Gruffalo Woodland Walk

This afternoon we all went on a woodland walk at Fermyn Woods.  We met up with Naomi and her nannying children and set off into the trees to find the things on our list.

I made a sheet with pictures of things the children had to find; green leaves, brown leaves, acorns, conkers, a squirrel, a bird, ants, trees, bark, sycamore seeds, pine cones and.... a Gruffalo!

Unfortunately there weren't many signs of autumn at Fermyn this afternoon.  It was very sunny and warm, and all the leaves were still on the trees!  We did see some birds and an eagle flying in the sky and collected a few green leaves. There were no Gruffalos!

After our walk we went to the Tot's Corner where the little ones had some fun on the wooden train and enclosures.

After we'd been in the park for about an hour, the heavens opened and we had to run back to the car!

We had a great time.  I do love Fermyn Woods.  There's so much to do and it was lovely and quiet today, now that the kids have all gone back to school.

This afternoon's activity; Gruffalo Crumble.  Look out for the recipe coming up!

Autumn Theme: The Gruffalo

Our theme this month is...

I am so excited as The Gruffalo is one of my all time favourite childrens books!  I have lots and lots of activities planned, so watch this space!

At circle time today we started off by reading The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.  Looking at the phrase from the story "Who is the scariest creature in the wood?", we spoke about things that make us afraid and why we are scared of them.

The children got out our Gruffalo story sack and did some role play with the puppets. We used a blue cloth for the lake/stream and some boxes for the rocks.We then did a floor puzzle before dinner.

Tomorrow we are off on a woodland walk at Fermyn woods.  I have set out a list of things the children have to find on the walk.  It should be lots of fun!

Check back again tomorrow for some more Gruffalo activities!

Sunflower Seeds

Last weekend we unfortunately had to say goodbye to our sunflowers. With the remaining part of hurricane Katia set to hit the UK, I knew they wouldn't withstand the high winds that were forecast.  The flowers on some of them became so big that the heads were weighing down the plants and some of them were starting to die off.

At the end of our Sunflower competition, the winner was Paul!  His plant reached a record 8 foot tall and the flower measured 39cm in diameter.

We have now cut the plants down and will be making some bird feeders from the seeds. The children have been taking the seeds out of the middle of the flowers and we have saved some ready to sow next year.

Comic Relief

We were very pleased to finally receive our certificate for the money we raised for Comic Relief back in March.  We have it proudly displayed on our noticeboard.

Milk is Cool!

I have recently joined the Cool Milk scheme which entitles all children under the age of five to 189ml of free milk a day.  This is delivered to us fresh 3 days a week.

Providing milk is a great way to support the health and development children in my care. It is one of the few drinks recommended in the latest School Food Trust guidelines on food and drink in early years, so I am pleased to be able to offer this in my setting.

 Milk is an ideal mid-morning drink and is the perfect accompaniment to fruit.  It is excellent for hydration, supporting brain function including concentration, memory and creativity.

The children have been enjoying their milk each snack time.  We were even lucky enough to receive some free Cool Milk cups!

For more information on the benefits of milk, and information on the types of milk that Cool Milk offer please visit www.coolmilk.com

Procedures in the event of a Terrorist Attack or National Disaster

I was hoping to post this evening about the fun we had at the Big Cook Little Cook session today, however I feel this is much more important, and something I need to bring to Parent's attention.

This post is not something I am enjoying writing in the slightest, but I feel that in light of the recent incidents in London, I now feel it is necessary to have a procedure in place on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack or a national disaster:

The care and security I provide to your child is paramount. As an Ofsted Registered Childminder I will do everything within my powers to protect, comfort and support your child in the event of a major incident, National Emergency or Terrorist Attack.

If we are involved or caught up in the incident I will comply fully with the instructions from the emergency services and constantly reassure the children in my care.

If you are caught up in an incident I will continue to look after your child until you are able to return or a person nominated is able to collect them. This can include overnight care if necessary. It may therefore be good practice to provide me with additional supplies of nappies and spare night clothes during times of high alert.

I understand that during major incidents the mobile phone networks are often not available and even landlines can be cancelled to free up communication systems for the emergency services. I will however attempt to contact you on a regular basis and ask that you try to do the same. I will keep up to date on the situation using any media source available to me, radio, television, internet etc. I will endeavour to protect your child from information or images that may alarm or distress them. If you wish we can have a pre-planned excuse that I can use to explain your delay in arriving.

I hope that I never have the need to put this procedure into practice but am happy to discuss with you any aspects of this policy.

Speedy Spaghetti Bolognese

This recipe is ideal for busy mums and childminders and goes a long way... ideal when you have lots of little mouths to feed!  It can be blended for babies and freezes well.  Turkey is low in fat and is a good source of protein.  It provides good amounts of the B vitamins and useful amounts of iron and zinc.

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil
500g turkey mince (preferably free range or organic)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 plump garlic clove, peeled and crushed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 courgette, trimmed and cut into 1cm dice
1 red pepper de-seeded and cut into 1cm dice
2x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
1tsp mixed freeze-dried herbs
Half an organic vegetable stock cube
2tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
Wholewheat spaghetti and fresh basil to serve.

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole dish over a gentle heat.  Add the turkey and cook for 3 minutes, stirring to break up the meat.  Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, courgette and pepper and cook with the mince for 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until all the vegetables are  beginning to soften.
3. Tip the tomatoes into the pan, sprinkle with herbs and add the stock cube.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally  until the vegetables are just cooked and the turkey is tender.
4. Stir in the cornflour mixture and cook for a few seconds until the sauce is thickened.  Serve with freshly cooked wholewheat spaghetti, garnished with basil leaves and a crunchy salad.

TIP

• This bolognese can be served in a variety of ways: spooned into baked potatoes or tossed with gluten-free pasta; enjoyed just as it is with seasonal vegetables; or used as stuffing for baked squash or marrow.

Strawberry Swirls

Today we made Strawberry Swirls from a recipe I got from Creative Steps magazine.  Perfect for afternoon tea, these sweet treats are so easy to make using just 2 ingredients!

To make them you will need:

• Sheets of ready rolled puff pastry
• Strawberry jam
• Baking tray and parchment

1. Take the pastry out of the fridge 10 minutes before you start.  Make sure all little hands are clean, and then on a surface dusted with icing sugar, lay out the pastry rectangle.
2. Spread strawberry jam all over the pastry and then roll up into a long sausage.  Wrap the pastry roll in plastic food wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. When chilled, unwrap the rolls and cut into 1cm slices.  Place on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake for approx. 20 minutes at 200°C, 400°F, gas mark 6.  Dust with icing sugar when cool.

Enjoy!

Ice Cream Parlour Role Play

The children had great fun this afternoon.  I set up a role play area in the garden; an ice cream parlour. We put our new ice cream stand in the window and the children took it in turns to sell the ice creams and be the customer.  It was lovely to hear the children playing and I had a little giggle at their vocabulary as I took observations;

A: "How much are your ice creams?"
L: "Too much"
A "No... how many pounds are they?"

The customers sat out at a little table (a chalk spinner with a tea towel over the top!) and ate their ice creams in the sun.

I have bought some ice cream today in a variety of flavours.  Tomorrow I am going to set up a table and the children will be able to choose real ice creams.  I also bought a variety of different toppings; crackling chocolate sauce, sticky raspberry sauce, sprinkly hundreds and thousands and crunchy wafers.  Not very healthy, but we are allowed a treat once in a while!  After all, it is the summer holidays! I'm sure the children are going to love this activity!

Sunflowers

Our sunflowers are loving all the sun and rain we've had today!  Paul's is currently standing at 2 metres. Lilly's was the first to flower though.  The flower is huge and the hover bees and butterflies love it!

Fermyn Woods Outing

We had a lovely time at Fermyn woods yesterday.  Even though it was a little busy due to the summer holidays.  We didn't have long there as we had to get back for a child who was due to be dropped off at 2pm.  But the hour we had was great fun!

The wooden castle was great fun for the older children, and even some of the 2-3 year olds tried it out!  They loved it!

The bouncy car was great fun and the children took it in turns to be the driver.

The tots area was great fun and we were lucky to have it all to ourselves.  I think the children would have quite happily spent all day in there.  It was good that it it is fenced off to they can't wander off.

It was a shame we didn't have more time here as it is a fantastic country park.  We hope to have many more visits here and will explore the area more next time we go!

Messy Play: Spaghetti

We have been using spaghetti  in our craft activities this week.  Yesterday I tried making Rainbow spaghetti after I saw a great post on the Imagination Tree.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out quite as well as theirs.  My spaghetti didn't go as bright and once mixed together, it all went the same orangey colour and stained our hands.  Maybe I will try draining it and leaving it to dry a bit longer next time.

The kids enjoyed playing with it nethertheless and got stuck in feeling the squidgey, slippery texture.

Today we did some spaghetti painting.  I filled some old takeaway tubs with long cooked spaghetti and mixed each one with a big blob of paint.  Then the children put it onto their card and carefully removed it leaving curly patterns behind.  As with all toddlers, they got carried away with slapping it on and got lovely and messy! In the end the colours all got mixed together and looked like "chocolate noodles"! Don't you just love the things children come out with?



Pepper Printing

Today's planned activity was pepper printing. I thought it would be nice for the children to do it in the garden this afternoon as the sun started to come out.  I got everything set up outside, the children got their shoes on and got stuck in, printing peppers onto card, getting very messy hands in the process. Then all of a sudden it started spitting with rain, but the sun was still out, so we stayed outside.  Then the sun went in and the rain began to get heavier and heavier!  I grabbed a garden umbrella and held it over the children and their paintings which were starting to get wet while Paul ran to get a bowl of soapy water to wash their hands.  We must have looked a picture!  I just hope none of the neighbours were looking at us out of their windows! Unfortunately I didn't catch the rainy moment on camera, but here are some of the children's master pieces!

Dinosaur Small World Play

A number of children have showed an interest in dinosaurs this week, so I set up a small world tray with some sand and rocks that we borrowed from the sensory garden.  We added some trees and dinosaurs and had our own little prehistoric small world activity.  Even the little ones as young as 15 months were growling like dinosaurs!

Seashell Shortbread

The children we care for just love baking and shortbread is a lovely pliable dough that can easily be moulded into different shapes.

To follow on from our Seaside theme, we are making seashell shortbread this week using a cutter I bought recently.  Here is the recipe I have used for years and is very popular with my friends and family. 

100g (4oz) butter, softened
50g (2oz) caster sugar
150g (5oz) plain flour
25g (1oz) semolina
extra caster sugar for dusting

1. Cream butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Using a fork, gradually stir in flour and semolina.
3. Draw mixture together with fingertips.
4. Roll out dough to 1-2cm thickness and cut out using a shaped cutter of your choice.
5. Place on a greased baking sheet or parchment and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the colour of pale straw.

We made the dough using a fork 

The mixture smelt delicious!

Our Seashell Shortbread

I bake shortbread a lot at Christmas time.  Cut into rounds with a hole in the centre, tie ribbon around them and hang them on the Christmas tree.  They never last longer than an hour in our house though!