While my granddaughter Daisy has inspired many of my educational blogs, she isn’t the only young family member that I’m lucky enough to spend time with. Daisy recently spent a long weekend with her cousins, and watching the many games and activities they shared has given me some new ideas for topics to cover. One… Continue reading Learning the UPPER and lowercase alphabet
Tag: Age group – 40 months onwards
World Book Day 2023 – reading for reading fun
World Book Day is a treasured event for our family, as is probably evident from all my previous posts on the topic! This year’s event, which takes place on March 2nd 2023, will be no different. There is a trove of resources for you to take advantage of this year, as I'll outline below. The theme… Continue reading World Book Day 2023 – reading for reading fun
More rekenrek ideas: developing fluency with multiples
The rekenrek, a simple Dutch counting frame, is seeing rapidly increasing popularity in the world of education. In this blog, I’ll show how you can use it to build a child’s number sense and their fluency in working with multiples. In my previous blog I explained the value of this simple tool for early mathematics.… Continue reading More rekenrek ideas: developing fluency with multiples
Rekenrek Revolution: a fresh approach to simple maths
How can a Dutch counting frame make it easier for a child to learn times tables and number bonds? In this blog I’m going to look at the rekenrek, a simple arithmetical tool that is growing in popularity. Now, in the decades I’ve spent as a qualified teacher, I’ve seen plenty of changes in the… Continue reading Rekenrek Revolution: a fresh approach to simple maths
Slicing and sharing takes the cake
Children have the right instincts about cake. They’re usually very excited to have some for dessert, and so they should be. Not only is cake comforting and tasty, but as I’ll explain in this blog, it’s useful too! Serving it is a great way to practise fine motor skills, to learn about sharing and even… Continue reading Slicing and sharing takes the cake
When Paper Dolls meet Number Bonds
Paper dolls, or ‘cut-outs’ have been an inexpensive craft and play option for children for more nearly two centuries. They’ve inspired a lot of play since then and some great stories too. I recently discovered that, as with many toys, it doesn’t take much imagination to build a counting activity into paper-doll play – my… Continue reading When Paper Dolls meet Number Bonds
STEM ideas for early years play
Many parents and grandparents will have heard of STEM in the context of education, but will not know what to make of it, or how to encourage more STEM learning. This is especially true if you’re caring for a child who is still in their preschool years. In this blog I’ll unpack what STEM means… Continue reading STEM ideas for early years play
Construction play: building a child’s creative skills
Construction play with bricks and blocks gives children an opportunity to handle, manipulate and examine 3D objects. Here are some ideas about how you can support those creative play sessions As an early years educator, I’ve always felt that construction play can offer huge benefits to young children, especially when there are no time constraints… Continue reading Construction play: building a child’s creative skills
World Book Day: Tabby McTat & Samuel Sprat
World Book Day is here and my granddaughter is dressing as a very special kitten. Here are some purr-feet resources so you can get in on the fun... Happy World Book Day 2022! I hope you’re making the most of all the excellent resources that are available for readers of all ages. This year for… Continue reading World Book Day: Tabby McTat & Samuel Sprat
World Book Day 2022: fun resources and useful links
World Book Day 2022 is drawing closer, and I’ve assembled some useful links and ideas to help you make the most of this special day My granddaughter Daisy has always enjoyed sitting down with a book. While she doesn’t need a special occasion to prompt her to read with me, she always enjoys World Book… Continue reading World Book Day 2022: fun resources and useful links
Granny Smith's Diary 