The benefits of being outdoors are widely known and accepted. This can including minimising illnesses, building a respect for nature, gross and fine motor developments, enhancing social complicity when engaging with others, as well as instilling an overall sense of calm. Here are some ideas to encourage your children to be outside more often: Gardening…
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Having children outside and learning with nature is always what we aim for. However, sometimes this is not possible. In our house we have a jar for rainy days and a jar for sunny days. Each jar has activities written on pieces of paper. My three children take turns each week selecting a slip of…
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It is widely accepted and acknowledged that children grow and change so rapidly in the first few years. This period in a person’s life is significant for many reasons and here are some of them. The human brain develops more quickly in the first 1000 days than any other time during life. Nutrition intake in…
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Have you ever ruined someone’s day by giving them the wrong coloured sippy cup? Or broken a heart by cutting toast into squares? Guilty! What is that?! Why is it such a big deal? How I wish my biggest problem for the day was that my coffee cup is green instead of purple. Right? Surely,…
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Red Nose has been a part of Australian culture for over 40 years! We see fundraisers each year, cars with the big read circle and people sporting the attractive foam red nose. But what are they actually for? Red Nose Australia all began in Victoria in 1977 by Kaarene Fitzgerald following the death of Glenn…
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Heading into the new school year can be very exciting and a little nerve racking. I’m certainly not the Mum at the school as soon as the gates open with my hair perfect and an even crease ironed into my son’s pants. But over the years I’ve found the below tips help us to get…
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I’ve had two of my three children start kindergarten now. I cried both times. The build up, the fact they don’t need me as much anymore, the sheer fact that time could pass so quickly. It’s all just too much. I found the whole lead up to starting kindergarten exciting but overwhelming too. Taking them…
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When people say that children are like sponges, they are not mucking around! The ability of children to establish, retain and implement new skills and information is truly astounding. Language is such a pivotal skill that will assist children through all areas of development. The ability to collect and understand information through receptive language as…
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In short, absolutely yes! And here are some reasons why: Freedom – offering children loose parts means there are no rules nor predetermined outcomes of how things are ‘meant’ to be used. Loose parts celebrates the process over the product in play. Fine and gross motor skills – children involved in loose parts benefit from…
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“Don’t do that, you’ll get dirty” “Take that out of your mouth” “Out of the puddle”. I think that at some stage or another, we’re all guilty of saying these words to our children. And at certain times it is of course appropriate, but are we doing a disservice for our children if we don’t…
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