love glitter

We are well and truly immersed in glitter. It is everywhere.

Christmas comes but once a year, and in this setting it comes with oodles of glitter.

 

Glitter is fun. Special. Glitter is absent from the setting for about 9 months of the year, a bit like snow. When it arrives it makes the children giddy with anticipation and excited to use it to the full.

 

One of todays activities was to decorate polystyrene balls using pva glue and sequins, on a tray. I thought it would be fun, but I knew within minutes that this was not a winner. One child backed away in confusion, one child painted the tray with the glue and the other child was very worried about getting the glue on their hands. I had not foreseen how difficult it would be for the children to hold on to the polystyrene shapes.

As no one was enjoying the experience we all ended up in the cloakroom washing hands and playing with the soapy bubbles in the basin. And then all traces of sequins and polystyrene shapes were removed from the playroom.

Thank goodness we still have plenty of glitter.

a taste of Christmas

Christmas for everyone is a busy time of year. For childminders the run up to Christmas is full of glitter, handprints and parties......children's parties that is. 

 

 

Running our childminding businesses single-handed (without a committee or management to oversee the business side of things) means we are generally run ragged by the end of term, and if we've managed by some stroke of luck to avoid the seasonal illness that always come just as the festive season is gaining momentum then we count our blessings.

I say 'we', I know I have been lucky (touch wood) because I've just had the sniffles . The children have had heavy colds from ....half term, and I've been busy blowing noses and washing my hands almost non stop since then.

 

I will sigh a big sigh of relief once the door closes at the end of the day tomorrow, not because I will be glad the children are gone- far from it. I will be relieved that the planning and execution of Christmas went off without a hitch. Not only will the children be taking home all the crafty bits & bobs they have been doing over the past 3 or 4 weeks, but they will have made a present for their parents and have a disk of photo's of all their activities over the past term to share with them.

 

Every parent has been consulted about their child's progress and a review has been produced which will inform the planning next term. Their Learning Journals/Journey folders are up to date and brimming full of their achievements both great & small.

When I close the door on Friday I will have a few days of not thinking about childminding (well not much) then once the festivities are over the playroom will be getting a deep clean and I will begin planning (loosely) for the next stage of Learning and Development.

The doors open again on the 8th.

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone.