Early Years and Beyond

Baby sensory classes are big business. As a home based childcarer I aim to provide lots of different things to stimulate all 5 of babies and toddlers senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste) outside of expensive classes.

Babies love to put things in their mouths and I don’t discourage this as this is how they learn. All my toys are regularly inspected for cleanliness and safety.

I am to provide resources that offer a range of different textures, types, colours and shapes which will provide a lot of sensory stimulation for all the children.

These are just some of the sensory activities and resources I provide here at Aston Childcare (the safety and ages of each child is always considered before using any of the items listed) –

• Playdough – adding things such as glitter or lavender
• finger painting
• Small bean bags
• Treasure baskets – filled with metal items, wood items, plastic items, ribbons
• Touch and Feel sensory books
• Cooking and baking sessions to explore taste and smell.
• Outside basket – filled with fir cones, interesting leaves, twigs etc
• Scarves
• Arts and crafts items such as pom poms and wool.
• Paper and cardboard sensory bag with different types of card eg shiny, ridged, coloured
• bubble wrap
• Bubbles
• Mirrors
• Rice
• Spaghetti
• sand and water tray
• Mud play
• gloop (flour and water)
• sensitive shaving foam
• Musical instruments
• Smooth stones in the garden
• Shells in a bag
• Wooden blocks and large wooden dice
• Sensory play mat
• Plastic little people or animals

…poo! Yes, sorry….!

http://letstalkaboutpoo.eric.org.uk/

This website is great and deals with issues about poo problems which are very common in children and even more so in toddlers and pre-schoolers

And, with potty training on the horizon for my own son (21 months old)  my current reading material is all about toileting and this website is a great tool –

http://www.eric.org.uk/

I have been busy recently educating myself on Schemas.

Schemas are patterns of repeated behaviour that children display through playing. They allow children to explore and express developing ideas and thoughts through their play and exploration.

My son (aged 21 months) is currently displaying clear signs of an enveloping/enclosing schema, he loves to fill bags with things he has found and loves getting into boxes.

The CBBC website has a great piece which explains all about schemas  –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/schemas

I can’t believe it’s nearly a year since we grew our first sunflowers last year!

I had kept the leftover seeds carefully from last year and, after last year’s success, couldn’t wait to plant them again this year with a new mindee. My 4 year old mindee loved planting the seeds and covering them over with the soil.

Although cold outside today, the sun was out which made the whole experience very enjoyable!

Areas of Learning covered: Physical Development, Understanding The World, Maths, Communication & Language

This is a great website to help with serving the right portion sizes for 1-4 year olds-

http://www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/portion-sizes-table-2015

A recent article in the telegraph said that “Children today are part of a digital generation that has grown up in a world surrounded by technology and the internet, and they are using mobile phones, tablets, e-readers and computers on a daily basis,”

It went on to say “The temptation for many parents is to view technology as ruining the ‘essence of childhood’ and added “Research by web security firm AVG claims that more small children can play a computer game or use a smartphone application than ride a bike, tie their own shoelaces or swim unaided”.

However, Technology in the early years is not about using a tablet, computer or mobile phone all day but can be explored in a number of ways.

Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) says that for babies from birth-20 months “The beginnings of understanding technology lie in babies exploring and making sense of objects and how they behave”

It suggests that –

A child aged 16-20 months

• Anticipates repeated sounds, sights and actions, e.g. when an adult demonstrates an action toy several times.
• Shows interest in toys with buttons, flaps and simple mechanisms and beginning to learn to operate them.

A child of 22-36 months child –

• Seeks to acquire basic skills in turning on and operating some ICT equipment.
• Operates mechanical toys, e.g. turns the knob on a wind-up toy or pulls back on a friction car.

A child 30-50 months –

• Knows how to operate simple equipment, e.g. turns on CD player and uses remote control.
• Shows an interest in technological toys with knobs or pulleys, or real objects such as cameras or mobile phones.
• Shows skill in making toys work by pressing parts or lifting flaps to achieve effects such as sound, movements or new images.
• Knows that information can be retrieved from computers

A child 40-60 months+ –

• Completes a simple program on a computer.
• Uses ICT hardware to interact with age-appropriate computer software.

Here at Aston Childcare these are just some of the ICT resources I have available to children –

• Push the button books
• Lift the flap books
• Books with shutters and rotating parts
• Friction cars
• Remote controls
• Remote control cars/tractors
• Camera
• Car keys
• Laptop
• Push button toys (such as Happyland)
• Light dimmer switch
• Kitchen tools such as egg whisk, electric mixer
• In the community: pelican crossings, using shop self-service checkouts

On my wishlist is a karaoke machine, an electric keyboard, a wind up torch and some pulleys!

This is a great website to familiarise yourself with how much sugar is lurking in your children’s food –

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta/campaigns/sugar-smart/home?gclid=CJ7q5JPQ_8oCFUefGwodz_UHhg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Here at Aston Childcare we steer clear of fizzy drinks, juice and sugary squash and have recently taken dried fruit off the menu because of the sugar it contains and damage it does to our teeth.

I am always reviewing the food I provide to ensure we are healthy and Sugar Smart!

As we know, children learn through play; by doing, by interacting with others and by asking questions. The tactile experience children have handling natural materials makes learning fun and exciting.

In addition to our nature walks and activities outdoors I like to ensure the children have the opportunity to explore natural resources.

Here are just some of the natural resources made available to children here at Aston Childcare –

• Shells
• Twigs
• Mud
• Leaves
• Pebbles
• Pine cones
• Conkers
• Sand
• Water
• Heuristic treasure basket for babies with items such as wicker balls and a loofah
• Straw
• Bark

The ages of children are considered carefully in choosing items that are safe for them to explore.

This afternoon my mindee and I created this fab ‘under the sea’ themed picture.

We started off by looking at some shells and a starfish. This was a lovely sensory activity as my mindee put his ear to the shells to listen to them and explored the shapes and textures and feel of each shell and the starfish.

We used real play sand to represent the bottom of the sea before adding our sea creatures.

My mindee decorated the fish. “These are the gills” he told me. He carefully coloured in the sea horse, dolphin and shark in the colours of his choice.

I asked him what we might find in the sea and he told me “sharks, sea horse, boats and submarines”!

I love activities like this where the subject matter really captures the interest of the child.

“Can I take it home” he asked me at the end.

We were really pleased with the end result!

Areas of Learning covered: Communication and Language, Expressive Arts and Design, Physical Development (fine motor skills) and Understanding the World.