Lots of fun with Learning Resources UK!

My little ones have been back for two weeks now and the time has flown by! We have started to welcome new friends and we are practising our rules and routines each day to make us great learners.

I was fortunate enough for Learning Resources UK to send me over some products for my children to use and they have been going CRAZY for them!!

First up is the New Sprouts Smoothie Maker which has been a focal part of my home corner - I have lost count of the number of smoothies I've been 'drinking' whilst I've been at work! I should be a lot healthier and skinnier than I am!

We had lots of fun filling the smoothie maker with the different fruit and filling the jug with what we had made - we even used some of our own food which made for some interesting combinations - jacket potato smoothie anyone?

i am sure that this will be a firm favourite in the home corner for a very long time to come, and it's really durable too which is fantastic considering I can have up to 39 morning children and 39 afternoon children, these resources are really put through their paces! 

Then we have our Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set which I absolutely LOVE!! 

Even though Halloween is still a fair few weeks ago my children have been absolutely obsessed with witches and making up their own spooky potions - and I knew that this set would be the perfect addition to a potions and spells tuff spot! 

The children didn't even realise that they were strengthening their muscles using the grabbers and pipettes. This is SUCH a versatile set and I just know that I will be using this tool set in so many areas of the classroom! 

Continuing with the fine motor theme which is a big area for me at the moment, we have been really enjoying using the Playfoam Student Set and as you can see from the photos below, it was EXTREMELY popular with the children when it was put out in our malleable area.

We even got to practise our dough disco moves with it and we used our dough disco posters to help us, here we made a ball with the playfoam!

 I was really surprised with just how versatile this playfoam actually is! I initially put it out in small clumps with some of my floam mats;

But the children had different ideas of how to use it (as they always do!)... they fetched their trusty cutters and rollers that they would use with their playdoh and to my surprise the floam was really mouldable. Even when they inevitably mixed all of the colours together, it turned into a gorgeous rainbow of rollable loveliness. This is already being requested daily and thankfully it doesn't dry out (I'm storing mine in an airtight container) and furthermore, there's no mess - hurrah!!

 Finally we were sent the Gears! Gears! Gears! Deluxe Building Set which I added to my construction area as something different to the usual cars and blocks. My children (especially the boys, surprise, surprise!) have really enjoyed this. Initially they were a little apprehensive as it's not as 'obvious' what to do with the gears as it is with bricks and cars - but I left it there for a few days for them to figure it out for themselves and once they did they had so much fun joining the base boards and making all of the cogs move - I can't wait to see what type of constructions they come up with as their little inquisitive minds figure out different ways of playing with these gears - the process of them working it out for themselves is so important to me (and them!) and I know that this set has so many learning opportunities!

My children have really loved the learning opportunities, and more importantly the fun that these resources have brought to our classroom. This is just a snippet of the many brilliant resources that Learning Resources UK has to offer, so head on over to their website if you're looking for new additions to your classroom or with Christmas coming up, a great gift for your little one that will support and extend their development! 

I am part of the Learning Resources UK testing team and received these products 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 these products were used and tested in my classroom.

 I hope this has gave you some ideas to use in your own classroom and given you an insight into how Learning Resources UK items could be used in your own classroom or at home!

Classroom Reveal 2017/2018

 So after what feels like a lifetime of home visits, the classroom is eventually ready for the little cherubs to start on Monday morning! 

After completing my first full year of nursery I feel like this year I have an even better understanding of what needs to go in my room and how best to support my kiddos.. so let me walk you through!

This is my teaching area with my teacher shelf that I've tried to organise! My sitspots are serving me well and I got rid of the mat as there wasn't enough space for each of my little ones (and it was covered in wee, sick and god knows what else!!)

I've introduced a linear calendar this year and we will use this every day as part of our morning meetings, as well as looking at the weather each day with the help of my morning meeting pack and my little weather gnomes! 

My morning meeting bundle can be found by clicking the photo

I've switched up my snack area by adding a self-registration area where my 'thinking spot' used to be and I LOVE how cute it's turned out!! I'll be teaching my kiddos how to use the snack area with the help of my Snack Time social story bundle.

 

I've also used these ikea frames to make it easier to display what food is available at the snack table each day - so cute and so simple! 

 My snack time bundle can be found by clicking the photo

 This is my construction/small world/investigation area! I made the car table from a cable reel that I painted with blackboard paint and I LOVE how cute it's turned out - especially with the addition of the super cute wooden road signs.

 

I also added some 'I can build' STEM cards that I put on to binding rings so the kiddos who need support with ideas on what to create can access this independently. You can get them from TPT from Pocket of Preschool here;

 Last year I had a 'thinking spot' which was established before I even became the nursery teacher.. my kiddos LOVED the thinking spot. It had the best view in the room so they could sit in front of their friends smiling and they'd constantly mess around there. This year we've introduced a 'Calm Down Corner' with stress relievers for children who need them, or for those who want to mess around then these will be removed and they won't be able to sit in front of their friends smiling from the best view in the classroom anymore!

 The home corner has also had a makeover and looks much more cosy and organised! I bought some cheap curtains from ikea and hung them up to give it a softer look, as well as adding a throw and cushion that my mom also bought for my from ikea! 

I also added some role play necklaces to the role play area to 'limit' the number of children in here. Some people suggested that these could assign gender roles and reinforce stereotypes but I completely disagree! These editable home corner necklaces can completely reflect the make up of your family types - same sex parents, children living with aunts/uncles, various races etc.

 My home corner necklace cards can be found by clicking the photo

 I've also switched up my creative area a little bit and made these super cute kiddos for my display! I am totally in love with this display and love how easy it is to switch their heads around to customise their art work!

 I've added some dinosaurs to our tuff spot for the first week back because who doesn't love giant dinosaurs?!

 This is my malleable area where the kiddos get to play with doh, floam, slime - anything messy that helps develop their motor skills!

 My children absolutely LOVE dough disco so I added my dough disco move posters and a gorgeous disco ball to the area.

I've also added a finger gym table to support their fine motor development that I will change weekly.

You can purchase my pre-writing skills pack which covers finger gym and dough disco here;

 Or the individual dough disco pack here;

The coat area is now de-cluttered thanks to the welly tables being moved outside - once all of the coats are on their pegs I will then push the coat rack to the side as they LOVE to run around it! 

My reading area has also had a complete overhaul! A very lovely lady kindly made my reading teepee for me. Initially I had purchased a pop-up tent but then totally changed my mind about it - there are giant donuts for them to sit on and read too! 

My story shelves are my absolute FAVOURITE! This horrible set of shelves had been left outside to rot and warp, but after a coat of paint and some love I have turned them into story telling shelves for my little ones to help develop their story telling language. Again, the cable reels at the top were given a bit of a revamp for the children to also use to support their retelling of stories and develop their language.

 Finally is my writing area! I bought the arch last year and fancied it up a bit with some flowers - thankfully none of them decided to climb it which I was worried about!

 This year we are introducing kinetic letters to the children which makes up part of my display and after the first half term I will then start phonics lessons so this display is ready for that and we will add our sounds as we go along!

These are my pencil grip posters which are included in my pre writing skills pack that I linked above - I add each child's photo to whichever grip they are currently working on.

This is my timetable for the first half term, lots of rules/routines to establish the first few weeks - after the first half term we will then introduce more 'formal' lessons.

Hope you enjoyed my tour and found some things that may be useful!

Custom Wooden Dolls Giveaway

Hey all!

To celebrate going back to school (or commiserate!) I am giving away a full custom set of 5 wooden dolls!

Princesses? Construction workers? Halloween kiddos? Whatever you want I'll make it! 

Enter using the rafflecopter link below;

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!