Thats Not my....

Babies just love the That's Not My....range of books and we have lots of them to keep little ones stimulated and develop their love of books and reading. There is so much learning in these little books and they are so portable and durable too for when we are out at the park, shops or on a school run even. The babies can touch and feel the lovely range of textures, try to find the little mouse who always appears on every page and learn to help turn the pages, taking turns, learning about body parts and animals and colours..... the list is endless. I also find that these books can be useful when children are learning to read as something familiar is comforting and they feel such a sense of achievement when they already know lots of the words.

Helping New Baby settle

We have a new baby and everyone is helping him to settle in by showing him the toys, helping him get things he wants and of course giving him lots of cuddles! Sand pit and cars are always a hit especially when the 2 things are combined! My big girls love helping with the little ones and make them feel like part of the gang very quickly.

Leaving Pressie and Certificates!

I got this! How wonderful to know I'm so appreciated!
We had a lovely party to celebrate the children achieving so much in their time with me and I made little certificates for them to take home. They were super excited and I was only a bit upset to say goodbye (ok a LOT!).

Our Neighbour’s dog!

Meet Rosie our cute new neighbour! Sometimes she pops over the fence, with everyone’s permission of course, and gets a little bit of tickling by the children which we all love. Such a treat getting to experience having a pet nearby. She is very gentle and the children are learning about how to wait and ask before rushing in. We regularly meet her when she’s out having a walk too which is lovely.

Cafe Treats!

One of our treats is to go to a cafe for snack time and sometimes we have baby chinos, even luckier if it's one of those cafes that don't charge for a little bit of warm milk, a ton of tickle froth and chocolate on top of course! Chocolate smiles all around.

Making wobbly fish

I saw these lovely fish on a Facebook post via my WI president, something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0tT9PVadQ 

so simply had to give it a go. It was actually really simple. The children loved helping to stick the eyes on, watching me snip snip and then we sang fishy songs. It prompted me to get out lots of under the sea jigsaws to think about what other creatures you would find in the sea.

Making a stick house

More Forest school fun: We've been having fun going outside to find sticks. I have really been amazed by how many activities we've been able to do just with the simple stick!

There is so much learning, for example thinking about health and safety (keep your sticks pointed down), making up songs ('Tap your sticks', 'this is the way we drum our sticks'), laying them straight, jumping over them and encouraging role play and imagination such as in this picture where we made a stick house. The children loved this activity and kept on talking about it and were able to tell their parents at pick up time. I think this is a really good example of how Forest School promotes independence, imagination and confidence building.