Each week at Yes Bebe we explore a different play prompt to help generate ideas from the the Yes Bebe community and team for you to enjoy at home. This week is Dinosaurs and the Prehistoric World. There are simple, quick set ups to more advanced science ideas; something for everyone and spanning so many ages. If you’d love to get inspiration on ways to play with your children then do keep up to date with the blog and join our friendly Yes Bébé Facebook group – Babble.
Last week saw an incredible week of play on the theme SPACE. If you’d love some inspiration then head to the blog post of ideas shared here. If you are sharing your ideas then use the hashtag #YesBebePlay so we can find your ideas. Our aim is to give you ideas anyone can do, they don’t need to be Pinterest worthy, inspiration not aspiration is our motto. We hope that whenever you need some ideas for a topic then you’ll be able to head to the blog and find lots.
You can find lots of book and toy dinosaur and prehistoric world resources on the site here. So let’s dive into some of the amazing ideas that have already been shared this week.
Dinosaur Play
How lovely is this play set up from Charlotte? We love the Holztiger dinosaurs teamed up with so many other loose parts play items. So inviting! When looking to buy toys it’s really useful to think about how many ways they can be used. This is how you can get real value for money from the toys you select.
Here’s a great set up from Simone. The use of fabrics are great for making a cosy play area for little ones to explore.
Look at this creative set up from Marie. Marie is incredibly crafty and a member of out Arts and Crafts Facebook group. Marie frequently posts her amazing crafts in the group. If you’re into crafts definitely worth joining for her inspiration and ideas.
Loose Parts Dinosaur Play
Freedom – that’s what loose parts gives to your children. Loose parts are items that can be moved, transported, ordered, lined up, split, combined. The play is limited to the imagination of the player. How roarsome does this cute little dinosaur from Sophie and family look? Grapat, Grimms and TickIT are great places to start your loose parts journey as well as natural treasure found outside. Here’s the loose parts section on the site if you’d like a closer look.
Dinosaur Saltdough
Dough is a great way to explore lots of topics. It’s brilliant for strengthening the muscles in the hand, fingers and arms as well as developing control and co-ordination. These skills are essential for being able to write. Heather and her family have used salt dough so they can keep their fossil creations. You could use playdough or clay too.
The Prehistoric World
At Yes Bebe HQ Charlotte and family have been transported back in time to the Stone Age with this great little invitation to play.
Thanks so much for all the lovely inspiration so far – we’ll be adding more of the wonderful ideas being shared with us through out the rest of the week so be sure to pop back and see what’s new.
We’ve been having a great time exploring Play Prompts over the last few weeks. This week sees the start of our theme SPACE. If you’d love to get inspiration on ways to play with your children then do keep up to date with the blog and join our friendly Yes Bébé Facebook group – Babble.
The wonderful Babble community have been sharing their brilliant ideas each week for their take on a specific play prompt. So far we’ve had the prompt colours, safari, food, minibeasts and oceans. You’ll be able to discover a plethora of ideas with the hashtag #YesBebePlay.
You can find lots of book and toy space resources on the site here.
Exploring Numbers through Space
We’ll be adding to this blog as the week goes on, but first up numbers. Space topics are a great way to explore number. If it’s for little ones then learning to count backwards from 5, 10 or 20 is so much more fun when you get to blast off your rocket at the end.
We love the nursery rhyme song Zoom Zoom Zoom we’re Going to the Moon and Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer to get young children joining in moving and counting. For slightly older children you could get them to write down the corresponding problems for Five Little Men in A Flying Saucer – 5-1=4 etc. SumBlox is a brilliant resource for using alongside songs to help visualise what is happening and the magnitude of each number. Giving your child the block 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 and then asking them to order them for a count down support them in understanding how a 6 for example is bigger than a 5.
For older children you can look at bigger numbers. How far away different planets are from the sun? Would it be quicker to get to Venus or Mars? How long would it take to get there? How many days does it take for a planet to orbit the sun?
Shape and Space
Katy shared her glitter hand print rockets. Such a great idea to explore shape if you’re looking to get a little maths learning in too. We stock a range of eco glitter on the site here.
Are your Nins ready to take their maiden voyage into space?! Love this simple idea from Christine using junk modelling supplies.
If you’re looking for a little 3D shape modelling Han shared their rocket making. You really need to make sure you are in the Babble Facebook group so you can see them launch their rocket using an empty milk bottle – looks so much fun. Not only that the family made an incredible stop motion rocket launch video and their own ‘powdered space meal’ (cocoa, icing sugar, custard powder…mix in milk!).
Sensory Space Play
Here’s what Charlotte at Yes Bebe HQ and her daughter Emma have been exploring for space week. Sensory bins are a great way to let little ones explore the world around them. Helping hands fine motor tool kit and squeezy tweezers are a big hit for exploring and great for fine motor strength and co-ordination – very important precursor skills for mark making and writing.
Space Books
Those of you who know me in Babble or on the Yes Bebe social media will know I’m a total bookworm. I couldn’t possibly explore a play prompt without books. What are your favourite space books?
What an amazing stash of space books Simone’s family have – I’m spotting some of my absolute favourites in this photo. You can find lots of the books here.
Christine shared their morning space set up with a couple of great space books. Charlotte, Yes Bebe owner, said – “Penguinaut is one of our absolute hands down favourite books.”
Christie has gone out of this world with this fabulous little set up. You’ll find several of the resources she’s used here.
Discovering the Planets
Christie shared their planet making project with us. This one would be great idea for lots of different ages as older children could look to ensure the planet sizes are to scale. Victoria suggested making planets from play dough – something she’s done at home before.
Space Mark Making
I always love mark making activities and Laura and her children have been busy using chalks outside for their space play. We’re going to have a go at some space alien finger print painting later this week.
If the weather is a little wet, it certainly has been by us, then you can use your chalks inside like Emma and family have.
We’ve added some gorgeous new chalks by Moulin Roty to the site. You get all 20 in the set and they are a chunky size and come in a carry case – you can find them on the site here.
Loose Parts Space Play
One of the many brilliant things about loose parts is how versatile they are. You don’t need specific ‘space’ items when you have them as they become anything your imagination can dream up. Look at this lovely space scene from Charlotte. What would your space rocket look like?
Galaxy in a Jar
A brilliant sensory activity from Charlotte in our babble group. Here are her instructions to make your very own galaxy in a jar!
1. Mix paint into water, as many colours as you’d like (I measured the water by pouring it into 3 from the jar).
2. Pour in the first layer of water/paint and add glitter. Sequins etc could be used too for more detail.
3. Pack with cotton wool balls to soak up water and stop all the colours running together. You could unravel cotton wool too for more detailed swirls.
4. Repeat until complete.
Space Walk
Marta and family turned their Dena people into astronauts and their houses into these cute little rockets. Kitpas crayons are great for using on lots of different surfaces and Marta says they wipe of really easily.
If you haven’t discovered Dena before let me tell you a little more about these incredibly versatile toys. They’re suitable from 10 months plus so make ideal sensory baby toys to explore. They are made from platinum silicone which is ‘soft, strong, bacteria resistant, hypoallergenic and BPA-free material and 100% safe.’ You can put them in the freezer as they can cope with temperatures from minus 60º C to 220º C. This means you can use them in the oven for baking and are dishwasher safe too. Perfect for messy, outdoor and water play. Colours come in a rainbow of bright and pastel.
Upcoming Play Prompt Themes
If you’d like to join in and get prepared here are the themes for June and July 2020.
For those of you in our friendly Yes Bébé Facebook group – Babble you’ll be aware of our Play Prompts. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been sharing these with you to help give you ideas of what to do with your children during lockdown and beyond. We know lots of you have been enjoying joining in and we want to help share ideas to get more people involved whether you are in the Facebook group or not.
We will be running themed weeks, however our hope is that these Play Prompts will form a bank of resources that you can draw from at any time. They may support a theme your little one is interested in or a topic at nursery or school.
Play is the most wonderful form of learning and we’re strong believers that there are very few things children can’t learn from play, whether that be social skills, phonics, maths, science and more.
To make things simpler to join in, from this week we will have a play prompt for a whole week. Each day we’ll add some fresh ideas around the same theme and share the wonderful ideas you are sharing too.
Inspiration not Aspiration
Our hope is that these ideas will inspire you and not make you feel like they need to be social media perfect – inspirational not aspirational. I love an elaborate set up that might take me half an hour, but equally often need to pull something out of the bag in 30 seconds. Which let’s face it can be all the time we have!
We’ll be sharing all-sorts with you. We’ll also be looking at ideas for a range of ages, including how to support learning through play with children of varying ages in the same house!
Play Prompt Plan
We want to make sure you know themes in advance – for those of you who would like to do a little planning and gather resources. However, feel free to fly by the seat of your pants and just dip in on a day.
Each theme will start on a Monday through to Sunday
THIS WEEK – 11th May – Colours
18th May – Safari – with a special Elmer Day on Saturday
25th May – Food
1st June – Minibeasts
8th June – Oceans
Use the #YesBebePlayPrompts if you are posting, commenting or sharing on other social media platforms so we and others can find you and share your inspiration.
If you’re looking for toys, resources or books to accompany a theme we’ve set up a specific place on the site to give you some ideas – Play Prompts.
Play Prompt this week is COLOURS
This post will get updated throughout the week so be sure to pop back and see what else we’ve added. You are a very inspirational bunch!
Use #YesBebePlayPrompts when sharing on social media so everyone can find your ideas. Don’t forget we want to help give you inspiration, it doesn’t need to be social media perfect.
To start us off, here are two very simple ideas that are perfect if you are feeling a little under the weather or just want five minutes to have a cup of tea!
Colour hunt – You get to sit down! You say a colour and they have to go and find an object with that colour from around the house and bring it back to you. For older children challenge them to find trickier colours such as magenta/ dusky rose or look at materials too – find something with metal that is also red.
Colour sort – have you got a box of unsorted toys? Or maybe a collection of animals? Whatever it is it’s time to colour sort. Just pop the toys down and away they go. If there is more than one colour on a toy, which colour is most prevalent? Which colour do you have the most of/ least of/ fewer of? Count each group and add a SumBlox or other numeral to the set. For children who are just beginning to learn words and put them together if they have say a red car, when they pick up the car you can say ‘car’. If they are at the stage where they know and say ‘car’ you can then add ‘red car’.
Play Prompt Update
Wow wow wow – what an amazing start to the week sharing your colour play ideas and activities. Don’t forget to keep using the #YesBebePlayPrompts so we can all see your wonders. Here are some of your fabulous ideas and set ups below.
Next let’s think about artists – what artists scream colour to you?
I love Mondrian with his primary colour compositions, Kandinsky and his medley of colourful shapes, Yayoi Kusama and her amazing dots oh and the bold beautiful colours of Esther Mahlangu. Don’t forget you can do anything on any day for the prompt, the ideas of artists to look at are just a little inspiration for you and can be any day.
Check out this Jackson Pollock inspired creation from this little lovely.
Here’s another fabulous round up of your inspirational play for the Play Prompt Colour. You’ve gone all arty!
Experimenting with Colours
One of our Babblers, Rebecca, gave some instructions for a colour milk experiment that you can do at home. I’ve put her instructions below. Thank you Rebecca.
Check out this simple STEM activity. We call it Magic Milk. Mine love it. And the best part….it’s mess free.
Fill a shallow dish or plate with some milk (we used coconut as we are dairy free)
Add a few drops of food colouring.
Give child a cotton bud
Let child move the drops of food colouring around, mixing and swirling as they go. They will create a beautiful milk masterpiece.
Give child a straw and let them slurp up their creation.
Voila fun and a snack in one!
Colour and Number Play
There’s been some more lovely colour play today and lots of you have chosen to incorporate National Numeracy day into your play too. Here’s some ideas you’ve shared.
SumBlox has been popping up all over and works so well as a learning resource alongside loose parts such as the Grapat Mandala pieces.
Colour by Numbers Activity
You don’t need a special book for these. Either use a standard colouring book, or I just draw my own pictures. Then, depending upon your child’s maths needs, add suitable problems. So for my daughter we’ll be having the numerals 1-10 to match up with different colours. For older children you could use bigger numbers with a key to which colour they represent. If they are working on addition, subtraction, division or multiplication you could have one of those problems on a segment and then depending upon what the answer is they colour a specific colour eg. you have 3×5= and if your answer ends in a five you colour it red.
A Rainbow a Day
How magical is this beautiful chalk painted window of colour from one of out Babble mums – Sara. It certainly brightened up the Babble group this week.
Colour Experiments
Sophie and her gorgeous little one have been sharing so much inspiration this week. Take a look at these science themed ideas. How cool is this idea using coloured, transparent blocks and drawing objects of matching colours. So cool!
They also had great fun with rainbow clouds of colour using Learning Resources droppers, watered down paints and shaving foam. I hope Sophie has inspired you to have some science fun!
Emilie and her lovely daughter have been busy experimenting with colour mixing this week too.
Colour Book Inspiration
There’s been lots of book inspiration this week – do head over to Instagram and make sure you are following #YesBebePlayPrompts where you can find the wonderful accounts sharing their inspiration.
More Colour Inspiration
Yet more wonderful colour play inspiration from out lovely Babblers. We agree it’s totally acceptable to make a ginger bread house any time of the year! Thanks so much for everyone who has shared their inspiration this week.
What ideas will you be sharing next? #YesBebePlayPrompts
This week marks National Gardening Week, the biggest annual celebration of gardening from Monday 27th April until Sunday 3rd May this year, 2020. Whatever the weather and even if you don’t have a garden you can still get children enjoying gardening. Young children love getting involved in the practical side of gardening. But also love as understanding how and why things happen. If you have an inquisitive little one there’s some lovely books to help you with their questions – you find them in our dedicated Gardening Week section on the website here.
Gardening – What We Eat
It’s a valuable skill to learn and have an understanding of the life cycle of plants. Knowing where our food comes from and what it takes to nurture and support its growth gives children a bigger appreciation of the food that they eat. Children who get involved in growing their own fruits and vegetables are often more likely to try these and other new foods.
Children love taking on responsibility. Tending to a plant and ensuring it has everything it needs to grow is an incredibly rewarding pastime. My daughter has been checking her bean plant daily. She likes to ensure it’s in a warm, sunny spot and always reminds me daily that we need to water it – it’s a good job she does! Beans have not been something she’s wanted to try eating. However, at the weekend, she actually tried a French bean as she wanted to see how her bean might taste when it’s fully grown!
Home Learning Garden Ideas
Are you looking for home learning opportunities for maths and literacy? Then growing can be a great way to incorporate these skills in a contextual way. Young children to keep a bean diary documenting either in pictures and/ or words and sentences the growth of the bean. Introducing new vocabulary to them such as root, leaf, stem, shoot etc. incorporates science too. To bring in a little maths you could count how many leaves are on a stem each day. How many more was that than yesterday? You could use blocks or a ruler to measure your plant and track its progress. Learning can very much be active and should definitely be fun.
Growth to children is like magic; especially if you choose the right sort of plants. You can quickly see the impact of your dedication and care. Planting a mixture of plants that will grow at different rates is very useful. This mixture of faster and longer growing times help to keep children interested and involved.
No Garden?
There’s an ever increasing range on the site of child friendly gardening tools, plants, and other resources. All designed to explore the world of the garden through real experiences or play. Even if your ‘garden’ is a pot on your kitchen window you can still enjoy the pleasure of growing with your child. Check out the range here.
Creating Memories
One way to keep the memories of your garden alive is to take clippings and press them. As a child I would press flowers and then make them into bookmarks for friends and family. A lovely creative little craft. You could make leaf and flower collages or check out our arts and crafts range and get journalling your gardening efforts together.
Please do come and join our friendly Yes Bebe Babble group on Facebook. We’d love to see what gardening you’ve been up to with your little ones.
The landscape and rhythm of our lives could well be about to change dramatically over the coming months. Social distancing and self isolation are now commonplace phrases that appeared overnight into our vocabulary!
Every Cloud
Many of us are finding that we will be at home with our children a lot more than we normally would. For some this is exciting times and for others a little daunting. If I can, I always like to find the positives in any situation. For now, time is slowing. For many of us this may be the first time since childhood. Make the most of this precious time you have been given together.
Before having my daughter I was an early years and primary teacher and I want to assure you that if your children are going to be at home for a couple of weeks or more you do not need to replicate school. If you’re worried about how much ‘learning time’ there should be, check out this blog post. I’m not saying it’s 100% accurate, but having taught in schools I don’t disagree with most of what is said.
Being at home is
different. Children are naturally inquisitive learners and will absorb so much
from being at home with you. Learning through play isn’t just a catchy caption,
it’s absolutely true. Children of all ages need to play, it’s how they make sense
of the world, test out theories and solve problems. That being said, many of
our children will be used to some form of routine from their settings and being
able to give them and you some structure to your days will be beneficial for
all.
Rhythm and Flow
Routines are often quite rigid. Times are allocated to them. It can feel quite restrictive and give you a sense of falling behind. In our home we adopt a more flowing idea of structure, a ‘rhythm’ inspired by Waldorf philosophy. Eloise Rickman, a prominent advocate of rhythm, peaceful parenting and home schooling spoke to the BBC yesterday on coping with self isolation together – you can find the article here. Well worth a read.
Putting in place a
rhythm for your family during this time doesn’t need to be Pinterest worthy.
It’s a flow of how your day will go, what it will look like and most
importantly for children, what happens next in my day. If you already have set
wake, bed, meal and snack points in a day you may want to have a more loose
idea of a rhythm as these events are already anticipated. It could be that
every Monday you will do baking, on Tuesdays you will go on a nature exploring
session in the garden. These activities in a week help your children to know
where they are. However, if on Monday no one wants to do baking that’s fine,
change it to something else. Above is an example of a simple weekly rhythm.
Waldorf Inspired
You’ll notice if you search for rhythm that Waldorf inspired rhythms associated each day with a colour. Many choose to use these colours to depict each day on their rhythm charts. Do what you feel is right for you. We often go for a seasonal tone to ours or a rainbow.
If you don’t already have some of the food and rest points mapped into your child’s day then it may be useful to be much more intentional in your flow. Below shows a daily rhythm with key points of the day written down. Again, if things need to change that’s fine, just pick back up your flow when you can. Gradually, over time, this rhythm you live becomes invisible, woven into your being.
You’ll notice there
are no times to this. It doesn’t matter if lunch is 12 or 1 or playing outdoors
goes on much longer. However, after lunch, for us is rest time – whatever time
lunch was. Just knowing what comes next is incredibly comforting to children
normally, yet especially now in these unprecedented times.
Making your Rhythm
Getting your children involved in forming your rhythm will help them feel much more a part of the day. Very little ones could help with painting backgrounds while you draw pictures. Older children may be able to help you create the rhythm and even write/ draw/ type it up.
Resources
First you’ll need some resources. You could type up your rhythm or draw/ write your rhythm down. Below are some background you can print off if you’re looking for inspiration. However, you could paint yourself a background together. We use Stockmar liquid watercolours or Tiny Land wood stains for our backgrounds.
Next, think about the start of your day and the end. Are there tricky points in there such as teeth brushing. If so make sure to put them down. A big part of having a rhythm is forming good habits.
Add in snacks and meal – these can have their own micro rhythms (such as helping to lay the table, washing hands, clearing away etc.)
Then add in your intentional activities. If you are choosing to do some structured learning with your children add it on. It could be that during the day you need to get some work done. Add it on, ‘playtime – Mummy/ Daddy working’. For some children it may need to be a specific activity than just playtime such as playdough.
Get Them Involved
Get children involved. What would they like to do in a day? In a week? A movie afternoon? Clay modelling? If they don’t readily have ideas, give them a list of ideas that they could choose from.
Add it to your rhythm chart. It’s just for your home. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
Try as much as possible to stick to your rhythm initially, this will help form gentle habits in your day and week. It’s surprising how quickly you get into the flow. If something really isn’t working change it. We often change our rhythm seasonally, or if there is a change that happens such as working days.
Share your Rhythm
We’d love to see your rhythms that you already have in place or ones you have done after reading this post. Do head over to our Yes Bebe Babble Facebook Group and share them there. It’s a lovely, friendly space where you can get lots of ideas for play and learning at home.
You may have heard other terms such as morning time and poetry tea time. These are more focused/ intentional times and each have their own little micro rhythms. If you’d like to know more about these or any other aspect leave a comment below or in the Babble group.
Did you know we have an ever increasing selection of books being added to the site? Over on the Yes Bebe Book Page we’re sharing lots of fabulous books with ideas of activities you can do and different questions you can ask your children.
Whether you’re looking for some holiday entertainment or having to self isolate this Spring, here’s a little guide full of brilliant, screen-free play ideas to keep everyone busy.
Books
Curled up with a book or ten. Have you noticed that we’ve started to stock an incredible selection of books? There’s something for everyone on the site from birth to adults. Books are an amazing way to lose time, whether getting lost in an author and illustrator’s world of splendid fiction, digging in deep to non-fiction or getting busy with an activity book. There are just so many options. Snuggled up on the sofa, or sat in a tent in the garden, books are the perfect boredom busters.
If you’ve got a more reluctant reader then exploring a book alongside props is a great way to get them engaged. Lots of our small world play toys can be used as story props for your favourite tales.
Love books as much as we do? You’ll love our monthly book club subscription. From birth to 14 years + categories, with options for fiction, non-fiction, activity and Waldorf inspired. An exciting monthly surprise direct to your door. Now that’s something worth waiting in for!
Spring Box
We have some incredible Spring Boxes available right now, with everything you need to get in the Spring mood at home. You can choose what style of box you would like from under 3s, early years, Montessori or Waldorf inspired.
These are the perfect topic boxes to have hours of fun with this Spring. Each box will give you several play ideas to explore with your child.
Jigsaw Puzzles & Games
Does anyone else remember ‘wet playtime’ at school? Well in our school that meant the jigsaws came out, to great excitement from all. The perfect rainy day activity. There are so many skills being developed when children complete jigsaws. Check out this blog post from Usborne on the ways Jigsaws help child development. There’s a huge selection of jigsaw puzzles on the site for all ages.
Have you discovered Orchard Toys yet? We stock a brilliant range of Orchard Toy such as the classic Shopping List, to First Times Tables and Rainbow Unicorns. Fun is at the heart of their range, with a strong emphasis on learning through play. Each game and puzzle has a suggested age range, yet older children get lots of enjoyment out of guiding younger siblings in how to play. A great way for older children to be able to explain concepts such as their mathematical reasoning.
Arts and Crafts
Our selection of arts and craft media, materials and guides are ever increasing with kits available for complete beginners to resources for the experts. Why not try a new craft to pass the time? We have a vast choice of paper mache projects that are suitable for a wide age range, new in are these gorgeous eggs perfect for your creative little ones this Spring. Maybe you fancy having a go at crafting alongside your child and giving crochet, weaving or needle felting a go.
Gardening
As the saying goes, there’s no such things as bad weather, just wrong clothing. If it feels like you’ve been stuck inside then heading outside in your garden can be a welcome relief, especially as Spring is coming along and the weather more mild. If you don’t have a garden then bring the outside in with pots and window boxes.
Children love hands-on, real experiences; especially experiences that allow them to do what they consider ‘adult work’. If they’re at home, getting them involved in household jobs can be really rewarding. Helping out with cooking and baking are very popular, yet exploring the outside and gardening is often high on the list of favourites. We’ve got a lovely selection of child-friendly tools and other gardening resources.
Child sized tools are perfect for little hands and to get them as involved as possible. We’ve also got some lovely little kits such as grow your own carrots and sunflowers to botanist kits. If you are looking for some Spring gardening tools, plants and topical books make sure to check out our Spring Boxes which give you a carefully selected box of Spring time goodies just for your little nature lover.
While out tending to your garden you’re sure to spot some creepy crawlies. We love the new Usborne books Creepy Crawlies and Bug Homes. They’re the perfect companion to find out more about minibeasts. We’ve also got bug pots and explorer kits so you can carefully observe little creatures before returning them to their homes.
Outdoor Play Play Ideas
Our top choices for outdoor play this Spring include this superb little sand and water table that comes with a lid. There are two sections that sit within the table where you could choose to add sand, water, soil or leave empty for small world play or storing your craft supplies. The lid fits securely on to turn the sand and water area into a perfect little picnic table. We’ve also just introduced a range of scrunchable sand and water play tools. Not only does this mean they are light weight, but can be stored easily inside the table.
Budding artists will love this outdoor easel. The painting screen is easily washed so that it can be used over and over again. The ultimate way to explore messy play!
Loose Parts Play Ideas
Loose parts are an incredible open ended play resource. Whether using to make beautiful pictures and mandalas or using them to represent food, coins, magic objects the possibilities really are endless. You can collect natural resources from outside as well as there being wonderful toys made just for loose parts play. We love Grapat loose parts and these natural resources.
Home Gym
Need to burn off a little excess energy? Then balance and rocker boards are ideal. They come in a range of styles, sizes and colours with something everyone will love. Why not add a pillow for the perfect relaxing rock too!
Looking for a little more challenge then put together your own combination of climbing greatness with the stunning range from Sawdust and Rainbows. Supporting development of both fine and gross motor skills through active play.
We’d love to hear what your top recommendations are for staying at home play. Do leave a comment with your play ideas.
If you’re not already a member of our Yes Bebe Babble Group on Facebook, do come and join us. We’re a supportive, growing community who are happy to help out with play ideas and recommendations to keep you entertained through holiday and if you’re having to self isolate.
Today sees the release of the newest and much anticipated David Attenborough story as part of the Little People, Big Dreams series.
4th February 2020 is release day for David Attenborough (Little People, Big Dreams) book!
Not many individuals have been inspiring so many people of all ages, genders and walks of life for so long. Not many individuals have the power to make so many others listen and pay attention. The life’s work of David Attenborough has been to bring the wonders of nature to our living rooms, to make us think and care about wildlife as much as he does. His television series are absolutely iconic, particularly recently Blue Planet 2. It managed to have such a big impact that ‘The Blue Planet Effect’ is a phrase used to describe the mass awakening of people to the dangers of plastic in the seas and oceans.
In this book, aimed at children from 4 years, we learn about his childhood and his early interest in zoology. We watch him develop a television career and become the tour de force he is today.
The Little People, Big Dreams series tell the life stories of some of the most inspirational people from history and the present day. All these lives have one thing in common: a childhood dream. These books are perfect to fill children with a sense of determination, passion and resilience to pursue their dreams. The series also includes some of the more tricky topics to talk to children about such as disability and racism. There was an initial focus on inspirational women but now there are many books about outstanding men including Bruce Lee, Stephen Hawking, David Bowie, Mahatma Ghandi and Muhammed Ali.
This book is a real treat for any library. Whoever would have thought that a little boy with a love for animals would become the legend that is Sir David!
Using books to help children begin to understand extremely emotional, scary, complex and traumatic events such as The Holocaust is a common tool. Authors have a special skill with words that conveys the message with enough power to do the subject justice but enough sensitivity that children aren’t frightened. It can lead to lots of questions, discussions and not just from the children. Any book that sparks conversations, particularly about things that are hard to talk about, is a great thing.
When researching for this blog post I was looking for books aimed at children 3-8ish and really struggled. Nearly all books about the Holocaust or World War 2 in general were aimed at much older children. After some frustration on my part I understood that the sheer horror of the Holocaust meant that even with the most gentle approach it really was too much for young children. With that in mind it is unbearable to think of the children in that age group who had no choice to witness and experience those atrocities themselves. We owe it to them to make sure that our children grow up in a world where they are not forgotten or repeated.
One book that I came across and immediately knew I could rely on the author for perfect pitching was ‘The Lion and The Unicorn’ by Shirley Hughes.
‘The Lion and The Unicorn’ by Shirley Hughes
A picture book aimed at children from around 5 years, this book is about a little boy called Lenny and his bravery. Lenny’s father goes off to fight in the war, he is evacuated and misses his mother terribly. Before he left his father gave him a badge, on it are a lion and a unicorn. Children can learn how Lenny and others like him embodied the bravery and courage of the lion and the unicorn to help them through these hardest of times.
Anne Frank’s is a voice we can hear all the way from 1942.
While the Diary of Anne Frank itself is a fantastic, life changing book for older children this tale of her life and legacy is appropriate from around 4 years. With beautiful, quirky illustrations and a biographical timeline at the back. The whole series of inspirational characters written by Isabel Sanchez Vegara is fantastic.
Another safe pair of hands when it comes to tackling tricky topics is former Children’s Laureate and author of War Horse Michael Morpurgo. ‘Friend or Foe’ takes children to the very heart of wartime Britain. It deals with some of the contradictions and conflicts of the era. Recommended from around 8 years old with 128 pages of text, a relatively short story but a true page turner!
‘Friend or Foe’ – Michael Morpurgo
We were all deeply saddened by the recent death of Judith Kerr who we know from the classic ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’.
Judith was born in Berlin and left Germany in 1933 with her family, fleeing the rise of the Nazi Party. In ‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’ Judith tells a semi-autobiographical story of Anna who is too busy being a child to notice the changes happening around her leading up to The Holocaust. We stay with the family as they cross Europe and so this book also touches on Anti-Semitism and being a refugee. It manages to be funny and warm and very accessible for children around 9 and over.
‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’ – Judith Kerr
Another book based on a true story is ‘Hitler’s Canary’ by Sandi Toksvig.
‘Hitler’s Canary’ – Sandi Toksvig
Sandi pulls together this adventure story from snippets of real life she has been told by her Danish family members, particularly her father Bamse. This is the story of the Danish Resistance and how they aided the escape of Danish Jews who were about to be taken to concentration camps. A fantastic book for older children (around 9 and over) about what children and communities can achieve in the face of the most grave adversity.
My final recommendation is a new release from yet another literary hero- Michael Rosen.
‘The Missing’ – Michael Rosen
Michael takes us on a journey to discover what happened to his great-uncles during World War 2. Through poetry, prose, original letters and photographs children can have their hand held while learning about the awful realities. This book makes comparisons to present day issues and processes some of the emotions that children can feel when faced with injustice. We all know and love Michael Rosen and it feels comforting to trust him to deliver extremely difficult subject matter.
There are of course many many books for Teens and Young Adults about World War 2, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ and ‘I am David’ being very well known. It can feel daunting deliberately exposing our children to sadness but by the magic of books we know that it is done carefully and considerately. Today on the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust Memorial Day, use this magic to help remember the people we lost.
You can find all of these books at www.yesbebe.co.uk/books or by clicking on the links below:
We present Chinese New Year Facts for you to get in the mood this Spring Festival. New Year is to Chinese what Christmas is to Westerners. It is the biggest festival of the year! Last year we were fortunate enough to be back (home) in China for New Years, but this year we will be here to share it with you. To get in the mood, here are five facts you can share with your children!
1 – Orange Trees and Flowers
During Chinese New Year, outside homes, businesses, hotels, everywhere you will see trees of mandarin oranges and potted flowers. Chinese don’t generally decorate with cut flowers, as anything cut represents severing good luck. Instead, live plants and full branches of blossoms are used, with each fruit and flower symbolising different things.
These throwbacks to Imperial China are commonplace in Chinese New Year. They come in all varieties from real gold to imitation. This one pictured actually holds chocolate inside! They are a symbol of prosperity and fortune for the next year.
3 – Happy Birthday! (人日)
Chinese New Year fact number 3 is that on the seventh day of Lunar New Year, everyone grows a year older. Happy Birthday!
4 – The Lion Dance
Associated with the creature Nian (年), the lion comes out to feast once a year, during the Chinese New Year. Eating crops, livestock and even people, during the lion dance he visits various businesses, housing blocks etc, where they make an offering of food, hung above the doorway. The lion then scatters the leaves and produces a scroll wishing good luck and fortune.
5 – ChunLian ( 春聯 )
Brother-in-law prepares Chun Lian for the doors
A couplet, typically seven characters, on two sides of the door frame, whose content is related to spring. Lexical and tonal rules are always adhered, though not strictly, as chunlian is transformed from metrical poems. Sometimes, concurrently, a horizontal scroll with four to five characters is hanged on the crosspiece of the door. Its content is mostly about the beauty of nature, patriotism of China and their earnestness of a splendid future
The concludes our Five Facts about Chinese New Year. Please check out our Chinese New Year section, where we have some fabulous offerings including children’s books and limited edition mice!
One of my 2020 resolutions is to read more widely. I know what genres I like and tend to stick to my comfort zone. Recently I have found myself covering the same themes again and again, although I’ll continue to enjoy that content who knows what else I’ll enjoy! I also love Bingo…. So I’ve created this Yes Bébé Reading Challenge for 2020…. Join me!
I will read something……
There is only one rule…. One piece of writing per square
You’ll notice nowhere it says ‘book’. Reading challenges that specify the length of the piece of writing and ultimately only consider lengthy books to be worthy don’t appeal to me. In this Yes Bébé Reading Challenge you are free to decide the length of what you read and what type of writing that read. There are endless variables that influence what we read, some are very personal and some are trivial. This challenge allows you to focus on the diversity and enjoy the material you decide upon.
It may also be the case that you don’t read with your eyes. That’s cool too! There is a fascinating discussion around the way we absorb words and what difference that makes.
You can pick your own goal, whether it’s one square, a line
or a full house.
Each month I’ll be writing a short blog article reflecting on the journey and making reading suggestions so please, if you come across anything amazing do share! I can’t wait for you to join me on this challenge!
For now you can find a fantastic selection of books for children and adults here
