Parenting. Give it time.

Hello!

Sorry I have not written for so long! I have been so busy trying to finish off my degree and my level three CCLD.

But the good news is that hopefully I shall soon be starting work as a nanny!

Anyway, recently I found this Welsh Government website. It is so useful!

It contains developmental guides and tips and tricks for those difficult moments like bedtime, mealtimes and coping with crying! As well as guides to things like how to bottle feed and keep it all hygienic for baby. 

Please take a look whereever you live.

http://giveittime.gov.wales/?lang=en

Heuristic Play

Here is a very interesting link to Heuristic Play in the Early Childhood Years. Don't be afraid of the complicated term, heuristic play is simple and can be applied easily in the home or Nursery!

You can easily do this at home as the resources you use are everyday objects and recycled or reclaimed materials.

http://www.earlyyearscareers.com/eyc/latest-news/implementing-heuristic-play-into-early-years/

Sense

9/10 Parents said that their child had less opportunity to play

Disabled children miss out on vital play opportunities, according to new report by Sense. Read more: http://bit.ly/1S1mnBm and watch this moving video highlighting the challenges disabled children face https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UCfBd6O5h8

A Wonderful Blog!

This is amazing and very inspirational, it is about a dad who writes about his newborn son's journey with Down's syndrome. I'd recommend everyone to have a look .


See here for his blog: https://georgejonessite.wordpress.com/

The Equality and Inclusion of Disabled Children course by Children in Wales and Inclusion Conference

Completed The Equality and Inclusion of Disabled Children course by Children in Wales last Thursday! Looking forward to the training offered in my Inclusion Conference this Thursday.

More information to follow.

What to do if a child starts choking!

Paediatric First Aid

Did a great paediatric first aid course today! Here is a video to show what to do if your child (or anyone) starts choking by St. John's Ambulance.

Adult and Child

Baby Choking

Therapeutic Value of Play Course - 18th January

The Therapeutic Value of Play

On the 18th January I went to a course of the Therapeutic Value of Play, it was very interesting and mentioned both practical elements you could involve as well as the more complicated Neuroscience bits!

I'll go through a few of the practical elements because I think the Neuroscience might be a bit too heavy for a blog. A good thing for practitioners to note is that in order to train as a play therapist you must be over 25. 

Practical Elements: 

Messy Play! - One of my favourites for doing with children.

Things to consider: Dry messy play or wet? 

Some children don't like wet or dry messy play depending on them individually, although both have great sensory elements to them, developing fine motor skills as well.

Dry messy play ideas:

Rice, pasta, dry play dough.

Wet messy play:

Cornflower and water, oil or conditioner. An added feature could be to allow the children to add food colouring or flavouring to it which can make it have a great smell!

Silly noises game!

This one is great for playing with groups. Simply write a load of matching names of animals on small pieces of paper, then send the children out making the noise of the animal they have chosen! The aim is to find their matching pair without talking and only making the animal sound. I personally found this very amusing, especially walking over to people shouting "COCK A DOODLE DOOO".

This of course is brilliant in helping develop communication and listening with children.

My String Story.

This one is quite interesting, simply give a child a piece of string, offer them a few props of natural resources or toy animals or people and tel them to make up a story along the string.

A good added bonus to this one is to put the children in pairs (probably the ones from the silly noises game) and allow one child to listen and the other to tell the story, then simply swap turns. It teaches patience, listening and turn taking!

"Healing happens through play" (Axline, 1974)

"Play is children's natural medium of communication." (Landreth, 2002)

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello!

Welcome to my new blog! This is based off my Facebook page. I also have profiles on Childcare.co.uk and other Nannying websites such a Tinies.

My aim is to provide and share information suitable for parents, carers and practitioners as a form of reflective journal for me, so I can continually improve on my practice.

Please see my facebook and Childcare.co.uk profile below.

https://www.facebook.com/awatkinschildcare/timeline

https://www.childcare.co.uk/profile/1996342

The next few posts I put up will be backdated a little bit, but I shall try and upload here the same time as on facebook in future.  If you want to contact me, the quickest way would be through Facebook (general inquiries) and Childcare.co.uk (jobs).