We thought we’d better introduce ourselves officially in a blog post. We are Emilie and Rosie and we met around six years ago. We were teaching Reception in adjoining classrooms and hit it off straight away. Not long after that we both went on to have our first babies, both girls, just eight months apart. Followed quite quickly by our second babies! Again we were very lucky to have two girls but this time born just five weeks apart.
We would meet up once a week at each others’ houses and drink tea whilst the girls played. Having someone to meet up with regularly that was going through the same things was a life saver at times. The girls have literally grown up together. We’ve had some really lovely times.
It was Rosie that suggested we start an Instagram account, purely as a way to structure our time at home and to save our sanity as stay at home mums with a limit to our budgets. It’s grown much bigger than we ever had imagined and whilst we’ve slowed down a little recently due to new babies, pregnancies and the small matter of a global pandemic, we hope to once again start sharing what we get up to at home.
Rosie is currently working full time as a teacher and I gave birth to my third baby in May. This time we added a boy to our gang and Rosie is due her third baby in January. The Play at Home Mummas gang is growing and we are looking forward to sharing some baby activities over the coming year.
Vicky is a qualified children’s Occupational Therapist. Not only does she sell helpful play packs for a range of topics but Vicky also offers consultation calls for parents that have concerns about their child’s development and online sensory processing workshops. She also has two young children! How she fits it all in I do not know! Read below to find out a little bit more about the lovely Vicky.
1. Tell us three interesting things about you.
1. I’m a children’s Occupational Therapist specialising in children with sensory processing and physical difficulties. I’ve worked in the NHS for over 15 years and love my job!
2. I’ve got 2 girls, aged 4yrs (nearly!) and 14 months old. They are amazing and I can’t remember life without them being here!
3. I am SO bad with numbers. When the girls start getting maths homework… I’m outta here! That will definitely be a job for daddy!
2. Why did you start your Instagram account?
When my biggest was 2yrs old, I started posting a few pictures about the games and activities we were playing at home. Friends started asking for more ideas and saying how helpful they were for their own children. So I decided to set up a separate account ‘Play for Today’ to share even more ideas! I wanted the account to be fun and educational, to not only share activity ideas but to explain WHY they were so beneficial for our kids. Lots of families really struggle to access children’s Occupational Therapy services due to long waiting lists and lack of resources, so I wanted to support these families by sharing really simple ways to develop their child’s skills while playing and having fun!
3. What’s the best thing about Instagram?
I love the community feel of Instagram! Everyone is always so happy to chat in DM’s, share each other’s activity ideas and support each other virtually through bumps in the road. I have met some really lovely people on Instagram and have found so many amazing ideas to play with my own girls! I also love getting pictures of kids playing the activities from my page and messages from parents saying that their reluctant writer is finally enjoying mark making or thanking me for 5 minutes peace while their baby is engrossed in one of our baby activity ideas! It makes me smile every time!
4. Best thing about being a parent?
My girls literally make me smile and laugh every single day! Don’t get me wrong, we also have our moments… but their little personalities are so infectious. Being a mum is the BEST!
5. Worst thing about being a parent?
Oh my goodness, it has to be the lack of sleep doesn’t it?! It is by far the biggest shock to the system when becoming a parent. You do kind of get used to it, I guess. But those rare full nights of sleep and lie ins are definitely appreciated now!
6. Top three Instagram accounts and why?
@mothercould is the ultimate account to follow for creative ideas! The ideas she comes up with from random pieces of rubbish and kitchen cupboard essentials are so good!
@allaboutearlyyears is a nursery teacher who shares activity ideas that she uses within her classroom. Her activities are all really creative and she incorporates so many physical and sensory skills into the kid’s play!
@myteachermummyandme is an early years teacher. As my biggest is getting older, I love scrolling through her account for lots of play-based maths and literacy ideas!
7. What would be your dream job if you’re not already doing it?
I feel so lucky to say that I am definitely doing my dream job already! I love nothing better than working with children and supporting them to reach their full potential. Who wouldn’t love to play all day?! My job really is so rewarding, which is why I decided to give something back to all the families that are struggling to access traditional Occupational Therapy.
8. What advice would you give to a parent that has concerns about their child’s development?
Firstly, trust your instinct. You are the expert in your child. If you have a hunch that something isn’t right, please reach out to your GP, health visitor or child’s teacher. Secondly, early intervention is key. There are lots of services available to help you and your child. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask! I get lots of messages from parents who have concerns, and they always apologise for getting in touch… there’s no need! I’d much rather chat through your concerns and help signpost you in the right direction for support, than you sit at home worrying in silence.
9. What do you hope people gain from following you on Instagram?
I really hope they get lots of fun ideas to play at home to support their child’s development, understand that play IS learning and, for those parents of children with additional needs, gain access to specialist Occupational Therapy support that they may have been struggling to access via more traditional routes. I’d love for parents to feel they can contact me to discuss any concerns about their child’s development, and I’ll always do my best to help where I can.
How lovely is Vicky? You can follow her here @otplayfortoday for brilliant ideas and lots of insight into child development.
Hayley from @allaboutearlyyears shares her amazing set ups from her early years setting. Her Instagram page has grown from strength to strength and she’s always keen to help her followers. We asked her a few questions and she was happy to let us find out a bit more about the story behind her account.
1. Tell us three interesting things about you.
I worked full time whilst doing my Early years degree full time too. Organisation & time management were key during this crazy busy time. I’ve worked as a nursery nurse for nearly 8 years before starting my degree and deciding I wanted to become a teacher. Overall I’ve worked in private day nurseries, 1:1 SEN TA, class TA and now teacher.
I can’t get anywhere without a sat nav or map 🙈 I just don’t seem to take in my surroundings about where I’m going. I tend to use the same A road to get everywhere in my city.
I like to give day trips or experiences as presents rather than actual physical objects for birthday & Christmas as time is so precious!!
Plus an extra one because I’m just as nosey as everyone else when reading these myself…I’m a middle child with 2 other sisters and only ever lived with in 3 houses (all within 2 villages of each other).
2. Why did you start your Instagram account?
I’d always take photos a set ups to remind me which ones were successful with the children and to look back on for inspiration for myself. Then finally I got fed up of having 100’s of school photos on my phone!! I only set it up as a good way to store my photos, little did I know what an incredible platform it would be to meet like-minded other people who share the passion of early years and play. I wanted to create a place to share my activities where you don’t have to spend hours setting up play trays or learning opportunities but about simple and effective learning.
3. What’s the best thing about Instagram?
110% the people on here! I have spoken to some amazing like-minded individuals. Teachers, nursery nurses, stay at home mums, occupational therapist and so many more. It’s been great CPD for me and the support is fabulous! Ive chatted to people all over the world! It’s such a positive platform with real people who share the passion for teaching and learning.
4. Best thing about working in an Early Years setting?
The children! They are so enthusiastic to learn and you are an absolute queen to them! They are in complete awe of you and build up joint mutual respect for each other and that’s when you can enjoy being silly with them! It’s like I’ve never grown up, I’m still the silliest one in my team (but the oldest!) An incredible passionate team also really helps enjoy your job.
5. Top three Instagram accounts and why?
Just 3! Wow, this is so hard! I could name so so many who have inspired and supported me! But let’s try 3….
@rachelmoffatt13 is a rainbow loving, stay at home mum of 2 and is absolutely FULL of inspiration. She’s also runs a hashtag #trayfortheday which has loads of tray play ideas 🌈
@childmindingdays I only come across Anna’s account when we both got chosen as @peggy_pip brand reps and I’m so glad I did. Anna is an incredible childminder and one of the first childminders I followed on Instagram. I find it so great to follow a range of people. Anna shares beautiful stories and such a wide range of ideas from babies to after school club children! 🌟
And how can I forget my ‘real life’ actual friend who I did teacher training with @katiesclassroom_ Katie is a year 1 teacher currently undergoing a major change in her school and going to continuous provision based learning. It’s an amazing journey to watch and share with her. Katie also shares lots of great EY’s treasures and teacher tips too 🥰
And just to sneak a few extra favourites too: @early_years_ideas and @miniwritersclub @earlyyearsoutdoor 💕✍🏻🌿
6. What would be your dream job if you’re not already doing it?
I truly love teaching. I can’t ever imagine not working with young children! I do have my dream role but would like to secure an Early Years leader position within my current school 👩🏻🏫
7. What advice would you give to a parent that has concerns about their child’s development?
• Talk to your child’s teacher or key person and see if they share a concern too.
• Visit a health visitor. They are there to support you and offer advise.
• There is lots and lots of support out there, the sooner children receive it the quicker everyone can support the child further.
8. What do you hope people gain from following you on Instagram?
Never did I think my Instagram would grow or be as big as it actually is. When I first set it up I didn’t think I’d have 100, let alone 1000’s. I hope people will learn it doesn’t have to be elaborate sets up to get great learning from play. And having a friendly & supportive person at the end of the message who is always happy to chat
You can find Hayley on Instagram at @allaboutearlyyears. Go and give her a follow for lots of inspiring ideas.
What we found interesting about @buddiesbabiesandbiscuits is that it’s run by two friends, Nicky and Sue!Just like Rosie and I, they share a variety of activities for their children. Science, craft, play and even food inspiration fill their colourful feed! Continue reading to find out more about the story behind @buddiesbabiesandbiscuits.
1. How did you meet?
We met through a local group of mums having a second child at the same time.
Then we kept in touch and both had our third child within a few weeks of each other!
2. Why did you decide to set up an Instagram account?
We had both just had our third child and found that we weren’t doing as much with the kids generally! So we thought this would be an incentive to do more activities with them. We also were finding it a bit lonely being on maternity leave again. We initially found it made us meet up with each other more frequently but then discovered that there was an entire community out there of like minded and really friendly people!
3. What are your favourite play set ups and why?
Sue loves the sink plays particularly. Scope for any theme mixed in with lots of mess! The kids love them.
Nicky enjoys the arty or science based things. Her kids will play with any fizzy or colour changing things for enough time to drink an entire cup of coffee. Sometimes even with a biscuit.
4. Best thing about being a parent?
The hugs, love and laughter. It’s never quiet when you have three! You just have to embrace the chaos.
5. Worst thing about being a parent?
The days when nothing goes right no matter how hard you try. Or when you feel ill and have to get on with it all anyway. It can be really isolating without good friends.
6. Do you homeschool or have you ever considered home schooling?
It’s something Nicky periodically considers. But I’m a bit of a worrier and I worry that I couldn’t cover all the subjects well enough.
It’s something that fills Sue with horror. But mainly because she doesn’t have the confidence in her own abilities or the time to organise the resources.
We both totally respect anyone who does!
7. Top 3 Instagram accounts and why?
Resolvetoplay. Susie is the most lovely and supportive Instagram friend out there. Love her stuff! Caraflorence. Cara does such fabulous science and play stuff. We learn a lot from her! Muddlypuddly. We love Avvy’s fabulous mix of science and nature and outdoors. In fact we would both quite like to live with her.
8. What would be your dream job if you aren’t already doing it?
We’d be selling kids books!! Sue has written loads (for fun) and Nicky loves to do illustrations. We’ve published some parodies of some famous books on our blog. Check them out.
We hope you have enjoyed finding out a bit more about Nicky and Sue! If you don’t already follow them their Instagram @buddiesbabiesandbuscuits and blog are full of ideas for parents!
Rosie and I love to bake with the girls so we love an account that celebrates that. Laura shows simple ways to get baking with little people without the stress or complete destruction of your kitchen. Not only that but Laura now has a fantastic range of baking boxes, baking subscriptions and party bags. She does all that whilst looking after her two children! What a woman!
1. Tell us about how bakefulplay started.
When my family relocated to Somerset where we knew nothing and no one, I had a somewhat naive idea to start a cake business. Having been a busy secondary school teacher pre baby no 1 and then being plunged, somewhat accidentally, into stay at home motherhood, I was struggling with a loss of identity and trying to create something that was mine amid the chaos of Smalls, house renovation and loneliness. What with all that and then getting pregnant with baby 2, working on bespoke celebration cakes that took 3 evenings 7-1am just wasn’t feasible and I realised I was trying to do it for all the wrong reasons. I resolved to accept my new role and to try and find more purpose and satisfaction in the day to day. Having followed some lovely play accounts on insta I started sharing what I could do well – baking with the littles. I started a blog with the idea of creating a recipe book for my children and posting a weekly bake. It grew from their. A partnership with Our Sensory Kids, recipe subscriptions and now my own shop and a little growing business. It’s astonishing and wonderful and I love that it gives me reach beyond the four walls of home, a creative outlook, some financial independence and a way of combining real me and mummy me.
2. What’s the best thing about Instagram?
Without doubt the community. It’s like the best bits of a staff room. The supportive, creative, positive and relaxed chat that goes on in DMs and groups begins the scenes is where the real magic of Instagram lies.
3. What would be your dream job if your not already doing it?
I’d really like to be Emma Thompson.
4. Best thing about being a parent?
Snuggles and the smell
Of their heads.
5. Worst thing about being a parent?
The guilt.
6. Top three Instagram accounts and why?
These are the ones I love for me rather than play / kids
@fiveminutemum – for great ideas but mostly for honest reality that makes me feel like we’re in it together.
@itsmadebyleah – for her lovely things, lovely chat and beyond lovely sausage dog.
@mattadlard – for cakery and fun. Also has a very cute pooch called Cookie.
7. What do you love about baking?
Baking for myself is my mindfulness. It’s totally absorbing. I’m rubbish at Yoga. I’ve tried. My brain just doesn’t calm in silence, it needs occupying. Baking and cake decorating gives me total focus and calm and therefore headspace from the general noise of life.
Baking with my children is just heaven. Sharing something I love and working as a team. All sitting around the same bowl. It’s a kind of messy calm. It offers time for proper chat. Real together time.
8. What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own business?
Don’t wait for it to be completely picture perfect and exactly as you have it in your head. Get something ready and go. Be brave. You’ll learn so much by doing. You need real live feedback to grow.
If you want advice on how to get baking with kids or are after a lovely gift for a special little person @bakefulplay is the account to follow!
Emily from @earlyobserver is really passionate about early education and that is clear from her instagramaccountand her answers below. If you work in the early years or you have young children her account is great for inspiration.
1. Why did you start your Instagram account?
My passion for early years! I wanted people to feel fired up about how important these early years are and how we can have a great impact in a child’s life through sharing ideas and talking about different topics.
2. What’s the best thing about Instagram?
I love that it’s such a great visual tool to share new ideas. That it’s like microblogging, sharing information in an instant that allows people to gain information on the move.
But I think for me the best thing is it has enabled me to meet so many amazing people who have helped me with different things along the way and inspired me to try new things.
3. What would be your dream job if your not already doing it?
Ooh well I did actually want to be a tv presenter! But now I think it would be looking at doing more public speaking about early years and if I couldn’t do that then a chocolate tester!
4. What is it that you love about working in early years education?
That we have such a great impact on the children’s lives and we can help them to build a strong foundation for their future.
As Novak Djokovic says:
“Building a solid foundation in the early years of a child’s life will not only help him or her reach their reach their full potential but will also result in better societies as a whole.”
5. What would you say are the main challenges within education at the moment?
That early years is still not taken seriously, that it’s seen as a wishy washy stage in a child’s life! Also that early years isn’t funded correctly – but I think that goes for a lot of things at the moment!
6. What are your three favourite Instagram accounts and why? Thechildcareguru Jamie is inspiring, full of knowledge about early years and a genuinely caring person! Plus you need to check out the books that she is having published this year!
EYFS4ME Kerry is so passionate about early years and shares so many fantastic ideas to use within your practice.
Naturalsimplechildhood her account is gorgeous and being a forest school leader I love all the natural elements she uses in the children’s play
And an extra one justinkrausephotography
– my lovely husbands photography, as I think he is blooming amazing at his job!
If you want to find out more about Emily go and give her a follow @earlyobserver
Susie shares her beautiful play ideas at @resolvetoplay that she sets up for her three lovely boys daily. If you scroll through her page you’ll be inspired to get playing immediately! Whilst her ideas are aesthetically gorgeous, so many are easily achieved at home, which is what we are all after isn’t it? Simple ways to keep our little people busy!
1. Why did you start your Instagram account? I turned to Instagram when I started to feel that Facebook was becoming an increasingly negative place, especially for parents. At one point it felt almost taboo to say that you enjoyed motherhood, yes it is HARD being a parent, mega hard, but I am lucky enough to also enjoy my role as a SAHM. So I took to a new platform (instagram) and used my relative anonymity (I didn’t tell anyone about my account!) to share the teaching and playing that I had been doing with my boys. The difference was overwhelming- I was immediately welcomed into the play community with support and encouragement. And yes we support and encourage each other when parenting gets tough, too 😉
2. What’s the best thing about Instagram? Oh I feel I’ve kind of answered that in the last question! But to expand: the Instagram community that I have become a part of is such a vibrant, happy and positive place. Never a sarcastic comment, or snide remark- nobody is competing, we are all just sharing the things that we love to do. I’ve made some really great friends here, I suppose it’s the perfect place to meet like-minded people.
3. What’s your favourite play set up and why? Ooh tough one. This changes with my children’s development and educational requirements… I love a sensory play tray, something with loose parts to allow the child to lead play. Often their open-ended play focusses on areas that they are working on in nursery, school or at home. It’s a fantastic vehicle for gentle reinforcement. That, or small world play! Small world play can take a long time to set up, which admittedly is half the fun, but if the children aren’t interested then it can be gutting after all that work!!
4. Best thing about being a parent?
Wow, where do I start? I love being a Mum, it’s all that I have ever wanted to be- I’ve never been particularly ambitious or career-minded, but being a Mum is my dream. It’s a privilege and an honour to be allowed to take care of and nurture these small humans!
5. Worst thing about being a parent?
As an introvert, I recharge by being on my own. This is rarely possible, and if it does happen I just want to be with the boys! I can’t win! 😂
7. What would be your dream job? Apart from being a Mum, my previous job was close to my dream job. I worked as Interventions Manager in a large mainstream secondary school in London. I worked with children at risk of social and academic exclusion, the success of my role was measured against our numbers of permanent exclusions. It was hard, demanding, harrowing, emotional and so, so rewarding. I felt it was a great honour to work with this cohort of children, that I was given the time and opportunity to foster a relationship with their families and source agency assistance where needed/possible. I was proud of every one of those kids, 98% of the time anyway- there was one day when a student of mine put a box OF HIS POO in a girl’s bag… the girl was the Headteacher’s daughter 🤦🏻♀️🙄
If you are looking for some gorgeous play set ups, lots of fun and real-life parenting, you can find Susie on Instagram @resolvetoplay. make sure you go and follow if you don’t already, you won’t regret it!
Susie also has a brand newbwebsite that can be found here.
I squirted different coloured paint on top of shaving foam. I had intended it to be a colour mixing activity but I turned my back for a few seconds and the girls just got straight in! Really very, very messy play!
Painting
Using an artists palette we talked about different colours and what they looked like.
Patterns
Using different coloured lego I worked alongside my eldest to make some repeated patterns.
Whilst it may seem like a fairly simple activity it really helps to support your little one to make links and notice patterns in their environment, thus developing their mathematical mind!
Colour Sorting
We used this theme as an opportunity to sort our toys in our garden. We simply drew chalk circles on the floor and filled each one with the same coloured toys!
This simple activity only requires pom poms and coloured bowls. It featured in our 5 Minute Fixes – check it out for more quick activities!
Bath Time
Choosing a colour theme for bath time is great for helping to secure your child’s awareness of different colours.
Water Play
Using flowers past their best, or petals and leaves that have fallen on to the ground you can create a lovely (and free!) sensory activity. You could just explode the textures and smells, of with older children they could make potions or perfume.
Colour Hunt
Create a list for your little ones to tick off next time you go out. We wrote this for our jaunt to the local park and it kept the girls occupied the whole way. They worked together and we were so impressed by their communication skills!
We’ve introduced “I Spy” recently and it’s really developing the girls’ observational skills. We’ve introduced the game using colours to start with and have noticed some new flowers in bloom in the garden!
Showing children that there is a purpose to writing can really inspire them to make marks. Get them involved with writing shopping lists, birthday cards, signs etc and they will quickly become interested. Here we made birthday cards for a cousin and she signed her name.
Water Play
Using water is a great way to expose children of different ages to letters. Here I put some magnetic letters in coloured water and suggested to the girls that they try and collect as many of the letters as they could using a variety of tools. So many skills are being practised here and I was able to differentiate for the two girls despite the almost two year age gap.
Letter Formation
Using familiar toys to engage little ones with letters is a great place to start. Here I made the first letter of her name and suggested she place more lego on top in the same places. She loved it and repeated it several times.
This is a great activity for practising letter formation and the letters can be made larger or smaller spending on the stage your child is at. I wrote some familiar letters on a tuff spot using chalk and suggested she trace over the top using water and a paintbrush.
Using water and a paint brush meant we could practise forming our initial on the ground in the garden. This encourages gross motor development and confidence with letter formation, as the water just dries up so mistakes don’t matter!
Letter Recognition
This was very simple to set up and is great for children who are just beginning to recognise the initial letters of their name.
Getting together a variety of letter resources is a good idea once your child starts to show an interest. I picked these letter stickers up from Home Bargains and they are great. I let the girls just explore the stickers here and as I took a back seat I could hear my eldest pointing out the letters she knows.
This simple activity was set up to allow the girls to practise recognising their initial. The aim of the game is to clean away any letters that don’t belong. Quick to set up and can be made easier with the exclusion of upper- or lower cases, or more difficult with the inclusion of more letters.
We both believe that it is important to stress there should be no pressure for children to write before they are ready. The activities we set up are purely to spark an interest, and this is how we worked when we were Early Years Teachers. It is so important to take the impetus off the final product and focus on the *process*.
Writing a shopping list, card, letter, sign, name – whatever – in front of your toddler, without even mentioning the fact you’re doing it, will be sparking an interest and they will want to copy.
All these fine and gross motor skills we mention will be preparing children’s muscles for writing. We don’t just mean fingers and hands, we mean forearms, upper arms, elbows, shoulders, core – it’s all important!
Maths is in almost everything that we do when we play but sometimes it’s great to really focus in on developing those skills.
Monday
As the weather was so lovely at the beginning of the week we had the paddling pool out. I added our foam bath numbers and my eldest went fishing. You don’t need a fishing net, we used a sieve!
I drew around some foam stickers and then supported the girls to match them. This is a great way to develop number recognition. These foam stickers from Home Bargains are great for little fingers as they are easy to pick up.
Tuesday
Taking full advantage of the lovely weather we did some more water play. This was something my eldest did spontaneously. We had our easel out and our paddling pool and she combined the two to create some green water. This is a great way to begin using the correct vocabulary around volume. She also began counting how many containers it took to fill the buckets.
These number rocks were easy to make. We picked these up for just 49p from Home Bargains and then I drew the numbers on using a sharpie pen. We have been talking about numbers and counting this morning, We can’t wait to use these again and again!
Wednesday
My youngest loves to pull leaves off in the garden. As she pulled them off I counted aloud. I then laid the ones she had pulled off into a line and modelled counting them. You can count pretty much anything!
This is an Orchard Toys game that focuses on telling the time. We aren’t ready for actually telling the time just yet but it’s a good idea to begin to introduce the use of time to toddlers as it’s quite a tricky concept to grasp.
Thursday
I set this counting activity in the tuff spot in a matter of minutes. We counted cars but you could use any toy that you have a lot of.
Using these number blocks we got in a magazine we did some ordering by size. This is a great way to begin to use the correct vocabulary around size.
Friday
I had left out our activity from the day before and using different counters, I worked with my eldest to extend the activity. It is a good idea to leave activities out occasionally for children to revisit.
We had a go at a tangram. I drew around some shapes onto card using the shapes and their matching colours and we used it like a puzzle. My eldest took to it straight away and really enjoyed it!
Saturday
Our girls love a writing box so today I created a Maths box for them. I included stickers, number puzzle pieces, pens and some paper.
I set this graph up so I could get a few jobs done. Using our number blocks again I’d hope she would use the correct amount and the correct colour and she did a fantastic job! We even spoke about which was the tallest and shortest.
1. Tell us about how bakefulplay started.
The Play at Home Mummas 