Early Years Resources Throwing & Catching Review

Hello all!

The weather has been absolutely amazing recently (especially considering it's England!) and as a result the children have been spending most of their time outdoors.

The wonderful Early Years Resources sent me over one of their Active Throwing and Catching Kit's and my children have had countless hours of fun using the variety of resources!

The kit contains;

• 6 weighted scarves
• 6 smooth quoits
• 6 x 10cm soft touch balls
• 6 bean bags
• 6 x 7cm foam balls
• Drawstring kit bag

The drawstring bag is so handy to store everything in as often things outside get lost so easily - so having a bag to throw it all back in makes tidy up time with the little ones SO much easier! 

In addition to developing their gross motor skills and overall physical development, the children have also been using other skills as a result of the kit, including working on their sharing skills and teamwork, as you can see with the boys below who were playing with the hoop making up their own game similar to football.

The girls were working on their turn taking and physical development skills by throwing and catching the beanbag to each other.

The children enjoyed using the range of balls, bean bags, scarves and quoits.

The kit really helped children with their throwing and catching skills, often as practitioners we are so focused on getting all areas of the curriculum squeezed into the outdoor area that physical development opportunities can sometimes be overlooked at points - so this throwing and catching kit was a great way to focus the children on a specific physical skill.

The children then set up their own game using the hoops and took it in turns to try and throw the beanbags and balls into the hoops.

I know the Active Throwing and Catching Kit will be a firm favourite with my children for a long time to come, I love that the items are all different sizes meaning that children who are in the early stages of throwing and catching, as well as the more advanced children are all able to use the kit. If you would like to purchase your own Active Throwing and Catching Kit then you can click on the links throughout my profile which will take you to the Early Years Resources website, where you can also check out their wide range of other products.

 

I received this product for free to try out with my class. However, the review and opinions are my own and I have given a full and true reflection of how this product was used and tested in my classroom.

A fairy good giveaway!

Hi all!

This blog post is all about The Irish Fairy Door Company's amazing 'Worry Plaque' and how I've been using it in my classroom to support with the transition from Nursery to Reception.

 

 This is the worry plaque which you can either attach to the wall (it comes with screws to attach it) or you can use it so that it is portable. I added mine to my calm down corner where the children go if they need to reflect on their feelings or just for a quiet place to sit in the classroom.

 I introduced it as part of our morning meeting and we had a discussion about how we might be feeling and if any of us were worried about anything - which I used in conjunction with the Irish Fairy Door Company's 'Worry Way' section on their website which is AMAZING!

It covers a wide range of things that children may be worried about to help you address it with your class, or individual child.

We discussed how if we were feeling worried we could go to the plaque, place our hand on it and tell the fairies our worries. The fairies then take these worries and turn them into wishes for other children - the wonderful thing about the plaque is that it's SO visual, when you place your hand on it the plaque will glow red... and then turn to green once the worry has been taken away!

 My kiddos absolutely LOVED it - they have been spending a lot of time in the Calm Down Corner telling the fairies all about their worries. The wonderful thing about the plaque is that at 3 and 4 it can be difficult to explain why you're feeling worried or anxious, it's such a consuming feeling and can be very overwhelming for little ones - I've had lots of tears and tantrums that seem to have appeared from nowhere recently and it's because my children don't know how to communicate their feelings. The worry plaque has been a great help so far, especially as it's coming up to that time of year where the children are getting ready to move up to 'big school'. I know that this will be a vital part of my personal, social and emotional development activities throughout the year and will now become an integral part of my class.

If you'd like to WIN a worry plaque for yourself then head over to my instagram page where you can enter! Simply click on the link or my logo below! Alternatively search for me @misslynchsclass

Remember it is for UK entrants only. I will announce the winner on Sunday 24th June 2018 and pass the winner's details on to The Irish Fairy Door Company who will arrange delivery. If you simply cannot wait or just want to purchase a worry plaque, or other fairy goodies, for yourself then check out the full range here.


I received this product for free to try out with my class. However, the review and opinions are my own and I have given a full and true reflection of how this product was used and tested in my classroom.