Blog

When I was a new parent I had many lovely members ask about the resources and play ideas I have found most useful in my journey with my baby. In this blog post I share the start of my journey and some of the recommendations I have. None of the products shared are advertisements and I'm not linked to any of the brands in any way.

Tummy time roll

Mirrors

Black and white burp cloths

 

An early years environment for this age range is very different from what is offered for 3 and 4 year olds. 

We need to question ourselves... What do we want our open-ended learning environment to look like for our under 2's? 

Do our children need the latest messy play activity to compete with social media? 

OR 

Do we need to provide a calm, enabling, cosy, and homely provision for our littlest of people, filled with warm and welcoming practitioners, who have the time to meet their needs and be there for them and their families.

 Within our baby room provision, we demonstrate the introduction of recycled materials, authentic resources and how we step away from purchasing items from ‘catalogues’ and one-purpose Early Years age and stage equipment. 

We have set up cosy spaces with books, puppets, soft furnishings and fairy lights, for the children to explore within a safe and secure, calm environment.

We also allow children to use large scale items and smaller loose parts, ...

Fluffy Ducks Childcare : Our Hygee Journey

My name is Rhonda and I am a registered childminder based in Lancashire. I have been registered 21 years and have achieved Ofsted outstanding in my last two inspections. Whilst achieving this grading came with happiness for all my hard work, it unfortunately came with consequences. Pressure to maintain this, to be more like a nursery. To spend every minute of the day focusing on “What can we do now”, endless paperwork and planning. Expectations that I had created for myself. Gradually over the last 2years this has taken away my passion for my job, it has left me feeling my home is not my home, undervalued for what I do and dreading each day as it came.

Last year I found the Hygee accreditation through Facebook. The more I looked into this, the more I felt I needed to change, even if that meant changing how I work, the look of a nursery setting, losing my grading on my next inspection. I needed my business to become an extension of my ho...

Do you use wooden crates in your play?

I have loved using wooden crates in my play now for quite a few years and really like the way they can create cosy little spaces to play and explore in or add a level of curiosity and intrigue to the environment. Crates are also very useful for creating flexible and movable storage areas within your early years provision. Perhaps as a good set of shelving for your book nook. 

I like to have a collection of different sized crates to support my work. These have been collected over the years from kind friends who have used them for their wedding, Ikea purchases, Facebook marketplace pick ups and also bought directly from Cosy Direct. 

I find them to be a wonderful open ended resource that can be used inside or outside. For example on a sunny day they can be used to set up a provocation in response to children's learning in the garden (you can find out more about setting up provocations here.) or perhaps use a few crates together to create a wo...

By Anna Webb

-My practice before the accreditation (What I needed help or guidance on)

-The vision I've created in my work

-The changes I've made to my personal life and practice

-The impact this has had on myself, the children and the setting. 

-Your next steps for future development.

Before I began the Hygge accreditation I felt we lacked direction and that we were all bringing something to the table but not being able to be consistent with the approaches, I wanted the Preschool to be relaxed and open ended and after having completed the Anna Epgrave in the moment training realised that using the child’s interests and building on this to create a more child cantered approach worked well with our cohort of children, however we still lacked direction, on signing up for the course I really hoped that this would support us with mental wellbeing, self-regulation, behaviour management and the links with the outside being that we are a Forest School setting.

I started the course...

Hygge case study by Philippa S

My practice before the accreditation:

Our classroom was light and spacious but due to the high ceilings and cold colours, prickly carpet and blue lino flooring it was lacking a homely welcoming feel to reflect our nurturing practise. The classroom I inherited was disorganised, chaotic and messy, lacking order and calmness, requiring an air of order enabling the children to feel calm and in control of their own learning.

The visions I’ve created in my work:

I have created a classroom exuberating a nurturing, peaceful but exciting and inspiring continuous provision-based room. I have thoughtfully planned each area of the classroom, with the children at the heart of my planning and practise.

This has included, but is not limited to:

• Reading: Working with colleagues to read and sort all of EY/KS1/2 reading books to match their phonetic teaching. Working closely with parents to build a partnership based upon trust and honesty – enabling them to bes
...

I recently heard one of my lovely members panic that she wasn't doing hygge right or even very well. 

It's so easy to get distracted with what everyone else around you is doing and start believing that there is only one way to do provision or practice in the early years. Especially when you see so many set ups on social media and start to feel the self doubt creep in: Should I have no plastic toys? But what if my children like playing with lego...is this OK? Or what if I don't have lots of money to buy brand new resources?

When we look at high quality early childhood practice and drawn upon research we know that the most effective early years settings are those that put the child at the heart of the curriculum and reflect/ respond to their needs accordingly. Recognising how and what your children want to learn and making this possible. 

A setting could be picture perfect, with the most beautiful wooden small world figures and loose parts to explore, but it's important to remind our...

"When I first joined my setting at the end of 2018 was the first time I heard the word “Hygge.” I remember it took me a while to remember how to spell it, ‘Hoogah, Huggeh’ I could never get my head around it. We used to have a room dedicated to all things ‘Hygge’ and it was my favourite place in the nursery. The room only lit by the salt lamp, fairy lights and whatever cosy image was projected on the wall, a crackling fire, a calming underwater scene or even a forest with the sounds of rain and bird song. The diffuser always puffing out a gorgeous smell. No matter how busy I was I always had time to stop and appreciate how the ambiance of that little room made me feel. After around 6 months unfortunately the man who used to look after the Hygge room left for another setting and as time went on the Hygge room disappeared, something broke, someone took bits of it for a project they were working on and it was soon in a state of disarray and later turned into a cloak room. I really missed ...

Hygge Case Study by Natalie Carrigher

I began my Hygge in the Early Years Journey in January 2020 after 15 years in Early years, and 8 years in the same school (through special measures to good) I felt lost.  I was at a stage in my career where I needed ‘something’ but I had no idea what!  I still loved  working in Early years but felt my CPD had severely lacked in the past few years.   Through teaching in my mixed Reception/ Year One class I felt lost between knowing in my heart what the children needed and pressures from SLT (OFSTED/school improvement support/LEA) to deliver the National curriculum.  My practice had become segmented between the two curriculums, where I felt divided in  both my time and being able to provide a challenging learning environment for all children in my class.   I spent hours during evenings and weekends planning for both curriculums in great detail and  resourcing sessions. I would have all these great ideas to engage the children and develop a love of l...

Finally, the right fit!

A Case Study from A Little Fascination, Australia

The pressure for perfection, within a one-size-fits-all model, left me constantly exhausted, stressed and feeling as though I wasn't good enough for the children.

Professional learning frameworks, community expectations, family expectations and government expectations all contributed to a sense of failure within me. To make a difference in the lives of the children, I wanted to enjoy my work again.

I believe in authentic resources and practice upcycling; I gradually shifted my approach towards more natural and unstructured approaches with resources. In addition to creating a sustainable learning environment, I wanted the environment to encourage child curiosity, engagement, and holistic growth.

A search for professional development opportunities led me to ‘loose parts’, which led me to discovering The Curiosity Approach and a concept called ‘Hugge’. I was intrigued, and I instinctively knew I must learn ...