Themes are a great way of enhancing your everyday curriculum and introducing children to new ideas and concepts. Here are some ideas to help inspire you!
Well Loved Themes.
- Snow, including snowman and snowflakes.
- Arctic Animals. Explore the different animals that live in the arctic regions, including snowy owls, arctic foxes, polar bears, seals, whales and penguins.
- Ice and Freezing. This is a great science concept to explore in the winter months.
- Winter clothes. Provide hats, scarves, mittens and gloves in the dressing up box for children to practice putting on and taking off.
Some different ideas
5. Keeping warm. This is a nice investigative concept to explore with the children. Ask them how do we keep warm in the winter? (Wrapping up warm, eating warm food like soup.) How do animals keep warm in the winter? (Growing thick fur, cosy nests and so on.)
6. ‘Nail/Stone Soup’ Traditional Tale. Winter is a good time to share cosy traditional tales and what better tale then one about making cosy and warming soup! You can make soup yourselves to go with the story.
7. Baking. Keep cosy and bake biscuits, cakes and bread.
8. Space. The darker winter months are ideal for exploring a space theme as it is more likely you will have the children when it is dark so they can look for the moon and the stars.
9. Nocturnal Animals. If you are lucky you might here an owl at the end of the day while it is still dark. Which sorts of other animals are active in the dark?
10. Animals that hibernate. British animals like squirrels and hedgehogs hibernate in the winter. the 21st of January is Red Squirrel Appreciation day which is a nice event to tie in with this theme. (Find a free squirrel activity pack here.)
11. Polar Bears. Learn about these magnificent animals on the 27th of February which is International Polar Bear Day. (Download a polar bear template here.)
12. Light and Dark. Make the darker days feel cosy by decorating with fairy lights and experimenting with torches.
13. Shadows. When the sun is low in the winter children may notice their long tall shadows. This can be a fun mini science topic to explore with your children.
14. Looking after your teeth. January, when everyone is making New Year’s resolutions, is a good time to explore keeping healthy themes such as oral health.
15. Winter Sports. Learn about ice-skating, skiing and sledging! If it is a Olympic year this topic is an even better one to explore.
16. Garden birds in Winter. Learn about which birds can you see in the garden in the winter. Make bird feeders and learn how to help birds when there is less for them to eat.
17. Evergreen trees. Go for nature walks and try and find some evergreen trees. Talk about how they are different from deciduous trees that lose their leaves in winter. Make crafts with pine cones. (Make the most of your outdoor outings and receive lots more outdoor activity ideas by joining the Forest Childcare Association.)
Diversity themes to explore in Winter:
18. Christmas
19. Hanukkah
20. Burns Night (25th of January) (Find out about Burns Night here.)
21. Chinese New Year (Explore Lunar New Year ideas here.)
22. Valentine’s Day (14th of February)
Some more unusual Ideas to explore in Winter
23. What it is like to be blind. This is not necessarily the first thing you think of when thinking of winter themes but World Braille day is on the 4th of January which makes it a good time to explore this concept with children.
24. People That Help Us. Mountain Rescue. Winter is a busy time for Mountain Rescue teams. Find out about this volunteer emergency service. This is a great topic for any childminders who live near fells of mountains!
25. Kites. International Kite Day is held on the 14th of January every year. Why not join in with some kite themed crafts, or even have a go at making or flying your own kites!
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Enhanced provision
In order to offer your children the best learning opportunities it is important to provide opportunities over and above what you provide as part of your continuous curriculum. This is especially important for children from deprived backgrounds who may not have access to these sorts of opportunities outside your setting.
The Role of Continuous Provision in Childminding Curriculums
Continuous provision is all the resources and activities that you continue to provide on a daily basis. In a small early years setting such as a childminders this may look slightly different depending on your children and the sorts of needs they have, but in general your continuous provision should cover opportunities for the children to work on skills and learning across all the areas . . .
Childminding Best Practice Club
Join the Childminding Best Practice Club and receive a monthly toolkit containing lots of resources to help you develop your curriculum.
Each toolkit contains lots of different activity ideas with full instructions and printable templates and/or resources where required. The activities vary, from craft activities to tuff tray inspiration ideas, games and songs and more. Also included in each toolkit is planning and assessment resources to help you provide suitable activities at the right level and monitor what each child get from the activities and theme.
Each toolkit also contain an interesting and useful CPD module to help you develop and refine your practice.
