Lucy Wayland Registered Childminder

All about me week, we've had fun exploring our unique features, measuring ourselves, how we all differ and how other people differ. Here's a picture we made from our different hands.

https://www.facebook.com/share/Lh8BbXTjw5Cmt1EV/

Surrey beauty spots hosting free outdoor theatre shows ideal for kids

Healthy Start Information - Free fruit/veg/baby milk and vitamins available for pregnant women and children under 4 for those eligible see fil:///C:/Users/lucyj/OneDrive/Desktop/Childminding%202021%202022/Parents%20info%20sheets/NHS%20Healthy%20Start%20-%20Get%20help%20to%20buy%20food%20and%20milk%20-%20leaflet.pdf

This week we've been looking at the new year, what it means, new beginnings and to finish off, today we were looking at the numbers that make up 2024. We used our fingers to decorate the new year with 'fairy lights'

Many hands and feet decorating the tree at the Horley Methodist Christmas tree festival

MEASLES IMPORTANT INFORMATION.....The UK health security agency have asked all children's settings to inform parents that they are concerned about a low uptake of the MMR vaccine. Please see information below and follow this link for more information on measles https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/

The number of young people
catching measles has risen. It’s
never too late to be vaccinated.
You need two doses of MMR
one month apart to be fully
protected against measles,
mumps and rubella.
It’s time to make measles a disease
of the past.
If you have symptoms of measles,
stay at home and phone your
GP or NHS 111 for advice. STAY
AWAY from GP surgeries and A&E
departments – you could spread the
illness to others.
the safest way to protect your child
For more information contact your local
GP surgery or visit: www.nhs.uk/mmr
M

Measles Find out about measles, a highly infectious viral illness that can be very unpleasant and sometimes lead to serious complications.

CHILDREN IN NEED WEEK . ...we had fun talking about diversity, the differences we have between us and how children in need (& pudsey bear) help children who may need some extra help. We set up our 'cake shop' decorated the table with 'spots' and pictures then set about making cakes to sell. Not sure if they had more fun making the cakes, eating them or selling them to parents.......BUT thanks to the generosity of our amazing families we raised £80.25 !!

Sleep is vital for every child's development- here are some excellent resources ro help families establish a good night's sleep for all.....

Sleep :: Children and Family Health Surrey If your child or young person is struggling to sleep it can be exhausting for them and for the whole family. More than half of all children may have difficulties settling or sleeping at some point in childhood.

Halloween is approaching bring on the 'Slimed spiders' we went hunting for spiders in the slime (lime jelly) who would dare touch the slime first and how many spiders could we count ?? later on we visited a store to see the Halloween decorations 🎃

Might be useful to some......

So, this week was all about weddings (one of our parents tied the knot today) we've talked about the traditions, superstitions, symbols, roles and (of course) love ! The children chose to make a cake as a present which turned out amazingly well. We decorated the box with our colourings (please note some amazing drawings of bride & groom inside the hearts on box) . Love is definitely in the air !!!

This week's messy play was gloop, one of my personal favourites! The children were in awe of its magical qualities and later decided to make pancakes with it.

A large cardboard box was also the source of great fun as they Initially used it as a den and later decided it was a giant drum - we had a full band of drummers !!!

A great resource to help improve healthy eating for children https://healthysteps.betterhealth-healthierfamilies.co.uk/signup/orgfb?fbclid=IwAR384__Q3qkdm7Yllzf0VMXgFOUnnz9aEEr2kvQ-bAh-0VdcuaAuKG50r-c

Healthy Steps - Step this way.

We've had a great Easter Holidays - everyone got very excited on the easter egg hunt and burnt off some of the chocolate running around the green finding them, we've designed our own eggs on paper, made bunny masks, looked at signs of spring out and about and visited Ifield mill pond to see the ducks and geese - one of which was sitting on her eggs which was lovely to see !

Next week we will be getting ready for St Georges day - looking at Knights, castles, dragons, St George himself and talk about England and our traditions/values. If anyone has any spare cardboard boxes or spare thick cardboard (ie amazon boxes etc) could we please have them to make castles, swords and shields out of please. We are also hoping to go looking for tadpoles and talk about how they grow into frogs.

Well with just one week left of term, I thought it would be good to look back at the activities we have enjoyed over the last few months....

We've seen some fabulous fine motor skills planting seeds and pom pom painting - great for strengthening little fingers to prepare them for writting.

Babies have enjoyed sensory exploration with the bubble fish tube in our cosy corner.

We made the most of the snow making up our own story about them "the curious tale of the snowman, the poodle and the blob" (which was very funny)

Celebrated St. Davids day by making our own dragon masks

Got imaginative and talked about our own unique likes and dislikes with our pancake silly faces activity. Practiced our cutting skills whilst preparing our own pancake toppings

Used the RSPB birdwatch to take a closer look at nature, how we can help them and making bird feeders.

So as we approach the last week of term, and as not all children will be here the following week we are planning lots of easter activities over the next 2 weeks from easter egg hunts, painting and sticking hatching chicks, decorating easter biscuits, matching number games with eggs, making easter baskets, easter letter phonics search. We are also going to fit in some sewing seeds (for those that have not already done so) and preparing the vegetable plots for planting. That's a lot to fit in and we will try to ensure as many children do as many activities as they can !!!

Next week is Autism Acceptance week and here is a fabulous resource explaining the numerous different challenges autistic children do and do not have. I have attached screenshots in case the link does not work. https://images.twinkl.co.uk/tw1n/image/private/t_630_eco/image_repo/e2/4d/t-s-1631092876-understanding-the-autism-spectrum-staff-cpd_ver_2.webp

A new leaflet is available to help parents find the right help when children are unwell.

Children and young people - ICS Within Surrey Heartlands we aim to achieve sustainable, high quality physical and mental health care for women and children that is responsive to diverse local need and affordable to the system. This will be achieved through working better together with children and their families across the organis...

What a great first week back !! We've loved hearing about their Christmas celebrations and presents from santa. The children have loved exploring shapes and colours and are now using several colour names. We've seen some great artwork too ! We continue to have a strong focus this term on communication so please don't forget to send in show and tell items or send me photos to talk about with your little ones. Have a great weekend

We have our very own postbox if anyone needs to post Christmas cards to their friends here. Our in-house team of little posties are not on strike !!

With many germs qoing around, thought this might be a useful reference

Well, we put up our Christmas tree today with all the lovely decorations the children made. All the trees looked lovely and it's very Christmasy there- If your visiting its next to the front right pew

Fireworks and Rememberance - Last week we were busy making firework pictures using scourers as paint stamps and finger painting poppies (one child blew me away with their amazing fingerprint pattern) We also began making our guy fawkes which proved to be a great sensory experience playing with the hay and stuffing the clothes.

What a busy few weeks, collecting and painting with conkers, pumpkin hunting at priory farm, getting messy carving them, painting paper pumpkins and making papier mache ones. Our house is looking very orange right now!

Well my house is definitely messy on work days, most children go home grubby and I also probably look a mess too so I totally love this poster 🤣🤣