TEY-10.2

Versatile and calming LauraEngland suggests simple tips to brighten your setting andmaintain a sense of well being... Natural spaces As many of you know, I am a huge fan of natural environments and resources. Some people question why I favour wooden toys and decorate my setting in natural colours. So, I thought I would share a few facts, taken from the Wild Network’s youtube video ‘The science of nature’. Firstly, just a view of nature is proven to have many benefits. For example, hospital patients with a view of nature recover quicker than those without and students do better in exams when they have a view of nature compared to those that do not. Furthermore, being within nature lowers stress levels and boosts the immune system. And, the more time we spend in nature as children the more time we will want to spend in nature as adults. If we gain all these benefits just from surrounding ourselves with more natural light, plants in the indoor environment and free flow to the outdoors, why wouldn’t I favour this way of organising my classroom? Mindfulness During these unprecedented times many of us have begun to adapt to a simpler way of life; realising the importance of slowing down and being in the moment. I am a huge fan of Jude Brown, from Nurture in Mind, who offers lots of meditations for children in the early years. Having tried these myself I can confirm that both practitioners and children were much calmer after a session. I now use this as one of my techniques when dealing with behaviour, whereby we encourage children to use the meditation area when they’re feeling angry. There are lots of other ways to bring mindfulness into your setting and it’s a great way to wind down. We enjoy playing calming music while manipulating scented play dough or making patterns in sand. Moving forward it is definitely something I will be adding into our daily routine to ensure both practitioners and children get some quiet time to be in the moment. Cable reel stations Cable reels are cheap (if not free) to purchase and offer lots of possibilities for creating different stations within your continuous provision, you can upcycle them and use them outdoors which means they’re really versatile and can be adapted for every environment. Want to create a dough station but don’t have a table spare? Use a couple of cable reels pushed together. Want to create a changeable small world station outdoors? Stack a smaller cable reel onto a larger one and create a fairy garden using some AstroTurf, this can be easily changed into a Jurassic world by swapping the fairies for dinosaurs. With the ever-changing needs and interests of young children, cable reels have been invaluable in my setting as we can easily change their use and move them around to suit the differing needs of both practitioners and children. Teachearlyyears.com 37 There are lots of other ways to bring mindfulness into your setting. MY SNAPSHOTS Laura England is preschool leader at Blythe Bridge Day Nursery. Follow @littlemiss_ey and visit bit.do/TEYle for more great ideas. HAVE YOU READ... MY MAGIC BREATH by Nick Ortnor, Alison Taylor and Michelle Polizzi My Magic Breath is a beautifully interactive book that encourages children to use their magic breath to overcome different thoughts and feelings.