‘Necessity is the mother of invention‘ Plato I’ve been on the lookout for a suitable lot of wood for making a mud kitchen for the boys to play with. I had been hoping to come upon a spare pallet or find something fitting in the wood pile. Alas, there really hasn’t been anything which would…
Cooking With Children
I love getting into the kitchen with son number one, it’s something we have done together since he was really small. Cooking with two has needed a ton of patience and a reworking of how we do things, I can’t pretend its getting easier, its often completely chaotic and definitely more messy! It helps if…
Schools are failing us – children’s learning has to begin with developing love for the natural world.
I had a rather strange exchange this week with a lady requesting online education materials to teach her 5 year old about the importance of recycling. Whilst I appreciate what she was trying to do, it got me thinking about how we begin to educate our children to become responsible custodians of our planet. I…
10 ways to inspire independent play
Getting children to play on their own is essential for their deeper cognitive development and the sanity of their adults. Here are ten ways in which we inspire play through ‘Invitations To Play’. Most of these can be set up with resources you already have at home (or sourced second hand). This may give you…
Small Pleasures this week
Paints in the garden – all the fun without the messy clean up! A vintage find transforms our mealtimes from cramped to calm and the old table re-imagined as mud kitchen.( the transformation pics in another post) Lots of sensory play and a dustpan and brush at the ready! The absolutely joy of unschooling –…
Invitations To Play
Invitations to play are little set-ups of materials which tempt children to come and explore. Children have an innate need to discover their world, through play, and are hard-wired to learn, through their play. Everything that a child will become, as a person, has its foundations in play, and through play the child develops every…
Get out of the way! – Independent Play and why it is essential to children’s development
As modern parents we often feel that we should be engaging with our children as much as possible, filling every moment with talk and activity designed to help our child learn and develop. We have been told many times of the importance of talking frequently with our children and providing enriching environments for them to…
Trees and their benefits to our immune systems
Spending short amounts of time amongst trees has been shown to benefit our immune systems and significantly improve our health in a number of ways. As a family we love to spend time in woods and forests and we are lucky to live within walking distance of some small but lovely areas of trees. The…
Ethical and Sustainable Choices In Children’s Clothing
An unusually warm April has meant getting organised on the boys summer wardrobes rather quicker than anticipated. Since I run a non-profit clothing library in my spare time, this has of course been the first point of call. However, our stock of boys clothing as been loaned out rapidly this season and donations in larger…
A Few Lovely Things This Week
Easter cards made with eager little fingers and lots of vibrant colours… The construction of a new road through the garden and a big brother keen to enforce the highway code by the liberal use of signage… A baby bath used for bubbles and then sand… The fruit trees in full glory… An impromptu workshop…
