Play Room
I have a great playroom dedicated to childcare as you will see in my gallery page. There is also plenty of space to sit for meals, homework and arts & craft. I also use my front room for quiet time and activities such as reading, watching TV, napping and rhyme time.
Play Time
I have so many toys for children to play with and the collection continues to grow. I have something for children of all ages. Have a look at my toys list below and the EYFS page to get an idea of the activities I like to do, to aid your child’s development.
Building Blocks – wooden & plastic Lego, Stickle Bricks & Duplo
Plastic Figures – superhero, people, animals & dinosaurs
Happyland village set, Little People – garage, park, fire station & farm, Wooden train track, trains, cars, garage & fire station
Games & puzzles – memory games, board games, jigsaws, puzzles
Dressing up outfits – doctor, nurse, police, fireman, shop owner, teacher, superheroes, fairies book characters, and outfits that will cover families, cultures, events, imagination, etc.
Play Dough, treasure boxes, toy rice/pasta, play sand & slime
Toy Shop, Toy Kitchen, Books for all ages
Arts & Craft
- Card & paper – various colours/textures,
- Paints, pencils, crayons, felt-tips, chalk, brushes,
- Colouring books, felt, stickers, glitter,
- Tissue & crepe paper,
- Plasticine, slime, play dough,
- Pebbles art,
- Paper plates, cups, bottles, items for craft,
- Beads, feathers, pom-poms,
- Puppet making,
- Pipe cleaners, ribbon, card,
- Easel,
- Chalkboard,
- Magnet board,
- Beads, button and jewellery kits for older children,
- Ceramic painting.
Outdoor toys include
- Bikes, scooters, toys cars,
- Climbing frame, Seesaw, Slide,
- Pop up tents, Sandpit & water table,
- Basketball hoop & football net, Playhouse
- Tuff tray for mud play and other sensory activities,
- Lego boxes, Workbench, Dolls prams, and high chair,
- Baby chair, walker and playpen,
- Multicultural dolls
- Musical toys & instruments
Multi Toddler Toys
laptop, camera, pull toys, phonic toys, toys that will cover numbers/alphabet and various rhyme toys
Outdoor Space
I have a huge outdoor space that includes a large flagged area that the children can play on if it’s too wet to go on the grass. This area is secure and gated and safe for your children.
If you’ve ever really watched a child at play outside you’ll see how much more they engage in their play and learning compared to being indoors. Below I’ve shared some of the ways my garden meets the 7 areas of learning and development but this is by no means a comprehensive list and I’m sure I will add more as I think of them.
- Developing gross motor skills – running, climbing, lifting, moving objects
- Understanding safety measures
- Personal hygiene washing hands after we’ve been in the garden
- Awareness of own space and others during play
- Handling garden tools with increasing control
- Learning new words about natural environment such as names of flowers or insects
- Talking with other children, problem solving, playing in a group
- Listening to the sounds in the garden
- Talking about what we can see
- Mark making in sand, mud, water etc
- Making letters using leaves, sticks, stones etc.
- Using books to further research minibeasts or types of plant
- Looking for shapes and patterns in the plants, stones, trees etc.
- Filling, emptying and pouring mud / water / sand
- Exploring natural colours and textures
- Sensory exploration
- Questioning and investigating the natural environment
- Finding out about and identifying living things
- Understanding the changing seasons and weather
Days Out
We have regular trips to parks, museums, the local library, indoor play centers (Antz in your pantz), playgroups and I frequently meet with other childminders, so your children will make new friends too. There are trips to craft centers, farms, shops, rhyme time and I love baking with the children.