Jigsaw Childminding

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Our most played-with resource this week has been this basket of random lids! They have been used as payment tokens, cakes, stepping stones, hats, boats and wheels. Today Miss G played on her own for about half an hour making up a little story, in which each of the lids was a different character (mummy, daddy, sister, baby etc). It really is amazing how much these nondescript resources can stimulate a child’s imagination!

We found a super park today, up near the castle. Full of opportunities for the two-year olds to take some assessed risks. So, instead of saying “be careful”, “don’t do that”, “you’ll fall” or “you’ll get dirty” we said “go on”, “have a go”, “try again” and “WELL DONE! YOU DID IT!” The children learned that grass, rocks and wood get slippery when wet. That doesn’t mean they have to be avoided, it just means we need to concentrate harder to stay upright. 😃

It’s been a fun day today! Puffy paint pictures at playgroup, water play in the garden, playing with lids, making our own bubble mixture, washing the dinosaurs and seeing our first bee 🐝 of the year!! And then a lovely trip to the park!

“In the moment planning”...today we were playing at the toy kitchen when Miss M said “Ali, can we make a REAL cake please?” So we did! This simple activity allowed us to experience so many different areas of learning. We washed our hands and talked about the need for hygiene, we counted the bun cases, we measured the ingredients, we discussed what the ingredients looked like (sparkly sugar) and we mixed them all together working our hand and arm muscles. We talked about where... eggs come from, we took turns and shared the jobs with our friends, we concentrated and took care to spoon the mixture into the cases. We helped to tidy up and clean the table and talked about safety when using the oven. Afterwards, silly Ali spilled some sugar on the table and we discovered how we could use our fingers to draw patterns in the sugar (we also learned what a sticky mess it made when we licked our fingers 🙈!)
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We visited Betton Farm today to see the new lambs and to play in the fresh air!

Having first picked up all the rubbish in the park 😡 we let the children have a run around and a play in the sunshine this morning!!

Jigsaw Childminding is on the move...and growing! Please head over to my new page and ‘like’ it for more updates. Exciting times are ahead!

Dare I say it feels quite Spring-like this week? We’ve been out and about enjoying some fresh air, challenging ourselves on some new play equipment and getting lots of exercise!

We’ve made the most of the milder, drier weather this week with trips to the park, beach and sea life centre. We’ve also enjoyed some new resources with our magnetic bendy men and the new suction construction toys.

We’ve enjoyed the snow this week but I’ve really had enough now and I’m ready for Spring from next week please!

Our new magnetic bendy men arrived today...the children absolutely loved playing with them, exploring magnetism, weight, flexibility and so much more! We played with them for a solid 45 minuted!!

World Book Day 2018...any excuse for cake!!

This might be both helpful and enjoyable for any expectant mummies out there 🤰

After the children showed an interest in making play dough food this morning, we decided to make some real dough and bake our own bread! We used the ‘bread in a bag’ recipe so it wasn’t too messy and our bread turned out brilliantly!

One of the things we love most at Jigsaw Childminding is getting the children out and about into the local forests and beaches. Today we went to Forge Valley and with a lot of team work we built a super camp and enjoyed a run through the trees, climbing over them and crawling under them. We recited the story of The Gruffalo as we walked, and a few bits of Stick Man crept in too! We looked at sticks and branches and talked about their length and weight, and we helped each other to carry them to our den. Back at the playroom, we set up a woodland-themed ‘invitation to play’ and the children continued to enjoy their forest adventure indoors using small world play.

It was a beautiful sunny morning on the beach...despite the low temperatures and gale force winds! 💨 ❄️