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With the pandemic and many of us facing even stricter restrictions it’s easy for our mental health to suffer. Especially as we see our loved ones less, spending more time indoors and the financial implications this has on many families. As well as many families worrying about the health of loved ones affected by the virus.

This week I wanted to come to you and offer you some hygge inspiration to get through this difficult time. To begin with lets go back to looking at what hygge is? It’s been a popular buzz word over the last few years- especially linking it to home interiors or how to celebrate Christmas in a hygge way. Hygge does include interiors and Christmas but there is actually more to it than that.

Hygge is all about embracing a feeling of cosiness, warmth and togetherness. Learning how to take the simple everyday ordinary and make it feel wonderful. Like the quiet few moments you take to watch the flame of a candle dance around as you hug a mug of tea! Or its going out...

While visiting a school recently I over heard a Reception teacher panic that the children had brought mud inside the classroom and how the outdoor area needed astroturf laying instead.

That real connection with nature is so important; the mud, the puddles, the wind. This is how we learn about the world around us and is so important in our sensory development. We can’t deny young children of these experiences. In fact in my opinion I believe we need to encourage it more! This is when the real magic of early years learning happens!

To over come the problem of mud inside consider the footwear and clothing the children have to go outdoors in. Perhaps having a welly boot stand? A clothes airer for waterproofs, or a boot wash station? Why not put down a barrier mat in the entrance into the classroom that children can get changed on?

Making a few small changes means we can continue to have wonderful learning opportunities going on every day in nature.

Find out more about our Wand...

You’ve spent all weekend printing, cutting and laminating resources as well as planning what would go in each every of provision for the week. By 10am Monday morning you feel disheartened as the resources are strewn across the classroom or are not being used as you intended.

It’s exhausting isn’t it!? I know because that used to me. Then I realised it didn’t have to be that way.

Once I started planning from the children’s interests and fascinations I saw that the learning just happened in the high quality continuous provision I had already set up. Levels of engagement improved, I saw huge levels of creativity  and I rarely got interrupted to support behaviour. I stopped having children wandering around the provision looking lost or disrupting others as they were exploring their own ideas and projects.

This saved me so much time and I could spend time doing things that would actually had an impact on my children. Like planning a woodland walk for the children interested in ba...

Autumn is the most perfect time of the year to collect natural treasures in the great outdoors. 

Some of my favourites that I mention in the Wanderlust Child Nature Journal are;

• Crab apples
• Elderberries
• Rosehips
• Pears
• Acorns
• Ferns
• Pine cones
• Conkers

I like to give children little bags to collect these in and then offer sorting trays, jars and ten frames to explore with once back in setting. You might even give your children a numbered paper bag and ask them to collect the amount on the bag. There are many ways you can then extend this further with the language you use afterwards. How many would we have if we added one more conker to the bag? What happens if we added two bags together? What would happen if an acorn fell out of the bag? How could you sort the natural items you've collected?

How about asking your children and their families to make 100 jars of loose parts? Then ask your children to make their own labels and put these out to use in your loose parts ar...

Here are a few tried and tested ways to start the new school year in a smooth way.

A tour of the school/ setting in small groups and showing who works in school and what they do. 

Tour of your provision in small groups and giving little teams the same tidy up job to do each day.

Share some getting to know you stories like Owl Babies. Offering children the chance to talk about who’s important to them and the things they like. 

No phonics or maths sessions! Instead have a focus here on building relationships and developing a routine. Lots of small group circle times and getting to know you games. Lots of opportunities to revisit phase 1 of letters and sounds. 

Make birthday crowns and display these around your setting. When it's a child's birthday they then get to wear it for the day!

A focus on good sitting, good looking, good listening during small group time. I like to reinforce the spoken words with makaton actions and symbols too.

I used to love writing a story about teach child'...

In this weeks blog article my lovely member Nikki,  a daycare manager of a nursery based in Leeds, shares with us how she supports the wellbeing of her team. 

I suffer from burn out. I have done for years. I think Early years lends itself to never ending to do lists and wanting to get it right for children, families and the team. I now know I have to plan self-care in to my routine to look after myself. I make sure I spend time outside throughout the week (usually at the local nature reserve), I use a meditation app daily and to support my sleep and in the darker months I use my daylight lamp to improve my SAD (Seasonal affective disorder). These changes to my life style is what led me to discovering Hygge and then Hygge in the early years.

As early years practitioners we know the importance of children's wellbeing, we even go as far as to monitoring wellbeing levels using the Leuvens scale. We are also aware that low wellbeing results in low levels of involvement and engagement, s...

My obsession with classroom environments began when I first visited St John’s C of E Primary School. From the moment I walked in I was struck by the calm atmosphere and serenity it brought to their children. My colleague and I whispered to each other is disbelief “it’s just so calm”. Upon walking back into my own classroom I was smacked in the face with bright colours and loud noises! Everything felt over stimulating and busy by comparison; as if there were balls of high energy bouncing around the walls! From then onwards I was hooked into finding ways of calming my classroom and moulding the environment to generate the same serene feeling I’d experienced at St John’s.

I began with the lights! First of all, I wanted to reduce the lighting, I’m lucky to have two large windows and a half glass door within my room; meaning that most days there is sufficient natural light filling the space. So I borrowed a set of ladders and set about reducing the fluorescent lighting. All of my ceilin...

Many of you are worried that due the pandemic all the hard work you’ve done over the last year on the ethos of your practice and the learning environment has to go.

I’ve heard of heart broken reception teachers having to sit their children at desks in rows, display boards getting ripped down and child led learning getting lost.

We can’t let this happen.

And…

It doesn’t need to happen.

In this blog post I’m going to share with you some thoughts on how we can keep that hygge feeling without losing all of the hard work we’ve already done.

Let’s begin by reminding ourselves what hygge is. Hygge is the Danish approach to living well that focuses on being in the moment and embracing the feelings of warmth, simplicity and togetherness.

It’s not just about how your physical environment is set up (although this contributes to it) but it’s about slowing down to be present in the very moment you’re in. Taking time to acknowledge the feelings and improved joy.

Insid...

Supporting Children’s Emotional Security

As practitioners, we spend a huge amount of time and energy making sure our learning environments meet and extend the physical developmental needs of the children within our care, but how much thought do we put specifically into their emotional needs?

My three initial areas to consider in promoting emotional security within our provision are safety, fostering home school links, and is above all, that it’s relevant.

Safety is obviously at the core of Early Years provision. As practitioners we all understand that children have basic needs; to be kept safe from dangers, warm, fed and have adequate rest, but I’d argue that their emotional wellbeing is just as important. In order to keep children emotionally safe we need to be pleased to see them, value them, have time for them, know them, listen to them, and care about helping them to develop their understanding of emotions. We need to ensure our provision gives ample opportunities and r...

In this video from our Free 5 Day challenge (Join for FREE here) we explore how to document and support child led interests. 

By the end of our 5 days of training together you will be enthused to make learning happen outdoors and have a bank of knowledge and ideas on how to make it happen. Taking inspiration from Scandinavia.

I walk you through bringing more nature into your day through a series of short sessions and a little task for you to try. 

Day 1: Why nature based learning is needed
Day 2: Daily rhythm in nature
Day 3: Creating an environment for outdoor learning
Day 4: Child Led Learning in nature
Day 5: Provocations in nature

Kimberly