Brakey Woods… We are Back!

Monday 29th March 2021 finally arrived, it feels like it has been a long wait to see our friends to meet and to have fun in the woods. Lockdown, feels like it has gone on forever and today Growing Together Developing Early Years, welcomed back our Brakey Wood: Parent and Nature Group. And if I may so say myself what a wonderful session the first one of 2021 was.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the ladybirds, worms and even a red velvet mite we found and out in force. Children were playing, parents were nattering, coffee was drunk and even hot chocolate (and no one seemed to mind Pauline forgot to pick up the cake – I promise to make it up to you next week!). To quote a dear friend Debbie Duck (my forest school inspiration – well one of them) ‘the wind was blowing and blew away the cobwebs of our souls’.

Just what we needed in these uncertain times, I chance to be social, to connect with each other, to connect with the wonders of the environment around us. To see the changes of the woodlands since we were last there in December, to smell the smells of spring, to see the budding trees. To see our children carefree, smiling and laughing, playing, learning, and having fun.

We did ketchup bottle painting, squeezing those bottles and exploring marks was a great opportunity to build on our gross motor skills and develop the muscles in our hands as we squeezed the bottles. We shared books, played with playdough, built relationships, explored natural objects, we explored our natural environment. It is fair to say that learning was in abundance.

I wanted to share with you, why did a launch our parent and child and nature group. It is not about the money, although obviously we are a business, but it is because I wanted to nurture the connection children and families have with nature. Richard Louv in his book ‘The Last Child in the Wood’, talks about how our children and society is suffering from a nature deficit disorder. This is because we have lost our connection with nature and it affects all three aspects of our well-being, physical, emotional, and social.

Our nature connection is something valuable, it is the relationship we have with the world around us with our natural environment. It is something that I believe really needs to be nurtured, watered, and supported to grow. It is vital to our health and well-being and now more then ever this is a priority. This is my priority with our group to help develop children and family’s connection with nature, which will help nurture resilience, critical thinking, autonomy over learning and relationships with others.

I cannot wait for our next session on Easter Monday, we will follow on the children’s interests in bugs. We will celebrate Easter and go on an Easter egg hunt. To book your space now please click here.

Sensory Play in Early Years Settings and Covid-19

Our latest blog is going to explore the importance of sensory play in the early years and the impact of Covid-19. With increasing concerns around the transmitting and sharing of Covid-19 many settings have abandoned sensory play, or limited it’s use within settings. However, we know that embracing all 8 senses within play is crucial to high quality childcare and learning opportunities for children.

Sensory play and experiences are beneficial to supporting how children make sense of the world around them, children learn through all of the senses and through the stimulation that they receive from their senses being aroused. When children’s senses are being stimulated, we know that this is promoting children’s brain development and schematic learning (the process of amending and adding new information to our understandings of the world around us). Additionally, research has suggested that sensory play and experiences helps to develop the neural pathways and connections within the brain. Also, sensory play supports children’s language and cognitive development, problem-solving, gross and fine motor skills and so much more.

Tips for providing sensory experiences and play in early years settings, while trying to minimise children and staff from being exposed to Covid-19:

·         Keeping group sizes small and where possible operating in bubbles.

·         Promoting plenty of handwashing in between activities.

·         Rather then having large group tuff trays, have individual trays (for example, using tea trays – which can be picked up at places such as b and m or the range) with different experiences in them and individual resources. For example, children can still explore mark-making in coloured sand in their own tray, or scooping gloop (cornflour and water), or making individual trays of mood sand (baby oil and flour).

·         Cleaning and disinfecting all resources between children.

·         Ensure children don’t share aprons and they are disinfected or cleaned appropriately between use.

·         Perhaps you could consider tying a photo or name on the smocks with string, so children can access their own apron throughout a session.

·         Individual sensory bins for children, instead of sand trays or water trays. For example, each child has a plastic storage box with things in for them to use. You don’t need to bin the sand at the end of the day, you can leave it to isolate for so many hours, so if the virus is present it will die off.

·         Have risk benefit assessments and risk assessments for environment to show how you have taking relevant measures to stop the spread of covid-19. This will also help for example, if you decide to not remove soft furnishings because it is calming to touch and an important sensory experience and part of your pedagogical approach and you can highlight how the benefits of providing this outweighs any potential risks or harm to children and adults.

·         Individual named playdough tubs, with photos if needed.

·         Making a work zone or area on the table for children to stick to either using masking tape or a tray.

·         Dancing with ribbons and viols – ensure that children have their own space and their own ribbons or pieces of materials that can be washed in the washing machine afterwards.

·         Dressing up – think about having individual bags of materials, scarfs, sheets, hats etc that can all be easily cleaned afterwards. Or using pillow cases that the children can mark-make on with washable markers and then pop in the washing machine.

·         Using a bubble machine over individual bubble wands with children, unless you can ensure that they can have their own wand and not share them.

·         Making their own instruments that they can have labelled so they are not passing instruments around.