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Little Lifelong Learners

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Did you know that I used to feel TOTALLY overwhelm

Did you know that I used to feel TOTALLY overwhelmed by all the toys and had no idea how I was supposed to play with my baby?!
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Toys scattered from one end of the house to the other. Being a first time mum wandering the toy aisle at Target having NO idea what to buy next to try and entertain my 7 month old. Wondering what on earth I was supposed to be doing with my baby all day....and don’t even get me started on the negative self talk...was I even a good mum? 😩
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But fast forward a few years and a few more babies 😜 and I realised something pretty magical. Our little learners are actually professionals when it comes to playtime. They are drawn to exactly what they need at any given time.
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For Lilly, she is drawn to art. She loves being creative! And while she does this, she’s working on those important fine motor skills needed for learning how to write at school. Audrey loves transferring toys from room to room, basket to basket and shelf to floor 😂 And Elliot? Well he’s drawn to making messes. And I don’t really know why but I’m sure there’s a developmental reason...right?! 😜 Hint - it’s the trajectory play schema 🙊
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But my point this evening is that I hear you! I understand that overwhelming feeling that you need more. You need more fancy toys. You need more organised activities. You need more play areas. But I promise you this. What you have already is all you need. So remove some of the distractions, slow down and watch the magic unfold 😍
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Got a mama friend who you know is doing an amazing job?! Tag them below! We’re all doing our very best right now and that’s all that matters ❤️

Sight word cars! 🚗 Lilly loved doing some sight

Sight word cars! 🚗 Lilly loved doing some sight word revision with me this week. She’s always asking for dot sticker activities and this one was such a hit. You can change it up by reviewing colours, shapes, letters, numbers - just about anything and everything!
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This activity is from my latest Play Pack, released to my Little Play Club members today! I was SO excited to deliver over 100 pages of playful inspiration and printables to my beautiful members!
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This month is a Transport theme so I’ve shared heaps of simple play ideas, printables and tips and tricks with over 400 playful parents over in the Little Play Club 🥰 Next month we’re venturing into Outer Space 👩🏽‍🚀🪐☄️
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These Play Packs are exclusive to the Little Play Club, but never fear. You can pop your name on the wait list by following the link in my bio

Homeschooling. When we decided to send Lilly to sc

Homeschooling. When we decided to send Lilly to school last year, many of our peers were surprised that we didn’t decide to homeschool.
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But honestly, even as a teacher myself...the thought of homeschooling TERRIFIED me. It just felt like so much pressure, uncertainty...overwhelm! And as many teachers would probably agree, our own children are never as cooperative as the children in our classrooms 🙊
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So when we suddenly found ourselves ‘homeschooling’ alongside millions of parents across the world, that feeling of uncertainty crept in once more. I quickly wanted to purchase curriculum plans. I wanted to set a schedule with time for each curriculum area. I wanted to ask the children what topics they were interested and jump right in with themed learning experiences and unit plans! Omg I never thought I’d miss unit planning!
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But let me be honest with you. My understanding around what the whole homeschooling thing should look like changes every single day. I see parents hitting the ground running with amazing school routines and schedules. I see parents totally embracing practical life skills and learning how to cook dinners together. I see parents following the flow of their children while others have set time frames to explore different curriculum areas. And what I’ve quickly realised, is there is no wrong way to homeschool.
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We have ebbed and flowed between all of these ways. Some days we sit down and do traditional type schooling and do a guided reading session and sight word practise. Some days we explore zoo animals or ant life cycles or talk about how emus make babies...totally led by the kids and their questions. Sometimes we spend the entire day outside exploring insects in the garden or engrossed in totally child-led play. And other days, well...we spend a lot of time watching YouTube. And not the educational kind 😳
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What I’ve quickly realised is that as long as I follow the children, I can’t really go wrong. So long as they’re having fun and I’m not feeling stressed...we’re doing okay!!
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How have you felt becoming a sudden ‘homeschooler’ - did you feel at ease right away or has it taken sometime to settle into a rhythm?

Looking for playful ways to support your little on

Looking for playful ways to support your little one and their learning while you’re at home this week? 🤔
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Never fear! The amazing Teri from @petitbookcorner has joined us on the blog this week to share some playful tips for name learning! I’m so excited to try this name collage with Elliot 😍 Not only is it a wonderful way to begin exploring the letters that make up his name, you can also talk about colours and patterning while working their fine motor skills too. So much learning rolled into one simple idea!
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Head to the link in my bio to read more of Teri’s tips for supporting your little learner with playful name recognition activities and games at home!! 🥰

Easter is just around the corner and I’ve alread

Easter is just around the corner and I’ve already eaten half the eggs that I put away for the kids #StayAtHome #EatAllTheChocolate 🤭
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But let’s face it, Easter is going to look a little different for most this year. Instead of visiting our families, we’ll be spending Easter at home making playful memories and new traditions together.
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I’m really looking forward to pulling out some activities from my Easter stash next week. I actually remember the Easter bunny delivering a stack of art supplies to my brother and sisters and I one year and it’s always been an Easter I remember so fondly. It’s got me thinking what Kurtis and I can do this year to make it really special for the kids 🐰
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If you’re looking for some Easter inspo, I’ve got an Easter Pack in my store full of simple ideas and printables like this one! And the best part? I’ve also got 20% off storewide for the foreseeable future while so many of us are at home with our little learners just trying to do our best to get through the day!
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I’ll pop a link to this packet in my bio for you! Just use the code LEARNATHOME to get 20% off your order 🐣

Play doesn’t need to be fancy. You don’t need

Play doesn’t need to be fancy. You don’t need to spend all the $$$ or spend more time preparing for play than your littles *actually* spend playing 🙅🏻‍♀️
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This simple mud kitchen inspired hours of play when Lilly was a toddler. It was just a piece of timber sitting on some bricks with a few old utensils from the kitchen. It cost us nothing yet it set the stage for so much child-led play 😍
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If you’re anything like me, you probably often get the guilts when you scroll the ‘gram and wonder if you’re doing enough. Whether you need to spend more time making fancy play things or whether you need the next best fancy toy to encourage your little learner..... #YouAreDoingFine 🥰
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But this is your Saturday night reminder to keep it simple and just enjoy the moment. Times are tough right now but our homes are full of items with so much play potential. In fact, I bet you can think of a time your little learners were so easily entertained by the most simple thing like the Tupperware drawer or a bag of cotton tips 🙊
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Tag a mama below that might need to hear that she’s doing just fine right now!!

Today’s the day!! You can officially pre-order m

I have such fond memories of craft time from my ow

I have such fond memories of craft time from my own childhood. I remember the tub of recycled boxes and tubes at my Nana’s house and how I’d sit for hours making my own people from toilet rolls. I loved being able to sit and create so this is something I love to foster with my own children now too.
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Our kids love to paint, cut and glue so we decided to make some coloured artworks. They helped me go through our craft stash searching for all things green and then painted a large rectangle of cardboard with various shades of green paint. Next, their collaging began! 😍
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It was so beautiful watching them create collaboratively and I was even brave enough to give them access to glitter 🤭
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This kind if invitation is a wonderful way to support your little learners to express themselves creatively. It allows them to experiment with mark making, develop their hand-eye coordination and work those important fine motor skills too. But best of all? It’s a wonderful way to create some magical memories with your little learners!

Never under estimate the power of a simple sensory

Never under estimate the power of a simple sensory tub 🙊
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Whenever I want a quick and easy play activity, you can guarantee I’m gonna grab a sensory base, some utensils and some containers of some description!
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I’ve found that our little people really love to scoop and pour. They’re obsessed with the movement of the sensory bases and love to fill and empty containers. These explorations all form the basis for a pretty solid mathematical understanding of capacity and volume #LearningThroughPlay
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So what are my favourite sensory bases? Well I do love reusing a bag of pasta, rice or chickpeas, but given the current pandemic, these items are hard to come by. Some of my favourite non-food based bases include sand, water, bird seed, dirt, aquarium pebbles, kinetic sand, pom poms, beads....the list goes on! If you can scoop it, you can add it to a tub!
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So tell me, what’s your favourite sensory base? Bonus points if it’s not single use and can be used over and over like our bag of corn kernels!!! Let’s see if we can create an epic list of ideas for everyone that wants to start experimenting with sensory tubs!

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