(Under)funded, not free

The 30 hours ‘free’ childcare scheme, introduced by the government in September 2017, is not working.

There is not enough money made available to providers. It is not fairly distributed. Childcare settings are having to ask parents to pay for extras when they were promised free childcare; worse, providers find they are having to subsidise the scheme with their own revenue. But what exactly is wrong with the scheme?

The problem

Put simply, the 30 hours ‘free’ childcare scheme is underfunded. The pot is just not big enough.

As a result, the funding rates handed down from the various local authorities do not cover the cost of care and are often far below what a setting would normally charge. How can a setting survive when a place that usually earns them £5 an hour is funded at £4? Childminders interviewed by the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) claim their loss is close to £400 annually per child. The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) claims the loss per child per year is around £958. Furthermore, term time only, sessional pre-schools like St Mary’s Nursery, which mirror school hours and only operate during term time, can’t offer additional hours or services to make up this shortfall. Not only are many providers like ours being forced to close, but many more still are having to swallow costs themselves and drastically reduce their wages or profits just to survive.

The biggest problem is that things are only going to get worse. With the increase in National Living Wage and pension contributions, the lack of proper funding is devastating in a sector where up to 73% of a provider’s costs come from the people who work there.

What’s more, there is a complete lack of transparency with parents about what the government exactly means by ‘free’. The small print contains restrictions on when it can be accessed and what it can be used on, yet parents rock up expecting to get 30 hours a week, free at the point of access.

“Regardless of where the data comes from, every report and survey shows that it is not a free deal for parents or nurseries,” says Neil Leitch, CEO of Pre-School Learning Alliance. “There is a complete lack of transparency.”

But it works for some…?

While it is true that some providers are managing to make it work, very few are coming out of the scheme better off. Some of the worst-affected include:

• Preschools – Parents just pitch up expecting it to be completely free, and preschools don’t have existing relationships which they can use to explain the intricacies and collect contributions.

• The non-catered – One big way providers make up the gap is with expanded costs for food. But you can’t charge £15 for some carrot sticks.

• Those with low funding rates – Not everyone gets the same rate. Some areas are working at 50p or more below their normal charges. No amount of top-up fees and expensive lunches can make that work.

For some settings there is just too much of a gap between what it costs to deliver and the funding rate they are given, and they are forced to close their doors. That is the reality of what ‘free’ childcare is doing to the early years sector.

The evidence

You don’t have to take our word for it. Here is just some of the damning evidence against the 30 hours ‘free’ childcare scheme.

• Two-fifths of providers receive less funding than in 2013-14.

• 62% of providers report that their parent paid fee is higher than the funding rate they receive, and 39% have reported a reduction of their profit or surplus.

• Four in ten providers fear closure in the next 12 months.

• One in four schools think poor children are missing out most as a result of the scheme.

• Providers are losing at least one staffing day a week just to deal with the system, while half charge parents up to £10 a day in add-ons.

• The scheme may be hitting the number of two-year-old places available.

• Nursery closures have increased by two-thirds since the scheme was introduced.

• Only 46% of places are genuinely free, and only 33% in year-round daycare.

• The average shortfall between funding rates and average cost to deliver is 74p per child per hour.

• The data used to calculate funding levels is outdated and predates the introduction of the National Living Wage.

(under)funded, not free

Broadly speaking, most people agree that the desire to get more parents into work is an honourable one. The problem is that parents shouldn’t be told it is an entirely free service when it’s not being properly funded.

““Here’s my default example. If I was to say to you that everybody gets a free car, naturally, you’re going to going to be over the moon. You go to your car dealership and say ‘I’d like that one please.’
They’re going to say ‘No problem, that’s £400 for the tires, £100 for the seatbelts and £200 for the steering wheel’ and you’re going to be upset that you didn’t get your free car. Because the car may have been free, but the bits that make it work, they cost extra. You’re going to feel pretty resentful about that.
30 hours ‘free’ childcare is just like that. Giving you a car, but not giving you the parts that you need to make it work.””

— Jo Morris Golds, Spokeswoman, Champagne Nurseries on Lemonade Funding.

The truth is, parents have been duped. They’ve been told they’re going to get something for free, and found out that’s not what they’re getting at all.

If the sector doesn’t receive adequate funding and providers are unable to invest in training their staff, recruiting high quality people and investing in their setting, then quality will inevitably decline. This isn’t what parents, children or providers want.

Article adapted from “30 Hours ‘Free’ Childcare Is A Lie: Is There A Solution” by Matt Arnerich (Famly Blog, November 14, 2018) and “The Lie That Is 30 Hours Childcare” (The Money Whisperer, September 4, 2017 - https://themoneywhisperer.co.uk/the-lie-that-is-30-hours-free-childcare/

Building STEM skills... with blocks!

If you want to raise a rocket scientist, you don’t need to go out and buy that My First Microscope. Odds are you’ve already got what you need in your toy box.

Obviously, the toys we have as children don’t shape our whole career path. But our choice of toys, as well as the way we play with them, can influence the way we think: what we’re curious about, how we solve problems, what we feel we’re good at. 

In this article, we’re going to look at why something as simple as a wooden block could be one of our best tools for building STEM skills with the little ones. The trick, as we’ll discuss, isn’t about some secret way of playing with blocks. It’s about realizing that sometimes, the simpler toy might be more powerful.

How toy design shapes the way we play

To understand the connection between wooden blocks and rocket science, we’ve got to talk about the concept of affordances. Basically, an affordance is an object’s function, or intended purpose. In children’s play, it’s how a toy’s design shapes what we do with it.

If an action figure’s got bendy limbs, a little plastic sword and a spring-loaded dart launcher, that design sets some clear expectations on how you should play with it. You’d call that a toy with high affordances. A plain wooden block, by comparison, tells you way less about what to do with it. That’s a low-affordance toy, because it’s more open-ended - and low-affordances often mean more opportunities for creative play. When a toy doesn’t tell you much about how to use it, that leaves way more open space for you to fill with your own imagination. In other words: The simpler the toy, the more potential it’s got for experimentation.

And as far as toys go, you can’t get much simpler than a wooden block.

Building STEM skills with wooden blocks

So why do wooden blocks have so much potential for STEM learning? 

Because playing with blocks puts children’s curiosity front and centre.

When children play with blocks, they’re doing “constructive free play.” That’s the open-ended, creative building process where children use blocks to bring their own ideas to life. And that involves lots of tinkering, experimentation, and trial and error.

This sort of creative play is a learning process. For example, young children can’t just build a massive block castle right away. Before that, you’ve got to learn how to balance blocks, how to build a little wall, and how the different shapes of blocks fit together. And tucked into each of these steps, whether children know it or not, is a little science experiment.

If we zoom out for a second, we can already see some of those core STEM skills coming into play:

• Learning how to stack different weights and shapes of blocks helps us understand the foundational principles of physics. Gravity becomes a real factor in your own play, not an abstract concept that lives in a book.

• Counting out blocks, and learning the names of their shapes sparks an interest in core mathematical and geometric concepts. What makes a triangle all triangle-y, anyway? That becomes more relevant when it decides whether you can build that perfect tower or not.

• Building walls, arches and towers is a great way to explore the basics of engineering and architecture. It sets an early impression that engineering problems are an exciting challenge in your own play world, not an anxiety-inducing right or wrong question.

With block play, STEM skills don’t come prescribed from an adult perspective on what ought to be exciting about mathematics. Instead, it allows numbers, physics and patterns to take on their own special magic for a child.

This relationship between block play and STEM learning isn’t exactly new, either. Numerous studies over the past decades have looked at how these early spatial skills and constructive play translate to STEM later on. And whether they look at wooden blocks or LEGO bricks, one thing is consistent: This sort of open-ended, child-led play appears to boost those hard-science skills later on.

But ultimately, block play isn’t about checking off those boxes of ‘skills learned.’ What’s most important is how children learn these ideas: through play that builds confidence in their own ability to experiment, explore, and solve problems. Playing with blocks helps STEM concepts take root with children in their own way, with their own meaning.

The widespread popularity of wooden blocks comes back to their low-affordance design. Children can take block play in every direction — in a toddler's hands, a wooden block might be a building tool, a magic gem or a hedgehog. It's up to them to decide the direction, and fill in all the blanks with their own imagination.

Here’s some other big ways that block play can boost child development:

• Physical development: Block play helps develop our hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, hand and arm strength, and fine motor skills.

• Emotional regulation: Figuring out how to stack blocks requires us to learn how to concentrate, how to deal with frustration and setbacks, and allows us to take pride once we’ve figured it out.

• Social skills: Building with others means discussing our ideas, sharing our blocks, building cooperatively, respecting others’ work, and helping clean up together.‍

• Language skills: Collaborative building is also a great way to practice expressing our ideas and listening to others, discussing plans together, and memorizing those plans for bigger building projects.

Top tips for playing (and learning) with blocks

So how can you get the most out of the blocks in your toybox? When it comes to exploring, playing and learning with wooden blocks, here are our top tips:

• Let children lead their play. Try to spend as much time as possible observing, not interfering. This gives your child the room they need to fill their play with their own ideas, and to find their own source of motivation rather than following your lead.

• If you’re engaging in their play, ask open-ended questions. Rather than being an active participant in their play, ask questions that help them soak in those core learnings, STEM and beyond. Some examples you might ask could be:

               How can we work out whose building has more blocks?

               What will the people do in your building?

               Why doesn’t your tower fall down?

               How would you describe the shape of this block?

               How can we use the blocks to retell the story that we read at story time?

• If your blocks have instructions, set them aside. Whether you’re building with wooden unit blocks or LEGOs, children experience the most self-driven, creative play when they’re building from their own imagination.‍

• Fill your whole environment with low-affordance toys. Children should see that this sort of exploratory, creative thinking fills their whole world, not just a single corner of the room.

Article adapted from ‘Tomorrow’s top scientists are playing with wooden blocks’ by Aaron Hathaway (Famly Blog, 5th May 2021)

The benefits of sensory play

Little ones love to explore new objects, new tastes, new smells. They love feeling weird textures and exploring why certain things stick to the floor and others don’t, and that’s where sensory play shines.

Sensory play means giving children hands-on activities that stimulate their sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste – like making mud pies or stretching out some homemade goo. But it’s not just about engaging and stimulating the five senses – sensory play has a big role in children’s brain development.

If we take an example, like making fake snow out of shaving foam; it feels soft and squishy, and might smell strongly of peppermint. This activity is exactly what Suzanne Gainsley calls ‘brain food,’ as stimulating various senses at once strengthens the neural pathways in the brain that children need for lifelong learning. But why are neural pathways important, and how does sensory play help them develop?

Let’s break down five key areas of development sensory play helps to nurture, and then we’ll give you some great sensory play ideas that you can introduce into your home at the drop of a hat.

key aspects of sensory play

When children are born, they need time for their brain pathways to develop. Their surroundings and experiences help create these pathways, which is why those first few years are so crucial to develop little minds. In fact, during those first few years, more than 1 million new neural connections form every single second.

Neural pathways are the foundations of a child’s learning journey, as they’re how the brain receives and processes information. They’re how the brain communicates with the rest of the body. If children aren’t stimulated enough in the Early Years, their neural pathways won’t develop and strengthen, and this can cause significant learning delays as they get older.

language development

Children have a heightened sensitivity to language during those first years, and sensory sensory play is the perfect opportunity to get them talking and using new words. With all those new and interesting textures, smells and sounds, use this opportunity to describe what you’re doing with new vocabulary and phrases, such as ‘Why is the playdough soft and squishy?’ ‘Can you stretch it?’ ‘Why don’t we roll it out?’

cognitive development

Cognitive skills, or the skills we use when we start to solve problems, start with observation. When children really look at, and explore new objects, they’re piecing all that information their brains are processing together to understand the object in front of them. If they’re given wooden blocks of different shapes and sizes, for example, it teaches them that some are heavier than others. Letting children understand early on that different objects feel different, taste different and smell different is crucial to later problem-solving tasks, as they’re creating those pathways that connect how they use reasoning. When they do get to solving real problems, realising that all the playdough wouldn’t fit into a tiny bucket will have been a massive help.

motor skills

Motor skills are incredibly important in later life, as they’re vital for holding pens, pencils and paintbrushes. Developing those necessary muscles is easily done through sensory play, as can use fine motor tools, like pincers, to pick up dried beans. Even the simple act of pinching objects and pouring liquids gives children the opportunity to develop and hone their ability to control their hand movements. That’s why involving objects like pincers and small jugs lets children concentrate on grasping and controlling objects.

creative development

By giving children colourful, creative and new objects that they can explore any way they like helps them to become creative thinkers, as sensory play is completely open-ended. There is no goal apart from to explore. It encourages their imaginative skills, as they can be as free as they like - the main goal is to engage the senses.

Engaging and encouraging development

You play a big role in aiding development, as the way you interact with your child while they play can help maximise the learning opportunities.

Sometimes interfering in the wrong way takes children out of that world they’ve created for themselves, and actually does more harm than good. But when you do engage with your child’s play, we’ve got some handy tips to gently encourage children without interrupting their flow:

• Ask questions: ‘What does that feel like? What does it smell like? Shall we mix those two colours and see what happens?’

• Expand their vocabulary: When you interact, try and use some new words in context while your child plays. Things like ‘That smells fruity’ or ‘That’s very squishy, isn’t it?’ Bringing in vocabulary to describe the objects or sensations while your child plays is a fantastic way to enrich and expand their existing vocabulary.

three ways to sensory play

Now that you can see the learning potential of sensory play, let’s look at three wonderful ways you can introduce it at home. There is no right or wrong way, as long as you’re giving your child lots of different (and safe!) stimuli to get their senses and their curiosity piqued.

sensory boxes

• Sensory boxes are very simple – they’re boxes filled with things to touch, squeeze, smell and play with. You’ll want to start with a ‘filler,’ such as sand, uncooked beans, uncooked pasta or uncooked lentils. Think of it as the base for the ‘ground’ inside the boxes that your child can really run their hands through and squeeze between their fingers.

• Think of scenes you can create. Why not try having a box that explores the desert with different coloured sand, palm trees and camel figurines? You could introduce some water into the box to show what happens to the sand when it gets wet.

• This can engage all five senses, if you like. Think of the sound of dried beans at the bottom of the box, the colours of the figurines, the feel of sand between their fingertips. If you want to focus on touch, you could fill up the box with aloe vera gel and have figures and animals floating in it, and maybe add some colouring to the gel to make it bright blue to engage their sight.

sensory bottles

• Do you remember being fascinated with lava lamps? How big blobs of unknown stuff floated around a bit hypnotically? That’s exactly what a sensory bottle is. You’ll need a see-through plastic bottle with a lid that screws on tightly, and a liquid to make the ‘base’ like water, gel and shampoo.

• Your options really are endless here – want to make an underwater mermaid bottle? Try putting clear shampoo with food colouring and have mermaids and shells floating around. A glittery rainbow? Try a mixture of water, glue and glitter for a lava-lamp like bottle. A Sahara desert? You could even fill up a bottle with colourful sand and hide some figurines as a hide-and-seek activity.

• This is perfect for sight and sound. Imagine you were a toddler, and you had a bottle filled with mutlicoloured starfish, and the liquid around them sparkled? Your child will also see how the starfish move around in the water, and the sound it makes when you turn the bottle upside down.

messy play

• Sensory play doesn’t have to be confined in a small container. Embrace mess and get your child involved in some hands-on activities that they can get messy with. Use shaving foam to make a snow scene, or why not try some edible finger paint that your child can safely eat while covering their hands with?

• This can also target all five senses, as edible paint can be colourful, smelly, edible, squelchy when it’s splattered and soft and cold to touch. Talk about a perfect way to build those neurological pathways!

too young? sensory bags!

I don’t need to tell you to make sure that very young children shouldn’t have small objects that could potentially be a choking hazard – you’re well aware of that already.

But if you’ve got objects that aren’t quite appropriate for a younger child, why not try sensory bags? They’re a great way to introduce all sorts of objects that might be too small for the smallest hands – pop your sensory objects in clear bags that your child can squish and feel the objects through. This can be bits of pasta, shells, small pompoms or figurines – just make sure you close the bags up correctly, tightly and make sure there’s always supervision.

Article adapted from ‘5 Benefits of Sensory Play’ by Bronagh Kathleen McGeary (Famly Blog, 10th March 2021)

Fussy eating

Do you remember the first time you ate an apple? Or a spoonful of yogurt? Chances are, you probably don’t. But the foods we’re exposed to in the Early Years have a much bigger impact than you might think.

Getting children to develop healthy eating habits is tough – especially when you’re experiencing fussy eating. It’s easy to get frustrated, but sensory cues are the key to getting children to develop healthy, happy and positive eating habits in later life.

How well foods go down isn’t a short journey, it begins from weaning up until around 3–4 years old when children start to decide what they love and what they loathe. That’s why it’s important to make the most of the first few years – once eating behaviours set in they follow us into adulthood.

Let’s take a look at why children reject foods, and the ways you can help them let go of the fear of the unknown and encourage inquisitive eating habits.

food rejection

It’s actually a myth that infants prefer certain foods – they have very few preferences and are keen to try new things. However, the environment and choice of food offered plays a huge role in children’s eating habits.

Meal times can be stressful. Children are often put under pressure when they eat too little or too much, and offered dessert as a reward. It’s natural to get frustrated when children won’t eat new foods, but your reaction to their rejection is vital. If children sense your frustration, this pressure alone can be very overwhelming.

Before we dive into the reasons why children reject foods and the reasons behind it, it’s worth keeping the two points below in mind:

• Make sure that you have a calm and relaxed eating environment. Try not to be rushed or stressed. If children are relaxed and focused on the food in front of them, they’ll be more likely to try new things. Too many distractions can act as a sensory overload, so they need a sense of calm.

• Approach the learning process with an open mind and be ready to try alternative methods. It can take a few attempts before a child accepts a food – don’t give up at the first hurdle.

tackling sensory issues

If children have sensory issues, trying new foods can be traumatic. Let’s be honest, you might be a little apprehensive when you try something new, too.

Often, food rejection is about the way it feels or smells. Children can become stressed out by this, meaning they associate that new food with fear. The sooner we can tackle this, the better, as this fear leads to only sticking to food that’s familiar.

How to tackle this unfamiliarity? Exposure! Give them lots and lots of opportunities to try new things.

• If you’re struggling, try foods that are similar in texture and taste to what the child is happy to eat – they’re more likely to be accepted.

• Many of us growing up were told not to play with our food. As it turns out, allowing a child to play with their food can reduce stress and allow exposure: if a child is happy to touch a food, they may be happy to eat it.

play with your food!

I’m sure we were all told, “Don’t play with your food!” when we were kids. We’ve been taught that playing with food leads to bad manners and food waste.

However, children need to play and stimulate their sensory organs at an early age. Children will want to play with food anyway, so enabling them to do so in a safe environment to empower their learning is more productive for everyone. As one early years professional said, “educating them about waste and caring for those that do not have comes after they fully have learnt from their basic sensory personal experiences.”

Sensory learning is an investment. Allowing children to be tactile and play with their food in a way that promotes a healthier, more open relationship with food reduces the likelihood of food rejection and wasted meals in the future.

top tips for sensory food play

• Introduce how fruit and vegetables smell in different ways. They’ll smell completely different if they’ve been cooked, and if they’re completely raw.

• Play games associated with smells and foods and get children to use their noses! Put coffee, lavender, vanilla and fruit teas into ‘scent bags’ to see what reactions they create. They can investigate a variety of household items, some foods, some not, and explore their different smells and textures. Try pricking oranges and lemons to allow the scents to escape, as well as fresh herbs, celery, or gingerbread men.

• Be creative with the same foods. There’s no need to give up on carrots altogether if they aren’t going down a treat. They might not like cooked carrots, but what about raw carrots in a hummus dip? Broccoli could be preferred roasted to boiled. Always explore alternative, creative options.

• Cut food up into small pieces – ideally fruit – and allow the children to taste them one at a time and see what kind of reaction you get.

• Aim for a minimum of ten exposures, and repeat the process regularly so that the child becomes familiar with the new taste.

• Give food a place outside of mealtimes. Try reading picture books about food before bed, for example. Letting children familiarise themselves with foods in different formats plays a huge role in their willingness to stray from the foods they’ve decided are ‘safe’.

• Above all, remember that it’s a process – it’s not immediate. Taking a creative approach to food that involves all five senses is ideal for minimising issues such as fussy eating as much as possible.

Article adapted from ‘Why do young children reject food and how can you stop them?’ by Sarah Scotland (Famly Blog, 3rd February 2021)

Learning through provocations

Children are little curiosity boxes – they want to see, touch and explore everything around them. From throwing food on the floor to see if it sticks to picking up their fortieth leaf on your morning walk, they’re fascinated by the big, brand-new world they’ve just come into.

Giving them new experiences is a fantastic way to encourage their questions and help them learn, but is there a way that you, as parents, can boost this curiosity? This is exactly where learning provocations shine.

Learning provocations are activities or experiences to boost children’s engagement – put simply, they’re spaces where children can pick up, touch and explore different objects. Think of them as an open-ended invitation to explore, wonder and be creative.

If that didn’t convince you, provocations spark interest, stimulate thoughts and ideas, and encourage questioning – all of which help children understand, learn and develop. Oh, and you can create them from objects you probably already own. What’s not to love?

What does a learning provocation look like?

There’s no right or wrong way; they’re completely open-ended. There’s also no prescribed outcome – it’s simply an invitation to explore. The more you experiment, the more inspired you’ll become. You’ll get ideas based on your child’s interests and their engagement, and you can gauge if they’re learning as much as they can as you go along.

Below are a few examples to give you an idea of what these spaces can look like. The aim is to spark interest, and encourage your child to explore and share their thoughts while they play:

• Maps

• Magnets

• Painting and sculptures

• Fossils and rocks

• A selection of photos

• Scented items

• An arrangement of flowers with a selection of paints

• A pretty tea set

Provocations are extremely flexible – you can base them on your child’s current interests, the weather, the seasons… The possibilities are endless! One of our favourite provocations is to freeze objects in ice and display them in a tuff spot for the children to explore. It’s fascinating to hear the discussions this promotes, as children wonder how the dinosaurs/animals became stuck in the ice or why the coins are now frozen. We then think about how we can melt the ice, what would work best and how long it might take.

Why learning provocations are so beneficial

The aim of a learning provocation is to inspire a child to wonder and think. With that, children are encouraged to talk, to share their ideas and thoughts through hands-on, practical experiences. This has some fantastic benefits.

When they are engaged in their play, children use words to talk about sizes, shapes, textures as well as words related to thinking such as why, how and where. Their creativity and curiosity are sparked in a way that encourages them to continually ask questions.

But it’s not just curiosity and a thirst to learn that makes these spaces incredible learning opportunities – they encourage creativity itself. Because there is no outcome, and the fact that the activities are open-ended, children can freely engage with them. They’re free to test out ideas and explore concepts as they see fit. A win-win!

As an added bonus, these learning experiences also help develop focus and concentration. Uninterrupted play allows children to learn and think independently as they navigate the activity in front of them, and how to focus on one thing at a time.

Unleash your creativity

One of the most amazing aspects of these spaces is how free you can be with them. No need to break the bank or be very extravagant – the point is to inspire and extend thought. Sometimes the simplest of set ups promote the most engagement!

Bring the creativity outdoors! Think about how you can use the weather, and the changing of the seasons. Use leaves to spark a conversation about autumn and why trees shed, or use plants to inspire questions about smells and colours. These won’t last long, but use that to your advantage. Show why watering and taking care of plants matters, and that they wither if they’re neglected or handled roughly.

How long you leave a provocation out for is dependent on how it’s being used. If your child is really involved and enjoying a provocation, think about keeping it out for longer so the play can evolve. You never know where it might lead, and they need some extra time to fully explore and question the objects in front of them.

independent learning

Are these spaces always adult-led? Definitely not! As a parent, you facilitate the experience or activity, but your role is then to step back and leave your child time and space to independently explore.

With limited intervention from adults, children can fully immerse themselves and further their own learning. They might choose to play independently or perhaps invite you to help them investigate – let them explore and decide for themselves.

Some things to think about when making space for independent learning:

• Stand back and observe the play. Consider what has worked well in terms of your child’s engagement – what particularly sparked interest? This is a great way to make plans for future provocations and extend their learning.

• If your child decides to draw you into their play, this is completely okay. This is the perfect time to engage in sustained shared thinking – wondering and learning together as you both navigate the provocation and question it. Learning provocations and sustained shared thinking go hand in hand as they both promote a child’s innate drive to be curious. Provocations can inspire us to wonder how, why and when which enable us, as adults, to model thinking skills. A learning experience for all.

It’s important to note that you shouldn’t be put off if your space just looks like a pile of scattered objects. This represents something to a child as they independently explore the objects and use their imagination as they play. Just let them use the resources as they choose to.

how to make sure these spaces are safe

Before setting up your learning provocation for your little one to use, you’ll need to ensure it is safe:

• Check for sharp edges or broken parts which could cause an injury to little fingers.

• You will need to supervise if you’re using small parts, particularly if you’re using loose parts such as glass nuggets, beads and coins – these could all be choking hazards.

• Use delicate objects as a learning tool for your child. Playing with a china tea set or maps that need to be unfolded will require a gentle touch, but use this experience to teach your child to adapt their behaviour and treat these objects with care.

Navigating careful play is tricky, as too much input from you takes the activity away from your child and stops them discovering the objects themselves. It’s a learning curve and you might not get it on the first try. Just remember to be patient and take it slowly!

top resources

• A tuff tray. These are fantastic for learning provocations which can get a bit messy!

• Picture frames are fantastic for displaying provocations and encouraging children to make patterns and arrangements. They can be picked up for a reasonable price from eBay or Ikea.

• Try scouring eBay for vintage suitcases, maps, ‘treasure’ related items and fabrics – you never know what you’ll find!

• Your local charity shop is the best place to go. Make friends with the owners!

The most important advice is to have fun and enjoy facilitating wonderful learning experiences for the children which impact on all areas of development.

Article adapted from ‘Learning through Provocations’ by Emma Davis (Famly Blog, 27th January 2021)

Screen time

Whether we like it or not, we’re getting more screen time than ever. In fact, we’re raising our average daily screen time faster than researchers can tell us to cut it out. So we may as well make sure we’re using that screen time in the best way possible — and that’s more important for young children than for anyone else. Children absorb all sorts of tiny details and social nuances from their TV programmes, and use those cues as models for their real-life behaviour. But to us grown-ups, these details can seem so small and insignificant, that most of us might not know what to look out for.

So what really makes a good children’s TV programme?

Why you need to care about what your child watches

It’s tempting to just let children watch whatever they want. But it’s really important that we give it more thought. With young children, the fine details of what they’re watching matter more than ever. Young children are sponges, soaking up everything they see and hear. They’re so influenced by what they’re watching — more so than they’ll be at any other point in their lives.

It’s much more than just teaching them about shapes and numbers. Children’s TV programmes are a great way to introduce little ones to life lessons, social and emotional concepts, and big ideas that they’ll use their whole lives. But there’s a lot of nuance that shapes exactly what children take away from their screen time. That’s why it matters that we pick carefully.

What makes a good children’s TV programme?

As it turns out, a good children’s TV programme doesn’t need to be educational. At least, not in the traditional sense.

Children absorb so many different layers of learning from television — from big things like the concrete lessons in an episode, to little things like the tone in which characters talk to each other. Because of this, those small details in how children’s programmes are written and presented can have big effects on what children learn from it.

In deciding what programmes are best for your children, it might help to ask these questions:

• How is the programme paced? Slower, calmer programmes are easier to follow, and give children more time to reflect about what they’re seeing. Loud, colorful, fast-paced programmes are exciting for children, but they can become conditioned to this sort of overstimulation.

• Does it encourage curiosity? Does the programme encourage children to actively explore and engage with the world around them, rather than just passively receiving information?

• How do the characters treat each other? A good programme presents positive, realistic examples of how we handle problem solving and negotiations in our personal relationships.

• Are the “bad characters” clear to children? Think about Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, or Gargamel from The Smurfs. It’s very clear to children that these are not good role models, so they shouldn’t follow their behaviour.

• Does it reflect diverse identities? Children’s programmes should represent people of all backgrounds and identities in a positive light.

• Are negative scenarios quickly and clearly resolved? If programmes focus too much on the problem, and not how to solve it, children might learn more about causing problems, not problem-solving.

Screen time during the coronavirus

We’re all using screens more than we’d like at the moment. But given the circumstances, a lot of us just don’t have much of a choice. Try not to worry too much - television isn’t quite the brain-rotting menace our parents warned us about! There are plenty of brilliant programmes out there and, especially when exploring the real world is a bit complicated, quality programming is a great way for children to learn more about the world around them.

This isn’t to say you should expect children to become geniuses just from watching TV! But with a bit of thought, you can make children’s screen time as positive as possible.

Helping children to get the most out of their screen time

Here are some top tips for making sure children’s screen time is as healthy and productive as possible:

Watch with them

The gold standard for children’s screen time is watching along with a parent. Children’s learning, engagement and understanding all get a big boost when they watch along with an adult caregiver. This way, children have the opportunity to pause, ask questions about the programme, and compare it to real life. The programme can prompt deep, rich conversations — much in the same way that you’d talk when reading a book to a child. Even if you can’t watch alongside your children, checking in from the other room is still beneficial for them. Just lend half an ear — chime in with the occasional, “Ooh, what’s happening now?”

Focus on the social and emotional learning

Every children’s TV programme sets out to be educational, but it matters what they’re trying to teach. It’s most important that the programmes set good examples of how to treat one another, and how to be a curious, thoughtful, considerate person.

Pick their options ahead of time

With any streaming platform, children should not have total control over what they’re choosing to watch. Even if a platform has a designated children’s section, children should always have parents or caregivers as a filter. If children are browsing through shows, you should sit with them and browse along. See what imagery, themes and characters they like. Watch some episodes with them, and decide whether it’s right or not. Putting a streaming device on airplane mode and offering children a selection of pre-downloaded TV shows is an easy, safe way of making sure they’ve got a carefully curated selection. This way, you’ll be more comfortable if you have to leave them alone as they watch.

The trouble with youtube

YouTube has eclipsed traditional television as the go-to place for children’s TV shows. That’s cause for concern. Here’s why you should think twice about leaving your child to browse freely on YouTube:

• YouTube isn’t regulated like broadcast TV. Traditional broadcasters have to follow a whole host of rules about what they can show, especially for children’s channels and networks. YouTube’s content creators, as well as the platform itself, don’t have that same responsibility.

• Children can easily come across disturbing content. Partially because of this lack of regulation, YouTube’s “watch next” algorithm has a worrying tendency to lead children toward inappropriate and disturbing content.

• YouTube has a bad history with data privacy. In 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube $170 million to settle charges that it illegally collected children’s browsing data, in order to serve them tailored advertisements.

what if you just find the programme annoying?

Even if you’re sick of hearing the Paw Patrol theme song for the fourteenth time today, try to hold back your instinct to reach for the headphones. It’s important that you’re always able to listen in on what children are watching.

But given the wealth of good programming out there, you can find something else that both you and your child can agree on. And if you’re finding a certain programme irritating (I’m looking at you, Bing!), it might be a red flag that it’s time to find another children’s TV programme to watch.

Try to ask yourself what exactly is it that’s annoying. Is it the way a character talks, or how they treat someone else? TV is a huge influence for modelling behaviour to children, so if there is some behaviour on the show that you think is irritating, there’s a high chance children will start to imitate it. Especially right now, you don’t need to make your life harder than it needs to be!

Article adapted from ‘What Makes A Children’s TV Show Worth The Screen Time?’ by Aaron Hathaway (Famly Blog, 14th October 2020)

Helping children cope during COVID-19

Hands up who is ready to leave the face masks, the lockdowns, the social distancing and the not giving anyone a hug back in 2020?

*Slowly raises hand…*

Sadly, that reality still feels some way in the distance, and there’s no doubt we’re all starting to feel the strain on our mental health. But the pandemic is having a big impact on little brains too, and I wanted to take a moment to outline the evidence that we have, suggest signs to watch out for and actions you can take to make that your child is doing okay.

By simply being observant, you can identify signs of emotional difficulties, and coach children to understand all those big emotions they can’t quite grasp yet. And by giving children the support and coping mechanisms they need, you can help them continue to prioritise their mental health well into adulthood.

But to start, let’s dig into the data to try and understand how our children are coping right now.

LOCKDOWN AND CHILDREN’S WELLBEING

Before the pandemic, a study showed that one in 18 children between the ages of 2 and 4 had a diagnosable mental health problem. When you add not being able to go to nursery settings or childminder’s homes, not seeing any other children and being surrounded by stressed-out caregivers, it’s no wonder children are feeling the strain too.

Just remember that it isn’t all doom and gloom – these statistics can sound scary, but you have a massive role in helping children thrive in spite of them. But before we get to the tips, we need to understand why they’re needed.

So just how big of a strain is it?

As the pandemic continues, the strain on children’s mental health is continually being assessed across the globe. In the UK, the Co-SPYSE study is measuring the effect COVID is having on the behaviour and emotional wellbeing of children and young people – and the results for our younger ones are worrying.

Parents are noticing a significant increase in behavioural, emotional and attentional difficulties. The lack of structure and pressure parents are under undeniably contributes to this, but as the lockdowns continue, children are continually pulled away from their settings and social environments. Their routines are constantly interrupted or changed, and this has a knock on effect on their emotional ability.

From regressing back in developmental stages to developing early signs of health anxiety – the pandemic is making an impact.

WHAT TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR SHOULD I BE WORRIED ABOUT?

Toddlers and young children can’t put their emotions into words as well as we are able to – they may not even understand the different emotions they’re experiencing. Keeping a close eye on their behaviour is therefore absolutely key when it comes to monitoring their mental health.

You know your children best – so the examples below are not necessarily cause for alarm. However, we’ve collected the most common symptoms of anxiety and stress-related issues that may be red flags signalling that your child may need a little extra attention, or a helping hand to deal with those big worries they don’t quite understand.

Anxiety and depression

• A noticeable difficulty in concentrating

• Frequent sleep disruptions or irregular sleep patterns

• Not eating properly or a change in eating habits

• Frequently waking in the night due to nightmares

• Suddenly starting to wet the bed

• Easily irritated or angry, and getting out of control during outbursts

Stress

• Tummy aches – abdominal problems and tummy issues are a very common way that children’s bodies display stress

• Sleeping disruptions or issues with sleep

• Regressing and showing behaviours they had at a younger age

• Lack of engagement in activities they would normally enjoy

TOP TIPS TO HELP CHILDREN DEAL WITH ANXIETY

What can you do to help children with their mental health? Here are some ways you can support children in acknowledging those big feelings, and help them self-regulate and control them in their own way.

• Deep belly breathing – This is a fantastic technique to help children learn to self-regulate when their emotions are getting out of control. There’s even a great video with the cookie monster that explains this perfectly. The simple act of breathing in and out deeply does absolute wonders.

• Create a safe space for them to calm down – Try turning a corner of your space into an area where they can find calm and stillness, with noise cancelling headphones and fluffy cushions.

• Validate children’s emotions – Helping young children understand what they’re feeling is incredibly important. Not only does this help them self-regulate when these emotions repeatedly appear, but it validates the emotion and lets the child know that you understand and support them.

• Teach them an emotional vocabulary – Once they’ve understood what they’re feeling, it’s important to name it. They’ll be able to tell you when it happens again, and explain what it is they’re feeling. Not only will you be able to support them more quickly, but they’ll start recognising the signs of that emotion and self-regulate themselves.

• Use books to develop their understanding – Stories can be a great way to help explain those big feelings to young children, as they introduce them in a digestible and accessible way. Why not try Little Meerkat’s Big Panic, or The Huge Bag of Worries?

taking care of yourself

It’s incredibly important to note that you need to be taking care of yourself too. Taking care of children’s mental health will be that much harder if you yourself aren’t making time to take care of your own.

It’s okay to feel uncertain, worried and upset about the state of the world. But giving yourself time to breathe is absolutely key. Practice what you preach – if your child is becoming increasingly anxious and needs to do some deep belly breathing to calm themselves down, you should be doing that too.

useful resources

• Every Mind Matters: An NHS resource for parents and carers.

• Keep Your Cool Toolbox: A fantastic resource from Dr Mine Conkbayir to help adults coach children through those tricky and overwhelming emotions.

• Mental Health Foundation tips: 10 tips to start you off if you’re not sure where to start. Taking care of your mental health isn’t always easy, so having a guide to start you off might be just what’s needed.

Article adapted from ‘Boosting Children’s Mental Health During COVID-19’ by Bronagh Kathleen McGeary (Famly Blog, 13th January 2021)

Coronavirus time capsule

Most of our children will not fully understand the magnitude of what we are all experiencing right now. You may wish to create a time capsule with them, to store away and open in years to come when they are more able to process all the lockdown craziness that was the Lost Spring of 2020.

You will need:

• A suitable box or container for storage

• Tape or string to seal it up

• A bin bag to waterproof your time capsule

• An attic, basement or secret cupboard for storage

Together with your child, collect items of memorabilia that represent your time in lockdown. These might include photographs of your family during lockdown, newspaper articles, drawings, current handprints, letters to your future selves, notes from family members about memorable events, or anything else you want to include.

Put your memorabilia into your container and seal it up carefully so the contents cannot be exposed to light or damp. Stash your time capsule away in an attic, basement or cupboard and wait 5, 10 or 20 years!

What does school readiness mean in a pandemic?

Play is a very natural way for young children to learn and whilst they may not have been attending a setting, these children will still have been learning so much during the day. They have plenty of opportunities to actively learn, play and explore and think critically at home. For example, making mud pies in the garden can teach us about capacity, solids, liquids, changing properties of materials, or building with blocks can offer us opportunities to problem solve, teach us about structures, how things fit together and practice our fine and gross motor skills, and having a tea party with a teddy enables us to practise conversation and social skills.

So parents do not need to try to teach their children anything specific to help them to be ready for school. Instead, they need to play with them, sing together, read lots of stories, talk with them about anything and everything and play lots of games. There are so many opportunities to chat during the day: sort out the washing, count the stairs when you walk up or down together, face time or video call a grandparent, discuss what you’re going to have for lunch or dinner and then, if possible, involve them in making it. Make use of other opportunities to have fun together, such as writing a secret message to your child and hiding it in the house then using picture clues to help them find and read it., e.g. Giving them a picture of a table, means the message is on the table, then the message could say, “There is a strawberry in the fridge’ with a picture of a strawberry and a fridge!” Messages like this demonstrate to children the importance of learning to read without trying to teach them!

Other ideas parents can try at home include:

• Play with the noises your voice can make, for example, pretend to go down a slide – “wheeeeee” or make the sound of a police car – “Nee naaa nee naaa...”

• Create an obstacle course in your living room using cushions and the coffee table – pretend that the carpet is hot lava and you’re not allowed to step on it!

• Play mirror-me games in the garden by inviting your child to copy your actions, then swap over and copy your child.

• Have a dance off – when you take it in turns with your child to make some groovy moves to your favourite music.

• Encourage your child to practise getting dressed in the morning without much help, or have a getting dressed race!

• When you go out in the garden or for your daily exercise, encourage your child to put on their own shoes or wellies.

• Support your child to go to the toilet independently, including any wiping needed and demonstrate how to wash their hands. I guess many children will be starting school as experts in this!

• Encourage your child to find out about wildlife and be interested in the world around them, or create a weather board together.

• Create a drum kit out of saucepans and use wooden spoons as drum sticks and try to play a rhythm or steady beat on the drums.

• Cook or bake together, sharing the opportunity to measure the ingredients and follow a recipe, and of course, if appropriate, lick the spoon!

• Play hide and seek or create treasure hunts in the house and garden, with clues such as ‘hot’ when your child is near the treasure or ‘cold’ when then are further away.

Most reception class teachers are not worried about whether or not a child recognises their name or can count to 10 or say some letter sounds. But they care very much about how many of them can wipe their own bottom or nose, or can put on their shoes and coats independently. In a class of 30 four-year-olds these independent skills are worth more than gold to a busy reception teacher! Teachers expect to teach children to read, write and count when they begin in school and will do so, when the children are ready, but in those early days of term and school life, a little independence will certainly go a long way.

So what does school readiness mean in a pandemic? It means children being children and naturally being interested, excited and motivated to learn through anything and everything! Children who try and try again. Children who can get dressed by themselves, can use the toilet alone or help their parent at tidying up. Children who learn through play!

Article by Tamsin Grimmer, taken from Parenta Magazine, July 2020.

Home Learning

Following the announcement that schools and nurseries will close on Monday, many of you may be wondering how you are going to support your child's learning in the weeks to come. Below are some suggestions to help you structure your day and, hopefully, enjoy this extra time with your child.

Don't try to recreate "school at home"
Think of this as an unexpected staycation, where your family gets to spend time together and have some fun. Ask your child what they would like to get out of this time together.

Create a schedule for your day, but don't put too much pressure on yourself to stick to it
The best schedule is one that is spacious and flexible, and builds in plenty of independent learning and play time for kids and (just as importantly) reliable break times for you. Here is a sample timetable:

Breakfast to 10am: Play inside

10am to noon: Group project
Art, cooking, jigsaw puzzle, work assigned by the school, activities suggested by nursery

Noon to 12:30pm: Lunch

12:30pm - 2:30pm: Alone time for everyone
Books, educational tablet time, colouring, crafts.

2:30pm - 4:30pm: Outside play
Try to get the children outside everyday, whatever the weather!

4:30pm until dinner: Regroup time
TV, video games, books

Go off-book
Consider alternative ways to divert your child's attention that will be beneficial and engaging without you feeling like a substitute teacher. The internet has a wealth of suggestions for activities. You can also use this time to introduce your children to key life skills like cooking and laundry. When it's time for you to work, make sure your child knows what to do in the meantime (preferably something they look forward to, such as playing on your phone!).

Stay positive
Don't forget: this is going to be a formative time for your child. What do you hope they will say when their grandchildren ask them what they remember about the coronavirus outbreak of 2020? Try to make this time special. Share stories about your own childhood and teach them games your enjoyed as a kid. For some families, the first few days of being at home together might be the hardest; for others, the first few days might be quite fun but, once the novelty wears off, it will become harder. Above all, be compassionate - towards yourself, and your child. We have never experienced anything like the current crisis, and what will see us all through is kindness.