Jennifer Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Childminding best practice

I’m Bored! – Tips for encouraging healthy playing and exploring.

Playing and exploring is one of the essential Characteristics of Effective Learning. However it is now common to see concerns on social media about children appearing to struggle with playing and exploration. When children rely on adult-led or highly structured activities, they may struggle to engage with independent play. When left to their own devices in a room full of toys they will wander aimlessly about seemingly not knowing what to do with themselves. This not only burdens the childminder with the constant need to provide stimulation, but also hinders the child’s development. So, what can be done to address this issue?

Considering what type of play a child is into, such as small world play or role play, can help them play independently and prevent boredom.
  1. Check that the resources are suitable for the child. When considering resources for a child’s development, it is important to ensure that they align with the child’s stage of development. You may need to rotate or change toys to provide a greater level of challenge and stimulate the child’s interest.

2. Try to identify the child’s deep-seated interests, which may go beyond surface-level preferences such as cars or dinosaurs. Understanding what the child is truly learning about, such as following a schema, can help in selecting appropriate resources. For example, a child with a connecting schema may need to be able access resources such as jigsaw puzzles, Duplo or Lego bricks or train tracks that slot together.

    3. It is also important to understand how the child is currently learning. You may have set out a fantastic small world play set up but if a child is actually currently learning through large role play you may need to get out resources like a toy shop or kitchen so they can insert themselves into their play scenario instead of acting out their ideas through a character. (I always like to think of these two things as big and small pretend play.)

      4. If you have thought about all of the above and the child is still wandering around aimlessly then do not be afraid to resort to a bit of good old fashioned boredom! Often children need to break the habit of constantly seeking external stimulation. Remove as many resources as possible so that the child focuses on generating ideas for playing with just one thing instead of hopping from one thing to another. However make sure the resources you leave available are open ended to encourage the child to use their imagination. You may need to do a bit of modelling a first but then take a step back and be busy with something else so that you are not available. This is a good time to sit and do some ‘very important’ paperwork that cannot be interrupted. (Even if the paperwork is just a crossword puzzle that you are doing while keeping an eye on things!)

      Taking children into natural spaces outside, away from man made distractions, can help promote creative thinking.

      5. Take the children to explore a natural outside environment. If possible take the children somewhere where they can interact with natural spaces and materials rather than somewhere like a playpark with lots of equipment. (Which is essentially providing another adult led activity.) Choose somewhere you can sit and watch the children play without providing lots of resources. A bucket and spade if you are at the beach or containers to fill if you visit a wooded area are ample. The lack of artificial distractions may help a child overcome their boredom and they soon may be happily building sandcastles and forts or collecting different sticks and fir-cones.

      6. If a child genuinely does not know how to play or entertain themselves then you will not necessarily see instant results. However it is really worth sticking with it and resisting the temptation to fill every moment with exciting adult led activities. Ultimately you nurturing essential qualities such as resilience and creativity, independent thinking and exploration.

      Written 11/03/2024

      If you want to explore further you may find the following helpful:

      The Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack:

      characteristics of effective learning for childminders

      Confused by the Characteristics? This pack can help.

      What does ‘playing and exploring’ or ‘active learning’ or ‘creating and thinking critically’ actually mean that you are supposed to do?

      By improving your understanding of what the COEL really mean, you can make a massive positive difference to children’s futures.

      This pack contains:

      1. Training information about what the three Characteristics of Learning mean to you as a childminder.
      2. Practical information and training activities for you to complete to help you improve how you promote the COEL in your setting.
      3. Lots of activities to promote the COEL to do with the children from birth upwards.
      4. Business tools for childminders.
      get Characteristics of effective learning pack designed for childminders
      Childminding Best Practice Club Logo

      Stave off boredom and enhance your curriculum by exploring new themes and topics every month with the Childminding Best Practice Club. Plus receive monthly training modules and a 25% discount off other products.

      Simplify your life by getting all your monthly training and professional development, plus everything you need to support and develop your childminding curriculum in one convenient place.

      Discover a treasure trove of monthly training modules carefully written to empower childminders in every aspect of their journey – from nurturing child development to mastering the art of running your own business.

      Receive exclusive monthly planning and activity ideas customised for childminders. Find activities that ignite the imagination of the youngest children, and discover themed modules with carefully curated planning – perfect for childminders working with varying age groups.

      Join the Childminding Best Practice Club today and unlock a monthly pack filled with all the essential resources you need.

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      Jennifer Business tips for childminders, Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Childminding best practice, Communication with parents, Hourly rates for childminders

      Childminding Best Practice Newsletter 11th July 2023

      Note: The company I normally send out the weekly newsletters with is having issues this week meaning I cannot send out this email the normal way. So that no-one misses out I am sharing it here instead. Please share this with anyone you know as they may also normally receive the newsletter and may be wondering where it is!

      Thank you,

      Jennifer x

      Childminding Best Practice Newsletter

      11th of July 2023

      Ofsted Change coming? Plus, New Funding Rates News

      The Head of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, is leaving at the end of this year. It is not yet known who will replace her but I suspect that more changes will accompany whoever takes her place as they will want to make their own mark.

      Should childminders, worry about this? Those of you who, like me, have been involved in childcare or education for a long time will have seen trends come and go. (Does anyone remember the craze for having windmills in the garden?!) However the fundamentals of what children need to learn and grow, remain the same.

      One of the things that are really important to understand are the Characteristics of Effective Learning, (also know as the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning.) It is a requirement of the EYFS to understand these and promote them with the children in your care.

      Helping children develop the Characteristics of Effective Learning does not have to be complicated or expensive. Traditional activities such as completing jigsaws or building things with bricks are simple and effective and can be easy for parents to provide at home too. Practice observing children and see if you can work out how they are ‘planning and exploring,’ ‘actively learning,’ and ‘thinking creatively and critically.’

      Start by having a go at this sample 10 minute CPD activity from a ‘Childminding Best Practice Club’ toolkit:

      10 minute COEL training Activity

      Don’t forget to involve parents. You can do this informally by talking about which characteristics their child has shown during the day, or on a more formal basis. If you use the ‘Super Summative Assessment and Gap Tracker Kit,’ you will notice that there is a section for your to report to parents about their child’s developing COEL. The ‘Progress Check at Age Two‘ pack also includes a template for reporting on the Characteristics so you may find it useful to sit down with the parent and talk about them as part of your review meeting. (If you find dealing with parents tricky I recommend the ‘Partnership with Parents’ Pack.If you would like a copy I’ll put a link at the end of this newsletter for you.)

      You will find short guides to the COEL in both the ‘Birth to Five Matters,’ and the ‘Development Matters’ documents but for a easy to understand guide for childminders I recommend the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack‘ which has activity ideas, templates and evaluation resources as well as practical guides to what the COEL actually mean for childminders.

      To find links to these documents plus links to other essential documents bookmark the official documents links page from the Childminding Best Practice website:

      Official document links

      In other news the Department of Education has now confirmed the new funding rates. From September, these will increase to an average of £5.62 for three and four-year-olds and £7.95 for two-year-olds.

      If you are not yet registered to accept funded children it is a good time to start looking into it, rather than having to do it in a rush when (if!) the proposed changes to funding come into place. You do not necessarily have to do anything yet but having the correct information will help you make informed decisions. If you have not accepted funded children before you may not have realised that you get more money for two year olds. However it is really important to check rates with your local council as although we are used to seeing the ‘headline’ rate they can vary widely from area to area.

      You may also like:

      Check you have all the essentials in place, including the absolute nitty gritty of the Characteristics of Effective Learning with Ultimate Childminding Checklist.

      Develop a professional relationship with parents with help from the ‘Partnership with Parents,’ pack.

      Special offers and deals:

      Save £10 and get inspection ready with the Ultimate Childminding Inspection Preparation Pack, containing full versions of the 3 in 1 Safeguarding Pack and the Ultimate Childminding Checklist as well as Focus point questions for the Guided Self Evaluation Pack (and some puzzles to unwind with!)

      Save £6 with the Super Summative Assessment Bundle Deal. Containing full versions of both the Super Summative Assessment and Gap Tracker Kit and the Progress Check at Age 2 Pack.

      visit the kids to go shop

      I hope you found this newsletter useful. Apologies for the unusual way of getting it to you all. Hopefully normal service will resume next week!

      Best Wishes

      Jennifer x

      Jennifer Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Childminding best practice, Planning for childminders

      What does a pedagogy mean to childminders?

      Updated 12/08/2022

      By Guest Blogger Samantha Boyd

      Ofsted term that appears in the revised EYFS guidance and the new Development Matters

      From September 2021, a revised EYFS Framework and version of Development Matters came into force. One of the seven new “Key Features of Good Practice” right in the introduction to the new Development Matters is the idea of “PEDAGOGY” which may be a new concept for many childminders.

      Pedagogy (pronounced ped-a-go-gee) is simply your method of teaching. BUT DON’T PANIC! You are already doing this……Let’s look at pedagogies and how we implement them in our settings day to day.

      Many of you will have heard of Montessori, Steiner, Te Whariki, Reggio, The Curiosity Approach – all of these are different styles of pedagogy, and the most effective way of teaching is a mixture of all of these. Children learn best through play and observing others – we have all seen children copying what they have seen, heard or experienced in their play as this is their way of working out the world they live in and making sense of it all.

      As well as these formal pedagogies, the word can also be applied to the types of planning that childminders do such as deciding the amount of free play you give children vs the amount of guided learning you offer, and how your balance between free play and structure might change as the children grow older. The focus of the Development Matters is on balance – children learn best when you offer a mixture of structured learning and free play; you need to show that you are aware of this balance in the plans you are making.

      An enabling environment is definitely the Third Teacher – having uncluttered and inspiring space for children to play in, loose parts such as bricks and natural resources for children to use their imaginations, authentic materials such as items to use in their play like baskets, purses, gloves, hats etc. is all you need – and you already have this. Your role in teaching is to observe, understand the child, and facilitate their next steps in their learning by setting up an environment that allows them to explore and investigate, be curious and to answer their questions, ask them and talk to them, read books with them and sing with them. Playing with children is an inspiring thing. Seeing their eyes light up when they learn, through experience, something new. So you see you are already supporting children and extending their learning through your own knowledge of the children you care for.

      So please don’t panic when seeing this word – you are already using your own methods of teaching (your pedagogies) and may be using a mixture of influences to give the children in your care the very, very best. Be proud of this, keep it simple and be confident.

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      Established in 2008, Kids To Go specialise in high-quality activities, easy to use paperwork, information and advice for childminders, nannies and nurseries. products include the Ultimate Childminding Checklist, best practice resources promoting diversity, safety and childminding in the great outdoors (Forest Childcare).

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      Jennifer Activities for childminders, Business tips for childminders, Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Childminding best practice, Themes

      Loose parts

      By Guest Blogger Samantha Boyd

      Loose parts is a term that is becoming more and more popular within education but particularly in Early Years settings and if you are looking to be more environmentally friendly, is a great way to recycle and reuse. So, what are loose parts and what benefit do they have to children’s play and development?

      Loose parts are not toys, in fact they are the exact opposite. A toy has one purpose, to be what it was built for. It cannot be anything else. A loose part however, with a little imagination can be absolutely anything.

      loose parts. Pebbles and shells in a childminder's sandpit

      Simon Nicholson created the theory of loose parts in 1971. He was an architect who believed that all children were creative, and that this creativity should be nurtured and encouraged, rather than suppressed by what adults believed children should be like. So, he tried giving open ended materials that could be used with imagination and become anything the child wanted it to become – they can become parts of construction, pattern forming, used in role play and social play, anything; and he was amazed by the imagination and creativity the children showed. Actively engaged children are resilient learners who can solve problems and think outside the box.

      Some examples of loose parts:

      Natural: shells, stones, wood chips, pine cones, leaves, feathers, seeds, flowers

      Manufactured: buttons, boxes, fabric, ribbons, nuts and bolts, pegs, pipes, guttering, straws.

      When using loose parts, children can follow their own agenda, their own learning. Set up invitations to play and see what the children can do. Trust the children to know. You may need to model how to use them. Many children are not sure what to do because they have not needed to use their imaginations in this way as toys and adults have told them what to do with things. So, allow the children to explore these objects.

      Ask parents to support you by asking for donations. You will be surprised at how supportive parents are.

      Here is an example of some artwork achieved with loose parts.

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      About Welly Wren

      Welly Wren, formally known as Kids To Go was established in 2008. Products include the Ultimate Childminding Checklist, best practice resources promoting diversity, safety and childminding in the great outdoors (Forest Childcare). It is the home of the Childminding Best Practice Club and the free weekly Childminding Best Practice newsletters.

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      Jennifer Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Childminding best practice, Inspection, Learning Journeys, Planning for childminders

      Understanding Cultural Capital for Childminders

      The first and most important thing to say about “Cultural Capital” –  is DON’T PANIC.

      • You do not need to attend a training course on cultural capital.
      • Ofsted does not want to see a poster up in your setting labelled cultural capital.
      • You do not have to start taking childminded children to the opera!

      Cultural capital is defined in the EYFS framework as ‘the essential knowledge that children need to be educated citizens’ and what is necessary to ‘prepare them for future success’. Some children arrive at your setting with different experiences than others. The experiences they arrive with are their ‘cultural capital’. All children have SOME cultural capital when they arrive with you at your setting. But for some, this cultural capital is not enough to narrow the gap and get them ready for school (and for life!). The curriculum you plan for that unique child can make all the difference to his or her future.

      Your job as a childminder is to find ways to establish what a child’s ‘gaps in learning’ are, and then plan your curriculum to help the child in the area that he is missing or behind.

      As soon as a child starts in your setting you should be gathering information about a child’s starting points to help you understand where they might have gaps in their cultural capital. I recommend using the ‘All About Me,’ forms from the ‘Super Summative Assessment,’ pack with parents to start with and then follow that up with your own starting points a few weeks later. (There is lots more information and advice in the pack so if you have a copy, fish it out and have a look!) For example, parents may write on their ‘All about Me’ form that their child does not know any nursery rhymes. Therefore for this child learning nursery rhymes would be very beneficial.

      Reading to children is essential to develop their communication and language

      Another key example is communication and language; an area in which many children are currently needing additional support and input. Some children arrive at your setting speaking really well with great vocabularies because they are exposed to lots of words and their parents read loads of books to them at home. Research has shown time and again that this gives them a massive advantage in school and in life. Other children come from much less fortunate backgrounds where they are not read to so much at home and know far fewer words. If you identify talking and vocabulary for example, as a child’s weakness, then your job as their childminder is to find ways to enhance it. In other words, you should make sure to plan a curriculum where you read a lot more and talk a lot more to children whose parents do not read to them at home.

      What about the Characteristics of Effective Learning?

      The same rule applies right across the areas of learning and development and also applies to the characteristics of effective learning. For example, if a child has not had opportunities to explore their creativity and imagination then this is an area on which I recommend you focus.

      Another example is a child who is never given any choices at home and who appears to passively take everything he is given. You can enhance his learning and prepare him for school by encouraging him to make choices and be independent while he is with you.

      If you find the characteristics of effective learning confusing, or would just like some more ideas around the topic, look the the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning,’ pack for help and guidance.

      Provide a broad and balanced curriculum.

      Enhancing cultural capital by gardening with childminding and early years children.
      Gardening is one way to enhance children’s cultural capital

      I know, it sounds like a party political broadcast soundbite doesn’t it?! However this is really important and part of what Ofsted have been trying to promote. Simply put it means that you need to make sure you are giving children opportunities to learn about lots of different things across all seven areas of learning. It is good practice to use children’s interests, for example, tractors, to help engage and interest them in their learning but if all you ever offer is tractor themed activities they will not learn about other things like dinosaurs, plants, healthy eating and so on. Instead offer other activities that help children broaden their knowledge of the world.

      Here is a quick checklist of what you need to do to ‘do’ cultural capital:

      • Do starting points observations on all new children across all the learning and development areas and the COEL. This will show you the child’s strengths and areas of weaknesses.
      • Ask yourself what you would do to fill the child’s gaps in learning. Think of a plan for each individual child. What can you develop? What can you encourage? What are their next steps? (Don’t forget to share these with parents.) This is your ‘intent.’
      • Follow through on your plans. (This is your ‘implementation’ stage.) After you’ve been doing your plans for a while, check that your plans are having an effect. (What has been their ‘impact’?) Has the child started to catch up? Have you broadened their cultural capital from when they started with you?

      You may also find these resources helpful:

      Childminding Best Practice Club

      One way of making sure children are exposed to plenty of new ideas and concepts is by planning around themes. Childminding Best Practice Club members receive a monthly ‘toolkit’ containing loads of planning, crafts, activities and colouring sheets all around a different theme each month. To find out more see the information page here:

      Expand children’s learning with the Childminding best practice club

      Super Summative Assessment and Gap Tracker Kit

      This kit will help you recognise any gaps in children’s learning and also contains all the tools you need to sum up a child’s development and achievements, right from when a child starts with you, all the way until they leave to go to nursery or school. From ‘All about Me’ forms, starting points, transition and report templates as well as sample reports, tips and of course a gap tracker for when you need it.

      Super Summative assessment kit

      Characteristics of Effective Learning

      characteristics of effective learning for childminders

      Confused by the Characteristics? This pack can help. It contains information about the Characteristics of Effective Learning, broken down in a way that is easy to absorb, as well as business tools, printable posters and activities

      CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEARNING PACK

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      Jennifer Business tips for childminders, Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL), Marketing

      The Great Christmas Card Debate: how much help should you give childminded children on their Christmas cards?

      Last reviews 05/12/2022

      calendar by 3 year old

      I’m NOT going to do handprints again for my childminding Christmas present, I said firmly to myself as I stared at the blank calendar template. Because everybody knows that handprints aren’t really the children’s work. Ofsted would scoff and tut. Other childminders will criticise me when I post the photo of two cute little handprints pressed in place by ME, not them. So this year I’m going to let the children do it.

      So instead I asked the three year olds to draw a picture of their families to give to their parents as a “special Christmas present”. This is what one of them did:

      He spent AGES doing it so his mummy would love it. I should have been delighted. Instead I looked at it and my heart sank. Why oh why did I leave out the BLACK pen?  He always goes for the black. What on earth had I been thinking? In fact, why didn’t I just do red and green handprints with glitter and that lovely poem about growing up that makes all parents mist up every time they read it?

       

      I hadn’t thought about the PURPOSE of my Christmas gift

      The problem was that I’d read too many articles on social media criticizing hand prints and I hadn’t properly considered what I was trying to accomplish from my Christmas calendars. The question of how much help you should give children on their Christmas cards gets very heated debate on social media every single year. How do you feel?

       

      Christmas card quiz: How much help should you give childminded children on their Christmas cards?

      A: NONE. All art work sent home from my setting is child-initiated and open-ended including their Christmas cards. The parents want to see their child’s work, not mine.

      B: SOME. At Christmas I like to send something home that’s a little more special than our normal artwork. I copy ideas from social media and magazines and help the children to reproduce it the best they can.

      C: I DO IT FOR THEM: I like to send home a perfect footprint in clay or a handprint picture that his parents will bring out year after year at Christmas to remember when he was small. Parents don’t have time to do these things themselves. It’s also a special thank you gift for their business that’s from me as well as their child.

      You probably have a pretty strong opinion along one of those lines of thought. But before you judge yourself and your own choices (or those of others) too strongly, remember that ALL three of those answers are perfectly valid reasons for Christmas projects. It just depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

      So instead of saying things MUST be done a certain way, let’s turn the question around and ask a much more important question instead:

      What are you trying to ACHIEVE from your Christmas art project?

      I want to make a really special gift for the parents

      If this is your goal, then it is worth spending a bit of time researching and preparing a nice idea. Hand prints and foot print projects on ceramic tiles will last forever and will be brought out by parents year after year. If you don’t have the budget for that, then there are lots of lovely handprint on paper designs that will also work well. If you laminate them, they will last in the attic and the parents will remember their child (and you) fondly each Christmas they take it out far into the future.

       

      I want to promote my childminding business

      If you want to promote your business, instead of a card, make a calendar and spend some time making it special so that the parents will put it up on their fridge for the whole year. I would recommend a picture that isn’t in Christmas colours if you are doing a calendar, because red and green glitter will look out of place in May and the parents might just take it down. Take some time to think about a really nice design that the parents will want to look at all year round, and help the children so the design is eye catching. This will remind the parents what a great childminder they chose for their child each time they look at the calendar on their fridge.

       

      I want to impress Ofsted

      The day you are being inspected is probably not the day to create your special gift for parents to treasure, or your calendar that will promote your childminding business. In general, I would recommend that you stay away from handprint art during your inspection because unless you’re really good at explaining the purpose of your handprint project (for example, you are doing a learning activity on counting to five, or are teaching children how to use scissors etc.) then, in general, hand print activities that require you to press the child’s hand into place and then to cut around the child’s hand, will not impress the Ofsted inspector. Time and again you hear of people being marked down at inspections for making the wrong sort of art project.  This is not to say you should never do handprint art or display hand print art for the Ofsted inspector. Just make sure that you can explain the purpose behind your project.

       

      I want to promote a specific area of learning and the Characteristic of Effective Learning: Active Learning

      snowman craft for childminders done by 2 year old

      Lots of art projects you do with childminded children are ones where you set out purposely to make a specific project that you ultimately hope will at least vaguely resemble the model or idea you are copying. This snowman is an example from my EYFS Art Project CD where the point of the project is to teach the children about sizes and placement. They are asked to put the large circle at the bottom and the small circle on the top. This is quite a challenge for many EYFS children to understand the vocabulary and the concept of sizes. I also expected the children to sit still and concentrate long enough to finish the project they had started. WITH MY HELP, the two and half year old was able to produce this lovely snowman that she then felt very proud of. Without my guidance, she would probably have placed all three circles on top of each other and the buttons straight into her mouth!  This would make an ideal project to send home to the parents if you want your present to highlight the focus on teaching and learning in your setting.

       

      I want to show parents that everything we do here is child-led, promotes creativity and the Characteristic of Effective Learning: creating and thinking critically.

      This is a perfectly valid reason to put out a tray of glitter and paint and glue and hope for the best. Don’t tut!  Leaving children to do free play with these items could produce a masterpiece more beautiful than any idea you have copied for them off of Pinterest or Facebook and is a very important aspect of learning. Setting children loose to simply play with the art materials, exploring them for their own sake helps to build their creativity. It also helps them to explore their own ideas, to make links between ideas, to have their own ideas and to choose the best way to do something which promotes the COEL. However, it could also produce a piece of brown-smeared paper and a toddler wearing a bowl of glitter as a hat!

       

      So looking back at my calendar family portrait again, if I’d gone into it with the right purpose in mind, it would have been perfect. It was a lovely project that focussed on Active Learning and exploring families. It just wasn’t what I felt was important at Christmas which is why I’d ended up feeling disappointed with it.

      Don’t let this happen to you!

      Whatever you decide for Christmas this year don’t let people on social media bully you into doing things their way. What you send home at Christmas is based on what you are trying to achieve from the project. Take a moment to consider the purpose behind your Christmas art projects so that YOU get the result you are aiming for.

      Do you want to improve your understanding of the Characteristics of Effective Learning?

      For help putting the Characteristics of Effective Learning into practice including tools, activity ideas, certificates you can give to children, poster and display ideas, CPD worksheets for your setting, examples for your SEF and a setting checklist for the COEL, check out the Kids To Go Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack for childminders.

      About Kids To Go

      Kids To Go was established in 2008. Products include the Ultimate Childminding Checklist, and best practice resources promoting diversity and childminding in the great outdoors (Forest Childcare).

      www.kidstogo.co.uk

      Jennifer Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL)

      10 Ways for Childminders to put the Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL) into Practice

      Understanding the COEL is vital for every childminder. Not only will you be expected to know this information during your Ofsted inspection, it is also a huge benefit to the children you look after if you can help them to acquire the skills in the Early Years that they will need to help them to succeed in school and become learners for life. Here are ten ways childminders can put the COEL into practice.

      1. Help children to learn from mistakes, bounce back and try again

      Many children (and adults) are afraid of failure. Many parents are so afraid of failure that they never give their child a chance to fail at a task. At the first sign of difficulty they jump in to rescue their child, to finish the art project for them, to lift them up onto the climbing frame. They are afraid to let their child ‘fail’ or ‘fall’ and in doing so, continually give their child the message that they can’t really be expected to do things by themselves and that if they fail or fall, that would be a terrible thing instead of a normal and positive part of growing up. Childminders can help children learn to embrace failure as something normal when learning new things. To learn from failure instead of being afraid of it and to find new ways to approach a task until they succeed.

      2. Encourage children to try new things with a ‘can do’ attitude

      playing and exploring for childminders
      A small boy climbing a tree

      Childminders can encourage children to have a can do attitude about trying new things by praising the ‘process’ rather than the end result. It is more important to encourage the child who is attempting to use scissors for the first time and praise the child who is trying to go across the monkey bars, than to display perfect artwork or cheer the child only once she makes it across the monkey bars.

      3. Make children believe that the harder they work, the better they’ll get at the things they do

      Hard work should always be rewarded with praise and attention. There are few things that will help children to do well in school as much as a belief in themselves that if they work at something they will ultimately achieve it. I like to put up displays that show the children improving at tasks over time to remind them that success takes time.

      4. Reward children who never give up

      Give children time to persist at a task that they find challenging so that they can feel the satisfaction of meeting the goals they set for themselves. Make the point of telling parents at collection time what the child was trying, not just what the child succeeded at especially if the task was a challenge for the child.

      5. Teach children to love learning

      active learning for childminders
      Concentrating on the balls

      Make it clear to children that ultimately you don’t know all that much. That it’s a big, complicated world and no one person is expected to know the answers to everything. Show them how you look up answers to things you don’t know in books and online.  As a childminder, a great way to promote learning is to explore themes with the children, especially themes you may not know much about yourself.

      6. Help children to concentrate

      Encouraging children to sit still and concentrate on tasks (sometimes ones that are not of their own choosing) is wonderful preparation for school. When a child arrives at school he can either count up to ten blocks, or he can’t. He can either write his name, or he can’t. Those tasks can be taught to him by his teachers. However, he will find any task he has to learn easier if he can make himself concentrate. Encourage and praise children who are concentrating on tasks they have chosen for themselves. And expect all children to join in with structured activities you have set up for them so they can practice and improve their concentration skills.

      7. Encourage children to keep on trying when challenges occur

      characteristics of effective learning certificate
      A special certificate for trying

      Successful people don’t give up when challenges occur. They try a different approach to solve the problem. They motivate themselves to get through little setbacks and keep going. You can help children to develop this trait by praising them for keeping on trying at activities, whether or not they succeed at what they were attempting.

      8. Teach children to think their way through problems

      One of the best ways to teach children to think is to model how you think through things you don’t know and show them how you find the answers. Don’t be afraid to show children that you don’t always get things right first time and sometimes need to take a different approach to learn the answer.

      9. Support children to ask questions and think about our world

      Children asks lots and lots of questions. Always respect these questions and never give the idea that a child’s question is silly. If they feel they can take a risk by asking questions and that their questions aren’t judged in any way, they will grow to believe that asking questions is the key to unlocking their education.

      10. Help children to make links and notice patterns in their experience

      creating and thinking critically for childminders
      Building a tower

      All children need to be able to think and solve problems if they are going to do well in school and life. Thinking up ideas, making links between things, finding out how things are ordered and grouped together, and finding ways to solve problems is what an awful lot of education is about. In the Early Years you can help to teach children HOW to think. A great way to do this is by playing with construction toys, doing cooking projects and by taking regular trips to the same outdoor places.

      Do you want to improve your understanding of the Characteristics of Effective Learning?

      characteristics of effective learning for childminders

      For help putting the Characteristics of Effective Learning into practice including tools, activity ideas, certificates you can give to children, poster and display ideas, CPD worksheets for your setting, examples for your SEF and a setting checklist for the COEL, check out the Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack.

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