October 9, 2025 Jennifer Childminding best practice

2026 Childminding Best Practice Club Toolkit Themes

What are the Childminding Best Practice toolkits?

Part childminding magazine, part activity and resources pack, part training resource the monthly Childminding Best Practice Club toolkits contain something for everyone.

The following will give you a good idea of the main things which will be covered in each toolkit in 2026.

This year I have deliberately not set CPD modules for every month. I have lots of ideas in mind but want to have the flexibility to react to events and provide help when members need it most.

(Please be aware that some themes or content may be subject to change, especially in toolkits published later in the year.)

January 2026

This January Childminding Best Practice Club members will be learning all about ‘Owls‘ with their children. After working for the World Owl Trust for almost ten years this is a topic close to my heart and will be great fun to explore! Children will learn:

What is an owl?
When are owls active?
What do owls eat?
Where do owls live?
Different species of native owl that live in Britain.

Children will also find out about World Braille Day which is on the 4th of January, and a little bit about what it is like for children who are blind or who cannot see very well.

As part of your CPD, this January we will be looking at ‘What is Montessori?’ and how you can successfully incorporate some Montessori inspired methods in your own setting.

February 2026

2026 is the Chinese Year of the Horse and Club members will be joining in with a ‘Chinese New Year‘ theme. Children will:

Explore and learn about some of the things associated with Chinese New Year.
Learn a traditional Chinese New Year nursery rhyme.
Play some Chinese new year shape games.
Chinese New Year messy play!

As well as all the Chinese New Year fun children will learn a special rhyme to help keep them safe on the internet, as part of ‘Safer Internet Day‘ on February the 7th.

Now that the new inspection system is properly up and running the CPD for February will focus on looking at some recent Ofsted inspection recommendations,

March 2026

Spring into March with all things Easter and the Childminding Best Practice Club! This month the toolkit takes on an ‘Easter‘ theme with lots of Easter themed activities crafts and games to help children practice skills like:

Fine motor skills such as threading, drawing and mark making.
Maths skills such as counting and pattern matching.
Creative skills.

March is a very busy month for special celebrations so there will also be activities to help you and your children learn about and celebrate St Patrick’s Day on the 17th of March and Mother’s Day on the the 15th of March.

As well as being a month full of celebrations March is the end of the tax year. With this in mind members will receive CPD with tips and advice about completing their yearly accounts. This is a popular module each year and will be updated with all the necessary 2026 information.

April 2026

St George gallops in on his noble steed to save the day in April! There has never been toolkit fully dedicated to St George’s Day so this year I thought we would change that. Children will learn about the about the story of St George and the dragon, some of the sorts of values St George stands for, and all about being a knight! Activities will include:

Re-enact the story with some St George and the Dragon puppets.
Make a healthy St George’s Day snack.
Make or build a castle fit for a knight!

The 22nd of April is ‘Earth Day‘ so the toolkit will also have a special Earth Day activity to help you and your children mark the occasion, learning about how and why it is important to protect our home – the planet Earth.

The April CPD module will be announced later.

May 2026

As we move properly into Spring, Club members and their children will be learning all about ‘Ladybirds’. Learn all about these cute little garden helpers with activities like:

Ladybird arts and crafts.
Ladybird themed counting games.
Make a ladybird life cycle craft.
Help the ladybirds in your garden by making a special ladybird house.

May the 15th is the International Day of Families. To help you explore the different types of families with your children the toolkit will contain special resources for you to print and use.

The May CPD module will be announced later.

June 2026

This month’s toolkit will appeal to footie fans as we explore a FIFA World Cup theme! Children will learn about some of the countries taking part, have a go at designing their own football kit and practise their own football skills!

June the 8th is World Ocean Day. There will be a special ‘ocean animals’ recycled art activity to help children learn about the importance of looking after our oceans.

The June CPD module will be announced later.

July 2026

Hopefully as the days get longer the sun will put in an appearance when we explore a ‘Light and Shadows‘ topic. My own little ones are always fascinated when they realise they have a shadow so this science based topic will hopefully be a hit! We will look at shadows and silhouettes, have a go at making shadow puppets and create colourful creations for the light to shine through.

The July the United States of America is turning 250 years old! Help mark the occasion by making a special, ‘Happy Birthday America,’ card.

The CPD for July will focus on looking at some more recent Ofsted inspection recommendations.

August 2026

What better way to celebrate Summer than a ‘Sunflowers’ theme? If you intend to grown sunflowers in Summer 2026 this toolkit will be the ideal resource to supplement your children’s learning. Children will do things like:

Explore the parts of a sunflower and learn new vocabulary like ‘stem,’ seed’ and ‘flower.’
Learn about the life cycle of a sunflower – from seed to flower
Learn and practice maths skills with resources like sunflower pattern and symmetry activities and sunflower measuring games and challenges.
Take part in some sunflower themed arts and crafts.

This August learn a traditional Nigerian Folktale about ‘Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky,’ and make some sun and moon crafts to complement the story.

The August CPD module will be announced later.

September 2026

Each year we explore a different ‘traditional tale’ in at least one toolkit. This year we will be looking at the story of ‘The Ugly Duckling.’ Children will learn the basics of the story, taking part in activities and making props to be able to retell the story in their own way. They will learn what a swan is and have a go at a swan craft and will be encouraged to think of the morals of the story – that it is unkind to call people names and that you should value yourself, no matter what you look like.

It is Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th of September. To help you join in with this fun and silly occasion the toolkit will have healthy ‘pirate’ themed snacks for you and the children to make and enjoy.

The September CPD module will be announced later.

October 2026

What combines maths, literacy and Halloween? A ‘Five Little Pumpkins’ themed toolkit of course! Children will explore this fun Halloween rhyme while practising their maths skills with activities and resources like pumpkin puppets to make and use to learn the rhyme, pumpkin based sensory play and craft activities and plenty of pumpkin themed resources to complement your children’s learning.

The 10th of October is World Mental Health Day. This month’s toolkit will have ideas for how you and your children can make special ‘calm’ jars, to help them understand and regulate their emotions.

The October CPD module will be announced later.

November 2026

Nee naw, nee naw! To complement the November 2025 ‘firefighters’ toolkit this November we will be learning all about, ‘People That Help Us – Police.’ Children will learn about what police officers do and how they help us as well as which number to call in an emergency. There will be fun arts and crafts to do and other police themed resources and activities.

November the 11th is Remembrance Day. To help you and your children mark the occasion in a sensitive, child friendly way the toolkit will feature a special child friendly Remembrance Day poem to decorate as part of a special fine motor activity.

The CPD module this November will help you look forward to the next year and create an action plan for 2027.

December 2026

To help you have a calm and successful December this years toolkit will be full of ‘Christmas Presents‘ themed resources and ideas to help children with lots of different areas of learning.

As well as Christmas the Jewish festival of Hanukkah takes place this December. To help you learn about this important Jewish celebration there is a special activity for you and your children to enjoy.

The December CPD module will be announced later.

If you are not already a member you can join the Club now, making sure that you get all of these great Childminding toolkits. When you join you will also receive a special ‘New Members Welcome Pack,’ AND a special Club account entitling you to 25% off any Welly Wren resources you buy during the course of your membership.*

Membership is amazing value at just £35 a year which is less than £3 a toolkit.

JOIN THE cHILDMINDING BEST PRACTICE CLUB TODAY

(*This offer does not apply to Forest Childcare Association Memberships or any Welly Wren bulk buy deals.)

January 6, 2025 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.

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.

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!

If you liked this you might also like:

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.

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

August 15, 2024 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:

Autumn.
Harvest. Harvest festivals tend to be held at the end of Summer/beginning of Autumn and make a fabulous topic to explore with children.
Hedgehogs. These spikey little animals are fun to learn about in the autumn when they are getting ready to hibernate for the winter.
Squirrels – download my free squirrel mini-pack here for lots of ideas.
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.

The Childminding Best Practice Club

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

May 28, 2024October 10, 2024 Jennifer Activities for childminders, Childminding best practice, Planning for childminders

My Childminding Curriculum Part One – Continuous Provision.

I think a lot about the curriculum I am providing my childminding children. As an Ofsted registered childminder I am bound by the statutory learning requirements of the EYFS to offer learning experiences and opportunities under the seven areas of learning. However, I feel it is both my duty and privilege to to explore the world with each individual child I care for, seeing it through their eyes, providing experiences that excite them, truly help them grow and go further than the short descriptions in the EYFS bind us to.

This blog focuses mainly on continuous provision and is the first part of a two blog mini-series. In the next blog I will go into more detail about enhanced provision.

There are some things that all childminding curriculum’s should have in common. The main focus of any early years curriculum should be on skills and knowledge that all humans need. Skills such learning about how people interact socially, the rules that hold society together such as understanding, communicating and cooperating with other people. Children also need to have chance to grow and develop their physical skills, to gain an understanding of their own body, it’s abilities and how to keep it health, both in body and mind. (In the English EYFS these skills are defined under the three prime areas of, communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development.) As well as mastering these essential building blocks of learning isn’t it wonderful to expose children to all the other amazing things our world has to offer? Maths, science, literature, the natural world, different peoples and ways of life, music and art, the list goes on and on.

I do not want anyone reading this blog to think that their curriculum should look exactly like mine, or anyone else’s for that matter. Everyone’s curriculum is going to be different, as an effective early years curriculum should be based around the needs of the individual children in your care. In my setting I use a mixture continuous provision along with supplementary topics or activities to provide children with opportunities to learn core concepts and embed skills and learning as well as explore new ideas and areas of interest.

What is continuous provision and why is it important?

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 learning. This does not mean that you need loads of expensive and specialised resources. You can provide a good range of learning opportunities with a few basics. As well as access for children to move around freely, both inside and outside, my essential ‘continuous provision’ resources always include:

Books. Books are an absolute essential for helping children learn new vocabulary and concepts and enjoy shared reading experiences. A carefully chosen selection of books can help children embed their learning across all areas of your curriculum. I aways include always include books that children love listening to time after time until they know them by heart. Which books I provide depends on the children I have. At the moment I have a mixture of simple board books and classic picture books like, ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea.’ This ensures that all the children have books they enjoy without the need to have out all the books I own.

(For some suggestions about the sorts of books I recommend for very young children read: Eight essential books for childminders of very young children.)

With a small selection of resources, such as these bricks and toy animals arranged as a farm, childminders can cover all the areas of learning.

Simple wooden bricks in different shapes and sizes. These enable children to explore all sorts of mathematical concepts as well as being a useful resource in small world set ups! Building towers of bricks also helps children practice their fine motor control and hand to eye coordination as well as exploring concepts of cause and consequence. (What happens when I knock down this tower?)

Small world animals and people. Small world resources allow children to explore concepts using their imagination. They can be used for retelling stories that you have read to the children or to explore different scenarios that children encounter in real life. Having a selection of different animals and people also helps reinforce vocabulary, for example the names of different farm animals.

A small selection of ‘real world’ role play resources like cups, plates and spoons, along with some toy food. I find as a very rough rule of thumb, that children tend to explore real life scenarios on a real life scale before they start investigating small world toys. Having simple resources like this helps children practise social skills, such as pretending to make or share food, MORE

Musical instruments. These can be used in all sorts of listening and creative activities. (Just maybe keep them out of reach until the neighbours have woken up!)

Nursery rhymes basket. Sharing and learning nursery rhymes is a regular part of our day, helping children with their communication, language and literacy skills. My nursery rhymes basket is full of resources representing different nursery rhymes so that the children can pick their favourites. By choosing a selection of different rhymes you can also cover areas like maths (singing number rhymes) and understanding the world, (Old MacDonald had a Farm.)

Jigsaws. Chosen wisely these are very useful for covering lots of areas of learning. I find jigsaws a great characteristics of effective learning resource as well as helping children explore mathematical concepts such as shape, size and position.

Simple dressing up resources, like shoes, hats and bags with different fastenings. Great for practising fine motor skills and imaginative play as well as exploring what it feels like to be someone else.

Childminding children playing with toy vehicles in the sandpit.

Sand or some sort of ‘scoopable’ sensory material for filling, pouring, transporting, hiding things in and so on. This along with a selection of different containers for filling, posting things into, stacking, etc. These resources help children explore concepts such as how things work, object permanence, capacity, shape, weight and texture.

Mark making materials. I work from my sitting room so these are within sight so that children can easily request them by pointing but not so available that my walls will be ‘accidentally’ coloured in by my very youngest charges. However I have magnetic drawing boards that are available for children to independently access whenever they want.

Because my little cohort is currently very interested in vehicles I always have a selection of toy cars, tractors, etc. If I had a group of children with different interests the vehicles might come out less frequently unless requested by the children.

And finally the most important resource in your setting.

Yourself! Never forget that you are the most important resource your children have at their disposal. It is through your interactions with the children that they are supported to learn more than they would simply left to their own devices with the resources. You are the one that will introduce new vocabulary through having conversations to the children and reading to them. You are the one that will sing the nursery rhymes and teach the children how to count. You are the one that will model interactions and how to behave towards other people. You are the one that understands child development and what children should be striving to do next. You are the one that is there for children when they get overwhelmed and need support to regulate their big emotions. So, be exited. Be curious. Be supportive. Be brilliant!

IDEA: Why not have a ‘continuous provision’ day? Do not provide any additional resources or activities for one day but just concentrate on covering all the areas of learning with the things you always have out. Are there any ways that you can use your resources that you have not thought of before? At the end of the day have a think about whether there is anything you would like to change such as whether you need or want to add to your continuous provision resources.

You may also like this follow up blog on enhanced provision as part of your childminding curriculum:

Childminding curriculum – enhanced provision

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.

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:

Training information about what the three Characteristics of Learning mean to you as a childminder.
Practical information and training activities for you to complete to help you improve how you promote the COEL in your setting.
Lots of activities to promote the COEL to do with the children from birth upwards.
Business tools for childminders.

get Characteristics of effective learning pack designed for childminders

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.

Join the childminding best practice club

October 18, 2023 Jennifer Childminding best practice, Forest Childcare

Forest Childcare – All about Sycamores

Written by guest blogger Ruth Snowden

Sycamore trees are not native to Britain – they originated in mountainous regions in Central Europe and were introduced here, possibly in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. However, there is a carving in Oxford Cathedral, dated 1282, which suggests that they may have been here for a lot longer.

They are very hardy trees, happily growing in exposed places like Sycamore Gap, and close to the sea where salt winds blow. Because of this they were often planted as shelter belts around farmsteads and you can still spot them there today. You will also find them in parkland and fields, where they are widely used to provide shade and protection for livestock. Look for a large, spreading tree, up to 35 metres in height and sometimes wider than it is tall. The bark is smooth grey, gradually cracking to form small irregular plates on the mature tree. The leaves are broad, with five lobes, dark green above and pale below. In autumn they often develop black spots of fungus, but this does not harm the tree.

Sycamores belong to the maple family. The smaller, native, field maple was often used to make harps, and sycamore wood was widely used to make kitchen furniture, bowls, chopping boards, wooden spoons, and other cooking tools. The tree can easily be coppiced – which means it is cut right back and soon grows lots of new shoots and fresh wood.

Sycamore leaves and keys ready for childminding crafts

The much lamented tree at Sycamore Gap was famous all over the world. Another very famous sycamore is the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ tree in Dorset. Beneath this tree a group of disgruntled farm labourers met in 1834, and their discussions led to the formation of what was probably the first agricultural union. They were transported to Australia as a punishment, but were pardoned two years later and offered passage home.

Sycamores spread very easily because they have ingenious winged seeds or ´keys’, which come in pairs. These are blown off the tree by autumn winds and sail far and wide like little helicopters. If you find a sycamore tree the children will need no encouragement on a windy day to run around and try to catch these as they whirl past. According to the the folk lore of my own childhood, there is a bonus too – if you are skilful enough to catch one, you can make a wish. Unfortunately I can’t tell you if this is true or not, because I have forgotten what my childhood wishes were!

When they have worn themselves out with all that excitement and dashing around, get the children to collect some fallen leaves and sycamore keys and bring them home to make a beautiful autumn collage. Or you can turn a leaf upside down, put a sheet of paper over it, and make a leaf rubbing with wax crayons, showing off the pattern of veins.

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:

Baby animals.
Spring life cycles.
Easter
Spring

Some slightly different ideas:

Spring themes for childminders. Spring flowers, primroses

Gardening. Spring is a fantastic time to plant seeds and explore gardening with children.
Frogs. World Frog Day is on the 20^th of March. (Get all you need to explore a fantastic frog topic with the ‘Learn About Frogs Topic Pack.’)
Trees.
Weather. Spring is a time of very changeable weather so is a good time to explore a weather themed topic with children
Mini-beasts.
Spring flowers.
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.’
Watch me grow. As children watch other things like baby animals or flowers growing they may also become interested in how they grow.
Bees. World Bee Day is on the 20^th of May
On the Farm.
Birds.

Diversity ideas for childminders, St David's day

Diversity themes to explore in Spring

St David’s Day 1st of March
May Day
St Patrick’s Day 17th of March
Holi
Mother’s Day
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

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.
Earth Day
World Laughter Day (3^rd May)
Turtles. World Turtle Day on the 23rd of May

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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.

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.

April 1, 2023August 14, 2024 Jennifer Activities for childminders, Childminding best practice

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

garden centres sell lots of vegetables that you can grow with childminding 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.

Spring is a good time to start thinking about which things you might want to have go at growing with your children. We grow a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs with the childminding children every year – all with varying degrees of success. (All of the things I mention here have been grown in a coastal area of northern England where it quite exposed and rains A LOT! I have chosen plants that should do well anywhere, but you may need to experiment a little to find plants that will thrive where you live.)

I never use any pesticides of any sort – I don’t want to risk such nasty chemicals around children, and they are utterly terrible for nature. Therefore all of our produce is shared with the wildlife in our garden – whether they have been invited to or not! Don’t worry too much if you only manage to grow small amounts of wonky veg. The main thing is having a go, having fun and helping the children learn a bit about growing food.

Vegetables

Childminding child helping 'chit' potatoes. Childminding Best Practice poster resource in background.

1.Potatoes. These have to be some of the easiest vegetables to grow as they are not fussy about where they grow. We have grown potatoes in special potato bags, half filled compost bags and even buckets! You can experiment with ‘rooty’ shop bought potatoes but ones that you buy from garden centres are a little better as they are treated to prevent rot, etc. You can usually buy a large bag of these for less than £5 which also makes them very economical.

2. Carrots. We have never had amazing success at growing beautiful large carrots, but we have always managed to grow something. I like to get special seed mixes of multicoloured carrots as the children are always amazed when they pull up orange, yellow, white and purple carrots! Carrots are a bit funny about being handled so I would avoid ready grown seedlings if you are planting with toddlers – they are just too easy to damage! Instead let the children sprinkle seeds on compost in a tub. You can then thin out the seedlings later if you want to. (Especially if you have children like mine that ‘sprinkle’ (aka dump!) all their seeds in one corner leaving the rest of the soil completely bare!) Tip: leave a good couple of inches between the top of the soil and the top of your container. This helps prevent your carrots getting ‘carrot fly’, a kind of pest that will only fly at certain heights meaning leaving a gap hides your carrots from them – weird but true!

3. Peas are fairly easy to grow and come in lots of different varieties. You can buy seedlings or seeds from a garden centre. You can even grow peas using whole dried peas bought from the dried food aisle of the supermarket. (Something I discovered during lockdown when you were not allowed to go out to the garden centre.) Although these do not tend to be as sweet as other varieties this is an excellent way to grow peas on a budget! If you have lots of hungry slugs and snails in your garden wait until your pea plants are a little larger before planting them outside to give them a fighting chance. Peas need plenty of watering to grow nice fat pods, but the children will love picking and eating the sweet raw peas. (Very few of ours actually make inside as they get eaten as soon as they are picked!)

4. Cabbage. If you want to explore the life cycle of the butterfly in a natural ‘free range’ way I recommend planting cabbages! We have grown endless amounts of caterpillars and butterflies this way! However if you fancy your chances at actually being able to eat some of your cabbages I recommend trying the following. These methods are not completely fool (caterpillar) proof but at least you will stand a fighting chance!

Cover your cabbages with very fine butterfly netting (ask at your garden centre or look on-line.) Make sure the netting does not touch the cabbages as butterflies can be very sneaky about laying caterpillar eggs through the netting. Believe me I know. My husband built as a special ‘cabbage cage’ one year which mostly kept the caterpillars off, but I still found chrysalises inside it at the end of the year!
Plant your cabbages really early in the season before butterflies are thinking about waking up.
Employ eagle eyed children to spot the tiny eggs and/or baby caterpillars. These can then be removed and placed on a sacrificial cabbage. (This is the least effective method as you must do it every day.)

Fruit

5. Tomatoes. Living in a northerly exposed sort of place without a greenhouse, tomatoes have been a bit hit or miss for us. However we have had some success by experimenting with different varieties. If like us you do not have somewhere suitable outside you ask at your garden centre, as they should be able to recommend smaller varieties, some of which can be grown on a large windowsill inside. You can also experiment with growing tomato plants by putting a slice from a shop bought tomato onto some compost, covering slightly and keeping watered. You may be surprised how many plants you can grow using this method.

6. Strawberries. These are another relatively bomb proof crop to grow with children. I have never managed to grow plants from seed and this is very fiddly with children involved. Instead buy a selection of different strawberry varieties and let the children plant them in tubs or containers. They are robust plants so will withstand a bit of rough toddler handling. Some of your plants may grow long stems with baby plants on the end. If you want the ‘mother plant’ to have more strawberries you can cut these off, but I tend to shove a couple into soil each year, (leave the stem attached until they are established,) as this is a good way of getting free plants! Talk to the children about how the flowers will turn into strawberries. You can cover your plants with mesh to help prevent birds eating them, but you may have to race other critters such as slugs and snails to your bounty. Get the children in the habit of checking under the leaves to find ripe strawberries every day.

Herbs

7. Rosemary. This is a really good herb to grown with small children as they are robust and happily withstand a bit of toddler handling. They also thrive on a bit of neglect, preferring poor soil. I have a large one growing in a container made from old car tires and smaller ones which grew from cuttings off the original plant.

8. Mint. This is another herb which is usually easy to grow. It comes in lots of different varieties and I have quite a few as they smell so nice when you brush up against them. Look for varieties like peppermint, spearmint, apple-mint, chocolate mint and others. When the leaves grow you can show the children how to pick them and put them in hot water to make mint teas. DO NOT plant directly into soil in your garden unless you want it to take over, keep contained in a pot instead.

Windowsill plants

9. Cress. This is often grown with young children as it grows so quickly, meaning that impatient little ones do not have long to wait until they can see the fruits of their labours. You can plant directly onto a thick sheet of kitchen roll as long as you remember to keep it well watered or make things like decorated cress heads made out of empty eggshells.

10. Salad leaves. You can find seed mixes of salad leaves in lots of garden centres. These can be planted in trays on a sunny windowsill and should provide a good selection of leaves that children can pick to eat with their lunch. Look for cut and come again varieties which will provide a continual supply of leaves.

Whatever you decide to have a go at growing, whether it be potatoes, strawberries or just lots and lots of hungry mini-beasts, have fun!

If you only have a very small space in which to grow you may also like this useful article on Balcony Gardening 101 by Little Green Yard.

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