Rhythm Time

Last week a lady from 'Rhythm Time' came to run a session for the children, this was a first for all of us.  Usually the sessions are aimed at a specific age group, but as a childminder group we have lots of different aged children, so the session was aimed mid range.

We were all invited to sit on mats on the floor, and clap, tap and bang along to different songs.  We shared out various musical instruments to play along to the songs, and swapped and shared the instruments after each song.  At the end of the session bubbles were blown and the children had lots of fun popping them.

The session was so enjoyable, it was something really different and provided many learning opportunities for the children.

Changes to the EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a framework that applies to all childminders, schools and nurseries that provide care and education for children from birth until the end of the Reception year.

From 1st September 2012, the revised EYFS came into force.  The new version is available online for you to view using the link below.

The revised EYFS contains the legal requirements and guidance information which I have to use to make sure I meet your child’s needs. There are a number of changes, to summarise; 


There will be 7 Areas of Learning and Development divided into Prime and Specific areas. 

When working with the youngest children I will be focusing mainly on the 3 PRIME areas. 

These are:·        Personal, social and emotional development·        Physical development·        Communication and Language

These form the basis for successful learning in the other 4 SPECIFIC areas.  These are:

·        Literacy
·        Mathematics
·        Understanding of the world
·        Expressive Arts and Design

As they grow in confidence and ability in the 3 prime areas the balance will shift to a more equal focus on all 7.

A child’s learning and development will continue to be implemented through planned, purposeful play which is individually tailored to each child’s needs and interests. This will be both child and adult led.  Activities will become more adult led as a child gets older to prepare them for school.

One of the main changes for parents is the amount of input you will be asked to give into your child’s learning experiences while they are with me. At the moment I involve you in many different ways; but the new EYFS is asking childcare practitioners to think of new things to share with parents and carers and come up with new ways of asking you for information about what your child is doing and saying at home. I will encourage and support parents in guiding development at home to ensure your child receives the best possible start.

Another new legal requirement of the revised EYFS is for childcare practitioners to write up a ‘2 year progress check’ for your child.  A summary of your child’s development in the 3 PRIME areas must be carried out when your child is aged between 24-36 months. This will then inform and support the assessment made by your child’s Health Visitor at their '2 year check' so that they have an accurate insight into how your child is developing at home and in other settings and not just in a room in the doctors surgery where your child may be unwilling to co-operate!

I request that parents inform me when their child has an appointment for their check so that we can work together to prepare his/her report.

I look forward to sharing more information about the revised EYFS with you over the coming months.  In the meantime, if you have any questions please let me know.

Revised Statutory Framework for the EYFS

Blind Painting

In honour of the Paralympics starting tonight, I planned a 'blind painting' activity.  Today I only had J aged 36 months and M aged 26 months, so anything too complicated is too old for them, I thought this activity was perfect as it involves painting, which they both adore!

We spoke about being blind, what it means, and how we like our working eyes.  J said he "wouldn't like to be blind".

I got out the painting things and the children became VERY excited!  Everything was ready, and we were at the stage where they normally dive on in and start splattering paint about, when I told them to wait!  We were going to try painting as though we were blind!!!

I then produced a tea towel and a peg to blindfold the children!

J thought it was funny and he giggled lots whilst being blindfolded, though he didn't apply much paint to the paper.

M wasn't impressed with being blindfolded and immediately tried to remove the tea towel, though I gently coaxed his hands to the paper and handed him the brush, so he instinctively began painting.  

M wasn't as cautious as J when he was blindfolded, whereas J just painted his brush on the paper a few times, M painted just as though he could see, even attempting to reapply paint to his brush - which he needed a little help with!

After a couple of minutes I removed the blindfolds and the children continued painting, having a wonderful time!

Strawberry picking

We harvested our first home grown strawberry yesterday, Albie was very excited, however we only ever get one ripe strawberry at a time - two if we are very lucky!  So I decided to take the children strawberry picking at the local fruit farm today, it turned out to be a lovely few hours outside, the children got to see actually where the strawberries are grown, they were reminded not to trample all over the plants, and how to spot nice, juicy and ripe strawberries ready for picking - and eating!


Before we had even glimpsed the fruit fields M fell over, literally face first into the biggest muddy puddle - is it wrong of me to admit that it was quite funny?! (disclaimer - no children were harmed during any of the strawberry farm activities!)


We all sampled a few of the strawberries while we were picking them - some ate much more than their fair share, but I won't tell!


When we got back home we made delicious smoothies using our hand picked and very fresh strawberries.

Planning - what planning?!

Planning according to the EYFS is not my strong point; I actually do lots of planning for the children in my care, I think about what we haven't tried before, activities we haven't done for a long time, activities to meet the children's current interests and their next steps, new places to visit, etc.  I just don't document it too well!  I never have, I intend to try, however lots of my plans remain within my head rather than on paper!  I believe that this is to no detriment to the children whatsoever, as far as I can see it will only ever affect my Ofsted inspection grade, which I can live with!


Today I planned to do messy play with shaving foam - this is something we haven't done for a while, the children love it, I planned to incorporate mark making and concentrate on adding colours to the shaving foam and discuss the individual colours and the results once we mixed colours together.  How clever of me to plan such a wonderful, enjoyable and educational activity all rolled into one!


The children however had other ideas!


Yes they jumped at the chance to play with the shaving foam, yes they did make marks (briefly) in the foam, and yes they (briefly) were interested in the colours we added.


However both Albie and J had the most fun of all smearing the foam all over themselves, the table, the walls, the floor, the windows, and me if I stood still for long enough!  I provided a bowl of clean water for the children to wash their hands and a clean towel for them to dry themselves afterwards.  The children used the water to stamp in!  They then added water to the foam to make it watery, and they added foam to the water to make it bubbly!  They then tipped the water out to stamp in it!  Albie had the great idea to mop up the foamy puddles with the clean towel, then 'clean' anything remotely static in the garden with the wet towel!


Today's activity has reenforced to me that no matter how much I plan an activity, the children will always do what they want to do and will lead the activity their own way.  Which also makes me wonder am I actually doing the wrong thing in not documenting all of my planning before we do the activity?


A wonderful time was had by all!