Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 25

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.

A big thank you to my followers this year.

WIN a Children's Print from
Witty Doodle

When Witty Doodle popped up in my news feed on Twitter I decided to have a peek at their website and soon found myself scrolling through a nice variety of stickers, prints and canvases for children's bedrooms; I was very keen to see what they had available for the Mini Mes as we are decorating at the moment. The first thing I noticed was just how different their products are. They are bright and attractive with lots of beautiful patterns and geometric shapes. The Little Picaso range has been deisgned alongside Dr Amanda Gummer, a child psychologist, to develop and stimulate babies minds and when I saw the Fairytale Frog canvas I knew it would be perfect for Minxy's princess palace!

How You Can Get The Most Out Of Childcare - Guest Post

I like to think I have a fair bit of experience when it comes to childcare. My mum became a childminder when I was nine years old. I did my first lot of work experience in a nursery school, and then went on to work in two different nurseries following my graduation from uni.

But when it came to putting my own son into childcare, I found the whole thing a little bit daunting. Despite my experience, how would I know if I’d found the right place for my son? As it turns out we made a pretty bad judgement call! Imagine that – all this experience and we still made a mistake! The worst part was, I was working as the PA to an Early Years’ Consultant, so I should have known better. It wasn’t so much that I was unaware of the issues, but rather I lost the courage and conviction to follow my own instincts. 

That all changed when, after around 6 months, our son’s childminder announced to us that she could no longer look after him because “he just cries the whole time, and clings to me when we’re out, and it’s stressing me out too much. I don’t want you to think I’m being unprofessional...”

The Early Years Foundation Stage Explained

It is now believed that introducing children to education and learning from the age of two can give them a fantastic head-start in their school career. To that end, the Department of Education recently published a set of guidelines which schools must follow in order to give every child in England and Wales the same opportunities for pre-school development. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a set of legally binding guidelines relating to the welfare and learning of children between the age of two and five. 

What is the EYFS? 

The EYFS is a national curriculum for pre-school education. Registered Early Years providers and schools must follow this curriculum in its entirety, and compliance is checked annually by OFSTED visits. Children are assessed on a number of competencies between the ages of two and three, and again just before they start full-time school. Assessments take the form of observations only, and the

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....

If your looking at decorating your baby's nursery, child's bedroom or even creating a family display, Little Sweet Designs has a stunning collection of canvases and prints to brighten any wall. Some of which you can even print at home to save waiting for the postman!

We selected a 12" by 16" 'Twinkle, Twinkle' canvas in Azure Blue and it fits in beautifully with our