Jennifer Childminding best practice, Diversity Topics, Themes

25 Childminding Topics to Explore in Winter

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.

  1. Snow, including snowman and snowflakes.
  2. Arctic Animals. Explore the different animals that live in the arctic regions, including snowy owls, arctic foxes, polar bears, seals, whales and penguins.
  3. Ice and Freezing. This is a great science concept to explore in the winter months.
  4. 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.

Sample page from a story on the January Childminding Best Practice Club toolkit January 2025
Rhyming story from one of the Childminding Best Practice Club Toolkits

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.

read more about enhanched provision

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  . . .

continue reading about continous provision

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.

Join the club here to receive a new toolkit every month

    Jennifer Activities for childminders, Childminding best practice, Themes

    25 Childminding Topics to Explore in Autumn

    Are you looking for some ideas to help your planning for Autumn? There are lots of different things you can explore with your early years children at this time of the year that will help your them investigate new ideas and concepts. Here are some ideas:

    Well-loved themes:

    1. Autumn.
    2. Harvest. Harvest festivals tend to be held at the end of Summer/beginning of Autumn and make a fabulous topic to explore with children.
    3. Hedgehogs. These spikey little animals are fun to learn about in the autumn when they are getting ready to hibernate for the winter.
    4. Squirrels – download my free squirrel mini-pack here for lots of ideas.
    5. Nocturnal Animals. As the days start to get shorter in Autumn it is a good time to explore this topic.

    Some slightly different ideas:

    6. All About Me. Lots of children start in new settings in the Autumn so an ‘All About Me’ topic is a good way of helping get to know each other. Use this free downloadable ‘All About Me and You’ playdough activity to get you started.

    7. Fungi. Although you can find lots of different fungi most of the year Autumn is when they really come into their own. Why not take your children on a fungi hunt?

    8. Owls – why not head over to the World Owl Trust (my old workplace!) website for more information about owls.

    9. How about some nursery rhymes or Traditional Tales that tie into an Autumn themed topic such as ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ or ‘The Little Red Hen’?

    10. Hedgerows. Hedgerows can be a fantastic source of biodiversity and can provide plenty of different things to explore – like blackberries and other hedgerow fruits!

    11. Leaves. These are such a fabulous (and free!) resource so make a great theme to explore in Autumn.

    12. Road Safety. This is an important thing to teach children at any time of year but as the nights start to get darker, making it harder to see, it is useful time to reinforce road safety with your children. You can find lots of road safety ideas and resources in the Health and Safety section of the website here.

    13. Apples. Apples are everywhere in the autumn and make a great base to explore lots of different things such as plants and life cycles, baking, painting with apples, trying different types of apples and so on.

    14. Sticks! Another good autumn resource. Explore what you can do with sticks: build a house, draw a picture, play at sword fighting! This topic goes well with Julia Donaldson’s popular story ‘Stickman,’ but there are also other stick themed books that you can explore such as ‘Stick!’ by Irene Dickson, published by the National Trust, which is ideal for younger children.

    15. Weather. This topic can be explored all year round. Autumn weather can be quite changeable, from golden autumn days to wet and windy weather! Explore these changes with your children and talk about what sorts of clothes they need.

    Diversity themes and celebrations to explore in Autumn.

    16. 1st October – World Vegetarian Day. A good time to explore some new recipes with your children and talk about how different people eat different things.

    17. Bonfire Night on the 5th of November each year.

    17. Halloween on the 31st of October each year.

    Simple Remembrance Day craft for childminders

    18. Remembrance Day on the 11th of November each year.

    19. Diwali. The date for this festival moves depending on which year it is but usually falls in either October or November. Find out about this Hindu festival and download a free Diya template here.

    20. St Andrew’s Day. This falls on the 30th of November each year and celebrates the Patron Saint of Scotland.

    Some more unusual (but fun) topics to explore in Autumn:

    21. Pirates. Talk Like a Pirate Day is held on the 19th of September each year so why not join in with a pirate theme!

    22. Space. Space Week is held at the beginning of October each year so why not make it event in your own setting.

    23. Africa. Where do swallows go when they leave at the end of Summer? Investigating this idea with children can lead you into a topic about migration and the continent of Africa where swallows go when it is gets colder here.

    24. Germs and keeping clean! Coughs, colds and other nasties have a habit of spreading more rapidly in the Autumn and Winter months so why not do a germs and keeping clean topic and try and keep them at bay. You can find a handy (pardon the pun!) handwashing song and downloadable poster here.

    25. The International Day of Democracy is held on the 15th of September each year. This is a great time to explore this concept with your children. Find out more about British Values here.

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    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 of . . . click the link below to read more.

    My Childminding Curriculum Part One – Continous curriculum

    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. . . . click the link below to read more.

    My childminding Curriculum part two – enhanced provision

    Products that can help you use themes:

    The Childminding Best Practice Club

    Childminding Best Practice Club Logo

    As a member of the Childminding Best Practice Club you will receive a monthly toolkit containing a wealth of resources designed to make your life easier. Each toolkit has two main sections; a ‘My Learning section with training and CPD and a, ‘My Curriculum section’ with planning, activities, tools, and resources based around a theme. The themes covered in your monthly toolkits have been specially chosen to provide you with a careful balance of themes and will help your children acquire skills and knowledge across a range of subjects and learning areas.

    Find out more about the childminding best practice club

    Jennifer Childminding best practice, Themes

    My Childminding Curriculum Part Two – Enhanced Provision

    ‘To heighten or intensify or improve something of already good quality.‘ (Oxford Dictionary definition of the word enhance.)

    In my last blog about childminding curriculums I wrote about continuous curriculum – the kind of things that you continually provide day in day out for the children you care for. Although children can learn an awful lot through your everyday continuous provision and by following their interests, there are some things which do not naturally come up through day to day play. There are also those children who have a very strong interest in one particular activity who may not stray from it if not gently encouraged. Yes, it is important to value children’s interests but is is also part of our job to expand their learning by introducing ideas, concepts and vocabulary that they may not yet have encountered.

    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.

    Extending an interest and adding challenge

    Enhanced provision can be things you add to your continuous provision to make it more challenging for the children. For example, I like to add different resources to my sandpit such as toy treasure or ‘dinosaur bones’ for children to discover. I rotate different sorts of loose parts with my playdough and add different materials to complement my building blocks to encourage children to try something new.

    Extend your children's interests by adding extra things to your continuous curriculum resources.
    Expanding an interest by adding chickpeas to a farm small world set.

    If these enhancements prove popular and the children continue to benefit from them you can add them to your continuous provision (I have troll figure from a Billy Goats Gruff kit which has made it’s way into permanent use,) but I find it beneficial to rotate the extra things I provide. It keeps things fresh and interesting for the children and helps prevent boredom.

    Introducing something completely new

    As well as extending on a existing interest I use my extended provision to introduce new ideas and concepts to the children. This is why I think exploring different themes or concepts with your children is important. It is also great fun and I find one of the perks of being a childminder is being able to explore things in this way with children.

    Exploring themes, such as this frog theme, with children, helps them learn new ideas, concepts and vocabulary.

    The theme or concepts I chose can vary according to the children I have and things like their ages and backgrounds. For very young children, exploring and helping them understand different concepts is really useful. For example, knowing the differences between hot and cold and the words to describe them correctly. These things might seem obvious to you but do your children really understand this concept? Or, do they still get muddled, doing things like describing cold things as ‘hot’ because they associate that word with describing temperatures? (Careful observations can help you uncover misconceptions such as these.)

    For slightly older children exploring a theme can be useful. This may sometimes be as an extension of a concept they have previously tackled, for example, exploring the idea of melting and freezing after learning about the concept of hot and cold. Themes can help children learn new ideas and vocabulary, expand their cultural capital and maybe introduce them to a new passion! For example, I recently discovered my vehicle obsessed child also loves volcanoes, something I would never have found out if I didn’t do themes.

    You do not need to provide themed or concept based activities every day, (or even every week if your children are very young.) Themes do not have to be all encompassing, creating lots of extra work doing things like redecorating or redoing all your displays every time your start a new theme.

    Some themes and concepts can be combined to suit different aged children at the same time. For example a melting and freezing concept combined with a sea creatures theme.

    When planning any additional themes or concepts think about the following:

    • What do you want children to learn or gain from your theme or concept? Try and be quite specific about what you want them to learn as this will make planning your activities easier. For example, when planning a road safety theme you might want children to learn to stop, look and listen when crossing the road as well as some of the safe places to cross. There may be different ways you help them learn this, such as outings, games or role play but your intent remains the same. (If you use the Toolkit themes this has all been done for you.)
    • Are there any areas of learning that you think children need more support with? For example, if all of your children appear to be struggling with a particular area of learning it may be because you need to plan more input for that area across your whole setting. Using themes and concepts is a good way to help you and the children focus on this area of learning in a fun way.
    • Are there any areas of learning that you need to cover with the children that you will not cover otherwise. For example, a theme about cleaning your teeth and visiting the dentist.
    • What are your children’s interests and how can you extend these using a theme OR challenge the children to try something completely new and different!
    • What are your own personal values and what is the ethos of your setting? You may want to have a very strong focus on outdoor learning, for example, meaning that the majority of your themes might be nature based or concerned with things like plants, animals or growing food. As long as you cover all the areas of learning I recommend being true to yourself and the sort of setting you want to run.

    Make sure you use a range of themes across the year to provide a balance. Try to include the following:

    • STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) based themes.
    • Arts based themes.
    • Diversity and British Values based themes.
    • Literacy based themes.
    • Health and self care based themes.
    • Maths based themes.

    Remember: Exploring themes or concepts are best used to enhance and extend the learning opportunities you offer children in addition to your day to day continuous provision, not replace it. Enhanced provision is there to enhance what you offer.

    Please use the comments below to share your thoughts. How do you enhance what you offer on a day to day basis? Have you got any ideas for exciting themes or concepts to explore?

    You may also like:

    My Childminding Curriculum Part One – Continuous Provision.

    ‘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 . . .’

    Read more

    Childminding Best Practice Club

    Childminding Best Practice Club Logo

    As a member of the Childminding Best Practice Club you will receive a monthly toolkit containing a wealth of resources designed to make your life easier. Each toolkit has two main sections; a ‘My Learning section with training and CPD and a, ‘My Curriculum section’ with planning, activities, tools, and resources based around a theme. The themes covered in your monthly toolkits have been specially chosen to provide you with a careful balance of themes and will help your children acquire skills and knowledge across a range of subjects and learning areas.

    find out more about the club
    Jennifer Activities for childminders, Childminding best practice, Diversity Topics, Themes

    25 Childminding topics to explore in Spring

    Spring topics for childminders. Baby animals.

    One good way of using topics to plan your work is to plan topics that help reflect the changing of the seasons. Are you looking for some good topics to explore with children in Spring? Here are some ideas:

    Well-loved themes:

    1. Baby animals.
    2. Spring life cycles.
    3. Easter
    4. Spring

    Some slightly different ideas:

    Spring themes for childminders. Spring flowers, primroses
    1. Gardening. Spring is a fantastic time to plant seeds and explore gardening with children.
    2. Frogs. World Frog Day is on the 20th of March. (Get all you need to explore a fantastic frog topic with the ‘Learn About Frogs Topic Pack.’)
    3. Trees.
    4. Weather. Spring is a time of very changeable weather so is a good time to explore a weather themed topic with children
    5. Mini-beasts.
    6. Spring flowers.
    7. How about some nursery rhymes that tie in nicely with a Spring topic, like ‘5 Speckled Frogs’ ‘Mary had a little lamb,’ ‘Little Bo Peep’ or ‘5 Little Ducks.’
    8. Watch me grow. As children watch other things like baby animals or flowers growing they may also become interested in how they grow.
    9. Bees. World Bee Day is on the 20th of May
    10. On the Farm.
    11. Birds.
    Diversity ideas for childminders, St David's day

    Diversity themes to explore in Spring

    1. St David’s Day 1st of March
    2. May Day
    3. St Patrick’s Day 17th of March
    4. Holi
    5. Mother’s Day
    6. St George’s Day. The patron saint of England has a special day on the 23rd of April

    Some more unusual (but fun) themes to explore in Spring

    1. Washing. Spring cleaning anyone? Children can have lots of fun with soapy bubbles washing toys and themselves! A good topic to help enforce good hygiene practices in your children.
    2. Earth Day
    3. World Laughter Day (3rd May)
    4. Turtles. World Turtle Day on the 23rd of May

    If you liked this you might also like:

    Childminding Best Practice Club

    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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    Good (and terrible) ways to use themes

    When planning your curriculum it is important to think about how you are going to introduce children to new ideas and experiences. Using themes or topics is one good way to help you do this.

    Read more

    10 Easy Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs for Childminders to grow with Children

    Growing edible produce with children is a fantastic way to help them learn about all sorts of things, from life cycles to how food is grown, to healthy eating.

    Read more
    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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