I’ve written a super practical and visual guide to the baby room in collaboration with Community Playthings. It’s free to order (yes, you’ll get a lovely copy in the actual post completely for free!) or download immediately. It could work really well as an induction resource for any members of your baby room team whoContinue reading “FREE baby room booklet – order your copy now”
Author Archives: msakrmdx
Baby, what are you discovering?
A six month old baby is mouthing a metal whisk they’ve picked up from the treasure basket. What discoveries are they making? Babies are always asking questions about the world around them. In this case, the baby might be asking: When we see babies’ actions in terms of discovery, we become so much moreContinue reading “Baby, what are you discovering?”
Musical creativity in the baby room – Part 1
In part 1 of this blogpost series, I’m going to talk about why we need to bring musical creativity into the baby room. In part 2, I’ll share some reflective prompts that will help you to reflect on what you’re currently doing and what you might do next. So if you’re already convinced that youContinue reading “Musical creativity in the baby room – Part 1”
Musical creativity in the baby room – Part 2
In the first part of this series, we looked at why it’s so important to embrace musical creativity in the baby room. In this second part, I’ll introduce some reflective prompts to get you reflecting as a baby room team on what you’re doing at the moment and what you might want to develop forContinue reading “Musical creativity in the baby room – Part 2”
Creativity in the Baby Room
I want us to start thinking differently about creativity in the baby room. Instead of asking the question ‘What can we do that’s creative?’, let’s ask the question ‘How can we do what we’re doing in a more creative way?’. Shifting the mindset from ‘What?’ to ‘How?’ is a hugely liberating thing to do. WhenContinue reading “Creativity in the Baby Room”
Outdoor play experiences in the baby room
Outdoor play is great for learning, development and wellbeing. When we’re out in nature and fresh air, whether we’re babies, children and adults, we tend to show more creativity and playfulness. There is evidence to show that when we learn things outside, it’s more likely to be learning that sticks. Even neuroscience shows that experiencesContinue reading “Outdoor play experiences in the baby room”
Six types of visualisation to improve practice in the baby room
I am passionate about the power of visualisation, so much so that I think about visualisation as a leader’s superpower. In the baby room, we can use visualisation to work out what we are striving to create, how this compares with current reality and what we can do to close the gap. I’m excited toContinue reading “Six types of visualisation to improve practice in the baby room”
It’s mealtime in the baby room…
It’s the mealtime in the baby room. The babies are in their high chairs ready to be nourished, ready to experiment with food and ready to do the intensive learning and development that happens through day to day routines in the baby room. You don’t need me to tell you that in this moment, theContinue reading “It’s mealtime in the baby room…”
Let’s see it from the baby room educator’s perspective
I bought myself a slightly strange Christmas present – This. It’s the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (3rd Edition), otherwise known as ITERS-3. It’s a tool typically used in the US to monitor process quality in early childhood education environments serving 0-3 year olds. The idea of the ITERS is that you can spend 3 hoursContinue reading “Let’s see it from the baby room educator’s perspective”
Reflective Practice in the Baby Room: Description, Analysis & Evaluation
There are many models of reflection out there. It can feel overwhelming when you do a course on reflective practice in the early years or read a book about it because often a number of different models are put forward and explained. Adopting one, simple model of reflection and actually doing it, is more importantContinue reading “Reflective Practice in the Baby Room: Description, Analysis & Evaluation”