Getting the Christmas Balance Right in Your Setting

In the early years Christmas is an exciting time, we get to see the world through the eyes of the children filled with wonder, curiosity and joy. As Christmas approaches it can become a very stressful time for practitioners working in early years. So many things to think about, are we doing a Christmas play, or a sing along, has every child made a Christmas card, a present for their parents and joined in the craft ‘production line’. Oh, and then there is end of term parent meetings, deep cleaning, Christmas fayres and copious amounts of chocolate consumption.

This year I am sure is even more challenging then ever as practitioners are working out how to do nativities, via zoom or Microsoft teams. We are all using different ways of communicating and engaging with parents, which has meant as a sector we have had to learn new skills, new ways of working. All whilst smiling and being there for our children, meeting their needs and being child-centred. Even though we have the financial worries of a sector that is burdened already with the issue of under funding and now we are wondering, how else can we get the money we would have had from donations at our Christmas fayre, nativity or parental events.

Each day though we go in and make wonderful learning opportunities for the children, we make Christmas fun and exciting doing things like elf on the shelf or having Santa’s workshop as our role-play area. Sometimes however, I always felt I lost the magic of Christmas in all of the stress of cards, making presents, crafts, parent meetings, and parent activities. Often as a manager leaving me feeling exhausted and worn down.

When I look back on my many years of working in the early years, I don’t remember the hundred cards we made using footprints and handprints. I am not saying there is not any value to these they create wonderful memories for parents of how small their child was and is always appreciated. However, in my opinion it is a balance, sometimes we do adult-led activities or crafts, and that is fine children are learning skills such as following instructions, listening and learning different skills. But my memories are of the crafts that children took in their own direction the ones that were often spontaneous and the children led with their interests. For example, the year we spent hours and hours making snowflakes after we had seen snow through the nursery window and been out to explore it. We made snowflakes with paper, loose parts, printing on paper, we learnt about symmetry, weather, seasons.

You know I don’t even remember the numerous numbers of crafts we did as part of the production line. I remember the smiles on children’s faces, the time I saw children fully engaged in an activity, their uniqueness coming through. Or the time I saw a child achieve a new skill for the first time. Like when a child made a number Christmas tree, cutting her triangle up into strips and labeling each one with carefully written numbers before counting out the right number of jewels and sparkles and gems. The sense of pride and achievement, the first time they ever wrote numbers independently that we had been working on matching numbers to amount and they just took it to the next level.

So, I guess this is my challenge to everyone in the early years, have you got your balance right? Between making those perfect crafts for parents that will create keepsakes for grateful parents for years to come. And being child-centred and just enjoying the magic of Christmas alongside your children and forgetting the stress of the tick list of everything to do. It is a tricky one, and I know that Covid-19 has probably added to this stress this year; but I want to encourage you all to think about your balance, your motivations and why you are doing what you are doing this Christmas in your setting. But most importantly I want you to try and see the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child! Relax and enjoy the moment.

Merry Christmas!

By Pauline Milsted

Director of Growing Together

Our Journey into Early Years Online Training

In August 2020 Growing Together developing early years launched our first ever early years online training. Our first event was our webinar ‘Childhood Trauma and Covid-19’. I was filled with nervousness as I logged onto the online webinar platform to do my first ever early years online training. After many hours of preparation, reading and more importantly practise and talking the topic through with anyone that would listen to me. Apologies to all of those friends who are not early years focused!

Early years online training was a completely different experience to my previous training I have delivered, which has been face to face and you can read peoples cues of engagement and easily get that interaction. For many of my first webinars, I felt like I was just chatting away to myself as I could not see anyone on the other side until we stopped to do activities; this was a new and strange feeling for myself.

I was so excited to receive some amazing reviews from our first series of webinars, which gave me the confidence to keep going. Susan and I are so excited by how much this early years online training has grown and developed and we really appreciate all of the feedback we have received as we continue to develop our webinars series and support professionals working in the early years sectors.

It is absolutely crazy to think that we now offer a range of early years online training as we are continuously releasing new webinars. Did you know since that very first webinar in the beginning of August 2020 we have run an amazing 58 webinars?! Even more incredible is that we have many more planned for the new year! You can check them out here by clicking on our link to our online training on the website.

In a year that has been very challenging for everyone around the world, as we social distance, lock down and spend more time on our own. This has really opened up a world for online training, and although we miss the opportunity of the physical coming together of training and having a chat over a cup of coffee or tea. We have seen the power and value of the early year’s community coming together online in our webinars, people pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and turning the videos or microphones on. Learning a new way to work, share ideas and connect with one another. What an amazing privilege we have had as a company to bring professionals across the early year’s community together in our online training.

We have spoken to people from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Omen, Malta, India, Dubia, Australia, Finland, America and China, just to name a few places. Wow, what an incredible opportunity we have had to bring people together who have a passion and care for early years through our online training all over the world. We would just like to take the opportunity to thank you for being a part of this online training journey with us. We can’t wait to continue to develop our online training for the early years more.  

Have you filled your bucket today?

A wise friend once asked me what do you do to fill your bucket? The idea behind this is that in order to give love, compassion, patience, kindness and are all for the children in our care and our colleagues that we work with that first we have to fill up our bucket; because we can’t give to others and help others if we are always running on empty.

As we come up to the hustle and bustle of Christmas at the end of a very uncertain year with lots of challenges, added pressures and a pandemic that has certainly changed all of our lives. I think now more then ever is the time to take stock and think, how do we look after our own well-being and ensure that we don’t run on empty. Whether, that be having a bath, going to the allotment, snuggles with the dog on the sofa, a nice relaxing walk or cooking a lovely meal. How do you give to yourself and show yourself compassion and kindness?

We currently are half way through our second lockdown (we hope) and this has been a challenging time for all of us on so many different levels. And although we know that we are doing all of these things to protect those we love and everyone, it can be incredibly hard on our well-being and mental health.

Together as a company we were very lucky to get an allotment just a few days before this lockdown, the growing together allotment for Susan and myself. Today as I pottered around the allotment on my own digging and pulling out weeds and raspberry bushes which we have in abundance. I thought how blessed I am to have this space outdoors, but also how important it is to me; this is one of the things I do to refuel and fill my own bucket up. I love being outdoors and just taking it all in, going outdoors and most importantly having that relationship and connection with nature (which most of us have lost in recent years – Richard Louv calls this a nature deficit disorder).

So, my challenge to all early year’s practitioners, teachers, professionals and parents is to fill up your bucket in the coming weeks so that you can support and give the children in your care and your colleagues all that they need from you, without causing yourself to run out and run low.

Research from Harding et al (2019) concluded that there was a strong association between student’s mental well-being and psychological distress and their teacher’s well-being and psychological distress. It is estimated that in the UK 1 in 6 people in the past week have experienced a common mental health problem (Mental Health Foundation, 2020).

If you are interested in learning more about well-being in relation to the children in your care, we offer a range of webinars that begin to explore some of this, such as:

·         Nature Connection and Well-Being in the Early Years (book on by clicking here)

·         Emotional Resilience in Early Childhood (book on by clicking here)

·         Supporting Pre-School Children’s Emotional Intelligence (book on by clicking here)

By Pauline Milsted

Director of Growing Together

(Photo credit: Jeff Kingma)

The Growing Together Allotment

“Mummy!  Look what I’ve found!  Come see!”

It was hard to make out the green-grey structure as it swayed gently in the wind.  This wasn’t helped by the gentle tip tap of rain on my hood, and the daylight getting darker by the moment as the dusk and night drew in.

We helped each other unzip an arch into a makeshift greenhouse, only slightly taller than my 5”4 frame, and found our way in.

“Look at these jewels, Mummy!”

She wasn’t wrong.  Hanging from beautiful green branches, there were shiny red and green jewels everywhere with glints of orange dotted between.

“Wow.  What lovely tomatoes!  Shall we pick them?” 

It was the third day of November and we had made our first visit to the allotment or rather, the “Gardening patch” as Poppy likes to call it.

All three of us were excited, especially now Pauline had joined us.  We moved about the patch like treasure hunters on an island, scouring the earth for gems.  I found beetroots, onions and one delicious raspberry that fell about in my mouth.  Poppy found a cave for her “baby,” a throne to sit on and a patch to plant her tulip bulbs in.  The polytunnel was renamed the “Princess Palace”.  Pauline found spring onions and salad leaves to last a few lunches that week.   Before we knew it, the sky was inky black and the stars beginning to shine through.

Our adventure had begun.

The Growing Together allotment

If you are anything like Pauline and I, the idea of a second lockdown was disappointing.   The prospect of being cooped up inside, working from home, with the shorter and darker days of Winter approach felt almost unbearable.

I was determined, this time round, to make the best of it for me and for my family.  So, when the advert in the Parish Council newsletter appeared, I jumped at the chance of making an allotment application.  A couple of weeks later, I had paid my £18 for the year, signed a tenancy agreement and had managed to get Pauline to agree to share the site with us.

We have only been to the allotment a handful of times to assess the site and the hope is this blog will not only keep us accountable, but will also help us watch our own story unfold.

Our mission is two-fold:

-          Create a space for peace and connection with nature and each other;

-          Grow fruit, vegetables and flowers;

We want to share this experience with you and encourage you to share your experiences with us.  Will you join us?

By Susan Hughes

(Director of Growing Together)

We Love Autumn…

Today whilst walking in the woods I was reminded of the natural beauty and majestic nature of autumn. Autumn has always had a special part in my heart and soul, a time of the year that I find uplifting, exciting and enjoyable. A brisk walk in the autumn air, as the leaves, acorns and conkers fall around you. A changing landscape of colour and regeneration all around you. A chance to take a deep breath pause and just take in the world that is so rapidly changing around you and appreciate the wonderful world that we can see and the unique connection we all have with nature. Just spending 30 minutes outside a week is said to improve our well-being and I don’t know about you but being outside to quote a good friend “blows away the cobwebs in our souls!” – that nature connection is not just a personal one but also a spiritual connection.

The complexity of this incredible world around us, like the way trees know to drop their leaves, to reserve the limited energy they will get from the sun in the cold winter months, in order to regrow and stay alive in the coming years. The way nature is forever changing around us and easily taken for granted or not understood. Autumn is also an exciting time to for children and a real opportunity to connect with nature, we love to collect conkers, acorns and leaves just like us Early Years Practitioners. I couldn’t help but, on my walk, today collect a few conkers, I think it is ingrained in us to do so to make the most of it.

After all conkers are a wonderful free resource for early years practitioners. From using conkers as loose parts, to tuff trays full of them for filling emptying, to using them for mathematics activities matching numbers to amount or conker rolling painting. There are just so many opportunities for that one conker! I personally love them as natural loose parts in the small-world and mathematics areas as I always think children find something amazing and incredible to do with them.

For example, I remember one child who spent hours engrossed in conker play, who had collected kitchen roll tubes from the art area and his conkers and he explored dropping them through the tubes, standing the tube down and seeing how many he could fit in what would happen if he picked the tube up and so much more. There were high levels of engagement, involvement, problem-solving, application of mathematical skills, working together with others as more children joined him and developing his ideas as they poked sticks through the tubes to see what happened next. As well as building upon his trajectory schema of learning, this child loved to drop things and watch things full and this supported his schema of learning.

Over my many years of working with young children I have been humbled by there understanding of the seasons, but have always found that Autumn just has a really special spark in them. I remember one child, many years ago, who thought “the sky was falling! The world is going to end!” because acorns, conkers and leaves were falling of the trees in the nursery garden. Obviously, we followed this the only way possible by reading the book ‘Chicken Licken’ which became a nursery favourite and doing many activities exploring the season of autumn; for weeks and weeks on end as this little boy and his interest grew and grew and was infectious to all of his friends around him.

But more then this autumn is also a magical time to see the world through children’s eyes. Last year whilst collecting coloured leaves with a group of children to make a physical pictogram on the floor outside, looking at numbers, sorting, colour, more and less and so on. I posed the question to a group of two to four year olds, “Why are the leaves falling of the trees?” To which one 3 year old replied, “Because it is autumn and the trees need to breath!” What an incredible insight and poetic way of putting it and it is very true in a way, the leaves drop in order to allow the tree to have the energy to live.

As people such as Richard Louv talk about a nature deficit and the fact that children are becoming more and more disconnected with nature, for example, many children could not identify trees by leaves anymore. It is a dying art, we do not know the trees around us, even me on my forest school training who loves nature and being outside, this is something I tremendously struggle with. But I always think autumn is a great time to explore this with the children. Take out some ID cards, match the leaves to the picture cards, sort them, look at size, look in detail at the veins on leaves as you do leave rubbings and printing.

A top tip I have when leaf printing is to use cotton buds on the back as you will not end up with to much paint and get a wonderful clear print of all the veins and details of a leaf. Other ideas, are to take your magnifying glasses with you and draw natural sketches with children. I think some of my happiest most memorable experiences with children that I have cared for has simply been, playing with the leaves outside in autumn. Sweeping them up, making pretend bonfires, throwing them in the air, repeating, singing songs around our bonfire or having tea outside around our bonfire. Simply magical times we have had together!

We hope you all have a magical and lovely autumn, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. We are running a webinar ‘Nature Connection and Well-Being in the Early Years on Wednesday 14th October 2020 at 7:30pm and you can click here to book. Or we are running the same webinar again on 21st November 2020 at 2pm and you can click here to book.

Our Top Tips for Teaching Phonics

We have been asked to write a blog on our top tips for teaching phonics, so we have thought very hard about what we would suggest as our top tips for phonics. Below are our top tips for delivering successful phonics in the early years and key stage 1.

1.       Make teaching phonics playful: Vygotsky famously said “In play children are a foot taller than themselves!”. As a company we wholeheartedly believe that is true, we see the capacity (or Zone of Proximal Development) of what children can achieve extended in play and interactions with others. Although, we cannot make phonics play in it is truest form, as play is uninterrupted, child-led and without objectives or outcomes; however, we can make it playful.  Use props, toys, games, arts and crafts get creative!

2.       Make teaching phonics hands on and interactive: Young children are physical and were not designed to sit still and listen, so make teaching hands on, physical and interactive. Children need to move their bodies when they are learning and to be active participants in the process. Do activities that encourage children to cross the midlines in their bodies, we know that this has been proven to help brain development – so let’s get moving in teaching phonics.

3.       Make sure you know how to pronounce the sounds properly: Although this one might sound really obvious the way that children are taught phonics now to the way we learnt as children is probably different and it is important, we learn the sounds right. Otherwise we are going to add confusion or sounds to their writing, for example, common mistakes are things such as ‘s’ is said as ‘sa’ adding the ‘a’ sound to the end, or ‘u’ becomes ‘ur’ or ‘n’ as ‘na’. Which then becomes a problem if children are spelling out word as sun become saurna. There are plenty of youtube videos showing how to correctly pronounce sounds and it is well worth looking and using them as well as sharing these links with parents.

4.       Work with parents as partners in learning: Parents are such a valuable asset they are who spend the most time with the children and are there primary educators. So, make sure that you work well with parents, sharing with them what you are doing and learning and how you teach. Things such as doing a parent workshop, inviting them into a phonics session to join in activities, leaflets, home learning phonics bags or sharing videos/activities at home ideas.

5.       Use your children’s interests: If you follow you children’s interests and motivations you are far likely to see a higher level of engagement and learning within the activity. For example, if you have a child who is really interested in the fire service then incorporate this into your phonics activities. You could do things such as using a hose to wash of the letters in flames on the fence, or setting up a fire tuff tray and rescuing the magnetic letters from the fire with a magnet.

6.       Using rhymes and songs: rhymes and songs are so important when we are teaching phonics, they help children develop those all-important communication and language skills, extending children’s vocabulary, listening skills, awareness of rhyme and rhythm and alliteration.

7.       Teach phonics outside not just inside: Phonics does not have to be just inside sat at a table; it doesn’t have to be in the ‘traditional’ box of teaching. There are plenty of opportunities for phonics outside as well as inside. For example, going on letter hunts, mark-making in mud, weaving phonics activities into the mud kitchen and so on; the possibilities are endless.  

8.       Weave phonics activities throughout your continuous provision: Phonics activities can easily be weaved throughout your continuous provision like all areas of learning children do not learn in isolation all areas are intertwined and interlinked to one another. For example, within your small world area you can set up phonics activities such as cross the river or intertwine that into children’s play. Practice using the sounds you are learning in the mud kitchen to make menus and take orders.

9.       Observe your children and monitor engagement: It is really important that we take the time to stand back and observe children and monitor levels of engagement in phonics activities that we have set up. For example, while fishing for letter shells in the water tray, are they children focused and engaged, do they use the activity, how long are they staying at it, are they being extended to say the sounds they find, does an adult need to support the learning intention, is it okay they have taken the activity in their own direction, what learning skills and peer collaboration can we see?

10.   Reflect on your environment: I cannot recommend doing this enough it is so important and insightful to practise. I highly recommend doing a tracking observation where you look and see what areas of your environment (I tend to draw a map) children and adults are in at different intervals throughout a session. This will give you insights such as ‘the writing area is never used’ – why is that? Is it inviting? Do you need a writing area? Could it be incorporated into all areas of the environment? Is it what is to offer in that area? Or another example is, ‘tuff tray with mark-making opportunities in coloured sand and letters, used for first five minutes and not used for the rest of session’ – why is that? Was it an engaging activity, did children need an adult to model, did it appeal to the groups interests – would another group of children have of stayed longer? It is really worth doing and will give you lots of valuable insights!

Written by Pauline Milsted

Director at Growing Together

Creative Ways of Using Phonics Flashcards

We are probably all guilty of having a pack or two of phonics flashcards in our classroom, nursery or preschool; even though this may be considered by some a dated practice and a form of traditional education that is no longer perceived as developmentally appropriate practice. Over recent years we have learnt a lot about how children learn and develop, we know that children are active learners, who learn through play and exploration and hands-on experiences.

The great theorist Piaget believed that children construct knowledge around them through developing mental structures (schemas) that we develop and change through our experience and interaction with the world around us. Where children either accommodate (adapt current ideas to include new ones) or assimilate (create new ideas) as a result of new knowledge and experiences. (McCloed 2018). Piaget was famously quoted to say that “Children have real understanding only of things in which they event!” He felt that it was important to allow children to explore and construct knowledge through play and being given the opportunities to develop their ideas for themselves. They do not learn and develop through being told, but by experiencing and doing is where true learning comes.

Similarly, Vygotsky theorised that children are always a foot taller than themselves in play. He recognised that when children are playing and exploring, they show a greater depth and understanding of learning. They use more in-depth language, higher social skills and skills that are far beyond their normal activities. This is why when we are using our phonics flashcards, we want to make it playful and engaging for children, although, we recognise that this is not true play rather just playful. As true play is uninterrupted, child-led and doesn’t have a planned outcome. Nevertheless, though I do believe that by making our use of phonics flashcards playful, interactive, hands-on and more engaging there is a higher level of learning then simply showing children a flashcard and getting them to repeat the sound.

So, let’s get creative and dust of the phonics flashcards and develop some interactive activities/hands on experiences for children.

1.       Letter formation in small trays – use phonics flashcards alongside small trays of items such as salt, coloured sand, coloured rice, paint or PVA glue. Encourage children to copy the formation of the letters in their small individual tray, you can be creative and use a wide range of things to mark-make from fingers, paintbrushes, cars, trains, sticks, fir cones, to feathers.

2.       Hide and seek phonics flashcards – hide phonics flashcards around your indoor or outdoor area and go on a sound hunt. Get the children to say the sound they have found, or model the sound to them.

3.       Phonics flashcard snap – turn your phonics flashcards into a turn taking game of snap. Great for developing turn-taking and concentration skills.

4.       Phonics flashcard memory game – turn your phonics flashcards into a memory game. Take it in turns to find pairs that match. Again, perfect for developing turn-taking skills, concentration skills, learning rules and boundaries of games and developing those all-important memory skills.

5.       Phonics Flashcards Walk – Hole punch the flashcards and put them on some string that can go around children’s necks comfortable. Go on a walk and see how many times your children can find the sound they are wearing. You can introduce mathematics doing simple tally charts. Or ICT by taking photographs of them with the sound that they are wearing.

6.       Hunt the phonics flashcards in the sand pit – hide the phonics flashcards in the sandpit so the children have to dig and find them. Saying the sound as they find them.  

7.       Phonics flashcards movement game – Pop the different phonics flashcards around the room or outdoor area where children can see them and get them to move in different ways. For example, can you jump to the ‘s’? This is great for developing skills to listen and follow instructions and moving in different ways.  

8.       Phonics flashcards pass the parcel – Play pass the parcel with the phonics flashcards, pop the flashcards in a basket or box and pass it around the circle as the music plays. When the music stops the child holding the basket or box has to pick a flashcard and say the sound.

9.      Phonics flashcards fishing – Staple the flashcards and put them in a tray of rice coloured blue. Use magnets to fish out your phonics flashcards.

10.      I spy letters – Place your flashcards under a rectangle-based glass dish. Put a jar upside down in the glass dish, place in some coloured water of your choosing. Do not lift up the glass jar and it will create a viewing of what is below. Slide the jar around and see what sounds you can find hidden under the water.

11. Phonics flashcards bottle lid hockey - put a large piece of paper on the floor and divide the paper into sections. On either side of each section (up the left hand side and right hand side) place a phonics flashcard with some of the sounds you are learning. On each bottle lid write a vowel or diagraph you are learning such as ‘oo’. The children choose a bottle lid and push it along the paper to see how far it can go. They then read the sounds, for example c - a -t makes cat and have a list to write real and nonsense words.

 12. Phonics flashcards hoop leap - Place a phonics flashcard in each hoop e.g. s - a - t and as children jump from one hoop to another they blend the sounds and say the word. You can also get them to make their own words and decide whether they are a nonsense word or a real word.

Growing together offers online 45-minute webinars on overview to phase one phonics and playful phase two phonics. We also offer packages where you can train your whole team (up to 30 people) online for £175 and we provide you with a three-hour training session on phonics (which can be split up across different days). To look at our current online training options please click here or email pauline@growingtogetherearlyyears.co.uk.

Written by Pauline Milsted

Director of Growing Together Developing Early Years

Understanding the Role of a Pre-School Committee

Nurseries and preschools come in all different shapes and sizes, and we are not always aware of how the governance that sits behind the setting can really affect our children.  Some settings are part of a wider school or academy structure; some are profitable companies; and then there are pre-schools that are governed by committees. 

In this blog, we consider pre-schools run by committee and how important it is for managers to help their committee members understand the duties and responsibilities of their role, so that together, they can achieve the best they possibly can for the children within their care.

What is a pre-school committee?

A pre-school run by committee is effectively a charitable trust – this is a legal structure that means that committee members are “charity trustees” with “fiduciary duties”. 

What is a charity trustee?

Charity trustees are people who share the ultimate legal responsibility for the running of the charity, or in this case, the pre-school.  Trustees are known as many different things – the Board, Council, Committee, the list goes on, but crucially, they are the same thing.    

The legal position for trustees is mainly enshrined in the Trustee Act 2000 as applicable to England and Wales.  All trustees “volunteer” their role – that is to say, unless they are a qualified professional, such as an Accountant or Solicitor, they are not legally allowed to charge for their time and are only entitled to reasonable expenses as stated in section 95 Trustee Act 2000.  So, when parents are asked to volunteer to sit on a pre-school committee, they may not necessarily understand the legal reality of what they are being asked to take on.  They may innocently think that to be asked to volunteer means helping out occasionally or signing the odd document.  In short, there is a real danger for uneducated committee members to think that these fiduciary duties are mere formalities.

What are fiduciary duties?

Fiduciary duties are two-fold – they are both legal and ethical duties, where a person takes on the legal responsibility to act in the best interests of another.  It requires a relationship of trust and confidence, and trustees are liable for life for the period they serve in their role.

As recent scandals warn, this role must be taken seriously.  We have all probably heard of how in 2015 the charity Kidscape folded amid allegations of child abuse and misspent public money and as pre-school settings, we are sure we don’t want the same to happen to us. 

How to help your committee members (and ultimately you!)

As with every charity or pre-school committee, you are ideally looking for trustees who will give you as managers the strategic support and advice you need to ensure your setting continues to progress and to help you achieve your vision.  So, what can you do?  Below are our 5 suggested steps to building the right committee.

1.  Carry out a skills audit of your committee

A good first step would be to carry out an audit of the committee you have as to highlight skills gaps that you need help with – do you need someone with legal expertise?  Do you need someone with an HR or education background?  Or perhaps a parent who simply has the right attitude to take on the training you need? 

Having a diversity of people and skills is crucial to effective decision-making and avoids the traps of “groupthink”.  You want to approach your volunteers carefully, as to surround yourself with good creative thinkers who challenge each other constructively and healthily for the benefit of the children, and who have your and the children’s best interests at heart. 

2.  Do your research – network!

Finding people who know how to balance giving you the support you need, but without becoming overly involved in the day-to-day requires careful planning.  So, get to know your parents, network and think carefully about who you approach for your committee before you ask.  Do your homework before you ask!

3. Education

So, you think you have found your person.  Before you approach them, make sure you understand for yourselves what the key duties are for a trustee.  This will help you work out if the person is truly suitable for the committee.

The charity commission has some great guidance that both you and your committee can use – CC3 is probably the most relevant with the six key duties outlined here:

1.      Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit

2.      Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law

3.      Act in your charity’s best interests

4.      Ensure your charity is accountable

5.      Manage your charity’s resources responsibly

6.      Act with reasonable care and skill

4. Draw up an agreement at the outset

It would be worth drawing up a committee member agreement at the start of the relationship outlining your expectations of their level of commitment and providing some pointers on how they can best help you.   Making the boundaries clear between what strategic and operational support you need from them could really help manage the committee’s expectations and it’s good to fall back on when it has been clearly written at the outset.  

It is good practice to build in a time limit on how long someone can serve or even a termination clause just in case circumstances change and so no one person has too much control.

5.  Communication and training

As with everything, being in regular communication is important, but be balanced about what is shared.  Regular training sessions for trustees is also crucial – charity regulations are ever-changing and there are many free events and resources out there for committee members and managers to access, so we would encourage everyone to look out for those opportunities.

In summary, the role of the pre-school committee is to govern the setting; provide strategic advice and support to managers; and to act in the best interests of the children.  It is both a legal and ethical role, and managers would do well to educate themselves in what the trustee duties are.  Managers should get to know prospective members before making an approach, so they can best recruit the committee that will in turn support them.

If you are interested in any training for your setting or committee in terms of what’s required of them, then please contact pauline@growingtogetherearlyyears.co.uk.

Written by Susan Hughes

Company Director

Promoting Communication and Language in the Early Years.

Communication and language development are core aspects of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This is because children need a secure foundation in communication and language to be able to achieve in all areas of learning and development. Now more then ever it is important that as carers, parents, nursery practitioners, managers, teachers and anyone within an early year’s role are working to promote communication and language in the early years.

Currently within the UK more and more children are believed to start nursery/pre-school below where they should be for communication and language development and this is specifically seen as being higher in areas of deprivation. The Communication Trust in 2014 stated that 50% of children from a disadvantaged background started school with a language delay. A more recent study in Ipswich which was identified as one of 12 opportunity areas found that 1 in 4 children from an area of deprivation by the end of the early year’s foundation stage (reception year) are not reaching the attainment expected for speaking; while 1 in 5 do not for understanding (National Literacy Trust 2019).

It is believed from a piece of influential research implemented by … that we have a 30 million-word-gap by the time children are of the age of 4 years old between those from lower income families compared to those with a higher income. Although, there are some critical responses to how the number 30 million was exactly arrived at and the sample size, it is fair to say that there is an identified gap of vocabulary that children from lower incomes are exposed to within their early years. Additionally, some studies have shown that children with a higher range of vocabulary have less behavioural problems and achieve more academically (Hempson 2019).

Additionally, there is a link between children from a disadvantaged background who receive free school meals who are 2.3 x more likely to have a speech and language delay. Currently within the UK it is estimated that over a million children have a speech and language delay or impairment. The Communication Trust in 2014 stated that 7% of children have a speech and language delay or impairment. This is roughly 2 to 3 children per class in the UK.

There are lots of easy ways we can promote communication and language in the early years from nursery rhymes, to story time, to playing alongside our children and modelling language, to cooking with them, to discussing the weather or doing the food shopping. Communication and language are part of everything that we do and essential to development in the early years; but it doesn’t have to be some fancy activity or hard work. We don’t need to make it elaborate and overthink it, mainly our children need us to speak to them, to model a wide range of vocabulary, to listen and respond to them, to be with them present in this moment.  To repeat back to them what they have said. To help develop their understanding through using visual and props.

Nursery rhymes are so beneficial to children’s development and learning, but in particular to their early communication and language development and literacy skills. Nursery rhymes can go back as far as the early 1700’s and research implemented by Kennedy (2005) showed that there was a direct correlation between nursery rhymes and children’s vocabulary and language development. Furthermore, Mem Fox reading magic states that if children know 8 nursery rhymes by the age of 4 year olds they will be better readers at 8 years old. If you would like to know more about the value of learning through music and nursery rhymes, we have a webinar on Thursday 17th September 2020 that you can click here to book. Or another one on Tuesday 13th October 2020 that you can click here to book.

Story time is another great way of helping to promote children’s communication and language, it exposes them to vocabulary, rhythm, rhyme. Make it engaging and use props, puppets, toys and pictures to engage the children. Take your time and focus on getting familiar with 1 or 2 stories rather then reading lots of different stories, as this will extend their learning and development. There are numerous research studies that indicate that children who are read to on a regular basis (every day) have better communication and language development.

There are so many things that we can easily do within the early years sector to promote children’s communication and language development, but also help to close the language gap. On the 26th October 2020 at 7:30pm we will be running an online webinar exploring the language gap where we will unpack this even further. To book a ticket now click here.

Trauma in Early Childhood and Social Development.

We know trauma in Early Childhood (before the age of six) can have huge effects on children’s development and learning. Research has shown the detrimental effect that trauma in Early Childhood can have on brain development. This blog explores the impact that trauma in Early Childhood has on social development in young children and the potential long-term effects of this.

Trauma can be hard to easily define and to think about when it comes to our children, Goldsmith and Turow (2017, p.37) state that, “A common definition of trauma is an overwhelming event or situation that we experience as potentially harmful, that exceeds our coping capacities at the time, and has lasting negative effects.” Examples, of traumatic events are things such as, parental job loss, low income, neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, a horrible one of event such as a car accident, illness, bereavement, rape, poverty, legal difficulties, bullying and so on (Goldsmith and Turow 2017).

Understandably, all of these types of trauma or traumatic events in Early Childhood, are going to have a huge impact on social development. Social development is the development of social skills with others and how we form relationships and friendships with people around us. The ability to form healthy relationships can be affected by our early childhood, past and experiences.

For example, a child who has continuously experienced domestic violence in the home, may be more likely to have outbursts of anger and violence and struggle to know how to play appropriately with other children. This is partly due to the fact that the child has for the majority of their time experienced an unhealthy relationship and doesn’t know what a healthy relationship looks like.

Additionally, due to the traumatic experience of experiencing domestic violence in their early childhood they are in a continuous state of fight or flight. Fight or flight is the physiological feeling/response that we have when we feel anxious or at threat of danger – do we stay and fight it or do we run! Also, other things happen to our bodies when we are in flight or fight, for example, our brain tells our body to release adrenaline and our pulse becomes quicker, there is an increase in respiratory rate and our blood pressure increases, which all sends more oxygen to the brain which increases alertness. Our brain is really clever and when we are feeling at threat of danger, we are actually only using a tiny part of our brain called the Amaygdala. (Nina Venho).

If children are in a continuous state of fight or flight due to a traumatic event, this is going to affect their brain development as well as all areas of development such as social development in early childhood. And research has told us that by the age of only 4 years old children have developed 90% of their adult brain (The National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network). Which is why it is crucial that in early childhood we identify children who have experienced trauma and support them to help reduce the long-lasting effects. As they will not be making healthy connections and building upon the connections between different parts of the brain; while they are experiencing trauma. As well as the effect of the physiological experiences of fight or flight.

Some children and adults as a result of trauma will experience something that is called complex PTSD and attachment trauma. Complex trauma is when someone experiences ongoing traumatic events, such as child abuse or extreme poverty (Schwartz 2019, Goldsmith and Turow 2017). Attachment trauma is often related to child abuse or neglect, Schwartz (2019) states the following:

“Most often there is a combined wound, in which you experience deficient nurturance from loving caregivers coupled with inadequate protection from dangerous situations or people. Growing up within an environment of fear, chaos, or rejection, and abandonment has significant and long-lasting repercussions on physical and emotional health. As a result of attachment trauma, you might carry beliefs that you are damaged, not lovable, or that you cannot trust anyone. You might have feelings of shame, unworthiness, or helplessness. Perhaps, you feel plagued by anxiety or believe that you don’t belong in this world.”

Experiencing Complex PTSD and childhood trauma or attachment trauma, it is going to not only affect children’s current social development in early childhood; but also, may have a long-lasting impact on their social development. It can easily get carried into adulthood and impact their relationships and how they trust and respond to other people; additionally, they may struggle to keep friendships and have a variety of physical and emotional health problems as a result.

As early years professionals we know the importance of developing healthy attachments in early childhood. Children need to have developed a secure attachment by 3 years old (Schwartz 2019) and we will explore in more depth attachment, attachment styles and trauma in another blog post.

To explore childhood trauma more in relation to Covid-19 – click here to join our interactive webinar on 3rd September 2020 at 7:30pm.

The Importance of Language Development for Literacy in Early Childhood.

As a society we have a very heavy misguided emphasis on academic literacy skills in the early years such as can they write their name, can they read a simple word, write a caption, trace letters and form them or match letters (graphemes) to the relevant sounds (phonemes). As parents, carers, early years professionals, teachers, practitioners and managers of settings we feel the pressure to push these literacy skills! Here’s the thing though we need to slow down children need a rich exposure and command of language before we even consider literacy skills such as reading, writing, comprehension and storytelling!

In order to be able to tell a story we first need to have the language to recreate stories, give a narrative, elaborate on our ideas and our thoughts. We can’t tell a story without first developing our understanding of language, developing our listening and attention skills and being able to practise speaking language. Before we are ready to write a story, we need to able to express them in our play, use the narrative as we play with the dinosaurs or make a birthday cake in the role-play area. The richer and more exposure children have to developing language in the early years through play and secure foundations, the better they will achieve later on in school.

Colker (2014) research has shown that there is 30-million-word gap between the wealthiest and poorest families in their study by the age of 3! That is a lot of words that some children have not been exposed to and that lack of vocabulary is going to have an impact on their development. So rather than focusing on literacy skills such as writing, tracing letters (which in my opinion is not literacy – but let’s not go there today!) what we should be focusing on is closing the language gap! Exposing children to more vocabulary, singing a variety of rhymes and songs, exploring and talking alongside our children, reading stories, making up stories, engaging in play, becoming mummy bear or Deno the dinosaur.

In order to be able to understand texts, to read and write segmenting and blending sounds. Children also need the opportunity to first before we even consider this literacy skills, to develop their listening and attention skills and have the opportunity to develop their understanding of vocabulary. We cannot rush children to read, write or develop comprehension before they have the basic skills they need; early childhood is simply not a rush.

Before a child is ready to read words such as b-i-g or c-a-t they need to be able to distinguish the sounds in the words, these means they need to be able to hear the difference to tune into sounds and describe sounds. This tuning into sounds for early phonics learning is done through the environment, musical instruments, body percussion, rhyme and alliteration, not through focusing on writing the word and letters. We need to take it back a step, work on listening and attention with our young children and worry less about the writing and reading.

Also, it is no good a child being able to write or read the words ‘big cat’ if they have no comprehension or meaning of those words, what is big, what is cat? It simply then is nothing but a copying exercise. So, we need to take the time to explore words and meanings alongside children. Talk with our children, set up open ended explorations and play opportunities that are rich in language.

So here is my challenge for you, help develop children’s language development through developing vocabulary, listening skills, opportunities to speak and grow in a language rich environment. I can guarantee this will pay of to helping their literacy skills when they are ready!    

Childhood Trauma and Covid-19: Part Three

In part one we explored childhood trauma and the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic, which will cause some children to experience trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although, we do not know the full extent on our children we do know that it is having a profound impact on children’s, mental, physical and social well-being. In part 2 we explored the long-lasting effects of trauma and how it affects development.  

Now as early years practitioners and parents we are not therapists, psychologists or psychiatrists. However, we do inform an important support network around the child; which is based in love, care and a nurturing relationship and this cannot be underestimated. We have an invaluable role and are indispensable resources in supporting children in overcoming trauma, PTSD, bereavement, abuse and any other adverse childhood experiences (ACES) they may have. Below in this blog we explore just a few ways that we are able to achieve this.

I am a strong advocate for play in the early years, play is important, it is crucial to child development well-being and learning. It is a widely held theoretical perspective that children learn about the world around them through play and exploration, they make sense of their world around them and they unfold the complexities of the world. I recently read the story of Sandy in the book ‘The boy who was raised as a dog’ by Dr Perry; and this touched me profoundly.

Sandy had witnessed a horrific murder of her mother as well as being attacked herself, she stayed in the house with her dead mothers body for several hours. She tried to wake her up, give her milk which was once comforting and more so drink milk herself which due to her injuries was a horrific ordeal. What struck me though was when she begun therapy with Dr Perry, for weeks and months she acted out this horrific event it was not a one of, she simply did it again and again. This was her way of processing the trauma she had experienced she would get Dr Perry to act out with her pretending to be her mother who was hog tied. This was a brutal enactment that went on for months, but gradually Sandy took more and more control in the situation; until one day she simply said, “we don’t need to do that now let’s have a story!”

I guess this stuck with me because being given this time to role play that situation was important to Sandy, repetitive, child-led and emotionally draining I am sure for both parties. Children who have experienced trauma are going to need uninterrupted time to play, autonomy, careful observation and attempts to understand there play and the opportunity to repeat and repeat as they attempt to understand.

So other than giving children the opportunity to be child-led in play, uninterrupted and have autonomy; how else can we support them with using the power of play? I would suggest small little things that you can do such as introducing mask into the role-play area, having an empty soap pot in your role-play. Setting up tuff trays that look at handwashing in a fun and messy way!

Additionally, consider what Elizabeth Jarman talks about in communication friendly spaces. Children are going to want a small hidden and private space, where they can talk and have the opportunity to explore their trauma. I would highly recommend adding a doll house, or some puppets and just really standing back and listening to what the children are saying, but not interrupting – I am sure it will tell you a lot about their Covid-19 experience.

Another, simple but important thing is to simply reconnect children with nature. We know from research that simply coming into contact with untreated wood, tree trunks and tree stumps; has a positive impact relaxing both body and mind. So, bring wood products into the provision and get outdoors as much as possible. As we discussed in part 2 trauma increases, cortisol in the blood, blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety; whereas extensive research such as that of Miyasaki and forest bathing in Japan has shown that spending just 1 hour outside in nature a day will help to reduce all of these.

Also, there is the practise of mindfulness. Goldsmith Turow (2017) discusses how research was done with Vietnam veterans who were experiencing PTSD and found that by participating in a regular pattern of meditation was beneficial. It helped to develop self-compassion, reduce anxiety and depression, centre people in the now rather then the past, reducing stress and a reduction in feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. There are many ways you can bring mindfulness into the classroom, indoor provision or outdoors; such as guided meditations, taking a moment to consider what all you senses can tell you and how you feel, yoga, acknowledging and giving all feelings spaces and so much more.

Childhood Trauma and COVID-19: Part Two

In the second part of our blog series exploring childhood trauma and the current Covid-19 pandemic. We are going to look at some of the effects of children experiencing trauma on their learning, development and well-being. Some of which can be long-lasting to an individual.

The first few years of a child’s life are unique and special. Understandably trauma experienced in the first 6 years (early years) will have a variety of different effects than that which is experienced by an older child. We know that our brain stores information and experiences both consciously and unconsciously; this will then affect the way that we respond to a situation in order to protect ourselves.

I am currently reading the book ‘The boy who was raised as a dog’ by Perry and Szalavitz (2017) and this notion of association and not being able to regulate or control emotions; is relatable to the story of Sandy; this story sticks predominately in my mind as I think of basing our understandings on experiences, storing them up consciously and unconsciously.

Sandy a little girl who watched the brutal death of her mother at the hand of someone else. The associations the child made, the doorbell that let the killer in, the once safe kitchen knife that slit the child’s throat three times and her mothers throat and the milk she tried to drink for comfort as it spilled from her throat and she tried to give her dead mother. Perry speaks about how no one could understand the outburst of behaviour around milk, the doorbell or kitchen knives; but off course we can look at it knowing her experience and seemingly see the association because we know it. She has associated these 3 things with fear and overwhelming emotion, that she is unable to self-regulate; resulting in uncontrollable outbursts and behaviour.

Sandy was off an age where she was able to communicate to the psychiatrist of what she had seen although young and her experience of that night. However, some children will not have this verbal recall or memory; rather just a fear that is stored in our brain; an association. I remember a child I worked with years ago, we will call him Matthew. Matthew was adopted at the age of 6 months and we as early years practitioners did not know about his early live other then he was adopted; but what we did know was noise was a massive trigger for this boy. When ever there was loud noises as a young baby he would scream and cry and as he turned two, he was prone to outbursts’ and incredibly jumpy and full of fear with loud noises; even those which were familiar. He would often say “noise!” “noise!” as he heard unfamiliar noises the older, he got, he may hide under a table or run to a familiar adult. The point is Matthew didn’t know where that trauma or fear came from, but it was stored inside him and an involuntary response. We suspected that this was the result of a traumatic experience, but we cannot ascertain the exact experience he had within his first few months.

Additionally, we know that the impact of trauma can have a significant impact on children’s brain development. Perry and Szalavitiz (2017) discuss how the most rapid growth of brain development is in the womb and up to the age of 4 where the brain is the most explosive in making new connections and growing. By 4 years old a child has a brain 90% of an adult’s brain, however, this is also when they are the most vulnerable to trauma and neglect. We know that extreme stress or trauma can affect brain development, as children need a nurturing environment to thrive and develop (CDC 2020).

Also, when we experience trauma, we have an alleviated stress level which means that our body produces more cortisol and adrenaline. This is because our bodies are in a continuous state of preparation for fight or flight from situations. This increased rate of cortisol in our blood stream does not only impact on circulation, blood pressure and us in other physical ways; but it also affects the structure of the brain and how it is developed in early childhood. (Perry and Szalavitz 2017 and Goldsmith Turow 2017).

We know that younger children will respond with both physical and psychological responses to traumatic events; as of yet young children have not developed the ability to communicate effectively or regulate their emotions. Often resulting in outbursts and behaviour that is not appropriate or understandable.

Children aged 0-2 exposed to trauma may

• Demonstrate poor verbal skills

• Exhibit memory problems

• Scream or cry excessively

• Have poor appetite, low weight, or digestive problems.

Children aged 3-6 exposed to trauma may

• Have difficulties focusing or learning in school

• Develop learning disabilities

• Show poor skill development

• Act out in social situations

• Imitate the abusive/traumatic event

• Be verbally abusive

• Be unable to trust others or make friends

• Believe they are to blame for the traumatic event

• Lack self-confidence

• Experience stomach aches or headaches

(The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2019)

References:

Goldsmith Turow, R. (2017) mindfulness skills for trauma and ptsd: practices for recovery and resilience. London: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.

Perry, B.D. and Szalavitz, M. (2017) The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook. What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love and Healing. New York: Basic Books. 

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, (2017) Early Childhood Trauma [online] https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/early-childhood-trauma [accessed 7.08.2020]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) Early Brain Development and Health, [online] https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/early-brain-development.html [accessed 7.8.2020]

Childhood Trauma and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Part One

In light of the current pandemic and uncertainty around COVID-19, social isolation as a result of lock down; we want to discuss recent research by the Childhood Trust (June 2020). Understandably, it has shown that the COVID-19 Pandemic is having adverse effects on children and young people’s mental health. It has stated the following alarming points in regards to children’s health and well-being:

·  Children who have an abuser within their household are now in lock down with them, they have no refuge of school and there is an increasing worry of the long-term effect of this as number of referrals drop and early intervention. Simply we have left our vulnerable children more vulnerable and isolated from support networks.

·  Alcohol sales in the pandemic have increased by 21% since March and the beginning of lock down. 2.6 million children are living with a hazardous drinker and 705,000 are living with a dependent drinker. This raises alarming concerns around the adverse effects of this increase to our children, the impact of the increased exposure to witnessing drinking patterns and the increase of experience domestic abuse (25-50% of cases involve an abuser drinking).

· There are staggering concerns about those from more disadvantaged backgrounds who may not have access to resources that are needed for remote learning. Therefore, there is an increasing gap, which is called education loss. This could create many problems for children to overcome in order to keep up or close the gap.

· Disclosure of abuse numbers have decreased meaning that many children are dealing with this alone!

· A study of 2000 young people with a history of mental health problems showed 32% agreed that the pandemic had made their mental health a lot worse, while a staggering 51% said as a result their mental health a little worse. This means that 83% of participants have had their mental health affected in a negative way due to the Coronavirus.

· Due to a reduction in services during lock down to support care in the community and health needs, young carers have seen their role in caring increase, this along with it has increased anxiety in this group of children and being a young carer exposes them as more likely to have mental health problems due to the burden of responsibilities they have.

· Mental health support for children being digital and virtual has created many barriers for children such as privacy, increased demand, or ability to participate due to lack of technology. Thus, some children’s care has not continued.

· 2 million children are believed to have experienced hunger since March 23rd 2020!

· Many children live in flats or houses with no access to an outdoor garden, this has had a direct effect on their physical, emotional and social well-being.

(Above information taking from the Childhood Trust, June 2020).

So, with the likelihood that some children their will be trauma and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with lasting effects up to 9 years after the end of the pandemic (Childhood Trust, June 2020). To put it quite bluntly some of our children are having a horrific time! Additionally, some children not attending school to them the experience will be almost like a bereavement over the past few months. I know personally after speaking to several parents/carers the impact that the pandemic and lock down has had on their children’s behaviour, mental health, well-being, routines, sense of purpose and has altered the understanding of the world around them.

We feel it is important to consider what the terms trauma and PTSD mean.  Goldsmith and Turow (2017, p.37) states that, “A common definition of trauma is an overwhelming event or situation that we experience as potentially harmful, that exceeds our coping capacities at the time, and has lasting negative effects.” When we think of trauma we instantly think of the most horrific events such as war or extreme physical violence; but traumatic events are also things such as bullying or losing a job; and scientific evidence shows that traumatic relations are just as strong for these events as the big stuff we think of (Goldsmith Turow, 2017). In fact, when you think about trauma in these terms then we realise that actually in our life time we actually experience many different traumatic events.

It is worth noting that there are a variety of factors that will influence the impact of trauma and no two people will respond the same. For example, something that may become a traumatic experience for me, someone with a different, character, personality, social background, beliefs, economic status, other life experiences and so on; may have developed more of a resilience to the situation and it might not affect them in an adverse way. For that very reason everyone’s response to trauma will be different from a subtle response to a life-changing response to a situation. (SAMSA 2014).

PTSD is slightly more complex than our responses to trauma and often has a long-lasting effect. PTSD is a mental health condition that is classed as an anxiety disorder, which develops from people’s experiences of traumatic events or situations. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people who experience trauma are likely to develop PTSD. (NHS UK, 2018).

In our next blog we will explore how trauma affects development and learning but also the lifelong impacts that trauma has on children. In our third blog we are going to support children in processing the trauma they have experienced.

References:

The Childhood Trust (2020) Children in Lockdown: The Consequences of the Coronavirus for Children Living in Poverty. [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:

https://view.publitas.com/the-childhood-trust/children-in-lockdown-the-childhood-trust-report-june-2020/page/1

Goldsmith Turow, R. (2017) mindfulness skills for trauma and ptsd: practices for recovery and resilience. London: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.

NHS UK (2018) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/

SAMSA (2014) A Treatment Improved Protocal: Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioural Health Services [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207201/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK207201.pdf

The Nature Challenge

Since beginning my forest school training, I have become very interested in the role that nature has to well-being. In fact, I have probably become a bit obsessed over it, I completely utterly fascinated by all of the benefits of nature and some of the research that is being produced and discussed. I am currently reading ‘the nature fix by Florence Williams’ which I highly recommend to anyone that is interested.

Also, whilst experiencing the current pandemic of Covid-19 I am sure that we are all feeling in different ways the impact on our well-being. So now more then ever I think is the time to explore the link between nature and our well-being.

So, let’s just look at one example, in Japan people regularly participate in something that is called Shinrin-yoku (which is the Japanese way of forest bathing). Studies by Professor Yoshifumi Miyazaki have shown some interesting finds and things to consider. Such as in their laboratory studies they found that people that came into direct contact with wood, touching the tree trunk, smell and so on, meant that participants brains and bodies became more relaxed. This also includes natural untreated wooden items in our home or settings. (Yoshifumi Miyazaki 2018)

Furthermore, an experiment across 63 forests in Japan and 756 participants found the effect of forest bathing or being outside in nature was the following:

• A decrease in sympathetic nerve activity (known to increase during times of stress).

• A decrease in blood pressure.

• A decrease in pulse rate.

• A decrease in concentration of the stress hormone cortisol.

(Yoshifumi Miyazaki, 2018 page 146) If this was not enough reasons to head for outside participants also reported after joining in forest therapy a sense of difference to their well-being through feeling physiologically relaxed, as well as feeling calm, refreshed, less anxious and experiencing a better emotional state (Yoshifumi Miyazaki 2018)!

So, here is our nature challenge for a week, spending just 30 minutes outside is said to improve our well-being.

Day One: I’m going on a colour hunt…

Nature is beaming with all sorts of colours. Take a little basket or container and see how many colours you can find. Can you find all the colours of the rainbow? When you get home, make a rainbow and display it in your window for everyone to see.

Day Two: Dandelion playdough:

Go for a walk and collect a generous handful of dandelions on your way. When you get home work together to make some lovely smelling Dandelion playdough.

Ingredients:

A generous handful of dandelions

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 cup of boiling water

1 tbsp of oil

1 tsp of cream of tartar

Step one:

Put the dandelions in the water and blend together with a hand blender.

Step Two:

Mix the flour, salt, oil and cream of tartar in a bowl.

Step Three:

Slowly add the dandelion water mix, stirring as you go.

Step Four:

Knead it together into a dough.

Day Three: Hapa Zome (Hammer Art)

This is a great activity for not only being creative and connecting with nature, but also supporting children’s hand-eye coordination. Their ability to use tools safely and with control. To be able to look closely, develop curiosity about details such as veins and lines, too begin to notice symmetry and patterns in nature.  All you need to do is find some different leaves or petals. You need a piece of white cotton or linen that you fold in half to pop your finds in. Make sure that you lay them flat and on a flat surface, use a hammer and bang the cotton. Gently pull the cotton apart and voila you have a lovely nature print.

Day Four: Colourful Crowns

Go for a walk or into the garden and see what lovely colours you can collect to make a beautiful colourful crown, fit for a prince or princess. Simply cut a strip of card that will fit around the child’s head and stick your different coloured treasures that you find onto it.

Day Five: Ice Garden

Find some petals or leaves in the garden or on a walk and collect them into a little plastic pot that can go in the freezer. Arrange the items how you would like them and place a piece of looped string in. Half fill in water and make sure that some of the loop of the string is out of the water. Pop in the freezer for a few hours. Top up with some more petals/leaves and water and put back in the freezer (again making sure that some of the string is out of the ice). When it is completely frozen hand from a branch and watch them melt.

Day Six: Forest Bathing

Go to your local woods and go for a mindfulness walk, take your time do not rush use all of your senses. What can you see, smell, taste, hear and touch? Find somewhere quiet to sit, close your eyes and feel the wind or sun on your face, what does the ground below you feel like? Or the tree trunk you lean against?

Day Seven: Nature Aliens

Collect different natural items of the floor on your walk (don’t pick) such as pine cones, petals and leaves. When you have collected lots of goodies, have a challenge to see who can make the scariest alien!