Spring is almost here and it's that time of the year where the weather starts to get warmer and being outside becomes more appealing to a lot of us. We've listed some activity ideas which can be extremely important for childrens communication and creativity skills. 

Lockdown is tough for any normal person let alone children. You might be thinking, 'What can I do as a parent or teacher to help keep my children feeling positive and motivated during lockdown?'

We have put together a list of helpful things you can do to help along with some links to other resources to keep your children busy and feeling motivated. 

Cut down your waste this Christmas by making your own Christmas decorations, fun and easy to do and you also save your pennies...

We recently installed an outdoor gym equipment bundle for KS1 & KS2 for Bentley St Paul’s C E Primary School in Brentwood. They were extremely happy with the service and the final product.

As an adult we greatly undervalue and under estimate the importance of roleplay in our children’s lives. Roleplay is an essential skill which helps children discover the world, expend their creativity skills and communication skills.

When looking to Early Years there are some fundamental development stages where roleplay really comes into its own in helping children develop and grow and helps us recommend what products we feel suit each step of the imaginative play curriculum.

Top 5 EYFS Nursery Must Haves for the Mathematics and Construction Curriculum

Maths is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each specific area is divided into Early Learning Goals, for maths these are:

• Numbers - children learn to count and the value of numbers, higher and lower. These skills support them to solve problems, use money and calculate more or less.
• Shape, Space and Measure - these skills support children to understand size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money and compare quantities, objects and solve problems.

We use maths all the time – every single day. It is so important that we encourage and help children to have a broad understanding of the curriculum goals to help them progress and develop.

Children learn about maths through play and their daily experiences. And the more meaningful to them and hands on it is, the better.

Make sure your setting's environment (both indoors and out) is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting things for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate and describe. Support them to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and to have a go.*

Image source: Annie Spratt

£720 million package deal has been announced to get students in the UK to catch up on a year of learning missed. We've listed some of the measures which are being put in place to help students.

 Flexible seating is extremely important for any classroom for many reasons, comfort, physical health, socialising, team work and relaxation. Having different choices for seating means children can choose who they want to work with and where. Flexible seating allows children to be active and younger children can use bean bags to move around, wobble and bounce.

Shop our brand new range of SEN products, with so many different products you could create the perfect sensory room for your nursery or school.

We have listed a few ideas for you to get creative with the kids this Christmas. It is always a great idea to get the kids involved with arts and crafts and what a great place to start. Remember you can also reuse materials you have around the house or even pick-up greenery on nature walks for your decorations.

Exercise is such an important part of everyday life, it keeps us healthy and prolongs our lives, most importantly it is great for our mental health. As adults, most of us try to keep fit and healthy but sometimes other things take over, like work and stress.

At a time when budgets are tight schools are challenged with finding the most pragmatic solutions to furnishing their learning environments. Primary schools require learning environments that reflect today’s modern and progressive teaching strategies. This means creating flexible spaces that can be used for multiple purposes by various age groups, using versatile furnishings, products and resources.

 Physical development is one of the key areas of the EYFS and is incredibly important. It is used to develop movement, fine motor skills, handling objects and understanding their own bodies and health. Children can do this in a range of ways including but not limited to special awareness when moving, co-ordination with both small and large movements, how to effectively use tools and equipment, saying when they do or don't need help, how show their feelings, learn that some behaviour is unacceptable and its consequences, how to play co-operatively and form positive relationships with adults and children.*

*earlyyearseducator.co.uk