Independence and perseverance is not just confined to our oldest children…
This little one was observed working so very hard to put the clip back together on the baby doll carrier. They were looking closely throughout and really focusing on what they were doing as they tried to complete this self-set task. After persevering they successfully put the clips together, but they didn’t then push it in fully so they could keep on continuing to take it apart and then do it up again independently… lots of repetition, time, patience and perseverance led to this skill being quickly mastered… xxxx
Some of our children have loved dressing up recently and when they wanted to pop their favourite costumes on they automatically sought help from a nearby grown-up to do this for them.
After being asked for help Imogen thought she’d try to see if our children could do it themselves with gentle guidance and lots of encouragement.
With a little direction regarding where to start, or how to slightly adjust to wiggle costumes on, our children were soon dressing themselves in some fabulous outfits. They may have initially struggled whilst pulling up the material, but Imogen naturally gave lots of praise and encouragement to keep them going and with this they were soon filled with determination!! The sense of achievement made their dressing up even more satisfying.
Dressing up days and determined learning ways spent imagining here at Jollies xxxx
It was pittas for tea recently, but Emma and Imogen decided to turn this into an even more exciting learning opportunity by making pittas with a twist… as they morphed into pitta based pizzas instead!
Our children got to pick their own toppings and they were super grown up, careful and independent as they used the safety knife to chop up their chosen toppings before they placed them on top of their pitta pizza. It was a very, very yummy tea and tasted all the better as the children knew they had created their very own unique pitta pizza that was exactly to their taste!
Independent ways and pizza munching days spent learning here at Jollies xxxx
Recently some of our Free-Flow children sat in a circle and participated in some ‘circle time’. Whenever they had the worm teddy, that signalled it was their time to talk and if they didn’t have hold of it it meant they had to listen carefully to what their friends were saying instead.
Circle time is a great way to develop speaking and listening skills and build confidence and as it was their first time taking part they started simple and had to tell their friends who lived in their house, their favourite colour and what they liked to eat at home.
Our children were very excited by the prospect of having their turn and most liked to chat away when they had the worm in their hands…
It was fascinating for these friends to listen carefully to their peers and gain an insight into each others’ lives as they chatted together xxxx
in preparation for our Jolly Pink Day next Friday (6 October).
Your little one is invited to dress in pink (if they’d like to) and there will be lots of fun pink activities happening throughout the day (and probably earlier in the week too!) and there will be a donation box in the entrance hall to pop some pennies in if you’d like to make a donation to support Breast Cancer Now.
As most of you will know this is something very close to Team Jollies’ hearts; especially after my diagnosis in January 2019 which resulted in me having a double mastectomy after chemotherapy.
Team Jollies were superbly supportive (to me personally and) of the charity and they raised money for Cancer Research by running 5k in pink attire and giraffey ears… they were all truly a vision!!
So we hope we can keep the fund raising, and awareness raising, going by having a pink day again at Jollies next week.
We’ll leave the donation box there all week so if Friday isn’t your little one’s day you can still donate if you’d like to and they are welcome to dress in pink any day next week too…
Thank you all for your support, it really means a lot to the team xxxx
Please check your boobies for your babies everyone… this website may be helpful…
Recently Imogen’s children started off outside setting up and completing obstacle courses where they went up the steps, down the slide, over the bridge, across the crates and walked the plank to finish their course off after first getting really low to crawl under the stand.
This quickly changed when one little one slithered like a snake and this just brought everyone’s imaginations to life as they were suddenly then in the Free-Flow jungle!!
In the next magical moment they were snakes hissing everywhere, grizzly bears looking for their lunch and to finish off with they then morphed into elephants who stomped around!! Oh and, of course, they had to catch a lift on Imogen as it was the only way to travel through the jungle!
They certainly had lots and lots of fun (although we’re not sure who had more… Imogen or our children?! ) collaborating together creating role-play scenarios and moving in so many varied, interesting amazing ways! Xxxx
Jade and Ava noticed their children were trying to climb on everything within the room…. They seemed obsessed!!
So what did they do? As every intuitive practitioner should, they got the soft play equipment out when they went outside to play so they could both feed their children’s desire to climb but in a safe, suitable, challenging way
The needs of little brains were certainly being met as little bodies could climb, climb, climb away… xxxx
Putting our bodies and balance to the test as we engage in movement play outside on the soft play mats… Fiona demonstrated, scaffolded and joined in too and her children were all moving in the most marvellous of ways as their coordination and control developed as pathways were forged within their brains!!
When children move this builds critical neural pathways within their brains and this develops their physical competency.
So the more repeated physical experiences they encounter, their sensory receptors increase and this leads to the subsequent cementing of neural pathways within their brains.
The more repetition of movement they experience the more these movements become fully automated…
Once these movements are automated our children’s brains are then free to process other ‘thinking’ tasks such as talking, listening, planning and problem-solving as they are not having to think about the mechanics of how they are moving, as this part is then automatic!
Each repetitive function they experience (through play) becomes an automated movement in time, therefore our children need frequent, varied opportunities to move often and refine their physical skills as the more they move the more they will learn and, in turn, the more their bodies and brains will be able to do!!
Movement play is marvellously fun, but also absolutely essential to get those brains and bodies working really hard!
Admit it though, you thought we were just ‘playing’ didn’t you?! xxxx
