A retrospective exploration into pre-school years!

Just keep talking. Not at your children, with your children. A conversation, not a lecture. A dialogue, not a monologue. Alongside learning through play, learning through conversation is key.  The beauty of this? This relationship can begin from when they're in the womb. The art of conversation is naturally a social skill.  The learning of social skills begins within the home and then practiced in social settings externally from the home.  Relationships with toys are innate with children, and they will practice their art of conversation with their beloved friends. Is this not a one-way communication? Not if they have the imagination to provide both sides of the conversation. Here, Sophia, despite having a sister she could have communicated with, decided to have a chat with the garden gnome. He was one of her best friends, and she was to practice further social skills such as sharing with him during the future lockdowns.

 The golden age of toddlerdom. It's messy and noisy.  So many tantrums and screaming.  Sleep regressions and pushing boundaries.  They have tasted independence, and they want more. They're experiencing every emotion under the sun all at once, at a very intense level.  They also can distinguish between boredom and being kept amused. My best advice at this stage is to give them some decisions to make and provide an engaging, organised environment. You need to guide them quite strictly at this stage naturally as they're still learning a great deal about every single aspect of life.  Yet try them and see how they respond to personal responsibility. Controlled choices where we as parents win no matter the decision. It means the whole world to them. Do they want to wear the red or blue dress? Do they want peas or carrots? Do they want milk or water? Do they want a chocolate or a sweetie? Do they want the red or the blue cup? The Thomas or the Peppa pig plate? It's an extra st

Busy tables or cubes are a bundle of educational fun once babies can sit and stand up. The beauty of them is that they come in all shapes and sizes, with a variety of activities. We brought an oversized one that stayed with us for several years until it was loved and used to pieces.  It's great that you can usually find a smaller, portable version of a particularly favourite game, especially in charity shops. Sophia's favourite game was the wire maze, and she had several separate portable ones of varying sizes as well. She spent hours and years at this game. She even had a tiny one that fitted in her lap, and that could come with her on car journeys. No matter the style or the games involved, they are great for hand-eye coordination, alleviating boredom, and hand strengthening. They can grow with the child, with the basic abucus for example,  being introduced as a sliding game that has the possibility of turning into a counting game and later on a maths aid.

This morning our son went to the bathroom, used the toilet, changed his nappy pants, changed from his pj's to his day clothes,and his trousers were on the right way round. He went downstairs and poured himself a glass of milk.  You may think, and?  He's about to enter year 1 in a week's time. You would expect this of him. These are, in fact, early years education skill sets. Aged 5 years and one month, he is officially within the early years education sector....yet he's been within the official schooling age for a year and about to start his second. This blurring between early years and official schooling can add unnecessary pressure to some children, and parents for that matter who are rushing to have their children ready for school....when they may not be physically or mentally ready for that next step.  Interestingly, the LA does not recognise children as official school age until 5, and some parents do ask for a later enrollment for school. It can make all the diffe

Early years education is a journey to travel together, following the cues of your child.  It all begins with conversation. Whilst they're in the womb, you can read to them, sing, and share about your day to help create a bond before birth. This conversation and sharing of information should always continue. They concentrate on their survival skills and adjust to life outside the womb. Bonding is the key here. The first books are often black and white picture themed and then progress to coloured ones, portraying nursery rhymes and first word and picture books. This is the time to start the emotional bonding with books, having bedtime stories, and afternoon snuggles on the sofa  or in a den. Singing nursery rhymes, whilst they're playing with balls, and sensory, busy and interactive noisy toys are key for the start of learning cause and effect and using their hands to explore their world and being introduced to musical instruments. Keep talking, describing and explaining their wo

'I'm just a parent', usually uttered with a shrug of the shoulders.  It's a phrase where the word 'just' doesn't belong.  Shall we review the transferable skills of a parent? * Leadership - you're the natural leader of the pack and make the decisions every single day.  * Patience - you need it in bucket loads. * Creativity/intuition - Keeping a child amused on a long far ride, need I say more?  * Teaching - passing on your knowledge of early years ed, values, social rules, life skills. * Resiliance - You need an unbelievable amount of mental and emotional strength.  * Self control - Every parent has had to leave the room or close their eyes and count to ten before continuing a conversation against a toddler or a teenager or any aged child in between. There is little difference between children and customers in this respect.  * Negotiating - it does not matter if you have one or ten children, negotiating will occur on a daily basis. Parents deserve the ho

Early years education officially spans over the first five years of life before formal schooling begins, whether this will be home education or school led.  I personally dislike bringing age into it because then it becomes a race, with a tight goal. Innate pressure to perform and the world of competition begins, taking away the joy.  There exists a tick box if you will. However, every child should be given the space to explore this half a decade at their own pace.  Some children will need more time than others, and having had a couple of children with a myriad of special needs, I became very aware of the tight time frames given for every skill. They didn't sit up or walk or talk at the right age, so they were a failure in the eyes of professionals. Their successes were never appreciated or celebrated by the powers at be, they just consistently failed their tickboxes. This negativity can really bring you down as a parent. I finally broke free from this world and mindset and took the

Choice can be fruitful. It can also be overwhelming. I find every part of early years and home education requires discernment and choice. As a result, it means that everyone's learning journey is unique.  The resources available are vast, even books can be a minefield. It is arguably one of the most important umbrella resources. Yet parents can be left feeling bewildered and uncertain which direction to choose. The prospect of teaching our child to read can be scary. We can get caught up in the 'what ifs' and fear.  After all, reading is a crucial life/survival skill, not just an academic one, which might not be used.  I narrowed down the overwhelming choice by following a set formula.  1) Place your child at the centre and modify this template to showcase their personal interests. 2) The Classics. Every culture will have their own personal children's classics. Thus it is subjective to a degree.This genre for myself includes Beatrix Potter, The Very Hungry Caterpillar,

Within the golden years of early years education you'll have so much more fun and have a far more fruitful and successful outcome if you place age far away from your mind.  Age is irrelevant to a degree at this stage.  A three year old can be more proficient in transferable skills than a six year old. Now doesn't that sound negative? It wasn't meant to be. It is a simple fact, however it holds an extremely negative vibe. Straight away you're thinking, how clever is the three year old and wondering what's wrong with the six year old.  This is so damaging and unfair. In this theoretical scenario, the three year old was engaged, showing cues that they were ready to begin learning through play. They began the learning journey step by step, gently at their pace, through fun and play, resulting in being able to read and write. The six year old in this case may have missed out in some of the steps in the early years journey. There may be a developmental delay in motor skil

Xander failed his two year old assessment test set by the health departments.  His fine and gross motor skills were not where they should be. He wasn't drawing a house.  He wasn't threading beads.  He wasn't as agile as he should be. The list went on. He failed every question. He is an extreme preemie, born at 28weeks, so the above was expected. As a mother you don't like hearing they've 'failed' though. They didn't want to know about his cognitive skills and just dismissed this part of him. He wasn't expected to do it yet so it didn't count. I did my own review with Xander at this time in the form of a verbal quiz. He told me 1-10 in Japanese, his colours in English and Japanese, counted 1-23 in English, and pointed out and named 14 body parts including his heart.  He recognised the alphabet out of sequence and told me a word example without prompting: Alligator, baby, cat, daddy, elephant, funny, grumpy, hippo, insect, jump, kangaroo, lion, mum

This occured in their golden age of toddlerdom. It was their first time within arts and crafts using glue and embellishments.  It didn't go as I had envisioned in my mind. Then again I wasn't certain back then that we had two girls on the spectrum. In retrospect it makes perfect sense. Sophia wanted to just order everything and find a home for each specific group of trimmings.  Kira gave a running commentary of everything she picked up, describing the colour, shape, and the feel of it before she passed it to me to stick down. Neither wanted to touch the glue.  They were very happy and content. They were learning and processing. I could tell this at the time and now armed with what I know about the girls I am certain.  Kira loves talking about facts and information, and Sophia finds peace and calm in ordering. She goes to a happy place.  I wasn't leading the session, there was no objective. It was a perfect time to observe the girls and see how they respond to new experience

Music and learning/retaining knowledge have very strong ties. The emotion invoked through the music makes all the difference.  Sophia uses music to process and she first used it to deal with her medical trauma. She would sing in the car about the journey, what would be happening, and how she would be feeling. On return home she'd sing about it as well.  As she grew older, she processed her feelings through playing the piano. She uses music within learning and recalling knowledge as well. She wanders away from the original learning lyrics and replaces it with her own. I find this extremely useful. It's her version of retelling a story in her own words. She makes a song up using her knowledge. One example comes to mind. One day I heard these beautiful lyrics wafting from the bathroom....  'The food travels to the stomach to do a dance and then down to the intestines to squeeze squeeze squeeze and ahhh'. It's a no brainer what she was doing on the toilet towards the la

This was their uncle's not so innocent suggestion. They were two and four years old, and the eldest struggled with baths and water play in general.  They had warm water and Duplo. I did not water proof the room. I did not expect them to play with this activity. They played so beautifully. Until they didn't. It was successful however. My eldest wasn't scared of the water during this fun activity. What would I have done differently? Taken them outside!

When we think of hand strengthening exercises through play for children, we commonly turn to playdoh, threading beads, and throwing balls.. Let's not forget the vital role of hand actions here. Many nursery rhymes have their own hand movement dances. Who can forget the classic incy wincy spider. The day a child learns the climbing up the spout movements without tangling their fingers up is a day of celebration.  Think of the simple movements for the finger family. It may irritate you immensely as an adult, it may be an boring song. The hand movements are however pure gold.  They are a great step towards dexterity required for the 1-5 fingers, used in playing the piano or keyboard and for using fingers for maths sums. This is even before the training for writing. Xander made this connection the other day. He was so excited when he realised that he could move his fingers independently to count and he made the link back to the finger family song.

Dress up role play has so many advantages with Early Years Education. Kira loves animals and has consistently wanted to be a vet since she first wore a bumble bee costume. It is the main drive behind excelling in her lessons.  Her favourite role play is to dress up as an animal and have her baby with her all day. She teaches it all the amazing facts she knows about the animal in question. Throughout her early years journey she has buzzed like a bee, learning about how they make honey.  She has been a dinosaur, who crept up behind me and waited silently for me to turn around and discover her. Yes I screamed. She has been a cow, being taken to market by Sophia.  She has been a snowy owl flying over the snow. She has been a spider, and given me a very detailed presentation on facts about them. She has been a safari guide, who took Sophia and myself on a journey across the plains. She spent an hour talking about the animals found there in great detail. She has been a hibernating brown bear

Mud kitchens are such great fun!  There's an added bonus on top of the educational skills you practice when role-playing kitchens inside the house. It's out in nature!  You're all getting fresh air, vitamin D, and all the feel-good hormones. The ingredients list is also greatly extended by being outside. Dirt, flowers, grass, stones, and sticks make beautiful dishes.  Children can play for hours, making all different dishes with available garden elements.  There can be a lot of discussion on the choice of ingredients. Chocolate soil for the cakes obviously. Dandelion tea can be on the menu, along with healthy veggie sticks.

 You may be acquainted with Bluey.  I'll admit it's not the worst show out there. I was playing 'Born yesterday' one time with Kira whilst I was baking pancakes.  This is where you pretend you were born yesterday. You question everything, asking for explanations. I discovered it has the potential to be very educational as well as equally fun and frustrating for children. I was putting her through her paces with it, steering it educationally, and she was rising epically to the occasion.  She was explaining everything to the nth detail bless her. Every explanation she gave raised another puzzled question from me.  Another game inspired by Bluey, which keeps them amused for hours, is keepy uppy with a balloon. Obviously, we have an educational spin of counting in multiples, for example, every time we pass the balloon.  It would be a great theme for a birthday party for a little Bluey fan. Recreate the games and win prizes.

Animals figures in general, whether they are dinosaurs, farm, wildlife, jungle, or ocean animals, can be a great addition to the early years education toy check list.  It is a genre which grows with the child and they can get varying levels of appreciation and educational knowledge from them throughout the first decade.

These are currently my four year olds favourite bed time stories. He had asked for the rest in the series, that's a recommendation!  It's great that this series has a simpler version of the story at the bottom for first readers to attempt, so it can be a shared activity.  The tactile element is a bonus for children who appreciate exploring through their senses. Reading together as a family unit creates: - A magical world - Bonding moments - A love of books - Precious memories  - Expansion of vocabulary  - Fun times  Bedtime stories can feel like the most draining activity for parents, who are exhausted and still have jobs to complete before their night has ended.  Reading to them remains one of the most important jobs of the day. This moment can happen at any time however, not just at bedtime.  Encouraging siblings to read to each other is a win win. They're learning as well as enjoying the bonding activity.

I see you lying there, grasping a block with both hands.  You are going cross-eyed as you bring your treasure to your mouth.  You knaw at the wood, exploring and teething.  You wave it around enthusiastically, your lip wobbling as it tumbles from your hands. I see you sitting poker straight, working at your core muscles. Tapping two blocks together, chuckling at the sound. You are learning cause and effect, revelling in the resounding noise. I see you concentrating, your tongue is slightly extended.  Brows are furrowed, hand trembling as you lift one block.  Eye and hand coordination is in practice.  Slowly, you go, not wanting to fail. Your happiness is unbounded as you build your first tower. I see you throwing blocks in frustration. You want to build the tallest tower, yet it topples time and time again. I dry your tears and return the blocks. Keep trying little one towards victory. I see you building, and an entire castle stands tall.  Quickly and confidently, it is formed within m

Here, have a friend  You do not need to share or lend. In case you feel lonely, And don't have a pony. A soft bodied doll,  To snuggle is the goal. She has a relatable face Quiet comfort, which is ace. From the ones who love you most, For you to cuddle close. Here, have a friend, Someone to cuddle till your journey end. Clipped within reach, They delight your senses and teach. Listen to the crinkle sound, As you're pushed around town. Feel the textures, The dress fetches. Smell a comforting scent, Which doesn't cost an extra cent. Shhh little one, sooth your gums,  Whilst you explore with your fingers and thumbs. Here, have a friend, Just for you to tend. A classic baby doll, They still top the popularity poll. Responsibility beckons, You are there within seconds, Your baby needs you, To feed, wind and change them too.  Here, have a friend, These are the latest trend. A fellow toddler by your side,  They eagerly come along for the ride. Together, you adventure along Cuddle

This was a part of a space topic we did when the girls were three and four years old...which took a creepy turn. My innocent activity of turning paper dolls into astronauts took off on a spontaneous pathway.  Kira decided to decapitate the paper dolls heads, and amputate legs and arms for planets, rockets and the sun for Sophia to colour and order, who had also been busily going through a space sticker book.  Between them they created this gruesome but very impressive poster made from body parts, whilst singing about the solar system on repeat. This was the result of letting them grow up in a learning environment where they were encouraged to explore creative materials, using them unconventionally, alongside listening to educational songs.

Many of you may appreciate this fact about children. No. No. Maybe not appreciate. More like are resigned to this particular fact about our little ones. They love watching the same shows, episodes, and songs on repeat.  Sometimes for years. Their dedication is astounding. There will always be a few that erode your brain cells and decimate your patience.  I learnt something by my third child. Yes, I'm a slow learner.  We don't have to watch a show which really shreds every last nerve on repeat. We won't win every battle on this front, life is about compromise.  However. By the third child, I realised I could choose the programmes in advance and introduce them to my children.  It was a game changer. I also can sometimes convince them to give up channels which I particularly find annoying. It is only fair that there is a really good reason why they are not allowed it, and not just ban it.  There was one recent one which I really did not like. My seven year old is old enough fo