Bedtime Reading that will Make you Excited to get up in the Morning!!

This book poses questions to consider and then offers ways to achieve something special in your setting.  Many of the resources are found and car boot items making them inexpensive to set up.  The ideas are flexible with space requirements, therefore ideal for homes and childminding settings.  Although this is an American book, there are many contributions from 'home daycare facilities' that are the equivalent of childminders in the UK!  This book doesn't blast you with theory but gives short, punchy information blocks on an essential, need-to-know basis then offers inspirational photographs of how to make use of that in many different ways.  Given how many of the pictures include comfy chairs, rugs, side tables etc, it is quite reassuring to think that we are halfway there as childminders in creating the home-like environment that many of the contributors to this book are aiming for!!  Although not the cheapest book you could buy, it is one that you will refer to for years to come, and offers a refreshing alternative to the pressure to own every plastic resource known to man!!

Designs for Living and Learning - Transforming Early Childhood Environments

Creative conversations in the Early Years

I have recently read a book entitled 'Supporting Children's Creativity Through Music, Dance, Drama and Art' edited by Fleur Griffiths and I want to tell you about it!

Before I start I should tell you about me and books; everyone has to have a treat or something they look forwards to and my treat is a book.  I love a crisp new book and the possibilities of the ideas inside!  I especially love the journeys they take me on from one book to another! I know within the first few pages, or just by flicking through whether I am going to like it or not, and pictures are important to me!  I often pick books that are on a topic I know a little of and want to learn more about, but sometimes I make a leap in the dark based on a reccommendation or a hunch and I am rarely disaapointed when I do!!  I thought it would be nice to review the books that I read to help you decide whether you are interested in reading them too!

I am sometimes wary of books that are by a number of contributors and edited to make one volume but this book really works becuase it reads in a very conversational way.  So much of what we do and learn is based upon discussion and it is a refreshing way to read about the contributors ideas.  the anecdotes and interviews convey the enthusiasm and passion of the practitioners involved.

I found it a book to dip in and out of, pencil at the ready to mark passages and topics that I wanted to come back to!  There is so much to gain from this book; just one interview offered inspiration whether you were\looking for ideas for including children in planning, pondering on the nature of wall displays to put up or considering how you use the space that you have.

The practitioners are clearly very knowledgeable and experienced but they openly state that it takes time to build that up; the whole tone of the book makes you feel like a colleague rather than an underling!!  For me, that boosted my confidence to follow the children more closely than I do now, rather than trying to tick all the EYFS boxes at once!

It challenged my current practice on a couple of areas in particular, such as making the room look 'pretty' at the expense of what the children actually WANT in there, and my reliance on books and resources for 'activity ideas' (ahem, guilty as charged!!) and I'm sure that next time I dip into it, it will spark off some more reflection in other areas too!

All in all, a thoroughly worthwhile read and one I will come back to regularly!