This month's classic authors article focuses on the books of Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Have fun reading all the letters in The Jolly Postman and encourage children to compose their own letters, supporting them to create simple sentences and even a Valentine’s Day message.
Chances are your book corner already has at least one title by author and illustrator Anthony Browne. Try these activities to engage children with his themes of family and friendship, and have fun exploring their surreal sense of humour!
Revisit your sand trays with these new ideas to promote concentration, hand-to-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills. Children can also get to grips with how tools can effect changes to materials.
Sunday 20 of January is World Religion Day, which was established to encourage interfaith understanding and mutual tolerance. Here we explore the Jewish festival of Tu B’Shevat.
Game-building activities are a great way to stimulate children’s imagination and develop their creative skills. Karen Hart provides step-by-step guide to making a memory game and building a board game.
Returning to nursery after the festive season can be difficult for both children and parents, but there are a number of strategies that can help make the process easier.
Nick Sharratt is a prolific children’s author and illustrator famous for his rhyming text and colourful illustrations. The following activities use his work to develop children’s communication and language skills.
In this new series on making the most of your outdoor space, Karen Hart suggests foraging for materials to make a woodland sensory play area, building a bug box and making a fun assault course.
Sand tray activities can be a great way to help children achieve personal, social and emotional development goals; for example, by developing sand tray rules together and inventing new games.
How to use simple resources such as fabrics, hats and a basket of natural objects to encourage children to experiment and use their imaginations to create characters and dialogue.
Explore the work of Giles Andreae and tap into rhyme as a source of fun and creativity. Use it to develop early literacy skills, including listening and phonics preparation.
Karen Hart suggests ways to turn old carboard boxes and paper and card into simple models and artworks which will encourage children to explore ideas to do with flight and weightlessness, developing vocabulary along the way.
Claire Hewson focuses on wish fulfilment stories which can help children to learn valuable life lessons, since they always carry a cautionary message. By discussing the stories with children we can help them to explore these ideas in relation to their own lives.
For young children, mathematical learning and development is all about the concepts of quantity, space and distance. At this early stage, the hands on exploration of these concepts is of key importance – and a Tuff Tray makes the perfect resource.
Beanbags are easy for young children to hold, catch and throw. They can be visually pleasing, tactile and can have the added element of weight, smell and sound. Jenni Clarke shares some simple, fun and increasingly challenging physical activities to share with young children.
The creator of Elmer, the famous patchwork elephant, is David McKee, writer and illustrator. Judith Harries looks at how to explore his books which are renowned for tackling issues such as cultural differences, acceptance of others, and how to form positive relationships.
My activity idea is great for covering Physical Development: Health and self-care. I use our much-loved puppet, Bertie, to show children the importance of good hygiene.
When we talk about fine motor skills and coordination, it is often only hand-eye coordination that we consider. However, foot-eye coordination is just as important, says Kathy Brodie.
It is important for parents to find the time to interact directly with their child whenever they can. That means ensuring too many other things do not get in the way, says Annette Rawstrone.
A trip or outing is full of new sights, events and experiences and by photographing them children can make sense of their memories. This also gives the practitioner a unique insight into their thinking.
Challenging play is all about opportunities for extending physical limits and experiencing excitement – along with a little fear and uncertainty. From this children ultimately gain self-esteem and resiliance.
This month Nick Butterworth is in the spotlight. Use his books to support children to make connections with others, learning to share their thoughts and ideas about family and trips out of the setting.
Claire Hewson provides a guide to using Apple’s My story app to enable children to create a book all about themselves. Help them to gain the skills to insert their own drawings, photos and text.
Take time to make a tactile exploration of number. Claire Hewson suggests using petroleum jelly, flour and glitter to make slimy tracings and repeating patterns which children can identify and compare.
Using magnification to observe tiny objects or discover the patterns in larger ones is a fascinating occupation. Use this as a springboard to create miniature artworks which reflect the natural world.