I’ve been keen to make a mud kitchen for T for a long time. They’re such a fun way to spend time outdoors, and are brilliant for all kinds of learning opportunities: sensory development; imaginative play; language development; learning about capacity and measuring; and scientific exploration as they mix different materials. When T started at […]
maths
Garden Sensory Play
It is so lovely that Spring is finally here! I love the beautiful sunshine we’ve been having and have been admiring the beautiful cherry blossoms coming out down our road. We’ve been doing a few jobs in the garden to get it ready for summer and it’s lovely to be spending more time outside again. […]
Tessellating Prints
I was inspired recently to make some geometric patterned paper with T. I had an idea in mind of what I was hoping we could achieve, but in order to enable her to really grasp the activity and be able to succeed, I needed to lay the groundwork by teaching her about tessellation.
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Sweet Shop Role Play
Role play is a brilliant activity for children as it promotes the use of language; applying specific skills (such as counting or writing) in context; is great for social development; and best of all is lots of FUN! For T’s 4th birthday we gave her a ‘shop front’, and for one of her party activities, […]
8 French Activities for Preschoolers
In the past T and I have often themed our week of play as I find it helps me to be a bit more intentional and creative about how we spend our time together. Recently though, I haven’t been great at getting my act together and taking the time to plan ahead. However, after reading […]
Bienvenue sur Le Marché: French Market Role Play
As you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram, this week we’ve had a French theme to our play. One of my favourite things to do when in France is to visit the local market, so I decided to set up a simple market role play for T to play with. To set […]
Brilliant Books: Bears in the Night
Hands up if you read this book as a child! My husband and I came across it at a jumble sale and we both had fond memories of enjoying it as kids, so we picked it up for T. A few months later we discovered another copy at my parents house! We really love this book […]
Top Toys: Pin-A-Shape
For Christmas, we bought T Pin-A-Shape, made by Bigjigs toys. This is something I used regularly as a Reception class teacher and it has been on my mental ‘to buy’ list for T for a long time. I just needed to wait until she was old enough to be able to play safely with the […]
Simple café role play
One of my daughters favourite places to visit is a café – not a particular café, any one will do, so long as they have “a little treat” for her to munch on! And who can blame her?! Recently we had a couple of friends of hers over to play who I know also love […]
Top Toys for 3-7’s this Christmas
It’s so easy to get stuck trying to think of ideas for your children at Christmas. While enjoyment is obviously the key thing I’m looking for when finding gifts for T, I do have a few other criteria… Longevity. Most of the toys T has received since her first birthday are things that will last. […]