December 2021 Parenta Magazine

Issue 85
DECEMBER 2021
FREE
WIN A COPY OF ‘SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND
MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS IN THE EARLY YEARS’ BY SONIA MAINSTONE-COTTON
Industry
Experts
Toy shop at the
North Pole
A rainbow of
snacks for
under 5s
The well-being
of practitioners
+ lots more
Write for us
for a chance to win
£50
page 6
Fun and educational games
for the festive break
The Christmas holidays is a great time to meet up with family and friends and to spend some quality time together,
but what about keeping up some educational content too? We have some fun, educational games to play.
TOP TIPS FOR A FESTIVE PLAY • CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY • TREE DRESSING DAY

Imagination
and expression
in the arts using
music in the early
years
This article presents ways to
celebrate the twelve days of
Christmas creatively.
hello
welcome to our family
Hello and welcome to the December edition of the Parenta magazine!
The season of joy and goodwill is upon us at last; and in this month’s issue of the magazine, we really do have a
fantastic selection of festive advice and ideas for you!
Putting on “the Christmas play” is often the highlight of the year in many early years settings – at least that what
parents say! But anyone who has ever organised any kind of performance knows that behind every slick recital is a lot
of hard work, time and dedication. Turn to page 14 for our top tips that cover all bases to ensure this year’s production
runs as smoothly as possible!
Music and movement expert, Gina Bale takes us on a magical journey, as we meet a polar bear and a seal who are looking for Santa’s
workshop, in her speech and language article ‘Toy Shop at the North Pole’ – don’t forget to download her free session plan, guide and
activity on page 9.
We also have some wonderful ideas that you can share with parents for the holidays! We’ve come up with some fun and educational
games to play with the whole family – from an indoor treasure hunt to brushing up on storytelling skills!
With all the excitement and hype that comes at this time of year, you will find Sonia Mainstone-Cotton’s advice about supporting children
with social, emotional and mental health needs around Christmas time extremely useful. We have three of her fantastic books to give
away this month on this very subject. Turn to page 17 for details on how you can win one.
As always, all the advice, guidance, crafts and recipes you read in our magazine are written to help you with the efficient running of your
setting and to promote the health, happiness and well-being of the children in your care. We hope you love reading it as much as we
enjoy making it!
Please feel free to share the magazine with friends, parents and colleagues – they can sign up to receive their own copy here!
We wish you season’s greetings and a happy new year.
Allan
Top tips for a
festive play
12
14
Anyone who has ever
organised any kind of
performance knows that
it involves a lot of hard
work. So here are some
top tips to help.
Supporting children
with mental health needs
around Christmas
We need to think about how we do
Christmas with children especially
those with SEMH needs.
16
DECEMBER
JUNE 2020
2021
ISSUE
ISSUE
67
85
IN THIS EDITION
IN THIS EDITION
Regulars
6 Write for us for the chance to win £50!
6 Guest author winner announced
22 Fruit kebabs - by The Food Teacher
23 Christmas wreath
News
4 Childcare news and views
35 Congratulations to our Parenta
learners!
Advice
10 National Safe Toys and Gifts Month
14 Top tips for a festive play
26 Fun and educational games for the
festive break
30 Christmas Jumper Day
38 Tree Dressing Day
Industry Experts
8 Toy shop at the North Pole
12 Imagination and expression in the arts
using music in the early years
16 Supporting children with social,
emotional and mental health needs
around Christmas
20 A rainbow of snacks for under 5s
24 Life lessons we can learn from children
28 The well-being of practitioners
32 Egg-cellent advice: A little room
36 What is the sense of learning?
Understanding multi-sensory learning
Life lessons we can learn from children 24
Egg-cellent advice: A little room 32
What is the sense of learning?
Understanding multi-sensory learning 36
Tree Dressing Day 38

Childcare
news & views
Education Secretary puts
climate change at the heart of
education
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has
promised to put the fight against climate
change “at the heart” of education in
England. During his speech at the recent
COP26 in Glasgow, he spoke about plans
for a new ‘model science curriculum’, due
to be in place by 2023 as well as his vision
for “all children to be taught about the
importance of conserving and protecting
our planet”.
Teachers will be supported to deliver
world-leading climate change education
through a model science curriculum,
which will be in place by 2023, to teach
children about nature and their impact
on the world around them. Children and
young people will also be encouraged
to get involved in the natural world by
increasing biodiversity in the grounds of
their nursery, school or college by taking
small steps like installing bird feeders.
They will be able to upload their data
onto a new, virtual National Education
Nature Park – which will allow them to
track their progress against other schools
in the country, increase their knowledge
of different species and develop skills in
biodiversity mapping. They will also be
able to undertake a new Climate Award
in recognition for their work to improve
their environment, with a prestigious
national awards ceremony held every
year. The Climate Leaders Award will
help children and young people develop
their skills and knowledge in biodiversity
and sustainability and celebrate and
recognise their work in protecting the local
environment. Pupils and students will be
able to progress through different levels
of the award, ‘bronze’, ‘silver’ and ‘gold’,
in a similar way to the Duke of Edinburgh
Awards.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi
said: “We want to deliver a better, safer,
greener world for future generations of
young people and education is one of
our key weapons in the fight against
climate change. Empowering teachers
in every school to deliver world-leading
climate change education will not only
raise awareness and understanding of the
problem, but also equips young people
with the skills and knowledge to build a
sustainable future.
And it goes beyond the classroom – the
National Education Nature Park and
Climate Leaders Awards will let pupils get
hands on experience of understanding,
nurturing and protecting the biodiversity
around them.
Today’s measures will also build on
government’s pledge for every new school
delivered under the Department’s school
rebuilding programme to be cleaner,
greener and net-zero in operation.”
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
New children and families
minister commits to SEND
review in open letter
Children and families Minister, Will Quince,
has written an open letter to all parents and
carers of children and young people with
special educational needs and disabilities
to talk about his ambitions for them and
their children.
In the letter, he describes his commitments
to the SEND Review, and publishing this in
the first quarter of 2022. He has published
the list of the members of the steering
group and the contact details for the group.
The steering group:
• informs the development of, and
feedback on, the Review’s problem
diagnosis, identifying opportunities
and potential solutions, helping to
think through choices and trade-offs
associated with potential options
• shapes and provides steers on
policy solutions, tests the robustness
of proposals to deliver systemic
improvements, and offers advice
on deliverability and unintended
consequences of options
• supports the development of robust
implementation arrangements
informed by the evidence of what
has worked elsewhere, and advises
on arrangements for tracking
implementation and success
• advises, and supports delivery of,
the Review’s communications and
stakeholder and user engagement,
identifying opportunities for shaping
content of the green paper
• supports development of consultation
products, including the green paper
itself, and robust, accessible and
inclusive consultation arrangements
He ends by stressing that he will be
visiting more education providers as well
as meeting with SEND organisations and
experts across education, health and care
to listen to their views. If the SEND review
goes according to the newest plan it will be
issued as a full consultation in the Spring
2022.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Children encouraged to focus on
speaking and listening to avoid
low achievement
Early years settings around the nation
have been invited to take part in ‘No Pens
Day Wednesday’, which takes place on 24
November.
The aim of the day, organised by the
children’s communications charity, I
CAN, is to encourage children to focus
on speaking and listening for the day
and comes at a time when the number
of calls to the I CAN’s enquiry service has
massively increased. Over a six-month
period, the charity has received over 600
calls – compared to 482 over a whole year
pre-COVID.
A spokesperson for I CAN said, “In early
years, language levels at age two predict
reading, writing and maths ability when
starting school. They also predict later
ability to regulate emotions and behaviour.
Good spoken language skills are a strong
predictor of academic success. Children
with poor language skills at age five are at
high risk of low achievement.”
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
4 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 5

We’re always on the lookout
for new authors to contribute
insightful articles for our
monthly magazine.
Write for us!
If you’ve got a topic you’d like to write about, why
not send an article to us and be in with a chance of
winning? Each month, we’ll be giving away Amazon
vouchers to our “Guest Author of the Month”. You
can find all the details here:
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Support Parenta Trust
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bought to Parenta Trust.
Click here!
Visit www.parentatrust.com for more information
Win a copy of Sonia
Mainstone-Cotton’s
fabulous book
“Supporting Children with Social,
Emotional and Mental Health Needs
in the Early Years: Practical Solutions
and Strategies for Every Setting “
We have three
copies of
Sonia’s book
to give away.
Three lucky
readers picked
at random will
receive a
free copy of
the book!
To enter the competition email
marketing@parenta.com by
Monday 3rd January 2022
Congratulations
Youngest Chef
Award
to our guest author competition winner, Joanna Grace!
Congratulations to Joanna Grace, our guest author of
the month! Her article “Egg-cellent advice: Hand over
hand work” is part 1 out of a series of 10, exploring
her experiences with her youngest son ‘Egg’. In this
article, Jo shows the importance of freedom when
children take part in creative activities. Well done Jo!
Sign up and receive:
Videos and Lesson Plans
Stickers
Posters
Books
Medals
A massive thank you to all of our guest authors for
writing for us. You can find all of the past articles
from our guest authors on our website:
www.parenta.com/parentablog/guest-authors
A fun, practical, purposeful and engaging award that ensures curriculum
coverage and basic life skills to support long-term health and wellbeing for
children aged 3+. The award is a ‘Mini Muncher Challenge’, which includes
5 exciting stand-alone lessons and additional resources/activities.
Find out more at: youngchefoftheyear.com
info@thefoodteacher.co.uk 01582 620178
6 December 2021 | parenta.com
Winner need updating
parenta.com | December 2021 7

Toy shop at the North Pole
Meet a polar bear and a seal who are looking for Santa’s workshop?
Your very own Christmas Present from
Littlemagictrain
We know how hard it is to plan extra
activities for the children when you have so
much training and paperwork to complete.
To help you out, we wanted to give you
our exciting and fun adventure “Toy shop
at the North Pole” as a Christmas present.
And, we have also included all the linked
activities as part of your gift. Hope you
enjoy and have lots of fun with the children.
Now for the important
information
Gina Bale
Before you leave, tidy up to make sure
everything is ready for Santa as he has a
very busy night ahead.
“
It’s
Peek at the presents to see who is inside.
Then find a way to stop and catch the
overexcited polar bear and seal as they
run away with the presents. They can’t wait
for Christmas!
Find Rudolph and Dancer, big fans of
Strictly, and dance the tango together.
Open a present to find a very sad and
grumpy bear. We all have to work together
to cheer him up as we don’t want a sad
bear on Christmas day.
Help the Nutcracker Prince look for the
Mouse King as he could be hiding behind,
under or on top of presents in the toy shop.
The Littlemagictrain is such a robust and versatile resource for targeting speech,
language and communication development. The “Toy shop at the North Pole”
is one of my favourite sessions. It’s jam-packed with festive fun and plenty of
learning opportunities for vocabulary enrichment, developing linguistic concepts
and understanding “wh-” questions. I ran this session last year and despite being
exhausted from cheering up a grumpy bear, tangoing with reindeer and the big chase,
we had a fantastic time. The children shared their experience too saying, “this is the
best one” and “I’ll remember this forever”. It’s so wonderful to make magical Christmas
memories with the children and develop their communication skills at the same time.
Liz Shoreman, Speech and Language Therapist
“
Your coupon code to
receive this gift is:
Christmas
But what does “Toy shop at the
North Pole” include?
• An introduction, session plan, guide,
illustrations and music
• Training videos to help you run the
session
• Certificate for the children to retrace
their journey
• Fun speech and language activities
• Festive creative activities
And there are even some little extras for
you:
Just follow this link to our “Just for the
little ones” page to find the books you will
see the fantastic reading lists supplied by
Campbell Books for all our adventures. In
“Activities”, you will also find lots for the
children to use in your setting or at home to
continue the fun.
Do peek at the “Resource Sheets” as we
have sourced some fantastic polar bear
facts for you from National Geographic
KiDS.
“
How do I get this present?
1. Follow this link which will take you into
our “Christmas Activities”.
2. Put all the items in this category in your
basket (you will see it comes to £62.25)
3. Then check-out, pop in your details and
then where it says “coupon code” use
the code “Christmas” and it will all be
100% FREE.
What are you waiting for?
Follow this link “Christmas activities” and
pop all the items in your basket. Use the
“coupon code” use the code Christmas and
it will be all yours and you have sorted your
planning for December.
If you have any issues or questions, please
do not hesitate to contact Littlemagictrain
on hello@littlemagictrain.com or 01865
321212.
Merry Christmas!
so wonderful to make magical Christmas memories with the children and
develop their communication skills at the same time.
Liz Shoreman, Speech and Language Therapist
Gina’s background was originally
ballet, but she has spent the last 27
years teaching movement and dance
in mainstream, early years and SEND
settings as well as dance schools.
Whilst teaching, Gina found the time to
create the ‘Hi-5’ dance programme to
run alongside the Australian Children’s
TV series and the Angelina Ballerina
Dance Academy for Hit Entertainment.
Her proudest achievement to date is her
baby Littlemagictrain. She created this
specifically to help children learn through
make-believe, music and movement.
One of the highlights has been seeing
Littlemagictrain delivered by Butlin’s
famous Redcoats with the gorgeous
‘Bonnie Bear’ on the Skyline stage.
Gina has qualifications of teaching
movement and dance from the Royal
Ballet School, Trinity College and Royal
Academy of Dance.
Use the code ‘PARENTA’ for a 20%
discount on Littlemagictrain downloads
from ‘Special Editions’, ‘Speech and
Language Activities’, ‘Games’ and
‘Certificates’.
“
8 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 9

National Safe Toys
and Gifts Month
December is the biggest present-giving month of the year, and
come Christmas morning, children up and down the country will
be waking up to see if they have made it onto Santa’s ‘nice’ list,
eager to play with all the new toys they receive. These gifts will
have been purchased by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles,
cousins and many other relatives and friends, sent with love and
the hope that the child will get hours of pleasure playing with
the toy. No one wants the child receiving their present to end up
injured, blind or dead because of the gift they gave, but every
year, many children are unfortunately hurt, injured and some
tragically die because of presents that were unsafe and/or illegal.
December is designated National Safe
Toys and Gifts Month, and although this
started in the US, more and more people
around the world are recognising the need
to raise awareness of the safety of toys to
protect and safeguard our children.
In 2019, The British Toy & Hobby
Association (BTHA) published a report
called “Don’t Toy With Children’s Safety”
into the safety of toys it had purchased
online from several large online retailers
including Amazon, eBay and AliExpress. It
makes sobering reading for anyone who
has ever purchased toys online and is
even more relevant when we know that
58% of toys are now bought from online
sites rather than in person, in high-street
stores. Of the toys purchased:
• 49% failed to comply with UK safety
requirements
• 22% of the toys in the study had
serious failures that could threaten the
physical safety of children
Some of the most common
issues found included:
• The existence of small parts and small
balls in toys for under-3s which can be
a choking hazard
• Easily removable button cell batteries
which can cause death by burning
through the oesophagus if swallowed
• Overly powerful magnets that can
cause serious injury or death if
swallowed, by sticking children’s
intestines together
• Non-conformity issues included a lack
of traceability warnings
• Counterfeit copies
• Lack of warnings markings and/or
appropriate labelling
According to the report:
“Currently, online marketplaces that allow
third parties to sell products through
their platforms have limited insight into
the quality and safety of those products
and little incentive to assume any
responsibility for them because of the lack
of accountability.”
Another one of the problems perceived
by the writers of the report suggests that
people assume that just because they can
buy the products, they assume they must
be safe and compliant with all relevant
legislation, but this is far from the truth. In
reality, a lot of online sellers are either not
traceable at all, or they are not within the
UK or EU meaning that it is often unclear if
they are conforming to any kind of country
standards, and even more difficult to
prosecute breaches or enforce standards.
In the UK, Toy Safety Regulations
2011 are made under the Consumer
Protection Act 1987. They prescribe
“Essential Safety Requirements” regarding
general principles including the design,
construction and composition of toys, and
also particular risks including physical and
mechanical risks, flammability, chemical
and electrical properties and hygiene, to
name but a few. A “toy” is defined as “Any
product or material designed or clearly
intended for use in play by children of less
than 14 years of age” but does not include
such items as children’s fashion jewellery
or Christmas decorations. Therefore,
these items are not covered under the
same rigorous standards as toys but are
sometimes given to children as presents
unknowingly.
In order to combat the risks, there are a
number of things that you can do, and
advise the parents of your children to
do, before buying presents online, and
definitely before giving them to children to
play with.
How to reduce the risk when
buying toys
• Buy from suppliers with a good
reputation for safe and reliable toys.
Many will be members of trade
associations such as the BTHA whose
rules require them to meet high
standards
• If buying toys online, try to read the
reviews about the quality of the toy
and its suitability – remember that the
price may be a clue to the quality of
the item
• If buying toys second hand, extra care
needs to be taken
• Look for the CE symbol and UKCA
mark or the voluntary BTHA’s ‘Lion
Mark’ which shows that the toy meets
regulatory requirements
• Check the recommended age range
and don’t buy or give toys designed
for older children to younger children,
especially those aged 0-3
• Check labels on costumes to ensure
they are not flammable
In general, try to avoid toys with
the following:
• Strong, small magnets and toys with
removable button batteries which
can cause severe harm or death if
swallowed
• Loose pile fabric or hair which sheds
easily or long ribbons on toys and long
neck ties on children’s costumes
• Small components or parts which
detach too easily
• Sharp points, edges or finger traps
• Ropes or cords or that can heat up
• Things which are not marked nontoxic
Once purchased, and before
giving them to children
• Always check toys to make sure there
are no loose, sharp or broken pieces
that could hurt children
• Read instructions and any warnings
about their use
• Dispose of plastic wrappings
immediately before they become
dangerous playthings
• Some children, especially under 3s,
or those with special needs are more
vulnerable to choking, and less able
to cope with some toys than older
children
• Be aware of things like deflated
balloons and dispose of these safely
• Encourage children to play with one
toy at a time, to be tidy and put toys
away after play. This applies whether
at home or at school or playgroup.
Many accidents are caused by people
tripping over toys left lying around,
particularly on staircases
• Check toys periodically to see that they
have not become dangerously worn or
sharp
• Keep chargers out of the reach of
children and only use under adult
supervision
• Supervise children’s craft projects
including things which need scissors
and glue and things like chemistry sets
• Have children wear the right eye
protection for sports (face shields,
helmets, eye guards)
Toys are meant to be fun so make sure that
the gifts you give are safe, and enjoy them
together for extra special quality time.
References and more
information
• https://www.btha.co.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2021/09/Dont-toy-with-
childrens-safety-Online-Marketplaces-
Report-2019.pdf
• https://preventblindness.org/safe-toychecklist/
• https://www.btha.co.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2021/03/Symbols-on-Toys-inthe-UK-and-EEA.pdf
• https://www.rospa.com/home-safety/
advice/product/toy-safety
10 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 11

Imagination and expression in the
arts using music in the early years
Creativity has such a natural place in the early years that it is almost at risk of being overlooked. It
is also one of the characteristics that some philosophers consider unique to humanity. The ability
to create has been shown to reduce symptoms of distress in situations and conditions where
people feel out of control, including abuse/trauma, anxiety, depression and substance misuse.
Arts are now being included in projects known as “social prescriptions”, where doctors prescribe
activities instead of medication, from gardening, walking football, to singing.
Childhood can also be seen as a
“condition” where we have little control
over choices. Children are therefore often
easily manipulated into situations because
of their size and inexperience. Tantrums
and upset can occur as children become
more aware of manipulation and try to
resist control. Creating opportunities and
experiences where children may safely be
in control, like imaginative play, can help
to empower them. The arts can be useful
in creating access, including using childsized
furniture and materials and childappropriate
language.
“Arts” can simply cover painting, dancing
and singing. Or it can be extended
to drawing, acting and instrumental
performance or recording, and even
further, into sensory experiences, historical
curation and architecture. By exploring
different substances, equipment and
procedures children can experiment with
the different results they can get as a form
of problem-solving. This article presents
ways to celebrate the twelve days of
Christmas creatively, based on singing.
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a
traditional song with unclear origins. Even
the origin of some of the individual lines
are contested by history and language
experts, but the version below is one of
the most common versions used. Often
accompanied by actions, here are different
arty suggestions to explore each sung
verse.
Twelve Days of Christmas
A partridge in a pear tree: Painting.
Simply painting a bird in a tree.
On the first day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree!
Two turtle doves: Spoken performance.
Memorise and perform this verse for the
adult/group.
On the second day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Three French hens: Playdough/clay.
Using playdough or clay to make small
hen decorations.
On the third day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Four calling birds: Photography.
Using iPads or similar to capture local
birdlife.
On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Five golden rings!: Sewing.
Sewing rings onto fabric or teaching basic
hand-sewing techniques (e.g. tapestry).
On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Six geese a laying: Collage.
Using different media to cut and paste onto
a mosaic pattern.
On the sixth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Seven swans a swimming: Baking.
Using food creatively, either baking swan
biscuits or using fruit to make swans (e.g.
oranges).
On the seventh day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Eight maids a milking: Acting.
Taking turns to act each line for adult or
group.
On the eighth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Eight maids a milking
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Nine ladies dancing: Dancing.
Introducing a range of dances from different
cultures/genres.
On the ninth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a milking
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Ten lords a leaping: Design outfits/
fashion.
Using fabric remnants, play scarves or
paper outfits.
On the tenth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Ten lords a leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a milking
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Eleven pipers piping: Model making
Using empty boxes and tubs.
On the eleventh day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a milking
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Twelve drummers drumming: Instrument
play. Using drums or pots/pans/buckets
like drums.
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids milking
Seven swans a swimming
Six geese a laying
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!
There are so many ways that this song can
be used creatively within a wide variety
of arts. Each skill or verse could coincide
with special visits, either to see the animal
or activity, or to local artist residences or
artist visits. And with any luck, each event
or activity will hopefully make each verse
memorable enough to remember the order!
Frances Turnbull
Musician, researcher and author,
Frances Turnbull, is a self-taught guitarist
who has played contemporary and
community music from the age of 12. She
delivers music sessions to the early years
and KS1. Trained in the music education
techniques of Kodály (specialist singing),
Dalcroze (specialist movement) and Orff
(specialist percussion instruments), she
has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology
(Open University) and a Master’s degree
in Education (University of Cambridge).
She runs a local community choir, the
Bolton Warblers, and delivers the Sound
Sense initiative “A choir in every care
home” within local care and residential
homes, supporting health and wellbeing
through her community interest
company.
She has represented the early years
music community at the House of
Commons, advocating for recognition
for early years music educators, and her
table of progressive music skills for under
7s features in her curriculum books.
Frances is the author of “Learning with
Music: Games and activities for the early
years“, published by Routledge, August
2017.
www.musicaliti.co.uk
(The complete song is available on You
Tube and each day, each verse will
be posted on Musicaliti’s new TikTok
channel.)
12 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 13

Top tips for a festive play
5
Putting on a festive play is often the highlight of the year in any pre-school setting – at least
that’s what parents say! But anyone who has ever organised any kind of performance knows
that behind every slick recital is a lot of hard work, time and dedication. So here are some
top tips to help with this year’s offering.
1
Aim for inclusivity
instead of perfection
A lot of children naturally love dressing up
and performing when they are young and
don’t have the performance inhibitions that
can sometimes develop as we grow older.
Remember this in your planning and let
the overriding goal be a celebration of your
children’s abilities rather than something
that resembles a perfect audition for a TV
talent show. Consider the special attributes
of each child in your setting and respect
that. Celebrate diversity and difference and
play to the strengths of the children you
have, giving each child a chance to shine
in their own way. Your children’s parents
will love seeing their little ones ‘moment
of glory’ and remember that at this age, it
really is the taking part that matters.
2
Get the adults involved
– model things you want
the children to do
Children love to copy and will find it much
easier to remember the moves and the
words if they have someone to follow, so
get your staff involved by positioning them
at the side of the stage or in front of the
children (like a mirror), to lead the actions.
This will help the children focus and allow
parents to really see what they can do,
albeit with an onstage prompt.
3
Use narration to lead the
story
If you are not using a bought-in script, you
can create a strong performance by using
a narrator. Have an adult narrate your
story and show the scenes in a series of
freeze frames or still images as you go.
You could use a piece of special music
or a sound effect to remind the children
to ‘freeze’ like statues and ‘unfreeze’ at
certain points. You can also give spoken
lines to the characters if you want to,
and prompt them using the narration.
For example, your narrator could say, “All
the shepherds complained about how
tired and cold they were”, and use this as
the prompt to have the shepherds moan
about being cold etc. This usually works
well with younger children who can often
remember what to say, but not necessarily
when to say it.
4
Think of a different angle
to tell the story
Not all stories have to be told from the 3rd
person narrative. Sometimes, it’s more
interesting to have a different angle on a
story. For example, in a nativity, you could
use a device such as a news report as
a framework, and have ‘reporters at the
scene’ sending their reports back to a
newscaster in an imaginary TV studio. You
could even add in some humour with a
crazy weather report or a ‘Sky at Night’-
type report on an unusual star. Other
ideas include telling the story from the
perspective of a minor character, such as a
shepherd, innkeeper or animal rather than
the traditional main protagonists.
Use some festive poems or
stories
There are lots of traditional festive poems
and some fun new ones that you can use
as the basis for a performance too. “’Twas
The Night Before Christmas” is a traditional
favourite which is written in rhyme which
children find easier to remember. Consider
an evening of simple Christmas poems and
get the children to perform them in small
groups. The internet is full of simple festive
poems which are fun to act out and easy
to remember, and using actions helps too.
Why not consider teaching the children
some Makaton signing to go with some of
their songs too?
6
Use a screen for the words
Use a large computer monitor or TV screen
to display the words for the songs and or
poems. If you are using some of the many
readily available scripts, they often come
with PowerPoints or videos with the words
highlighted on the screen like a karaoke
track.
7
Consider telling a
sensory story
Why not make your festive play a sensory
story this year and add that 4D element to
the fun? Go through your story and work
out if there are smells, sensations or sound
effects that could add to the atmosphere
or audience experience. It could be
something simple, like a ‘gentle rain’ where
you add a gentle water spray in the air
above the audience or use some material
to mimic the coat of the donkey or use a
room spray to evoke the smell of incense.
Depending on the space you have, also
think about creating a more promenadestyle
performance which has the audience
move around from one scene to the next (or
room to room) rather than having the actors
move on and off stage.
8
Practice but be aware of
children’s attention spans
Most pre-schoolers find it difficult to sit still
– it’s in their nature to move and to explore,
so be aware that if you’re asking them to
sit still with nothing to do for long periods of
time (and remember that we are talking of
relative pre-schooler time here), then don’t
be surprised if some children can’t do it.
Instead, give them something to do or focus
on, or some actions to make during the
story to hold their attention.
9
Keep costumes, sets and
props simple
Even with the best stage management
team in the world, if you want to make your
show run smoothly, the best way is to keep
costumes, sets and props as simple as
possible. Take the time to think about how
you can stage the different scenes on one
cleverly-designed set and be creative about
how you do things. If you have Mary and
Joseph travelling through different lands,
could you use the children to represent
different physical landscapes such as trees,
sand dunes or mountains for example?
They are usually easier to move on and off,
and it will give them something extra to
do. Microphones can be useful to amplify
small voices but practice with them so the
children know what to expect.
Enjoy it!
10
Remember that your show is really about
showcasing the children’s talents and
celebrating the festive season, so don’t
stress too much. Enjoy it!
Online resources for
ready-made pre-school
Christmas shows
• https://www.learn2soar.co.uk/earlyyears-eyfs-preschool-nursery
• https://www.outoftheark.co.uk/
age-groups/pre-school/pre-schoolnativities-and-christmas-plays/
14 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 15

Supporting children with social,
emotional and mental health
needs around Christmas
In previous articles, I have written about supporting children with social, emotional and mental
health needs (SEMH) and how we can support staff with their SEMH needs. In this article, I am going
to continue that thread and focus on Christmas.
As I am writing this article, it is November,
many early years settings, schools and
families across the country will be starting
to plan for Christmas. The children I
work with are already talking about it.
The Christmas adverts have just begun
to appear. You may fall in the camp of
loving all things Christmas, hanging out
decorations as soon as you possibly can.
On the other hand, you may be happy to
put a tree up on Christmas Eve and take
it down on Boxing Day ( I must admit I fall
into this category), or Christmas may be an
event you choose to not take part in at all.
Whichever part of the Christmas spectrum
you fall in is fine, but if we work in the
early years, we need to think about how
we do this Christmas thing with children,
especially those with SEMH needs.
You might be wondering why I am
particularly concerned about children with
SEMH needs over the Christmas period; for
the past seven years, I have been working
with a specialised team in Bath called
Nurture outreach service, Brighter Futures.
We support children in the reception year
at school. The children I support often
find transitions tricky; they are often easily
unsettled by change, often they have
high sensory needs and can become
easily overwhelmed by overly stimulating
experiences. The run-up to Christmas is
one big and often long sensory explosion
and change, and many of the children I
work with find this problematic.
Just for a moment, think about all the
things you do around Christmas and when
you start?
Is your usual routine disrupted for
Christmas preparations for weeks before
the event?
Do you have a play which you practice
for weeks before and then perform to
parents?
Do you decorate your setting with lots of
decorations, lights, things hanging down,
a Christmas tree?
Do you play Christmas music in the setting
for weeks in the run-up?
I am not suggesting that you should not
do these things, but I would like us to stop
and reflect on how some children may
experience these changes.
Routine is vital for all children; children who
have higher SEMH needs particularly need
consistent and predictable routines. When
we change their routine, they can find this
unsettling and frightening. Sometimes
they show us how they find this hard
through their behaviour, maybe being
violent, refusing or hiding. It is important
to remember to communicate well with
children about changes. We are often
great at communicating bigger transitions
but can sometimes forget the smaller
changes. If you have planned to start
getting ready for Christmas, let the children
know, pre-warn them. Do some gentle
moving towards it. If you are going to
change the routine, for example, starting
to practice the Christmas play each day,
let them know a few days before this
change is happening. You could make an
additional image for the visual timetable
for it. Talk about Christmas and the story
before you start making the changes to
the routine; this will help them put it into
context. Don’t presume they know what all
these preparations are for and about.
each day, Christmas on top is enormous
pressure, and they need to start it early
to fit it all in. I massively sympathise with
this. However, I still feel that starting the
Christmas play preparations and singing in
the second week of November, once bonfire
night is out the way, still feels too early.
Also, by starting it early you are potentially
exciting the children into thinking Christmas
is soon, and it’s not; that is very confusing
to a four-year-old.
A question to ask, who are the Christmas
preparations for? This may sound like a
silly question, and you may quickly say it
is for the children. But I encourage you to
ask the question. Are the Christmas plays,
Christmas cards, for the children or are they
for the parents? Sometimes there are things
we do because we think the parents want
them/ expect them. However, this does not
mean it is the best for the children. If we are
going to do plays and cards and parties,
we need to make sure these are something
the children enjoy, and that they are having
a positive experience. Sometimes I watch
the preparations for Christmas, and I
am unsure if anyone is getting a positive
experience.
We want the Christmas experience to be a
positive one for everyone.
A few things to consider for
children with SEMH needs:
Have we done enough preparation to let
them know about the changes?
Is the environment too sensory-stimulating?
For example, lots of things hanging or
flashing and noises can trigger some
children.
Remember that not every child has to do
everything in the preparation; always think
about each child’s individual needs, what
they can cope with, and what they enjoy.
For example, if you have children who
love singing and acting out a story, that is
great, but if you have a child who finds that
upsetting, find something else they can be
involved in or adapt it to meet their needs.
Be flexible and make quick changes! If a
child is showing you they cannot cope, then
adapt and change.
I am not advocating ditching Christmas,
but I am encouraging a reflective exercise
to think about what your current cohort of
children will benefit from.
Win a copy of Sonia Mainstone-Cotton’s fabulous book
“Supporting Children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs in
the Early Years: Practical Solutions and Strategies for Every Setting “
Sonia
Mainstone-Cotton
Sonia Mainstone-Cotton is a freelance
nurture consultant, she has worked in
early years for 30 years. Sonia currently
works in a specialist team in Bath
supporting 3- and 4-year-olds who have
social, emotional and mental health
needs. Sonia also trains staff across the
country: she specialises in supporting
the well-being of children and staff.
Sonia has written 8 books including:
“Supporting children with social,
emotional and mental health needs in
the early years” published by Routledge,
“Supporting young children through
change and everyday transitions”,
“Promoting Emotional Well-being in
Early Years Staff” and “Promoting Young
Children’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing”.
Sonia is also the series advisor
for Little Minds Matter series of books
promoting social and emotional wellbeing
in the early years with Routledge.
Website - http://soniamainstone-cotton.
com
Email - sonia.main@icloud.com
Instagram - @mainstonecotton
When you did the exercise above about
what you do in preparation for Christmas,
you may find you had an extensive list. In
my experience, early years setting usually
start Christmas preparations later than
schools. Schools often feel they have
so much learning they need to cover
We have three copies of Sonia’s book to give away. Three lucky
readers picked at random will receive a free copy of the book!
To enter the competition email marketing@parenta.com
by Monday 3rd January 2022
16 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 17

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0800 002 9242 hello@parenta.com

A rainbow of snacks for
under 5s
Children can experience dips in their blood sugar levels, which can affect their energy, behaviour and
concentration. For this reason snacking on the right things between larger meals can be beneficial.
Many early years settings provide a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack and promoting healthy
options is vital in supporting children to understand about ‘energy rich’ food choices.
The effect of 10 raisins is equivalent to that of a punnet of strawberries, so when planning
snacks keep dried fruit consumption to a minimum.
Some snack examples:
Carbohydrate Balance Protein
Apple + Cheese
Grapes + Ham
Rice cakes + Cottage cheese
Cucumber + Hummus
Berries + Yoghurt
Oatcakes, plum + Cream cheese
Katharine Tate
Title Recipe Outline
Rainbow snacks
Fruit kebabs
• Reasons why different colours are beneficial for health and
how to share this with children
• Blood sugar balance
During snack time it’s the perfect opportunity to talk to children about ‘snack rainbows’ and that different colours of food will work in
different ways to help their bodies grow fit and healthy.
Some food to include for snack time with their rainbow reasons why:
How food is presented to children can
also make a huge difference between
them willingly adding something to their
plate or them simply choosing something
‘safer’. Strategies to include children in the
preparation is certainly one way to engage
and asking them to create a face, model or
picture from their food can also help them
to become more adventurous.
Whilst children pick and/or make their
‘snack rainbows’ it’s also fun to sing a
rainbow song, so they’re not just learning
about food!
Nutrition know how
Berries contain lots of antioxidants, which
are like ‘superheroes’ in your body helping
to keep you fit and healthy. They tend to be
found in lots of brightly coloured foods and
can help your digestion and keep youreyes
and brain healthy.
For more food fun in your setting sign up
to the Youngest Chef Award. This award is
for Early Years Foundation Stage pupils
(ages 3-5) and is written by teachers for
early years practitioners/teachers. It is
designed around the popular children’s
book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by
Eric Carle and has been developed and
launched by The Food Teacher. The
award is a ‘Mini Muncher Challenge’,
which can be delivered across 5 sessions
(every day over a single week or once
a week over a 5 week period) with 50
minutes of planned teaching time each
session. Find out more at; https://youngest.
youngchefoftheyear.com/
See page 22 for Katharine Tate’s
fabulous fruit kebab recipe
The Food Teacher Founder and
Director, Katharine Tate, has worked
as a teacher and education consultant
internationally in primary and secondary
schools for over 20 years. Qualified as
an award-winning registered nutritional
therapist, Katharine, combines her unique
education and nutrition expertise to
offer schools, organisations and families
advice, education programmes, practical
workshops, and individual/family clinical
consultations. She has written and
published several books: “Heat-Free &
Healthy”, the award-winning
“No Kitchen Cookery for Primary Schools”
a series of mini-books and has also
co-authored the award-winning “Now
We’re Cooking!” Delivering the National
Curriculum through Food. She has also
launched a programme of Young Chef
awards for schools, which support delivery
of the curriculum and nutrition. In
2019, over 4,000 children completed the
awards across the UK.
LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Red:
Great for helping your body fight
germs and a good memory – apples,
strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes,
pomegranate.
Orange:
Good for glowing skin and healthy eyes
– orange slices, satsumas/clementines,
carrot sticks, orange pepper, peach,
nectarine, apricots, mango.
Yellow:
Great for good memory and healthy heart
– yellow pepper, banana, baby corns,
pineapple.
Green:
Helpful for a healthy brain and for keeping
your bones and teeth strong – apples,
pears, grapes, cucumber sticks, green
pepper, kiwi, broccoli heads, celery,
avocado.
Blue/Indigo/Violet:
Good for a healthy brain and heart –
blueberries, blackberries, grapes, plums.
These fruit and vegetable examples should
ideally be combined with protein to slow
down their release of sugar and support
sustained energy levels until mealtime. Be
aware that dried fruit is very high in sugar
and can have a significant impact on blood
sugar.
20 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 21

Fruit kebabs
Ingredients:
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Blueberries
By The Food Teacher
A fun and easy recipe for young children encouraging them to create their
own fruit rainbows.
Christmas wreath
You will need:
• Paper plate
• Liquid glue
• Paintbrush
• Green and red craft paper
• Pom poms or anything you would like to add as a
decoration
• Red and green pipe cleaners
Equipment:
• Kebab sticks
• Small knife for chopping
• Chopping board
• Colander/sieve
• Plate for serving
Method:
1. Wash your berries and grapes in
the colander/sieve.
2. Cut your strawberries and
grapes in half (lengthwise).
3. Thread your ingredients onto the
kebab sticks, alternating colours.
Photo credit to:
Pennybird and camera
Instructions:
1. Cut out a circle in the middle of your paper plate, so it resembles a wreath.
2. Cut up your green craft paper into longs strips (long enough to cover the paper plate).
3. Spread some of the glue on the paper plate using your paintbrush. Don’t go all over it, do it in parts, so that the glue
doesn’t dry up.
4. Stick the green strips of paper over the paper plate so the entire wreath is covered.
5. Now you can add your decorations. You can create a bow with the red craft paper to stick on the wreath and use your
pom poms to decorate as you like.
6. Wrap two pieces of pipe cleaners (one red and one green) around each other and then attach it to your wreath if you
would like to hang it up.
7. You are done!
22 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 23

Laughter
Life lessons we can learn
from children
We teach children so many different things. However, it is important to remember
that we can also learn a lot from them too.
Honesty
Children laugh all the time. The smallest of
things will send them into a fit of laughter
and make them howl with delight. It is
totally contagious and usually makes
everyone around them laugh too. When
did we, as adults, stop laughing so much?
Somewhere along the way, we lose our
childlike, carefree qualities and laughter
became less frequent. Maybe we need to
take a leaf out of our children’s book and
laugh at the small things until our bellies
hurt.
Here are some life lessons that we can take from children that
will benefit our lives as adults:
Forgiveness
Children are so forgiving. There will
always be days when we aren’t our best
selves, yet children move on from those
moments and love us anyway. We are
all human and imperfect by nature and
life will automatically present us with
lessons that will challenge us to learn
and grow. Sometimes we just need to
see the lesson in front of us, forgive and
move on. One of my favourite quotes by
Nelson Mandela is that holding on to
resentment is like swallowing poison and
expecting someone else to die. We don’t
need to accept someone’s bad behaviour,
especially if it continues. However, we can
certainly find a way to forgive and move on
so that it doesn’t affect our own future.
Gratitude
Children see greatness in the simplest of
things. A stick or a puddle can create so
much joy and give them hours of fun and
they are never happier than when they
merely have our time and attention. In this
fast-paced world that we live in, it can be
easy to forget to appreciate the simple
things in life. Some days we should just
stand still, look around, see the beauty
in the things that can’t be bought and
appreciate all the small blessings that we
already have.
Faith
Children trust that everything will be okay.
They live in the present and barely worry
about the future. They count down the
days until Santa comes and wait excitedly
for the Tooth Fairy to bring them a coin. As
adults we sometimes lose faith and forget
that there is magic all around us. If we
know where we want to go and work hard
to get there, maybe then it’s just about
having faith that what’s meant for us
won’t pass us by, and that no matter what
happens, everything will be okay. There
can only be rainbows after the rain. Maybe
we just need to dance in that rain until the
clouds clear.
That classic phrase ‘out of the mouths
of babes’ is so true. Children speak
without a filter and are authentically
themselves. There is a lot to be said for
honest communication, yet as adults we
sometimes find it hard. A lot of the time
we choose kindness over honesty, but
maybe we need to realise that we can
have both. Honesty does not have to lead
to confrontation, but it will always lead to
authenticity.
Being present
Children live in the moment. They don’t
dwell on the past or think too far in the
future and they just get emersed in
whatever exciting game they are playing
at the time. As adults, we get lost in to-do
lists and thoughts about what has been
or what’s to come. We can’t change the
past and most of what we worry about in
the future never happens, so maybe we
could try to be more present and just fully
appreciate and enjoy what is happening
right in front of us now.
Open-mindedness
Children do not judge. They ask questions
and explore ideas, but ultimately, if they
are not presented with judgemental beliefs,
they will accept whatever is presented to
them in a light-hearted, matter of fact way.
As adults we could learn a lot from this.
Differences should be celebrated. If we lived
in a society that lived and let live, the world
would be a much kinder place.
Expressing emotions
Children have no problem with expressing
how they feel. If a child is sad or angry,
there’s a good chance that we will know
about it because they rarely tend to hold
back. However, most of the time, after a
good scream, they will dust themselves
off and go on their way. How many times
as adults, do we hold back what we feel?
Sometimes we hold back our feelings so
much that they come out in other ways and
at times that are not related to the problem.
If we could learn to express how we feel in
the moment (maybe in a more balanced
way than throwing ourselves on the floor
in a tantrum!), we would feel much more
balanced and hold on to less frustration.
Children are our greatest teachers. Not
only do they live in a way that is free and
authentic, but they also show us things
about ourselves. They develop our patience
and communication skills and at times
test our limits. However, they also show
us the most amazing ways to see joy in
things that, as adults, would probably go
unnoticed. As much as we are here to
guide our children and lead them down a
path of happiness and success, I genuinely
believe that if we look closely enough at
who they are and what they do, they will
teach us as adults more than we could ever
realise.
Stacey Kelly
Stacey Kelly is a former French and
Spanish teacher, a parent to 2 beautiful
babies and the founder of Early Years
Story Box. After becoming a mum, Stacey
left her teaching career and started
writing and illustrating storybooks to help
support her children through different
transitional stages like leaving nursery
and starting school. Seeing the positive
impact of her books on her children’s
emotional well-being led to Early Years
Story Box being born. Stacey has now
created 35 storybooks, all inspired by her
own children, to help teach different life
lessons and to prepare children for their
next steps. She has an exclusive collection
for childcare settings that are gifted on
special occasions like first/last days,
birthdays, Christmas and/or Easter and
has recently launched a new collection
for parents too. Her mission is to support
as many children as she can through
storytime and to give childcare settings
an affordable and special gifting solution
that truly makes a difference.
Email: stacey@earlyyearsstorybox.com or
Telephone: 07765785595
Website: www.earlyyearsstorybox.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
earlyyearsstorybox
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/
eystorybox
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
earlyyearsstorybox
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
stacey-kelly-a84534b2/
24 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 25

Fun and
educational games
for the festive break
The Christmas holidays is a great time to meet up with family
and friends and to spend some quality time together, but what
about keeping up some educational content too? We’ve come
up with some fun and educational games to play with the
whole family over this festive season.
1. Festive treasure hunt
Everyone loves a treasure hunt, and you
can make them as fun or as educational
as you like, for all ages. You can make the
clues simple things like easy anagrams
(e.g. kisn = sink), make rhyming riddles,
or just get early years children to say the
letters or blend simple words. They will be
so excited at finding the next clue that they
will not notice the English or maths practice
you’re using.
2. Board games
Many traditional board games have a
hidden educational element that can help
pre-school children to learn more about
the world or practice different skills. Rolling
a dice, recalling what the ‘squiggle’ on it
actually means, or counting the dots on
one or two dice will have your little ones
practicing their maths skills in no time.
Ludo and Snakes and Ladders are simple
games that are suitable for little ones
(usually for ages 3+ due to having small
pieces), but there are many more dicebased
games on the market that can be
used as well. For older children and adults,
Scrabble, Cluedo and Connect Four can
also test English skills and/or reasoning,
and there are also the quiz-based games
such as Trivial Pursuit or other similar
question-games for different ages. You
can often get giant or garden versions that
many younger children like, and this can
also help them with their motor skills too
since the pieces are large and need to be
manipulated around the board.
3. Online learning games and
apps
If you want to get the children to practice
some of their IT skills as well as their
academic ones, you could go to one of
the many sites that now provide free
educational games. These can be sites
such as BBC Bitesize or Topmarks online
games (www.topmarks.co.uk). They
usually have different levels so you can
start simply and move up. They offer
different ways to let the child move through
the game such as answering questions,
or manipulating something online to help
with fine motor and concentration skills.
There are some new apps and learning
tools on the market as well that are good
for creative skills such as Toca Nature,
(a bit like Minecraft for pre-schoolers)
with relaxing music and an eco-friendly
message. You can check out reviews and
information for online games at websites
such as https://www.educationalappstore.
com.
4. Jigsaws
Jigsaws may have gone out of fashion
when tablets came in, but they are great
at teaching early years children many
different skills. For a start they help children
begin to recognise patterns and put things
together with their hands, (fine motor
skills), and they need visual reasoning
and spatial awareness too. If you don’t
have any jigsaws in your house or setting,
they are easy to make. Simply print out 2
copies of a picture you like and stick one
on to some strong card. Use the other
for reference. Cut up the card picture into
different pieces depending on the age of
the child. You can use simple squares or
cut more complex shapes. Why not get the
children to make the jigsaw with you for a
creative craft experience too?
5. Storytelling
Storytelling is an ancient art that humans
have used for millennia to pass on
information about life and the human
condition and it is a great way to get your
children to learn more about themselves,
what they think, and how they fit into the
world around them. You can start by telling
different stories or reading from a book,
but it’s also great to take turns with your
family to tell your own stories. You can
make it fun by having random objects
that people have to put into the story such
as a broom, hairdryer or a favourite toy.
Remember to let the child’s imagination go
free – don’t be too quick to say that teddies
can’t fly or that trees are always green –
sometimes they’re red!
6. Nature walks and natural art
One of the best things that you can do at
this time of year as a family is to go on a
nature walk and introduce your children
to the natural world. You could have rain
and jump in muddy puddles, or you could
have snow and make a snowman or snow
angels, or you could just collect some fallen
leaves and acorns and make some wild art.
7. Twenty Questions with
Christmas characters
In this game, everyone is given a character
and has to answer questions about
them, so it’s a good way to develop
conversations, thinking and vocabulary.
Give each person a character – you can
have festive characters such as Father
Christmas, Rudolph, Jack Frost or religious
characters such as Mary, the Innkeeper
or one of the Wise Men, or even just fun
characters from your favourite books or
TV shows. They should not let anyone
else know who they are. You may need to
work in pairs with younger children. Other
players then ask questions to which the
person can only answer “Yes” or “No”, such
as “Do you have grey hair?”, “Are you still
alive?”. You usually have 20 questions to
guess who it is.
8. Put Santa on the chimney
This is a version of ‘Pin the tail on the
donkey’ where someone is blindfolded
(safely) and has to attach an object to
a picture that they can’t see. You can
use sticky tack instead of pins for safety.
You could vary it by having Santa and a
chimney, or a nose or tail for Rudolph or
even a fairy on a Christmas tree. It’s fun
and you can make it more educational
by getting your children to draw the
main picture first. You could also make it
different for slightly older children by getting
them to work in pairs. One person wears
the blindfold and the other has to give
instructions as to how to get to the picture
and where to pin it, so saying “left 2 steps”,
“forward one step” etc.
More ideas can be found at:
• https://www.topmarks.co.uk/
christmas/ChristmasGames.aspx
• https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/
teacherzone/ideas-for-classroomchristmas-activities/
• https://www.verywellfamily.com/
indoor-games-to-play-with-yourpreschooler-2764612
26 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 27

The well-being of practitioners
Once a coachee is aware of their triggers,
we can spend time developing personal
strategies to allow them to move back to
the Thriving Zone effectively.
“I have been trying mindfulness and yoga.
20 minutes a day recharges me enough to
last till the summer holidays, when I take
two weeks off.”
From surviving to thriving – emotions in action
Early years settings continue to be under
pressure. The impact of the COVID
pandemic has threatened sustainability,
raised safeguarding concerns about
children and led to increased sickness
absence or self-isolation of staff. This has
been compounded by constant changes in
regulations and expectations. Leaders and
practitioners are expected to manage a
level of flexibility and creativity far beyond
anything experienced before.
It has been an enormous challenge to
maintain high-quality learning experiences
for young children. Yet, early years
teachers and practitioners have risen
to this challenge, putting the needs
and interests of the children first and
developing positive working relationships
with families, many of whom are under
enormous pressure.
Work in the early years field is never just
a job. It is a vocation. Practitioners literally
‘take their children home’ with them in
their planning and preparation and there
is usually at least one child they are
holding in mind. The pandemic has made
this worse, and it is usually the children
with erratic or poor attendance who
concern them most. The commitment to
the children often goes unrecognised and
can leave staff feeling undervalued.
Mental well-being
Over the past twenty years there has
been progress in public understanding
of mental health and well-being and has
accelerated in recent months due to the
pandemic. MIND, the leading charity in
this field says we all have ‘mental health’
in the same way we have ‘physical
health’ and changes to these states go
up and down frequently. Most people
experience mental distress at some point
in their lives – experiences that produce
a stress, sadness or anxiety that we are
not sure we can cope with. For most this
is temporary. For people diagnosed with
a mental health condition, the recovery
can be more complex. By reaching their
own decisions about what works for them
and with the support of family and friends,
many manage their mental health well.
Looking after yourself
I am privileged to work with early
years staff at all levels. The coaching
conversations we have allow space and
time for practitioners to talk about their
mental and emotional states, without
feeling judged. Leaders are recognising
the importance of enabling staff to have
some valuable time away from their rooms
to take stock, breathe and be heard.
This can be through supervision,
mentoring, coaching all within an
open culture of safeguarding.
Emotions in
Action
An Emotions in Action
Matrix (mindspring TM )
(fig 1) helps people
organise their
understanding about
emotions and the
important link with
energy. It can be
used either as part
of team training or
Surviving Zone
Defiant
Annoyed
Frustrated
Impatient
Irritable
Negative emotions
Burnout Zone
Sad
Depressed
Empty
in a 1:1 coaching session. I ask coachee
participants to plot the amount of time
spent in each zone in an average week.
There has been a shift over the past year
or so where more people are identifying
with the Surviving Zone and listing triggers
that take them there very quickly. We
look at a forthcoming day or week and
see what triggers there are that move
them from positive to negative emotions.
The aim is to help reduce this pattern
and attempt to keep practitioners in the
Thriving Zone.
Worried
Anxious
Fearful
Envious
Defensive
Hopeless
Tired
High energy
Low energy
Thriving Zone
Challenged
Confident
Receptive
Excited
Proud
Stimulated
Recharge Zone
Passive
At Ease
Carefree
Calm
Optimistic
Engaged
Eager
Enthusiastic
Happy
Astonished
Positive emotions
Peaceful
Mellow
Reflective
Practitioners’ personal
strategies to help them thrive:
“If I have to have a difficult conversation
with a parent, I go to the bathroom, take
some deep breaths and brush my hair
before the meeting. It just gives me a few
seconds to take stock. The breathing really
helps.” (SENCo)
“When I have to supervise a challenging
member of staff I find an uncluttered
space. Even tidying the space beforehand
helps me feel more in control. Then I make
us both a hot drink and I cradle my warm
cup in my hands as I listen and respond.”
(Deputy Manager)
“When I have too many things on my list, I
visualise a big sticky ball of spaghetti and
start to unwind it, one strand at a time. It
will never go away but I can stop it getting
all caught up inside me” (Teacher)
“Fresh air and good company really helps.
I ask a trusted colleague to walk to the
river with me, we sit and look at the water
and I talk through all my stuff. It makes me
feel lighter.” (Room Leader)
“I wear my lucky shoes when I have a big
day. When I get anxious, I peep down
and my feet and cannot help smiling. The
shoes fill me with joy and bring me back
down to ground.” (Nursery Manager)
With the Emotions in Action Grid, it is
important to remember you cannot spend
all your time in survival mode, otherwise
there will be a danger of slipping into
the Burnout Zone, where low energy
and negative emotions are present. If
this happens, there must be a period in
the Recharge Zone to enable the body
to rest, reflect and replenish. I have met
practitioners who are recognising their
burnout and these are some comments on
how they recharge.
Practitioners’ personal
strategies to help them
recharge
“Sometimes I take a whole weekend off
and just walk in the woods with my dog
and my family, eat good food and watch
films to keep my thoughts at bay.”
“I needed a complete break and left my
job. I’m only 26 and I still have a whole
life to lead. I now sell vintage clothes and
work at a climbing wall. I may return to the
classroom one day.” (Teacher)
How emotions in action
(mindspring) can work for you
1. Look at the two axis on the diagram.
The vertical axis represents the energy
expended whilst feeling the emotions
from low to high. The horizontal axis
represents the quality of the emotions
from negative to positive.
2. Remember all the emotions are useful
and appropriate in response to given
situations. Think of examples when
each zone might be appropriate for
you.
3. Think what you might be doing when
in each of the four zones. Who might
you be with and what emotions are
triggered for you?
4. Reflect on the emotions that you
experience in each quadrant.
5. Note the amount of time you spend in
each zone on an average week
6. What are the common triggers that
prompt negative feelings or reactions
that cause movement from the Thriving
to Surviving Zone.
7. Look at your day ahead. What
meetings or interactions may cause
your triggers?
8. Develop your own strategies for
moving back from Surviving to Thriving.
9. How could you spend more time in the
Thriving Zone?
10. How could you build more Recharge
time?
11. How could you model the Thriving
and Recharge emotions more for your
colleagues?
References:
Emotions in Action Grid available from:
https://mindspring.uk.com/
Ruth Mercer
Ruth Mercer is a coach and consultant,
with a career background in early
education. Ruth is committed to creating
a positive learning environment for staff,
children and families. She has a successful
track record of 1:1 coaching for leaders and
group coaching across the maintained
and PVI sector. She supports leaders
and managers in developing a coaching
approach in their settings through
bespoke consultancy and introductory
training on coaching and mentoring for all
staff.
Ruth is currently writing about coaching
with a playful approach.
Contact: ruthmercercoaching@gmail.com
Website: www.ruthmercercoaching.com
Useful links:
• Early years staff well-being; a resource
for managers and teams
https://www.annafreud.org/earlyyears/early-years-in-mind/resources/
early-years-staff-wellbeing-a-resourcefor-managers-and-teams/
• How to promote well-being and tackle
the causes of work-related mental
health problems
https://www.mind.org.uk/
media-a/4662/resource3_
howtopromotewellbeingfinal.pdf
• Find yourself a coach http://www.
lindenlearning.org
28 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 29

Christmas Jumper Day
As the days draw in and the Christmas adverts fill the slots between TV and radio
programmes, it’s time to dig out that storage bag from under the stairs and dust off the
one piece of clothing that Christmas would not be the same without… No, not the flashing
Santa hat with a musical rendition of “Jingle Bells” built in (although those are useful too)
– we’re talking about that old Bridget Jones favourite, the festive Christmas jumper!
Whether you have a matching set for your
family, a handknitted one made by your
maiden aunt, or have cobbled together
your own with some cut-out reindeers
and an old bobble hat, there’s nothing
that says ‘Christmas is coming’ more
than donning a Christmas jumper and
wearing it with pride, so why not join in
with Save the Children this year and wear
your jumper with pride for their annual
Christmas Jumper Day appeal?
How did it all start?
According to the Save the Children
website, the first Christmas Jumper Day
was held on December 14th, 2012, and
was proposed by the charity as a way
of highlighting the plight of millions of
children worldwide who still live in poverty.
The day was endorsed by a myriad of
celebrities and used the slogan “make the
world better with a sweater” to get the
message across. The idea grew and each
year since then, Save the Children have
used the day as a fund-raiser and over
£18 million has already been raised for
children in the UK and around the world.
Who can take part?
The answer to this is simple – anyone can
take part, even dogs and horses have
been known to wear their festive best
on the day and estimates suggest that
around 15,000 schools and 4 million of us
joined in last year.
Why Save the Children?
For most of us, Christmas is a time to
celebrate with our families, over-indulge
in our favourite foods and exchange
presents in the spirit of love and hope.
But for many children, Christmas does
not hold the same magical promise. For
these children, Christmas can be a time
of loneliness, fear, isolation, and it can
serve merely as a stark reminder that not
everyone’s family life is always happy.
In addition, the pressure to buy presents
can be problematic for families who are
living below or just above the poverty line,
and the recent economic pressure from
the pandemic and other factors beyond
their control, may exacerbate the situation
further. This is where Save the Children
can help and the money raised from the
Christmas Jumper Day goes towards
helping children in this country and
around the world who are currently living
in poverty. Save the Children generally
provides emergency food, shelter and
education to children to help improve their
situations and give them hope for the
future. The charity also helps children gain
access to medical services which might
otherwise not be available. Last year, Save
the Children helped 45 million children
across the globe with medicines, nutritious
food and education.
How to get involved
Joining in is simple. You just need to wear
a Christmas jumper on the day, which this
year is Friday 10th December. Ideally, you
would then make a donation to Save the
Children to help with their charity work.
The suggested donation is £2 for adults or
£1 for school children although whatever
you can afford is absolutely fine too. And
you don’t have to spend money on buying
expensive jumpers either, you could just
decorate an ordinary jumper to make it
look more festive. There are some useful
resources on Twinkl about Christmas
Jumper Day and a page dedicated to
upcycling your old jumpers into a new
Christmas creation which you can view
here. A quick search of the internet will
also reveal lots of arts and crafts ideas to
do with the children, and we’ve listed a
few simple ones below.
Simple ideas for
decorating Christmas
jumpers
1
Add some tinsel to the neck and cuffs of
an old sweater and pin or sew on some
tree decorations – be careful about the
types of decorations you use if doing this
for children – make sure they are safe and
safely attached.
2
Cut some festive Christmas shapes out
of felt and either tack or pin them onto
and existing jumper. Think of things like
snowflakes, Christmas trees, reindeers
and presents.
3
Wear a brown coloured jumper and cut
out a jagged white collor to make it look
like a Christmas pudding.
4
Create a Santa-costume jumper by adding
some large black buttons to a red sweater
and sewing on some white, faux fur cuffs.
Add a black belt and some a cushion to
create some extra ‘Santa volume’.
5
Sew an old Christmas stocking to the
front of a jumper and add a soft toy in the
stocking for extra authenticity.
6
Tie a large piece of ribbon around your
waist in a bow, and make a large label to
wear like a necklace, turning yourself into
a large Christmas present.
Apart from making and wearing a jumper,
there are a number of other things that
you can do in your setting to help too.
Ideas for celebrating
Christmas Jumper Day in
your setting
If you sign up as a supporter to the page
on the Save the Children website, you will
receive a free fundraising pack with more
ideas of how to get involved. We’ve listed
a few of our own ideas that don’t cost a lot
of money, to help you get into the swing.
There are also some good resources on
Twinkl that you can download and adapt
too.
1. Download or draw a picture of a plain
jumper and get the children (and staff)
to design their own Christmas-themed
jumper
2. Make a mobile using a scaled down
version of a blank Christmas jumper
template and some coat hangers
3. Hold a fashion show or competition
for the best homemade Christmas
jumper. You could invite the parents
in to watch the show. Add some
music, face paint, fun wigs and a
commentary to pretend you’re all at a
real designer show
4. Hold a bake sale to help raise money
for Save the Children
5. Hold a Christmas bring and buy sale
where people can donate goods to
sell and hopefully buy some new
things
Whatever you do, let us know and send
your pictures to us at hello@parenta.com.
30 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 31

Egg-cellent advice:
A little room
I do not know how he came to acquire the nick-name ‘Egg’ but ever since he came along, that’s
what my youngest son has been called. I run The Sensory Projects www.TheSensoryProjects.co.uk
(which should now really be called The Sensory Projects and Sons!) My work focuses on people
with profound disabilities and sensory differences, but my son’s advice will apply to your work too.
bodies in space. Baby gyms present items
to the hands, Little rooms have stuff to
explore everywhere. They are a valuable
resource for all children as they explore
the world around them, combined with the
access to weird and wonderful sensory
resources, being in an enclosed space
can be enabling for some children. Being
tucked away in a little room can feel safe
and secure, children love den building and
playing hiding games. This is like a sensory
version of that.
You do not have to have a big budget
to create a little room. This is ours, it is a
clothes airer with some coloured cellophane
draped over it for me to look through and
some items hanging from it. When I reach
out for them I can slide them along the rails
and make noise. I am fascinated.
Smalls airers or coat hangers can be great
things to use to dangle items off.
Of course make sure you supervise children
all the time when they are using these
spaces and be very aware of the risk of
strangulation from cords that are too long.
To keep things as safe as possible use a
length of thread about the same length as
a child’s forearm.
(These words first appeared on Jo’s
Facebook profile you are welcome to
send her a friend request to watch out
for more insight www.Facebook.com/
JoannaGraceTSP):
And a little extra advice from my younger
self (yes, that’s me) boxes make great little
rooms!
Joanna Grace
Lillie Neilson is one of my sensory heroes,
she worked teaching children with
profound and multiple learning disabilities
in Denmark from the 1980s up until her
death in 2013. One of her great inventions
is the “Little Room”. Think of a baby’s
jungle gym, the baby lies beneath it and
objects are hung above the baby for
them to explore. The Little Room is like this
but times 100, and the things dangling
around to be explored are so much more
interesting.
Lillie used Little Rooms with children with
profound disabilities to help them develop
reaching skills and an awareness of their
You can make a little room out of a pop up
tent, tie some string between the tent poles
to hang stuff, or fasten things to the side of
the tent.
You can make a little room underneath a
table. Tie string around the table securely to
give you something to dangle things from.
You do not need fancy sensory equipment,
my favourite things to explore were all
things Mummy found in the kitchen.
Joanna provides online and in person
training relating to sensory engagement
and sensory differences, look up www.
TheSensoryProjects.co.uk/online-college
for more information. To view a list of her
books visit www.TheSensoryProjects.co.uk/
books Follow Jo on social media to pick up
new sensory insights, you’ll find her at: @
Jo3Grace on Twitter, www.Facebook.com/
JoannaGraceTSP and www.Linkedin/In/
JoannaGraceTheSensoryProjects
Joanna Grace is an international
Sensory Engagement and Inclusion
Specialist, trainer, author, TEDx speaker
and founder of The Sensory Projects.
Consistently rated as “outstanding” by
Ofsted, Joanna has taught in
mainstream and special school settings,
connecting with pupils of all ages and
abilities. To inform her work, Joanna
draws on her own experience from her
private and professional life as well as
taking in all the information she can
from the research archives. Joanna’s
private life includes family members
with disabilities and neurodiverse
conditions and time spent as a
registered foster carer for children with
profound disabilities.
Baby Egg in his little den
Little Jo!
Joanna has published four practitioner
books: “Multiple Multisensory Rooms:
Myth Busting the Magic”, “Sensory
Stories for Children and Teens”,
“Sensory-Being for Sensory Beings”
and “Sharing Sensory Stories and
Conversations with People with
Dementia”. and two inclusive sensory
story children’s books: “Voyage to
Arghan” and “Ernest and I”. There is
new book coming out soon called ‘”The
Subtle Spectrum” and her son has
recently become the UK’s youngest
published author with his book, “My
Mummy is Autistic”.
Joanna is a big fan of social media and
is always happy to connect with people
via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Website:
thesensoryprojects.co.uk
32 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 33

Testimonials
Congratulations
to all our Parenta learners!
Congratulations to all these Parenta learners who completed their apprenticeship
in October and have now gained their qualifications.
I just want to say thank you Yasmeen, for all of your
support and encouragement these past few months.
I’ve just celebrated turning 40 this weekend and it
was honestly the best birthday I’ve ever experienced
because I feel I’m in a stronger place and I know
that has come about by speaking with you and your
words of encouragement and support, and so I just
want to say thank you so much for the past few
months and that I appreciate you and your time.
Have a good day and will catch up soon.
...
Hayley McDonald
These range from Childcare Level 2, Childcare Level 3 and Team Leading
to Level 3 and Level 5 Management – that’s a huge achievement in the
current climate.
All that hard work has paid off – well done from all of us here at Parenta Training!
Did you know?... Parenta has trained over 20,000 apprentices within the early years sector!
Our Level 3 success rate overall is almost 10% higher than the national average.
That’s down to great work from you, our lovely Parenta learners!
If you have a learner with us who has recently completed their apprenticeship, please send in
a picture to hello@parenta.com to be included in the magazine.
October’s wall of fame!
As always, very quick to respond and helpful. Puts up
with my daft questions and issues all the time!
...
Polly Sekenofsky
The Parenta support team are so knowledgeable and
helpful with any queries I have!
...
Anonymous
I want to say thank you one more
time for all your support and
help. I very much appreciate your
time and effort. I am fortunate
to have you as my assessor. You
have provided me with many
knowledgeable and informative
resources and platforms for me
to learn and do my research in
detail; that way, I can understand
my assignments and the subject
in-depth before putting it into
practice. Thank you for being
patient with me and giving me
enough time to complete my tasks.
...
Mansi
A. Batts-Smith
A. Borkowska
A. Garside
A. Jennings
A. Moffatt
A. McGuiness
A. Rajan
A. Rizvi
A. Shardelle
A. Wilson
B. Gardiner
B. Wrozek
C. Allenby
C. Bates
C. Bunker
C. Carnevale
C. Dunning
C. Everett
C. Greenfield
C. Impey
C. Smith
C. Stenning
C. Webb
E. Armstrong
E. Agneau-Wilson
E. Coates
E. Elston
E. Falltrick
E. Langham
E. Mitchener
E. Niemela-Baker
E. Pearcey
E. Smith
F. Taylor
F. Tatti
G. Aldridge
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H. Smith
I. Lawrence
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J. Edwin-Scott
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K .Baker
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R. Turville
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V. Evans
W. Nasra
Y. Jaber
Z. Latify
34 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 35

What is the sense of learning ?
Understanding multi-sensory
learning
During their early childhood, children are learning and experiencing more than at any other time of
their lives, and this is especially true in the years before school. With every experience, connections
are being formed deep within their brain. Making the structures and pathways that will determine
how they think, feel and behave – and respond to all their future experiences. And they are
Through every object they touch, every
image they see and every sound they
hear, through the flavours they taste
and the smells they detect, memories
are being formed and messages are
being sent. All these sensory inputs are
processed in the cerebral cortex, at the
front of the brain, along with their thoughts
and feelings. This explains why our senses
can be so powerful at triggering an
emotion - I cannot smell coconut without
thinking of holidays on the beach or
hear music from the 1980s without being
whisked back to my childhood.
receiving these experiences through their senses.
When multiple senses are involved in an
experience, even more connections are
being made. So think for a moment of the
experiences you are offering your children
and the senses that they are engaging.
Imagine slicing open a juicy orange, the
vibrant colours, the smell, the juice trickling
through their fingers as they grasp its
slippery texture before tasting it – now
compare this to offering them a plastic
one. Think about the textures on your feet
right now, possibly inside a sock and shoe,
now think about walking barefoot through
damp grass or cold, wet sand.
Multi-sensory learning is hugely powerful
and is why young children make such
good use of it. And we now have the
neuroscience to support this. Studies
have shown that children raised in a
rich environment, where they have been
given opportunities to engage in positive,
sensory-rich experiences, develop
brains more densely packed with these
connections. And that early childhood
is a critical time for this development
to occur. At around three years of age,
through processes of synaptic pruning, a
child’s experiences are essentially being
classified. With those often repeated
being identified as worth keeping hold
of and strengthened, and others being
pruned away as the structure of the brain
develops.
Any core experiences that have been
missed during this vital time will not be
easily made up for in later life. You will
have experienced this if you have ever
tried to learn a new language as an adult,
something young children seem to pick up
with ease. Or, if you have spoken to a child
from a language poor environment who
is now struggling to acquire the speech
patterns they are going to need for school.
During this time, no toy or resource is as
valuable as the moments of engagement
and understanding that you can offer
them. Every minute of these precious years
should be cherished and seen for the gifts
that you can offer them. That doesn’t mean
purchasing every item in the catalogue or
feeling guilty about the tasks you need to
perform – but it does mean connecting
with them when you are with them.
Turn off the screens and have a
conversation. Be mindful of the
expectations you place on them. Look into
their eyes and really connect – even during
a nappy change. And find time, every day
to connect, with every child. Whether this is
over a meal, a story or some tummy time.
When you appreciate just how engaged
their young brains are, and you can
respect their powerful drives to explore and
understand the world, it becomes more
important to facilitate the opportunities they
need to meaningfully gain experiences,
to investigate and to feel the result of their
actions. And to be mindful of the children
who may not readily put themselves
forward.
As you spend time with the children, be
careful not to dampen their motivations.
At this age they are learning so much
about their desire to learn, and when these
desires are met with disapproval, you are
effectively teaching them not to bother.
Even when this means additional washing.
• Allow your children the time and
opportunities they need to explore
• Let them experiment at their own
pace, repeating and returning to
things time and again as they refine
their understanding
• Take the additional time to explore,
rather than correct – allowing them to
take more from a learning opportunity
than the one way of doing something
that you already had in mind
• Allow them to develop their social and
communication skills with different age
groupings; in a crowd, in small groups
and sharing one-on-one time
• Offer varied opportunities within rich
and varied environments full of openended
opportunities. Where they can
explore and experiment with their
ideas, rehearsing and reinforcing their
ideas through repetition
• Offer them the time and tools for
the job. Along with the permission
and understanding to investigate, to
manipulate and to try things out, just
to see what will happen
And as you do so…
• Consider whether their touch, sight
or hearing, or their sense of taste or
smell are being engaged… or could
they be?
First and foremost, be sure to value every
moment of their early years, when much
of this growth is occurring. Engage with
THEM, rather than the activity you had in
mind. Involve their multiple senses and
allow them to combine and adapt their
experiences. Allow them time to process
their thoughts and feelings, but also be
aware of over stimulation by being in tune
with their need for space, opportunity to
blow off steam, to relax and just be.
And most importantly – ensure your
children feel emotionally stable and
secure. When they feel relaxed and at
ease, within secure relationships, and
calm environments, they can turn their
attention to all their other pursuits. Your
children need you to understand more
than WHAT they need to learn – they need
you to understand HOW they are internally
driven to learn. And how you are laying the
foundations of this learning, now – and for
all their learning to come.
Understanding children from the inside
out is the first session in the new Nurturing
Kathryn Peckham
As Founder of Nurturing Childhoods,
Dr Kathryn Peckham is a passionate
advocate for children’s access to rich and
meaningful experiences throughout their
foundational early years. Delivering
online courses, training and seminars, she
works with families and settings to identify
and celebrate the impact of effective
childhood experiences as preparation for
all of life’s learning. An active campaigner
for children, she consults on projects,
conducts research for government bodies
and contributes to papers launched in
parliament. Through her consultancy
and research she guides local councils,
practitioners, teachers and parents all
over the world in enhancing children’s
experiences through the experiences
they offer. A highly acclaimed author and
member of parliamentary groups, Kathryn
also teaches a Masters at the Centre for
Research in Early Years.
Get in contact with Kathryn by emailing
info@kathrynpeckham.co.uk
Childhoods Accreditation. Offering you a
whole new approach to CPD that is tailored
to the needs of your setting, and the
children and families you work with. With
its complete set of materials and guidance,
it complements the resources available
for your parents, and is underpinned by
professional standards. Check out this
great new website and together we can
surround children with this level of unified
understanding of who they are and what
they need. And really begin developing the
potential of all children in their early years.
36 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 37

Tree Dressing Day
Do you remember the old song “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree” where a man returning
to his hometown after 3 years in prison was unsure whether his lover would want him back, and
asked her to decorate an old oak tree with a yellow ribbon if she did? The story unfolds throughout
the song as he worries about his fate and asks the bus driver to look out for him as he ‘can’t bear’
to see the tree if it has no ribbons on it. Luckily for him, the song has a happy ending as he sees
“a hundred yellow ribbons round the old oak tree” and we feel his joy and excitement at “coming
home” with the whole bus cheering for him too. This is a simple, heart-warming story which
makes us smile and we cannot help but imagine the old tree covered from top to bottom in
yellow ribbons, announcing how much he is loved, and acting as a metaphor too, since the
oak tree is a symbol for endurance, steadfastness and reliability. It’s also a great backdrop
to Tree Dressing Day, which this year is on December 5th in the UK.
ignore our responsibility to the trees on
our planet, and we can start by respecting
the trees in our own local area. Tree
Dressing Day is therefore a perfect way to
announce your commitment to the world
and celebrate these majestic, life-giving
natural wonders.
Some trees can live for thousands of
years, making them among the longestliving
lifeforms on earth. The oldest tree in
the world is thought to be a Great Basin
bristlecone pine tree in the US. At more
than 5,000 years old, it is more than 40
times older than the oldest known human
(122 years). In the UK, the Fortingall Yew in
Perthshire is believed to be our oldest tree,
estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000
years old. Yew tree are our longest-living
species and are not considered as ancient
trees until they are around 800-900 years
old, however, oaks and sweet chestnuts
can also live for over 1,000 years.
Celebrating trees is what Tree Dressing
Day is all about. It was started in 1990
by Common Ground, a Dorset-based
conservation charity who decorated a
group of London Plane trees in Covent
Garden, with the message that “every tree
counts”. Since then, people have re-taken
up this ancient ritual and celebrate by
decorating their local trees right across
the country, sometimes with storytelling,
dance and music to really bring the
message home; that trees are our lifeline
and we need to look after them.
Tree Dressing Day comes at the end of
National Tree Week (27th November to
5th December) which marks the start
of the main tree planting season in the
UK (November to March each year). It’s
easy to get involved and there are lots of
different things you can use to decorate
your favourite trees.
1. Find a tree or set of trees that are
important to you or your local
community. It could be an ancient and
imposing tree in a park where people
have shared secrets for centuries, or
an avenue of trees that line a popular
walking route to your setting on a
suburban street, or a single tree that
creates a magical silhouette as the
twilight descends
2. Decide how you want to decorate it/
them and plan the resources you’ll
need to make your vision a reality
3. Create your masterpiece in your
setting with the help of the children
4. Dress the tree in time for Sunday 5th
December taking care not to disturb
the local wildlife
5. Take a photo of your decorated trees
and perhaps have some singing and
dancing to add to the celebrations
6. Remember to remove all your
decorations a few days after the event
and return the tree and local habitat
to its natural state – you might even
want to ‘thank’ the tree in your own
way, and we hear they are partial to
the odd hug too!
There are lots of ideas for dressing trees on the internet but The Woodland Trust has
listed some easy ones here. Dressing a tree can count towards earning points for their
Green Tree Schools Award initiative which teaches young people about trees, wildlife and
woodlands. We’ve created a table below listing a few ideas of decorations you could use.
Coloured or
plain lights
Painted
faces
Green man
Fairies, elves
and nymphs
Painted
hard-boiled
eggs
Rainbows Flowers Mini trees Pom poms Ribbons
Wrapping
paper
Butterflies or
dragonflies
Thank you
cards
Wild art
Balloons or
streamers
Odd socks
Paper
lanterns
School or
club ties
Sun, moon
and stars
Tinsel
Snowflakes
Bird feeders Hearts Flowers
Hand or
footprints
Crochet
or knitted
squares
Patterns:
stripes/spots
Coloured
wool (yarn
bombing)
Photographs
or memories
Strips of
material
Birds and
animal
pictures
Poems
Battery
candles in
jars
Painted
empty plastic
bottles
Costume
jewellery
Tree dressing is an ancient custom that
celebrates the life-giving properties of
trees which has been practiced in many
cultures over the years. In Japan, trees
are decorated with strips of white paper,
or ‘tanzaku’, bearing poems and wishes,
and many Buddhist and Hindu festivals
decorate trees with material and ribbons
to celebrate our connection with nature
too.
Some of the origins are thought to come
from the festivals of the Green Man, a
Pagan representative of masculine divinity,
who is believed to symbolise the cycle of
life, death and re-birth, heralding in the
new life in spring. He is often thought
of as being a guardian of nature, and
forests and trees in particular, often
appearing as a face in a tree, or covered
in leaves. In the past, the Green Man was
honoured, as the trees and our connection
to the natural world was celebrated
throughout the year in different festivals
and ceremonies. In recent years though,
modern life has changed much of that
for most of us and we remain detached
from nature for much of our working day.
However, as deforestation and its impact
on climate change are now very firmly on
the agenda, we can no longer afford to
Whatever you do, we’d love to see the
results, so send us your photos and
stories to hello@parenta.com and let’s
see if we can’t light up the country in
our appreciation and celebration of our
wonderful trees.
For more information, see:
• https://www.commonground.org.uk/
tree-dressing-day/
• https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
support-us/act/your-school/greentree-schools-award/tree-dressing/
• https://treecouncil.org.uk/take-action/
seasonal-campaigns/national-treeweek/
38 December 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | December 2021 39

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