Mama's Den: Top 5 Resources

By Jennifer Wooldridge @mamasden

Today marks the start of our next 3 weeks of lockdown but i’m hoping that the next 3 weeks are going to be easier than the first 3 weeks now that we have adjusted to our new normal, adopting a new rhythm and discovered our new routine. I am somehow managing to find time to engage the children including my son by including lots of nature play and science. I’m focusing our activities by playing to their strengths and following their interests.

I think that the main thing I will take from all of this is that my children can lead their own learning if I listen to their play and conversations and then throw in a little bit of sit down learning in line with this. But we are largely spending our time playing and learning in the moment and I really want this period of time to be reflected on as a fun family period rather than a scary, uncertain time.

So instead of focusing on one particular topic this week I thought I would share with you my top 5 lockdown resources which I feel allow for a sense of hygge in my home and which engage my family into warm moments of fun, memory making and joyfulness. We all need to have as much fun in our lives as we can at the moment and fully embrace and appreciate those around us.

BUBBLES

We are really enjoying being able to spend time outdoors on our daily exercise and we are lucky to have some nice outdoor space of our own. With fine weather we have been able to play with bubbles together as a family and our bubbles of choice have to be Dr Zigs. These award winning giant bubbles are perfect for helping children master gross motor skills as coordination and movement is needed to get the bubbles to their maximum size and working together you can have fun as a family playing games of ‘who can pop the most bubbles’ and ‘who can blow the biggest bubble’. Hygge is all about finding a sense of well-being and creating a fun family time will give your children a sense of belonging and happy memories of their childhood

WATER

Water play is great for all ages of children and under supervision which you will have lots of time for at the moment water play can enhance a normal tray play if you think creatively and utilise household items or even invest in a couple of new key resources. I recently added some bamboo pieces from Tinker Tray Play and stands from Hope Education to my play resources knowing that we always get great joy from water play and the elaborate set ups we have managed to create have allowed the children to play and learn about science, maths and physics. We have measured water volume, given thought to gravity and positioned the bamboo to create the correct flow of water. As I reflected on earlier lots of home learning can be very practical and meaningful.

TONIEBOX

I know money is tight for most of us at the moment but we are finding out Tonie boxes invaluable during our lockdown adventure. Perfect for uploading music, playing favourite stories and getting loved ones to add messages for the children whilst we cannot visit them. This clever little box is connected to your wifi for downloading only and then can be transported around your home or out into the garden and is a portable speaker with a character magnetised to the top which is preloaded with stories or you can add your own content to the creative Tonie characters. We wouldn’t be without ours and again children can learn about technology, can use the phone app to record their own content and in this modern age have a sense of own personality in their music selections.

NATURE

It has been such a lovely sunny time in my part of the world these past few weeks and with the warmth set to continue why not use your most valuable yet free resource to create hygge opportunities with your family. I am of course talking about Nature. Just look at how you can use nature to your advantage. An old cardboard box cut up as a butterfly template and used as a pattern base, look at my page @mamasden on Instagram to discover how we have pressed flowers, used weaving frames, planted seeds, and frozen flowers over the past few weeks to create mindful moments and to get closer to nature and learn about the natural world around us. We are always very quick to think about nature on a wider scale, talk about volcanos or ice caps and forget about what we have right on our doorsteps.  

PLAYDOUGH

Perfect for all ages playdough can be used in role play, for science exploration, in art and design and is incredibly sensory. There are many homemade playdough recipes but if like me you like to treat the children and support small businesses my playdough of choice is from little munchkins playdough as I love the vibrant colours and beautiful scents used which bring an extra sensory element to our play. Did you know that playdough also improves muscle strength in the hands which is essential for future mark making and writing?

I hope that this has given you some ideas for play with your children during lockdown. I would love to see you over on my Instagram page, you are always welcome to message me if you would like some guidance in your home learning journey or maybe you have used one of my ideas and want to share. I’d love to see.

Have a truly wonderful week connecting with your children in new ways and embracing hygge to its fullest, after all hygge encourages cosiness and warmth in the home and as we are all restricted to our little bits of real estate, lets make the most of it.

Jen x