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I have been a childminder for the last 6 years and over that time, my setting has had gradual enhancement. I have always had a calm and neutral decor and quite a laid-back approach in my setting and in my teaching. I had the mindset and personality for the Hygge way, I just lacked the knowledge as to where and how to progress with it and how to ingrain it into the fabric of my setting and teaching.

Before I started this course, I was guilty of setting up activities in search of a finished product. I wanted something physical to show parents what we had achieved that day. I felt if I didn’t have something to show parents, I would think they haven’t achieved anything. I recently had a light bulb moment when I received a photo and message from a parent whose child had been with me for around 4 months. The photo showed her child playing at a playgroup. The message read “Thank you for being the reason my son will now go off to play, rather than being clung to my leg!”

It was a moment ...

Little Bird’s Preschool is a charity run preschool which sits in the heart of the beautiful town of Swanage Dorset. It has always been a popular preschool over its history and has certainly moved with the times. As with many Preschools the Little bird’s environment was very colourful and busy with bright pictures, posters and backing paper covering every possible wall and space. Nearly all the toys and resources were plastic which limited the children’s imaginations.

Step forward to January 2018. The Preschool was taken over by Jodie Edmunds, and Jude French became her deputy. Together they had a vision to transform Little Birds into a more natural and simulating environment. The other preschool practitioners jumped aboard, and the process began. Being a charity run preschool it meant that we had to do a lot of fundraising to enable us to buy resources and start the transformation. Our preschool office was situated within the school’s staff room which made it very hard for us to have ...

When I started the Hygge in the Early Years Accreditation, I was at one of the lowest points in my career.  I work full time as a childminder and was waiting for hip replacement, the pain affected my sleep and I worried how I would manage and afford time off.  This I could cope with, but I also felt I had no time for myself, struggling to run voluntary groups I’d always managed and juggling family life.  The Hygge course helped me take a good look at my life and realised I was stuck in a rut, doing things out of routine, not necessarily what I wanted to do.  The children were happy but I noticed they too were playing with the same toys, doing same routines and places.

I decided I had to priorities my own wellbeing and I wanted to make changes in my work place too. 

As part of the course I set the following three Hygge action points:

• Improve own health/wellbeing
• Establish joint weekly Forest School sessions
• Reduce the use of non-natural and non-recyclable materials and resources
...

I registered as a childminder in 2008 after the birth of my second daughter.  At this time, my first daughter was 17 years old and I had worked full time in an office from her being 9 weeks old. As you can imagine I felt like I had missed out on so much, so with my second daughter, I did not want to miss anything this time around.  I’d worked in an office for over 20 years and I always knew I was on the wrong career path, however, having a mortgage and bills to pay, together with earning a good salary, I felt that there was no other alternative.  Having my second daughter changed all this, and the thought of moving away from office admin to more caring and nurturing career which I had always craved, (and being at home with my baby daughter) was an exciting opportunity I could not miss.

Childminding is a career I have grown to love over the years. I must admit, initially I did wonder whether it was for me, it was such a different role to what I was used to, I felt isolated and it was a...

In this case study (taken from the Autumn Conference) Nikki shares with us how she transformed her nursery. 

As winter approaches I wanted to share some thoughts and inspiration on the different ways you can create enchantment and magic in your play.

I do believe there should be an element of beautifulness in your play. If you don't want to go and play there and learn more than neither will the children. That's why when I set areas up I like to pay attention to the details I create. Adding in mirrors for a different perspective, considering the opportunity to add light, different textures to stimulate the senses and elements of nature. I like to include open ended resources and books that allow the learning to take the direction the child desires. I put the time into creating something that will have impact on the children's learning and development. That's why I don't do reams of forward planning and masses of paperwork and instead put this time into the environment (but that's a whole different blog post!).

Now I think that it's  important to note here that the child matters! For one minu...

This year i found myself (like so many others!) turning another year older while in a national lockdown. A time usually spent celebrating with loved ones and friends I wondered if i could still enjoy all the lovely hygge moments under the restrictions of the current pandemic. In this weeks blog post I want to share with you exactly how I spent my birthday and how I brought in the hygge magic.

I began my day with a slow breakfast of pastries and coffee while we opened a few presents and cards that had arrived in the post from friends and family. I received some rather lovely hygge related gifts; candles, fluffy socks, salted caramel chocolates (my favourite!) and a very snuggly warm fleece (a perfect present to keep me warm as i'm forever cold).

I decided to have an at home pampering morning and ran the bath, lit the candles and put on my favourite podcast shows. It was very relaxing laying in the bubbles and flower petals of my birthday bath bomb knowing that I could just be present ...