

'The Rainbow Fish' Activities

Using props and activities to bring a story to life can not only help to instill a love of reading and excitement around a book, but it also helps little minds to understand and follow a storyline better.  This blog post provides some ideas and resources for learning all about Marcus Pfister's 'The Rainbow Fish' story through play, including digital downloads.

  In the year when we saw Niall from Love Island 2018 talk about his ‘rainbow fish’ and seemingly describe a completely different moral to the story, here are a few activities that should hopefully help your little ones pick out the right message and also retain the plot of the book!

What is EYFS?

What is the EYFS? If you have children, or work alongside children, then the chances are you have seen the letters ‘EYFS’ quite a few times already – perhaps in reference to EYFS play, EYFS activities or even EYFS outcomes…but what is EYFS??

To give its most literal meaning, EYFS stands for the Early Years Foundation Stage – the period of time from birth to 5 years old. During this time, there are certain developmental milestones that children are expected to achieve. All adults who work with children in England are expected to follow these standards for learning, development and care, so that by the end of the EYFS children are meeting their ‘Early Learning Goals’ (ELGs) and are therefore ‘school ready’.

How to set up a purposeful Learning Environment for Babies and Toddlers

Are you wondering how to build a purposeful Learning Environment for Babies and Toddlers?

 
 

Just like us, babies and toddlers are affected by their setting and  environments, even if they cannot yet tell us how they are feeling. It is part of our role to make sure learning spaces make little ones feel welcome, secure and happy to learn.

Christmas Playdough Mats | Free Download

There are so many benefits of playdough play, whether your children prefer lots of structure or to mix the colours of the playdough it is a great way to release inner creativity and to keep little ones (and big ones!) busy and entertained with an activity over the holiday season. These free christmas playdough mats are ready for you to download and laminate....

These xmas playdough mats were originally a free download over on my shop childledplay.co.uk to be used alongside my playdough. I am now posting them here for my blog readers to benefit from too. You can also find a home made playdough recipe here. 

Mud Kitchen | Ideas & Accessories for Outdoor Play | EYFS

Would you like to understand more about what a mud kitchen is? What the benefits are of having a mud kitchen in your outdoor area? How can you you effectively use a mud kitchen and plan for activities for kids? What do you need in a mud kitchen? Where can you buy a mud kitchen and accessories and what are the learning outcomes? 

This post aims to give some useful ideas and inspiration for using your mud kitchen and mud kitchen accessories effectively for outdoor play...

 

For young children to really benefit from outdoor play, the outdoor area should be an extension of the indoor area - not a simply a separate place for 'limited' playtime, a reward for hard work or somewhere to simply 'have a run around'. I have talked before about this separation of indoor and outdoor play, and the negative consequences that this can have in my post about the importance of learning through play outside which can be found here. One of the key pieces of equipment for an outdoor learning space, which will tie into lots of different areas of learning is to have a mud kitchen. Whether you are looking to encourage role play, speaking and listening, relationship building, mathematical concepts or simply to create a space where children can learn and explore and play with what they know or just make mud pies - a mud kitchen provides endless possibilities...

How to encourage children to do chores at home

The key to encouraging your child to take part in daily chores is to start early, and make it fun!

 

    

                                                            This is a collaborative post

Chores should not be seen as a ‘chore’ by children. It works on the same principle of play based learning in the foundation stage - for a child to learn, take part willingly and also remember the skills you have taught them, then it needs to be playful and fun and it must be purposeful.

Dinosaur Hunt Ideas

We’re going on a dinosaur hunt, we’re going to catch a big/tall/fierce/strong/scaly/baby one…do you have a Dino fan on your hands? If so, you are going to love this post all about different ideas for dinosaur play, Dino activities and how to set up and create your own dinosaur hunt! (Including a free printable!)

 

Disclosure: Partnership with Wicked Uncle

 But first, get those ideas flowing and the inspiration cogs turning by clicking this link here: Dinosaur toys and play items - you will need this info a little bit later on if you’d like to enter to win a very special dinosaur giveaway!

'The Snowman' Tuff tray ideas and activities

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...oh yes! It's that time of year again folks, and based on the fact we have already been watching The Snowman on DVD and reading The Snowman by Raymond Briggs since November, I have been busy putting together 'The Snowman' Tuff tray and activity ideas for you - including a link to a blog post and video of how to make your own Snowman squeezy-oobleck sensory ball!

You'll have probably noticed by now that I love a good Tuff Tray Activity, and whereas I usually resort to posting them straight to my Instagram page, this time I shall provide you with  a little bit more information! Carry on reading below for information on how to put together this fab, snowman melting tuff tray activity...

Sensory Tray Play Ideas

Are you looking for ideas and activities for your tray play, tuff tray and sensory play? This blog post links to LOTS of sensory tray play activities for you to try. Simply scroll down, find the activity you like and click on the link to go to the full blog post with all of the information and resources needed.  Have a read of our complete guide to tuff trays if you need some more info first!