Blog – Bluebells Childminding

Our setting and re-opening during the Pandemic

Published on May 31, 2020May 31, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

Hello,

How are you all?? Things keep changing and moving so fast its hard to keep up! We are officially opening to all parents tomorrow (1^st June) and I am so excited to see all the little ones again, we unfortunately will not see all the children again, but the majority are back along with Amy 😊. It is going to be lovely. I have missed the house being full of children and so has Sanya! I have spent the last few weeks making a few changes to the setting and we will be free flowing a lot more than usual, we are lucky that our playroom is a conservatory that leads onto the garden.

As mentioned before, since lockdown has been enforced by the government, I have only been open to key workers, therefore my numbers have drastically reduced making it easier to implement changes to my setting to protect the children in my care and my family. It has been a strange time for us all, especially the children who are finding it strange adjusting to not seeing family members and friends. With my numbers increasing we are still going to carry on the measures we have been taking such as a doorstep policy, washing hands more often, no sand play and no toys from home. With my family and I being low risk, I am feeling positive about opening to all. All we can do is follow the guidelines and do our best by our families.

Sanya makes being a childminder so easy, she loves having friends over to play!

We’ve been walking so much during lockdown

I love being a childminder, working from home has many advantages but my favourite thing about being a childminder is how much creative freedom it allows me to have. Working with a small group of children allows me to get to know each child more and follow their interests. I started my career working with children when I started my apprenticeship in a nursery in 2008, following this I moved to different nurseries over the years and even got a chance to teach English in an international school in Mumbai. Before I moved to Shaftesbury, I was working in a reception class in London -hands down one of my favourite jobs, it was a completely different experience working in a school than in a nursery. It reignited my passion for early years and I was given a great deal more freedom to plan activities and help teach as I was working as a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA). A lot of what I learned working in reception is implemented in my practice now. It is important the resources in my setting cover the 7 areas of learning:

Pesonal social and emotional developement- decision making, playing alongside others, showing interests
Physical developement- fine and gross motar skills, independace in self care
Communication and Language- imganitive play, role-playing
Literacy- storytelling, mark making, rhymes
Mathematics- counting, measuring, numbers in the environment, shapes
Understanding the world- loose parts play, open ended resources, technology, the environment
Expressive arts and design- media and material, music

I’ve drastically reduced he amount of toys we have in these boxes, I do need to add more and then label the boxes

Our cosy book corner, I do want to add in a cuddle sofa or a teepee at some point

Our outdoor space, we have artificial grass which is amazing for outdoor play all year round

Our sand tray converts to a water tray and fits in two IKEA trays for endless sensory play ideas

Made a ball runner, I’ve actually changed the poles so they go across (sorry don’t have a picture)

There is also a lot I want to add into the setting, but I am taking my time with this as I do keep adding resources and changing things around often 😃. Each day we set up for both indoor and outdoor play and bring a lot of learning opportunities outdoors.

Currently, the setting does look a little different as we have been given new guidance to follow regarding our resources. This means no sand play as it is hard to clean and I have decided to removed soft toys but everything else remains the same. We may reduce the amout of toys we have out but as we will be playing outdoors more I may not do this. I’m just focussing on making things easier for Amy and I and not giving us more work to do regarding cleaning! We are going to focus on creating happy memeories with the little ones and having lots of fun, talking about our feelings and right now its more important that ever to focus on personal, social and emotional developement.

I look forward to resuming normality and carrying on with the job I love.

This has been my 8th blog post and I love writing them, though I am trying to be regular with them, life does get in the way. As always I love hearing your feedback and if you are returning back to work tomorrow I hope you have a great first day back!!

Love Sammi xxx

10 things I have learned since becoming a Childminder…

Published on April 24, 2020April 24, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

Hello and welcome back to my page, I hope you all are doing well and surviving!

I have officially been a childminder for 6 months and in such a small amount of time so much has changed I have opened and partially closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Though I was initially sad that I would have to close and not see my children again, I know its important for everyone to stay at home and when we resume some sense of normality things will go back to normal. It is such an uncertain and strange time for us all but I live in hope that things will get better and in the meantime I will continue to enjoy the free time, though I do find the days seem to go by so quickly. I have also realised I have not shared much about myself and my space, so though this post is going to be about 10 things I have learned since becoming a childminder I am also currently writing another blog post dedicated to all about me and my space which should be uploaded soon (I am definately feeling motivated to write this week, I hope it lasts!).

So, as I mentioned this post is all about things I have learned since I started my journey as a Childminder, some of the things I cover are things I believe are important to think about especially if you are just starting out or thinking about becoming a childminder. I am only 6 months in and I am learning new things all the time, I just wanted to share my own top 10 tips that I hope you find useful.

1.Financial Security

A job like childminding gives you lots of flexibility, especially with the hours and days you chose work. However, once you fill your spaces there is no guarantee they will be full for long for so many different reasons. A child may move houses, go to nursery, parent may not need childcare anymore etc. You are self-employed, if you are not working for any reason you will not be paid – most childminders do not charge for their own sick days, holidays, bank holidays and or closures. As I write this we are going through a pandemic and many childminders are not working and therefore may not be getting paid however, this is an unprecedented time! (Also, I must mention you write your own contracts and if you want to be paid for holidays, closures etc this is something both you and the parents have to agree to). It is a risk working for yourself but honestly if your numbers are full the financial benefits are there (I know so many childminders who are full with very long waiting lists!). You also get to chose if you want to do wrap around care, depending on your space and insurance you can have up to 10/12 children before and after school!

I should also mention parents like childminders more because of the flexible hours we have. So, unless you state you want specific hours, sessions and or a number of days minimum parents will book in only those speciific hours they need.

Flexibility to suit parents needs is definately one of the strongest selling points a childminder has.

2. Own Boss

It is such a great feeling working for yourself, you are in charge of every decision you make. You work to your own comfort zones and will not have someone to answer to each day! Having this independence brings a lot of job satisfaction, you will feel motivated and have the freedom to pursue your own ideas. Though it can get lonely working by yourself with no adult company, however, that can be easily changed by arranging playdates especially with other childminders, going to playgroups meeting friends etc.

3. VERY different to working in any other setting

If you have already worked in a childcare setting or have children, you may be surprised at how different and hard it is looking after a small number of children. You may not get children that are similar ages, you will have children with different needs, you will have to do all the work yourself whereas in other settings they are shared by members of staff. It is nonstop and the only time you may get to put your feet up is when they are sleeping! (all at the same time, if you are lucky). You will be multi-tasking like you have never done before!

4. Relationship with families

The relationships you develop with families is so much more intense than the relationships you form with parents if you are working in any other childcare setting. This is because you are in touch with parents from the very first interaction, be it a phone call, an email and so on, and then it is your responsibility to sell yourself and your setting. Parents need to feel comfortable leaving their child with you, so its important to build that trust from the get go!

5. What kind of Childminder do you want to be?

This is an important one as it will go onto define your working philosophy, we are a home from home setting. Some childminders work from their living room and some have a dedicated playroom. You could call it a mini nursery but again it is your choice to work how you wish, a lot of us have space to consider too and may not be able to have a dedicated playroom and that is fine. However, you must follow the EYFS framework and be able to demonstrate to Ofsted how you are meeting the needs of the children in your care.

You also need to consider if you want to be paper based or online, both have pros and cons. There are so many different varieties online now so do your research and see which one works for you. The main advantage of being online is having everything in one place. On the other hand if you want to be paper based that’s perfectly fine (I am!). You will have more admin to do and if you keep learning journeys that requires more work. Learning journeys are not an Ofsted requirement, and neither are daily diaries – however they are lovely things to do and I know parents love looking through their child’s learning journey and receiving their daily diary.

6. When to buy your resources?

Please do not make the mistake of buying all your resources as you are setting up, you will not know the ages of the children in your care as it can be so varied. You may have all babies or a mix of ages that you need to cater too, you are fine to start small and build up your resources based on their interests. Also remember interests change as children grow and you will need to adapt to this. Rotating toys and activities can be great and I find having less toys out means they actually play with what I set up. Of course, when you have your pre-registration your inspector will ask you about your resources but, you are fine to mention what you are planning to buy, that is what I did. I think the main reason they ask you about resources is to check your EYFS knowledge.

7. Bargain hunting

I always used to buy my books from charity shops but honestly since becoming a childminder I find such amazing buys from charity shops for a fraction of the price. It is always handy to go for a browse occasionally as you will never know what you find or may be useful later. Another great place to buy bargains from is Facebook marketplace, you will find most items in good condition much cheaper that buying the item full price from a shop or online.

8. How long does it take to be a Childminder?

It can take upto 12 weeks or even longer depending on how busy Ofsted inspectors are and if you have submitted everything required. There is a long list of things you have to do so my advice is to be organised and make a list, you will be required to do a first aid course, get a health declaration, DBS and most likely be required to complete an EYFS introductory course for Childminders. You also have to be mindful of how long the health declaration is valid (I think 6 months?). It is time comsuming and a long process but, you can get organised as soon as you decide to be a childminder and start completing things off the checklist as soon as possible. There is lots to research, Pacey, Childcare and childminding UK all have lots of information on their webites, you can also email Ofsted with any questions you may have!

9. Paperwork

As a childminder you must follow Ofsted Local authority’s guidelines when it comes to what statutory paperwork you must have. This includes registers, accident, incident, medicine forms, safeguarding and complaints policies, trackers etc. However, anything else is entirely up to you and the polices you wish to keep that work for your business. Such as late fee policy, medicine policy, lost child policy and so on. It is especially important for parents to know what your policies are, it is also a way they get to know you and the rules of your setting.

Like I mentioned earlier, you are not required to have stuff like learning journeys, or do daily diaries and daily written risk assessments so the paperwork honestly isn’t a lot, Ofsted actually want childminders to have less paperwork to do and focus on the education we are offering the children in our care!

10. Working with other Childminders

Childminding can be lonely, at the end of the day if you are working by yourself you will spend most of your day surrounded by little ones! Nevertheless, on the plus side the online childminding community is fantastic, you will be supported by your Local authority and hopefully get to meet other lovely childminders in your area. Some childminders arrange playdates, go on trips, playgroups -great for children to socialise with other children! Additionally, if you want to expand your business you can hire up to two assistants or even work alongside a childminder.

I absolutely love being a childminder and running my own little business, I would not change it for the world. Being my own boss, endless fun, and laughter, making memories and building relationships with families – it is such a rewarding job, not the easiest as some people may think. It is hard work especially if you are working by yourself, you have to manage your own paperwork, plan and set up activities, be in charge of the day to day running of your setting, updating your CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and so on. It is a job where you need passion, dedication and a sense of humour! 😊

I hope you enjoyed reading my top 10, please let me know what you think or if you think I have missed any points that you would add?

Love

Sammi xxx

Pandemic 2020

Published on April 17, 2020April 20, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

Hello,

It’s been a while since I last posted, so much has changed in such a small space of time, it’s been a few weeks now and I have slowly adjusted to my new normal. I hope you have too. Like many of us, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, I’ve found it very strange to go from being constantly busy to having so much free time, something I’m definitely not used to. Though isn’t it funny how we always wish for a longer weekend or to have more time? We’ve certainly got that!! Life feels like one long Sunday…

I’ts taken me a while to write this post as I wasn’t able to process my feelings. I spent months working hard on Bluebells childminding and growing my business, I hired an assistant who barely worked two weeks before we were told to close (though I’m open to key workers). As childminders we are self employed, therefore like many we will be out of work while we are under lockdown. We also don’t know how long this will go on for so there is a lot of uncertainty. However, with all this uncertainty I do feel we have a lot to be grateful for and it is times like this which remind us to be thankful. Especially to those key workers who are working so hard right now and putting their own lives at risk everyday this virus is out there. It’s also reminded me of things we all take for granted, such as going food shopping or meeting family and friends. I know once this is over there will be normality again, but we will not get this time back with our families. So, like many people I am enjoying family time, finishing jobs around the house that I put off and cleaning out the playroom, updating learning journeys – I also feel like this time has given me a chance to pause and reflex back on the last 5 months of work and instead of putting of the changes I want to make I can actually do them now. I’m also baking lots and started going for runs -two things I’ve not done in a long time but now I have all the time in the world to do so. I’m also using this time to do some online courses, I recently took part in a enabling environment webinar that made me reassess the playroom and help me clear out the house (I highly recommend childcare webinars, they are free and so informative! I will link the website below). Keeping busy is helping me get through is, though there are days where I’m watching Netflix or reading a book!

We are going through an unprecedented time right now, however you are coping with it is completely normal, do whatever you feel comfortable with. There are a lot of things that are not in our control right now, and those things are probably making you worry. Something a dear friend of mine shared with me was to mindmap all the things you are anxious about then mark them as things you can control, influence or accept. It means you can focus your energy on the things you can actually change! I hope this helps ♥️

For children it’s a lot to deal with, their whole world has changed and they probably are missing family, friends and normality. They also most likely are loving having their parents, family members home! We all get to so busy with life, why not use this time to get to know each other better? Play together, cook and have adventures at home. Let your children remember this time as fun and an adventure that they can look back on fondly. It’s also ok if your child is watching more TV right now (especially if you are working from home). You also don’t need to be entertaining your children all day long, it’s good for children to be bored – it helps them be creative! However, If you are looking for ideas, I will add a few activities below that I’ve been doing with Sanya, I’ve been using things I have around the house and easy to set up activities! I hope they help, please let me know if you want to more activity suggestions ☺️

Activities

You can use any kind of junk modeling to create something, let your child use their imagination 😊

Baking is always a favourite, let them help you cook, children love responsibility!

Let them help you clean or wash their toys! hours of fun…

As the weather has been so lovely, why not set up a water activity. You can add anything or even freeze objects. Washing babies is always a favourite

If you have a garden, why don’t you do some gardening or plant some seeds?

Another fun activity is going on a hunt, you can hide objects or look for particular coloured objects around the house garden etc

There’s so much you can do with playdough, create cakes, make objects, add some hoops and spaghetti and do some counting

Why not mail a hug? Or send a letter/ picture to a loved one

Other activities we regularly enjoy are painting with water in the garden, reading and music time, mark making in flour (you can use anything to mark make such as coloured salt sand etc), salt dough decorations, having a picnic, den making, though my one of my favourite activities to set up has to be sensory trays! Super easy and quick you can use anything that comes to hand, water and containers or bottles so they can empty and pour. Rice, lentils and cooking utensils, hiding objects in foil and putting them in sand, honestly the list can go on but if you have never set up a sensory tray before, do it! It will entertain your little ones for hours 🙂 Twinkl also has lots of educational resources that you can try, such as cutting practice, letter formation, colouring, ordering numbers and so on.

If you are looking for more ideas, I regularly post ideas and activities I am doing on my Instragram and Facebook page @bluebellschildminding.

When all this is over, and we resume some sense of normality there will be many things we will change and be grateful for but as long as we have our health we are the lucky ones. Wouldn’t it be lovely to look back on this time as precious family time?

Love Sammi xx

(PS If you enjoy reading my posts, please let me know by subscrbing and leaving me a comment I would love to hear back from you!)

Spreading the love -February 2020

Published on March 1, 2020March 3, 2020 by Sammishah

I woke up this morning and could not believe it’s already the 1st of March, this year is flying by far too quickly. This month it will also be 5 months since I became a childminder, which is crazy as it does feel like much longer! Every day is always busy and full of adventure but I wouldn’t change a thing. My journey has been quite eventful with lots happening in such a short space of time. Lot of lovely new families signed to Bluebells Childminding in such a short space of time, spaces filled really quickly -much sooner than anticipated! Luckily the playroom was pretty much set up so was all ready to start as soon as I was inspected by Ofsted. However, I am forever changing things around in the playroom and want to reduce the amount of plastic and add more open ended resources. My top tip to other potential childminders would be not to rush buying things, wait and see the ages and interests of the children in your care first. I will try and get a blog post up on the playroom and why I have chosen to set it up the way I have, I am really proud of my setting and the space I have, I recieve such a lovely response from parents during visits that I feel really grateful for. My space is more educational, coming from an EYFS background it comes nartural to me to work the way I do. But, as childminders you are a home from home setting which is why parents may choose a childminder over nursery. You don’t need to have posters up or have a designated playroom, you have the luxury to work in whatever space you have as long as its safe and the required floor space (check the Early Years framework for exact measurements) and what Ofsted will want to know is how you deliver the EYFS framework not how many toys you have!

As I probably mentioned in my previous blogs, for my first year to ease my way into childminding, I am following seasons and celebrations as my themes. Both the children and I are absolutely loving all the different activites we’ve been doing and things we’ve been learning about. Also great for cultural capital! During February we have been learning about the people and things we love, we have been understanding why it is important to share and treat our toys kindly (I will warn you this blog will be full of wonderful picutres showing all the amazing things we have done this month!). Working in such a small setting you really get to know each child and learn about their charecteristics and the way they learn. You also get to see their friendships develop and help support them in play.

How our setting looked in October, I’ve made a few changes since then ☺️

During the week I try to plan a couple of activites each day, this will be alongside going to groups or the park and so forth. As most the children in my care are quite young they are still learning to share and take turns so I plan acitivites where they can work on this, another advantage of group activites is the children learn from each other. We started the month off playing with ice, as it has been snowing on an off the children have been really interested in playing in snow. For some, like my daughter they may not have seen snow before or felt ice melt in their hands, so it is lovely to plan activties that gets them curious. They also liked moving the coloured ice on the table to see the marks they made -ice play was such a fun easy activity that require barely any prep. Like most of my activities. I don’t want to take my time away from the children to spend ages setting up. There are hundreds and thousands of activities like ice play that are easy to set up and that engage the child and covers some of the 7 areas of learning. Rerember, not each activity you do has to cover all the 7 areas of learning. That is not always possible.

We also regularly have circle time which normally happens before lunch or after, depends of the children’s hunger levels as they are fab at telling me they are hungry!! 🙂 I use circle time to read stories and talk about current topics, this month we’ve been really books such as ‘Guess how much I love you’ and books that talk about things we like. Circle time is great to promote communication skills, PSE and EAD development. Circle time from when I started in October to now has changed so much, I wish I had photographic evidence. The below pictures will show you how in sync the children are and how they are copying each other 🙂

Activity wise, we have also been painting love hearts on paper plates (one child even wanted to paint hearts on the snow we previously painted!). Another lovely activity was finger print dabbing on hearts that changed to using a dabber as the child did not want paint on her fingers -which shows the child is confident enough to share her own wishes and how the activity can be easily adapted. As I love baking as do the children we have done lots of baking! One of the things we made was pizza, another fab way to talk about our favourite vegetables and promotes healthy eating (another bonus). Baking elicits lots of conversations and allows you to find out more about the children’s likes and dislikes, they are also more than happy to tell you what they eat at home or out at restaurants.

My favourite activity has got to be colour sorting using the Love heart box which was a cereal box, I have done something similar for Christmas where I made a Christmas tree (see below picture). The children absolutely love sorting the lids and it keeps them busy for a long time! They also show empathy during tidy up time as I explain the importance of tidying up the lids as we don’t want a small baby to put the lid in their mouth. This gets them joining in and helping tidy up :).

During February we also had pancake day, of course we could not miss an opportunity to made pancakes! Again, we discussed favourite toppings. Aside from doing lots of baking this month we have done lots of painting, making love heart crafts, painting family members and attending a local playgroup where did lots of love activities. It has been a fun and enjoyable month, (I’ve added a few pictures below) but the fun doesn’t stop now we are in March! We have lots to look forward to in March! Firstly, we have exciting news, that I can’t wait to share within the next week or so, please keep an eye out on our Instagram and Facebook page. Secondly I am looking forward to celebrating World book day and Mother’s Day.

We spent a morning at playgroup where the children enjoyed lots of valentine craft ♥️

Probably one of our favourite activities -painting snow of bubble wrap 😃

I really hope you have enjoyed this blog that I have written while my daughter sleeps on this sunny Sunday afternoon! I also have time to enjoy another peaceful hour (hopefully) before she gets up, secretly hoping I can add pictures and upload it before the day ends!

Love Sammi xxx

Cervical cancer awareness week (20-26 Jan 2020)

Published on January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 by Sammishah

Hello! I hope you all are well 😊

Last week was cervical cancer awareness week (20^th to 26^th January 2020) and we’ve been busy raising awareness and money for this important cause. To also help Mother’s in the area surrounding Shaftesbury, we are also offering free 1-hour childcare services so there is no excuse not to book your smear tests! You can book your free session by contacting me. Cervical cancer is preventable, we just need more women booking their smears and potentially saving their lives. According to WHO (World Health Organisation) cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women, early treatment and diagnosis can significantly improve survival rates. It is so easy to put off booking your smear tests, I should know I’ve been there. My husband and I have moved several times over the last 5 years and also lived in Mumbai for 2 years, so going for my smear test wasn’t even on my radar. We all get so caught up with life, work, travelling that it is so easy to prioritise other things but, is everything else so important? For a 5 min check (which can be uncomfortable, painful and does put women off) that could potentially save your life?

Please don’t let embarrassment risk your life, it’s not worth it ♥️

My goal for last week was raising as much awareness that I can, for mothers who have no childcare options to have a solution and they can feel comfortable leaving their child with me while they go for their smear test. I’ve had responses from lots of people who have said because of this campaign they’ve booked their tests; I also really hope those without children have also been encouraged to go and book their smear tests. What originally made me go to my appointment was when I started thinking of having a child and receiving a letter around the same time asking me if I booked my smear test. I honestly didn’t know much about smear tests and how important they are. When I got my results back they were not great, I had to go for further tests but, thankfully I went in time and was treated. This sadly isn’t the case for every woman, you may also get your results back and you are completely fine! I will be attaching links below to articles that help give you more information about cervical cancer as I am no expect.

Along with selling children’s books, toys and so forth I also spent the previous evening cooking lots of Indian treats for parents to try! The pakoras (onion bhajis) and poha were definite popular, it was lovely to see support from the local community and women sharing their own experiences. We raised a total of £55 though the event and through online support. To help raise publicity for the event we were also interviews by Kerri Jones from Alfred news, you can listen to the interviews by clicking on the links below. I truly hope to do this campaign annually, working with the community and sharing my own story has been great and if I have helped in anyway for someone to attend their smear test that means the world to me. Over the next few months I will be working on ways to offer a lot more in supporting mothers attending their smear test appointments. If you are due for a check-up or have been putting it off, please go book yours ASAP, it may save your life!!

So, going back to the event, we teamed up with the lovely Kat Bromley from Mini muggles (who is also offering 1 hour free childcare to mothers!) to hold a fundraiser at her stay and play which went really well. Kat holds her stay and play every Thursday from 9 to 10:30 at Lindlar hall, Shaftesbury. Please pop in if you get a chance ☺️ it’s a great place to meet other parents while your child/children enjoy the activities on offer!

Kat is amazing! I’d highly recommend her, she’s been a great friend and very supportive. I look forward to working with her again in the future ♥️

Working in Childcare for over 10 years I have been surrounded by women, and not once did I hear anyone talk about attending smear tests which is kind of crazy!! It also makes me think how many women are there who in this day and age still have no idea about the importance of smear tests? We need to encourage more women not to be so afraid of going to their appointments by sharing our own experiences and being supportive of one another. The next time you meet a friend or see a family member, ask them if they have been for their smear test lately? You may be surprised at the answer. But if we can get more women talking it will hopefully leave an impact and save someone’s life 🙂

Please leave a comment on your thoughts about smear tests, what do you think could be done further to encourage women to go? I will be back soon with a blog about love, PSE and why I think childminders are so important seeing as February is fast approaching…

Love,

Sammi

Celebrating Chinese New Year!

Published on January 26, 2020January 29, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been learning about Chinese New Year through a range of activites. As the children I currently have are all very young (all under 3) I’ve mainly focussed on introducing key words by explaining what Chinese New Year is and who celebrate the holiday. The children have enjoyed making dragons and lanterns, exploring noodles using chopsticks and making patterns in glitter!

All super simple but fantastic fine motor activities covering the 7 areas of the foundation stage, I find within the early years a lot of the activities do not have to be overwhelming or elaborate. I find allowing the children to choose and explore allows them and yourself to get the most out of the activity. Learning about festivals celebrated all around the world enables the children to learn about different traditions and become more accepting of less familiar cultures. This can be done in a range of ways depending the ages of the children in your care. As mentioned, the children I look after are all under 3, it is not possible for them to understand all about Chinese New Year. What I wanted to do was expose them to traditional food, chopsticks and how lanterns are symbolised as a wish for a brighter future.

The children in your care probably have not had exposure to festivals such as Chinese New Year unless they are celebrated in the family home or with family friends. Children arrive at settings with their own experiences that they connect in their learning and play. By learning about different festivals and providing a range of different activities you are exposing the children in your care to experiences they’ve probably never had before and helping them experience the awe and wonder of the world they live in. This all comes under Ofsted’s new focus on cultural capital, where inspectors look at how childminders (and nurseries) use the early years curriculum framework to enhance the experiences and opportunities available to the children in their care.

The opportunities and experiences you expose the children in your care to don’t necessarily have to come under festivals, I personally enjoy celebrating festivals and in all the settings I’ve worked at we’ve always done something for Eid, Diwali along with Christmas, Easter and so forth. I also love planning all the activities as there are always so many crafty things to do! 😊 Simply exposing a child to messy play using paint may be something they’ve never experienced before or taking them to the farm- they may never have seen animals so closely. Everyday, in settings we are providing amble opportunities for children to learn about their world which will go a long way in preparing them for the future!

I’ve attached pictures of activities we’ve been doing below, apart from making lanterns which was a 1:1 activity the rest were set up and the children independently explored them. It was lovely to watch how the children extended their play, for example child I added bowls to the noodles and began filling and emptying. I will help extend child’s I learning further by providing more emptying and filling activities, such as water play with different sized containers.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the blog this week, I will be hopefully adding a second blog this week about the fundraiser we held last week to help raise money awareness for Jo’s Cervical cancer trust.

Love,

Sammi

Showing a can do attitude when trying to use the chopsticks to fill the bowls! 😃

The children used paint brushes to mark make in the glitter

Child led activities…

Published on January 12, 2020January 28, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

Hello and welcome back. I just want to start by saying how much I appreciated the kind feedback I received to the previous blog post, so thank you 😊

The first week back to work has been a lot more relaxed and a lot of in the moment planning, allowing the children to settle back into routine! Though I do like to plan activities in advance, there’s nothing wrong with in the moment planning especially with little babies. It isn’t an Ofsted requirement to have written planning, however I do strongly believe this shows better practice. I also believe this does bring more structure and stops repetitive activities. One of the in the moment activities this week has been making a snowman using shredded paper, which was originally being used in the winter themed ball pit. I also created a sensory activity using paint and bubble wrap -the children loved pressing and hearing the ‘pops’. Another activity was going to the park – the sun was shining (a rare sight!!) and there was just enough time to get ready, go to the park and be back in time for lunch and afternoon naptime.

Within my home I am lucky enough to have a playroom (I love having a separate workspace so I can seperate work from home and shut off the playroom at the end of the day) where day to day provision such as mark making, books, playdough, role play etc are always available to children. Don’t be put off and think you need to spend hours planning activities, you know the children in your care and what their next steps are, using this information will allow you to plan activities that will support their learning. There have been many times where the activities that I have wanted to do that don’t go to plan, but that’s fine. Working in childcare its one of the first things you have to accept! Just remember to follow the child’s interest and that’s the main thing 😊

Planning also doesn’t have to go into so much detail, for example for the coming week we are going to focus on Chinese New Year activities and winter – for my first year as a childminder my activities are going to be linked to seasons and festivals. I try and make the activities child led as much as possible and see their creative minds work their magic!

Below are some of the activities I have planned for the upcoming week:

Glitter sensory tray where the little ones will practice letters and making patterns

Making dragons

Ice cube painting

Noodle play with chopsticks

As I mentioned, Ofsted do not want to see loads of paperwork. What you should be able to demonstrate to an Ofsted inspector is what the children will ‘learn, know and do’ in relation to the activities and resources you have in your setting. As someone who loves writing lists and being organised weekly planning activities works for me, it may not work for you and that’s fine it’s your own decision. If you are new to childminding and the EYFS you may feel daunted by the amount of ‘stuff’ you have to do but don’t let this put you off, being a childminder is such a rewarding profession that doesn’t get enough recognition!

Great sensory activity working on fine motor skils

Our snowmen proudly hanging in the playroom! 🙂

My first blog post

Published on January 8, 2020January 28, 2020 by SammishahLeave a comment

Since starting childminding in October last year, starting a blog has been something I’ve often thought about. The start of a new year, made me think, why not? So, those of you who stumble upon my blog I hope you enjoy reading it! I would love to hear your feedback 😊 This will be somewhere I can put my thoughts down and let those who are interested in what we get up to see part of the Bluebells Childminding world!!

Moving into childminding has been a natural transition after having my daughter in October 2018, my educational and work background has always been in primary and early years. I have always been a pro early years supporter and believe those 0 to 5 years are so so important in shaping young minds and preparing them for later life. I also believe in the importance of play.

It is really important to remember that each child is unique and learns at their own pace, rushing them often leads to failure and frustration. Here at Bluebells the activities are adapted and tailored to each child- as childminders, we work with a varied age group so this can be trickier but not impossible.

I have attached a few pictures of what we have been up to in the last couple of months, I will attempt to be regular with this blog writing (wish me luck!) so you get to see more of what we do day-to-day. This month I am hoping to start Bluebells little chefs where each child will get an opportunity to bake/cook linked with a learning objective. We will also be partaking in activities to raise awareness and money for Jo’s Cervical cancer charity.

Thanks for reading,

Love Sammi