Parent Advice Feed
Storytelling Enchantment
Storytelling - Embark on a captivating storytelling journey into the historical origins of fairy and folk tales, discovering their timeless influence on storytelling and sparking early years imagination. From the inception of the UK's first...
Gift Ideas: Easy to Make and Buy
Affordable and Thoughtful Gift Ideas - As the holiday season approaches, our focus naturally shifts towards sharing heartfelt gifts with our loved ones. Considering the persistent cost-of-living challenges, we've curated a selection of simple...
Festive Gardening Fun Ideas
Festive Gardening - As we get into the colder months, let's dive into the wondrous world of gardening with toddlers. Who says the garden is only for summer? Let's debunk that myth and start creating festive memories and connections right in your...
Sensory Needs – What Can I Do?
I’m Jo Grace: a Sensory Needs and Inclusion Specialist and Founder of The Sensory Projects. In this series of 10 articles, I am going to share some of my passion for understanding the sensory world with you and explore sensory needs. The first...
The Signs Of Anxiety In Children
Unmasking Child Anxiety - Childhood, often synonymous with innocence and carefree exploration, is increasingly marred by anxiety - a mental health condition that profoundly affects a child's well-being. With an alarming number of children today...
Managing emotions without losing your cool
We all have them, and we all need to manage them; yet sometimes, they can get the better of all of us. So, what exactly are our emotions all about? And how do we begin managing emotions in the early years? As children grow and navigate their...
Growing Minds: Teaching Children Gardening
In the bustling world of early years parenting, finding activities that engage and educate the little ones can sometimes feel like a challenge. But fear not! Engaging in gardening activities with children can be both educational and incredibly...
Screen Time: Helping Parents Find the Balance
Helping children learn to become independent is an important role for any parent. We all want our children to grow up healthy and happy and not be slaves to their electronic devices. Yet the pull of the latest game or social media chat between...
The Impact of Outdoor Learning in Early Years
In recent years, the importance of outdoor learning within early childhood education has gained widespread recognition. As educators and parents alike seek to provide the best start in life for young children, one approach that has gained...
What does it mean to be a nurturing parent?
Working with the very young, we are continuously aware of the nurturing impact we have on our children’s lives through every environment we facilitate, every experience we offer and every interaction we share. But these effects are just as...
How motivated are your children to learn?
Throughout their early childhood, children are undergoing a dramatic period of mental growth and development. Forming more than 200 trillion brain cell connections (synapses), they have mapped out the structure and workings of their developing...
Home education – what’s it all about?
Navigating the Benefits and Challenges of Home Education Did you know? Billie Eilish, Emma Watson, and Nadia Sawalha all experienced home education? Or that Emma Thompson took her daughter out of formal education because she couldn’t fit in to...
Hellos and goodbyes
There are times in everyone’s life when we need to either welcome new friends and meet new people or say goodbye to the people we already know and love. There are very few people who are with us on our entire life journey. Mostly, we encounter...
Building assertiveness and confidence through play
If you’ve ever sat and watched children play, there will come a time when you may witness a potential conflict between two individuals. It could be a discussion about who plays with the scooter next or whose turn it is on the swing, but sure...
Five tips for setting expectations with children
1 Be clear and consistent Children do well when they have clearly set expectations and structure within their setting. It is therefore vital that the dos and don’ts of their environment are well-defined and easy to understand. Having a...
Emotional Eating: Shaping Food Relationships
Emotional Eating - Why early childhood is an important time for shaping food relationships When it comes to feeding a child, there’s a lot more to it than simply filling them up. Whilst, of course, that is important, many other considerations...
Mental Health – Harnessing Your Senses
I’m Jo Grace: a Sensory Engagement and Inclusion Specialist and Founder of The Sensory Projects. In this series of 10 articles, I am going to share some of my passion for understanding the sensory world with you. In this article, we focus on the...
The impact of ‘taught’ behaviours
Children are remarkable – they are always learning. Even before birth, children can recognise things from the world outside. Babies, only a few hours old, are able to differentiate the sounds of their native language from those of a foreign one,...
Reading the rainbow: how to make the most of LGBTQ+ picture books
Exploring Diversity: Harnessing the Power of LGBTQ+ Picture Books in Early Years Education The recent surge in the publication of LGBTQ+ picture books is incredibly exciting for the early years (EY) sector. Books are a key resource in the...
Physical Development: Promoting Bone Health
and Early childhood is a time which I refer to as a ‘window of opportunity’ for many elements of our future health, including but not limited to physical development. This is the time when we can lay down strong physical development foundations...
Why engage your senses for learning?
You are creating an engaging learning environment, you have a theme, you have keywords or sounds laminated and displayed around the place, there is the opportunity to mark-make provided, and toys are dotted about to support your topic, why think...
Attachment Disorders
Previously, we have looked at attachment disorders and how children whose early lives have been characterised by disruption, abuse and/or neglect that affects their relationship with their primary caregiver in a negative way, may develop a range...
Top tips for the terrific twos – Tip ten: “time and weather”
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...
Brainy Beginnings: Brain Development Secrets
Brain Development - During the early years, children experience rapid growth and development, a large proportion of which occurs within the brain. It takes a lot to build a brain, in fact from birth onwards, there is a phenomenal amount of...
‘Gifted’ and ‘talented’ and sometimes ‘misunderstood’
In England, the Department for Education (DfE) distinguishes between gifted learners and talented children: Gifted learners are those who have particular academic abilities Talented learners are those who have particular abilities in the...
First 1000 Days: Promoting Lifelong Well-Being
There’s significant research to indicate that the first 1000 days (conception to age 2) is a critically-important phase in early childhood, indeed many claim that this time period is where the foundations of early childhood development lie. This...
Top tips for the terrific twos – Tip nine: No!
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...
Top tips for the terrific twos – Tip eight: join them in the overwhelm
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...
Top tips for the terrific twos – Tip seven: overwhelm
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...
Top tips for the terrific twos – Tip six: timing transitions
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...