I love a bit of singing in the Early Years. In fact I love a bit of singing in general! A couple of years ago at my boys school Christmas Carol Concert, during a particularly rousing rendition of ‘Oh, Come All Ye Faithful’, my eldest son turned to me and hissed ‘Pipe down Bublé!’ On the whole, regardless of your ability as a singer children will always join you in a chorus of whatever you fancy warbling. Also, there are some brilliant songs out there (have only just got Cauliflowers Fluffy (Paintbox) out of my head!). When I first became a teacher my wife bought me a guitar, I learned 4 chords over the summer holidays and I have never … Read More
The Awe and Wonder of Light (and Dark).
The Awe and Wonder of Light (and Dark).We talk a lot in the Early Years about the concept of Awe and Wonder. Two fairly small words that promote some huge emotional responses. When words are used a lot, they can sometimes come to lose their meaning and be used in situations that don’t do them justice. But true moments of awe and wonder can have significant impact on children’s engagement with their environment and their potential for learning. Although awe and wonder are similar, they are not the same. We will often talk about being ‘in awe’ of something which means that we recognise its grandeur and see it as greater than us. We might be in awe of someone’s … Read More
Wordless Stories, Transient Tales and Text as a Loose Part
This week the blog has been written for me by Clare Thompson. Clare is an illustrator and visual story teller, and like me, is based up here in the North West of England. She uses a mixture of handmade techniques and digital media to create pieces of art that also translate into picture books for children. You might have seen Clare’s work on my Facebook and Instagram pages as from 2016 she has been working with Naturally Creative Early Years Consultancy and has created books like Junk DNA that I often see popping up in people’s Loose Parts and Transient Art Areas. I have made the images nice and big in the blog this week so that we can really … Read More
Autumn Exploratory Jelly…
It is time to get your Autumn Jelly ingredients ready! If you make some Autumn Jelly, don’t forget to share the results. This is a really simple activity that gives you lots of opportunities to explore many aspects of the EYFS. If you involve the children from the very beginning then not only will they be able to talk about and name the resources that they have collected, they will also be able to explore how the gelatine changes the water from a liquid to a solid. You can talk about how the mixture goes from hot to cold and what the final jelly feels like in their hands. There should be lots of opportunities for a variety of experiences, talking … Read More