What is child-led learning? | How can loose parts & playdough help?

What is child-led learning and child-led play? What does it mean to 'follow a child's interests'? How can we use specific resources within an environment to help create a child-led environment? Why are loose parts and playdough such a helpful resource to use?

This blog post includes a link to a youtube video where I give an explanation and examples of what child-led means and why certain resources are so helpful...

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….

CMPA | Milk Allergy | What Can I Eat?

My youngest child, Charlotte, was diagnosed with CMPA – cows milk protein allergy – at 4 months old. In hindsight, I believe that my eldest child also suffered with the same allergy but back then I had NO idea it even existed! Even after countless trips to the GP for severe colic and reflux, and numerous calls to the health visitor – it was never even mentioned as a possible allergy. Only after searching through facebook groups and reading advice online did I come to realise, and eventually diagnose, Charlotte with a milk and soya allergy.

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I was breastfeeding at the time, so this meant I also had to cut out the allergens from my diet as they can be passed on through breastmilk. At first it was a very steep learning curve working out what I could and couldn’t eat! In this blog post I’m going to talk you through the process of testing for allergies, and how to adapt your diet to make sure you are eating safe foods which are allergen free.

A Homeschooling Poem

As we start 2021 in another lockdown, most of us faced with homeschooling our children whilst also trying to work/run a business/ stay healthy, it goes without saying that this is an incredibly tricky time for a lot of us. I think we all know how difficult the current situation is for us all, and although I toyed with the idea of writing a poem in solidarity with the feelings of many of us, I decided to step back at look at things from a totally different angle. I thought about the silver lining of homeschooling...the little things that will make the biggest difference, and the way we might look back on it for the moments we gained, rather than the moments we lost... It has helped me to take a more positive view on our days of homeschool and to remind me that I now have the ability to change our days and find the fun when our children need a breather too. x

As always, please remember that this poem is subject to copyright and must not be copied, pasted or republished anywhere. If you would like to share this you may use the URL of this website to share, or use the social media share buttons here or on my social channels. Thank you. 

The importance of Positive Language in the Early Years | Guest Post

 Why is positive language so important in the early years and how can you adjust your own language to be more positive?  Create a more positive behaviour management system and learn how to rephrase your responses to some common scenarios...

Today, I have Lucy from @home_ed_at_the_weekend writing a guest post for us all about the importance of positive language in the Early Years. You can find more information about Lucy and how to contact her at the end of this post...

Positive language plays an important role in the Early Years – both at home and within a childcare setting. Avoiding the use of negative or authoritarian language is an excellent tool for positive behaviour management. It also allows children to feel equal; part of a two-way, respectful relationship with their care givers - as opposed to being under the control of certain adults. 

Rather than always dealing with negative behaviour and picking up the broken pieces, using positive language allows us to prevent some negative behaviour and thus prevent the pieces becoming broken in the first place – at least some of the time, anyway. This is because it empowers children to believe in themselves & their choices and it fosters independence and self-confidence...

Creating a work space with the BenQ WiT e-Reading Lamp | Review

Having recently turned our spare bedroom into a home office, something we chose to do due to covid working restrictions and also with the launch of my shop ChildLedPlay.co.uk, one of the biggest issues was finding appropriate lighting solutions. I needed something that would allow for computer and screen work during the day and evening, alongside close up painting and craft work with true colour lighting.

 

AD: This post includes gifted items

I was recently asked if I would like to try out the BenQ WiT e-Reading Lamp, giving an honest review, which seemed like the perfect solution...

Play-Based Learning Gifts for 3 year olds

Are you looking for gifts suitable for a 3 year old, which also have an element of 'learning through play'? Within this post, I will be showing you some of my top choices for play-based learning gifts for three year olds, and explaining which areas of development they help to cover...

NB: Some of these items were gifted items for us to review honestly for the purpose of this post. Some items we bought ourselves and others are from my own shop ChildLedPlay.co.uk. This post may contain affiliate links. Any gifted or affiliate items will be highlighted with an asterisk next to them. 

It can sometimes be tricky to see the learning potential with certain toys and resources, or, to know which areas of learning you should be focusing on at this stage. This blog post will guide you through some gift options and explain the learning opportunities available...

Embedding children's interests in all aspects of learning

Have you ever wondered what it means to follow the children's interests? It's a phrase you will likely hear a lot if you work within Early Years or have EYFS aged children. Best practise is for practitioners and educators to tailor the learning experiences to the individual child or children, so that engagement is high, learning is enjoyable and lessons are likely to be remembered and retained.

 

This idea of making learning appealing to an individual by incorporating something that they have a fascination with, into the learning opportunity doesn't just have to stop with Early Years. Many teachers have had huge amounts of success in teaching maths and literacy by following certain interests (such as football) in order to engage students and maximise the chances of them retaining the skills they have learnt. 

Today I have Sam and Immy from Sam Goldsworthy Childminding, explaining the process of embedding children's interests into all aspects of learning - with a run through of how they set this up within their setting, and progressed over time...

Phonics Explained: A Parent's guide to understanding Phonics

What is phonics? What does digraph mean? Why do we need phonics? How does it work? Why is phonics important? ... Today I have the Queen of Phonics - Alice from Raising Red Heads - here to explain it all! 

 

Alice is an EYFS Teacher and Educational Learning Content Creator with a passion for phonics and an unbelievable ability to make phonics visually stimulating, fun and exciting. In this blog post she explains in more detail, exactly what 'phonics' means and why it is so important...

Using The Curiosity Approach at home

The Curiosity Approach is a modern day approach to early childhood development and play. It incorporates philosophies from Reggio, Montessori, Steiner and Te Wariki to create a thoughtful approach that uses children’s innate curiosity to inspire their play and learning.

 

Today, I have Alexandria explaining how she incorporates the Curiosity Approach at home, and how you can easily do the same....

Dinosaur Island Play Tray | Tuff Spot Ideas

Does your child have a special interest in Dinosaurs? Perhaps you are learning about a dinosaur topic or how dinosaurs have become extinct and would like to create a tuff tray play tray to enhance your learning environment and allow for open ended play and exploration? 

In this post I have a large dinosaur island tuff tray with lots of loose parts, and an alternative smaller scale play tray with dinosaurs past and also dinosaurs present with a special fossil hunting activity!!

The beauty of loose parts is that children can move and explore all of the objects to create their own scenes, ideas and narratives. Nothing is permanent, so nothing gets ‘ruined’, nothing has to be ‘put back how you found it’ and nothing is ‘wrong’. When there are no limits set on play, children have the chance to take ownership without fear of failure, or, fear of creating too much mess to clean up. Your set up doesn’t have to be perfect (it won’t stay as it is for long anyway), it just needs to be inspiring, interesting, exciting and provoke a sense of wonder - inviting children to come and have a look, a touch and eventually a full on play!

Coffee Beans Sensory Play Tray | Tuff Tray ideas

A sensory tuff tray exploring coffee beans using a manual coffee grinder, old coffee machine, cafetiere and some information on how we extended the coffee beans activity once they had all been ground up!

Disclosure - this post includes collaborative and affiliate links

A few weeks prior to this coffee beans sensory play tray activity, I had picked up a manual coffee grinder in a charity shop and ‘left it’ in the playroom for the children to discover and try to figure out what it was and what it could do... The children loves exploring and experimenting, and here is what we got up to when we finally got round to using it for real!

Solid Wood Floors and Cast Iron Gates - A Look Back

Finding myself stuck within the four walls of my home for the last few months, I've been thinking about what really makes a house a home? What will my children remember the most about their time here? 

My dreams have been filled with images and memories of my own childhood home. The solid wood floor, and the feel of its grain beneath your feet. The cast iron gates I'd open for school each morning - and the way I tested my own strength by my ability to push them open with one or two hands. 

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So many of my memories were focused around the more natural resources around the house. The rough feel of the red brick, turned green by moss on the outside. The musty smell of the cellar with its concrete steps and the way we used to 'polish' the hardwood floor in the boardroom by spraying our socks with a can of Pledge and skating around the room to 'don't you want me baby?' by The Human League...

How to make mini glitter alphabet letters using UV Resin

A quick post and video demonstrating how to make mini glitter alphabet letters using UV Resin, for loose parts and letter matching.

 

These letters are much smaller than some of large resin letters that you see - and so rather than epoxy resin which requires mixing and pouring, I have made these mini glitter resin letters using UV resin with a thin nozzle attachment. If you would like to find out how to make these resin alphabet loose parts, have a watch of the video below...

Top Tips for managing Play with different aged children

I decided to write this post after one of my Instagram followers asked me if I had any advice on managing play with children of different ages and different personalities. Like me, she has a 2 year old and a 5 year old and is finding that whilst the older child interacts positively with the play invitations she sets up, her 2 year old often throws objects at walls, bangs them together etc and sets off down a path of destruction. ( I should note here that this family also have a new baby and the older child is usually at school, but under the currently isolation policy they are now all at home together).

  

It's a common scenario, and I remember my eldest being very similar at aged 2 when his baby sister arrived and we were stuck at home in the summer holidays. The preschool/nursery routine is out of the window, the 1:1 time with the main carer is suddenly a thing of the past and the world of the toddler is suddenly very different and a little bit unsettling. Add in a need to be very active and burn off a lot of energy and it can be a real struggle to fulfill their needs. Many children will resort to destructive, aggressive or frustrating behaviour in order to gain what little attention they can, and also to manage their own feelings and emotions. 

Twinning with Positive Clothing from Peonies & Peace

Peonies & Peace is the positive clothing shop from the wellbeing and sustainability blog: The Less - Refined mind. Specialising in organic, ethical apparel for babies, kids and adults - if you're looking for a positive message with a gender neutral design, then this is the place to look...

AD: Some of the items pictured were gifted for the purpose of this post. I have previously purchased items from this shop by choice. 

The 4th 'baby' of Kate, author and owner of the blog/shop and mum to two girls - it has never felt as easy to support a small business as it does when you know the business is supporting the values you believe in: Positivity. Liberalism. Feminism. Sustainability. Responsible clothing. Caring for the planet. Striving for Peace...( and if you want to chuck a few peonies in there, then why not)...

Easy home-made pretend role-play food from every day items

Want to know how to make some quick and easy home made, pretend role-play food from every day household items? 

This post will show you how to make some fake Battenberg cake, pretend sponge cakes, fake ice cream, pretend spaghetti and meatballs, chips, crumpets and more....