Emma told me ages ago about a fantastic place, The Recycle Yard in Ossett, and when I finally made it there for a visit last week I came back armed with lots of lovely resources that I knew would be perfect for many things; but one use I definitely had in mind for some of the goodies was enhancing water play here at Jollies for our oldest children.

The super-cute teeny tiny pipettes, the mini funnels, the pillars, the pots, the ‘pop top’ tubes, the ‘boats’ and the mini test tubes proved to be excellent when added to individual mini water trays

They got little brains whirring, little hands working and we saw fine motor skills being developed as hands had to grasp, squeeze, twist, turn and open and close as they explored and used all the different resources.

Building this finger strength and fine motor control is an essential pre-cursor for early writing skills, as you can’t hold a pen comfortably and effectively until you’ve gained this strength, control and coordination Xxxx

Yesterday Free-Flow were busy painting and practising cleaning their brushes along the way!

They liked to mix their colours, but learning to clean their brushes before each dip of new paint meant they could just mix the colours on the paper instead if they chose to add them to each other to create a new shade.

This proved much more satisfying as our children could explore the multitude of colours separately and this was much more exciting than the usual shade of brown that often arises when colours are mixed together on a palette.

The skill of rinsing the brush inbetween different strokes of paint led to greater choices being made, and much more satisfying results being achieved, as their masterpieces began to emerge….. xxxx

Our babies just adore watching, tracking, stretching and moving to pop, pop, pop the bubbles floating around and about them.

Bubbles are full of awe and wonder and we love a little bit of magic here at Jollies

Did you know that bubble play with older children can be hugely beneficial in developing later speech as blowing bubbles strengthens mouth muscles and gets the mouth moving and forming different shapes as lips are pursed and bubbles are blown.

Fun and hugely educational… it’s a win/win from us xxxx

It’s a little chillier outside this morning, so Free-Flow’s polar bears and penguins are very happy!!! xxxx

The best drawing, writing and creating definitely DOES NOT have to take place at a table top!!

We LOVE the Early Years and the freedom to move, move, move, find your own way of doing things and explore… let the creativity flow!! Xxxx

Oh the joys and endless possibilities…. xxxx

Sharing a favourite story with a favourite friend… could life simply be any more perfect?!

Our love of books and our love of friendship shines through here at Jollies for all to see… xxxx

Strong bonds create the perfect launch pad for future learning…

Our children adore their key people (in fact, ALL their grown ups really!!) here at Jollies xxxx

… hello busy, busy giraffe!!

Christmas has gone and a fresh new year of exciting learning stretches out ahead for all our Jolly children…

Learning through play the Jolly way…

It’s inviting, exciting, crazy & AMAZING

… A rainbow of possibilities awaits YOU!!

Happy, Happy New Year… Let’s GO, GO, GO!!!! xxxx

Our lovely friends at Midland House gave us some money when we went to visit them just before Christmas and instead of buying some new Christmas stories (as we had already bought a couple of new ones this year already and we have a HUGE collection now gathered over many, many, many years) we spent the money on some enhancements to our water tray instead

We know our children will love practising their counting, stacking and balancing of frogs , mermaids and polar bears together (as well as role-playing with them too!!) and as they adore the ‘That’s Not My’ collection of books we simply had to add ‘Narwhal’ to our Jolly stash!!

Thank you lovely friends our children will love playing with, and enjoying, their presents from you all…

We’ll look forward to seeing you all again soon for our traditional annual sing-along at Easter xxxx