Category Archives: Holidays

The start of a sparkling new term 

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My guess is that come Monday morning we will all utter exactly the same words…

Good holiday?

Yes thanks

Just went far too quickly!

I didn’t do half as much as I’d hoped

The weather wasn’t too bad was it

Could do with another two weeks off

Only 7weeks till half term, yeah and one of those weeks is a 4 day week due to May bank Holiday… You will then walk away and probably High 5 the air!

This term I’m approaching things a little differently.

I can see time slipping through my fingers like sand in an egg timer


How can we already be 2/3 of the way through the year already? We only have 1 term to continue to make a difference in the lives of these little munchkins. These little peeps who came into our lives only a few months ago as a crazy box of escaping frogs, now are able to problem solve, share, solve conflicts, investigate why things occur, visit the bathroom independently, change for PE in less than half an hour (only a reception practitioner will truly understand the achievement of this!)

Yet as we walk into school on Monday will be thinking only 7weeks to go!

So there we have it my friends here is my pledge to you, to look at the next 7 weeks as an opportunity to continue to grab the opportunities wih two hands!

Go hunting for bugs with a magnifying glass,


lie on your backs and make pictures out of whispy White clouds,


walk through long grass that tickles your legs, collect wild flowed and make daisy chains!


Enjoy every second with this little lot! 🌼🌼 9937cfbe078c110aa71cca5b456d527c9b519feea9f5c7aa87

Egg rolling- a tradition 

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I have the fondest memories of egg rolling as a child. 

We would always take a BBQ and head up to Grizedale Forest in The Lake District, with a basket of freshly painted eggs and big smiles a plenty. 

I have always wanted to recreate this magic with my own children, and today we did! 

 We started the day with dippy eggs and soldiers (of course!) 

  
The kidlets then decorated their eggs 

    
    
   
Once all the eggs were good to go, we packed the kitchen sink (literally ) and headed north.

Only a few loo and “I’m gonna be sick” stops and we arrive at our woodland retreat. 

It was just as I remember, even down to the sound of the rushing water fall splashing over the mossy rocks! Isn’t it funny how evocative smells and sounds are. I was suddenly transported back to being a pickly 6 year old! 

   
  
There’s something quite special about eating in the great outdoors even if at times we had to flick a few bugs off the colslaw that dropped in for a nibble 

   
 
So everyone is fed and watered, and so we go in search of an “eggcellent” (sorry) rolling hill. 

    
Enroute we find a very lonely wood cutter and a money tree (I’m sure my folks always said money doesn’t grow on trees- well here is the proof that they were wrong!

  

  
And so the rolling competition began, although I use the term rolling very loosely… It was more of lobbing! I pulled the short straw and had to be at the bottom of the hill- I’m sure they hatched a plan and were aiming directly at my head! 

Despite their best efforts I came away egg free, the kids shrieked with laughter, argued about who won and who didn’t, ran around in the fresh air, but best of all made memories that I hope like mine… Will last a lifetime! 

  

Easter Give Away 

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How would you like to win a lovely “Tell by touch with clock” 

We have been given this lovely clock by the gorgeous folk over at EYPDIRECT

  

This Colourful and unusual telling the time clock comes with moveable hands and removable number pots with a different textured surface on the reverse.

The Tell by Touch with Clock is also a great early years learning resource for matching colours, patterns and counting.

Size: 240 x 37mm. Age 3+.

    The Tell by Touch with Clock is a perfect early years educational resource to support the EYFS Mathematics development area of learning within your childcare setting, it will help children practice and improve their skills in counting numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and to describe shapes, spaces and measures.

The Tell by Touch with Clock also makes a wonderful sensory resource!

  
To be “In it to win it” all you need to do is 

1. Leave a comment at the end of this blog

2. Like and share our Facebook page  Eyfsmatters

3. Follow me on Twitter @eyfsmatters 

4. Leave a comment under the Tell by touch clock picture on Instagram @eyfsmatters 

  

Good Luck xx 
(Winner will need to pay postage) 

Never, repeat Never teach children to lie!!! 

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So off we went to swimming this morning, for those of you that follow my blog you’ll know it’s NOT my favourite past time! The kids literally have to bribe me so I’ll take them. I hate getting my hair wet (I’ve got a huge beast of a Barnet that takes hours to dry), and I cannot see a thing without my glasses! Anyway off we trot- we have a conversation in the car about how my littliest could go on the flumes if we told a little fib and said he was 8years instead of 7. He’s 8 in a couple of months, is taller than average and can swim like a fish. That aside- we still needed to fib! The kids convince me… 

So we get to the desk, the receptionist asks how old the kidlets are “10 and 8” I say through gritted teeth! She then dutifully gives us our flume bands. 

  
As we walk away- My littliest (also the one with the loudest voice may I add) shouts “Ha Ha- I can’t believe she fell for that!!!” 

Cue bright red face, and me scuttling into the changing room! 

  
Being a firm believer in Karma- I know at some point this will come back and bite me on the bum! 

  

In the words of crime watch “Don’t have nightmares… Sleep Well!!” 

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I am so excited to be going back to school to hear all of the excited stories about tales of Santa and Magic. 

I don’t know about you, but the night before the start of a new term, I always have really weird school related dreams. I also tend to wake about 4am with a to do list the length of my arm (usually of bits and bobs I’d planned to do in the Hollibobs but never quite got round to it!) my solution to this prob is to take a pad and pen to bed, jot down the ideas and then get straight back to the land of nod!

I’d love to hear that I’m not alone… Please leave a comment below to make me feel that I’m not a sleepwalking weirdo on my own!!!

Happy Spring term Y’all xx  

 

Assessing risk

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My little boy had the most fantastic Receotion teacher! He is fab at assessing risks- I know that the experiences he had in his early years have made him who he is today. 

I try so hard to allow my kids to make their own judgements, and assess the situation. Whilst out on a  lovely woodland walk this morning we came across a fallen tree stretching over a little stream…

http://youtu.be/Xsm0JseIo4E 
Here is how my little poppet tackled it! I try very hard to never say “Be careful!” Even if my heart is sometimes pumping hard in my chest! 

What do you think? 

Play is just play! (In any language!!) 

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Greetings from gorgeously sunny Spain! 

  
Typical that there is a heat wave back in Blighty… I hope this post reaches you all enjoying your summer break and that your Kidkets are enjoying playing in the lovely outdoors! 

I couldn’t help write this blog post, something marvellous just happened that I must share with you… 

My little boy was playing on his lilo close to the edge of the water when a little Spanish boy who I think has Down’s syndrome came over and grabbed the lilo off of him. My little one looked quite shocked and I quickly explained that he just wanted to play but was unable to communicate this to him.  Sam literally gave the little boy a huge smile and held out his LILO to play! 

  
The little boys papa ran over and began profusely apologising! My Spanish is not great (in fact non existent except for ordering sangria!!!)   so I used a little of my Makaton knowledge and signed a few signs to say it was ok, that the boys could play together. The father instantly relaxed and the two boys played beautifully together for a little while. As the children parted company it warmed my heart to see the little Spanish boy sign Thank you to Sam! 

  

Super Hero Giveaway! 

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Morning all, as it’s the Hollibobs and I’m feeling very generous thought we’d have a bit of fun, and a giveaway! 

Here’s the deal… 

  
The winner will be chosen at complete random and will win 4 SUPERHERO CAPES OF THEIR CHOICE!!!!!!!!! 

  
Don’t forget if you’re not lucky enough to be a winner you can order capes at just £4.99 by dropping me an email at eyfsmatters@aol.co.uk 

  
Good luck my gorgeous little superhero friends! 
Don’t forget to comment and share!!

  

Kindness Jar 

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So it’s the Hollibobs and its raining!! Booooo 

Don’t know about your Kidkets, but ours always take a few days to settle, to get used to being with each other all the time, and to remember we actually have 6 weeks to do ALL the stuff they want to do! 

I was rudely awoken this morning by the littlest kidlet who shoved a bottle of PVA glue and news paper under my nose and shouted “Let’s do paper mâché mummy!!” 

Now don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of chaos and mess, PVA glue is probably up there in my top 10 favourite things, just not at 7am on the second day of the holidays! 

So… I had a little thought about how I could help the kidlets to speed up the settling into holiday routine! 

We came up with the kindness and helpful pot! 

  
The kids decided on the things they needed to do in order to earn a piece of lego to pop into the pot. 

   
 They then made a poster each…  

 
 

   
 

 

We chatted about the reward, the oldest little duckling suggested that today each piece of lego could be a minute of TV later! (Sounds perfect to me!) It’s amazing how such a simple idea can make such a huge impact!! 

I wonder what tomorrow’s reward will be? Let’s hope some glorious sunshine 

  

Coloured Pasta

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I really wish you could have seen my kitchen half an hour ago… It literally looked like we’d been burgled by the food colouring police! It was one of those moments (I’m sure we’ve all had them) where I thought “How the heck am I going to get out of this mess?”

For those of you that know me well, you’ll know I always bite off more than I can chew… Instead of just dying one lot of pasta I decided to not only make and dye spaghetti but also alphabet pasta and stars! I could literally start up a pasta parlour with the amount of pasta we have in our house at present! 

The reason being… I want to provide my children with an exciting, engaging opportunity to investigate capacity this week. The pasta will not only be a fab sensory experience but will give them a great resource to develop mathematical thinking. 

Here’s how I got into the mess I did…

  1. Cook your desired pasta (my advice, just stick to one variety!         
  2. Drain as normal and pop into a large mixing bowl  
  3. Add a glug (technical term!!) of Olive oil to coat the pasta  
  4. Now add a few drops of food colouring (I needed more than I thought I would!)    
  5. Find a little person to help mix the colour through the pasta   
  6. Lay the pasta on a baking sheet to dry!          

Et Voila there we have the worlds largest amount of coloured pasta! 

Whilst I was making the black stars it did make me think how fab this would look set in jelly as “frog spawn” if I had the energy I’d do this, but for now all I have the energy for is popping the kettle on and having a cup of tea and a nice custard cream! 

Happy Sunday Lovlies x