which resources are your most sucessful?

[primrosecottage]

Hi

I'm newly registered and would like to know (all experienced childminders) what resources you have found the children have got the most use from, or that you couldn't be without- whether that be a play kitchen/home corner or sand pit etc.? My reason for asking is I would like some ideas where to direct my limited budget!!!

Thanks for replies...
:)

[alex__17]

Toy kitchen (ikea), wooden train set and dressing up box (random bits of material seem to be used more) are my most played with things, and all the cars although I have 3 2-3 year old boys that a car mad so would depend on the kids

[blue bear]

Every day without fail:
Kitchen
Dressing up
Pens paper scissors
Books
Outside ride on toys
Sand pit
Water play - scoops bottles funnels hand pumps (old soap bottles)
Dolls and pram

Popular - never seem to end up in the loft because the children ask for them
Tain set
Torches
Wind up toys
Dolls house/farm/people
Cars & garage
Popoids

[natlou82]

Paper and felt tips, wooden train set, pots and pans (ikea), books x

[Maza]

I agree with all of the above (we don't have popoids but construction kits are generally popular - playmags are the most popular here at the moment).

Do not spend lots and lot of money. Checkout charity shops, jumble sales etc. Wait for sales in shops such as The Early Learning Centre. Save scrap paper for drawing and start saving egg boxes, kitchen rolls etc for model making. Look through your own wardrobe for old bags, hats, scarves, beads etc to create your dressing up box, sheets, table cloths, towels and pegs are great for den making. Let friends and family know that you are building up your toy collection and will take old toys from them. Don't bother with commercial sand and water toys - look in your kitchen or the £1 shop and buy jugs, colanders, balti dishes, pans etc.

I hardly have any baby toys any more as they would rather play with treasure baskets made up of natural or household objects. I had one baby who loved crinkly packets and so I would fill up a basket with about 5 unopened packets of crisps and he would play/explore for ages!

Do you have a library and/or a toy library near you? Make full use of them. Also, I have just discovered that we can collect Sainsbury's active kids vouchers to exchange for cooking or outdoor equipment. Take you registration certificate to the ELC register for their 10% discount. x

[shortstuff]

it seems to be my shopping toys here. They love the tills and fruit, veg, packets etc

Also cars with the garage, trains and train set are good.

I have a pair of items which all of the children love too. A steering wheel which was originally for an xbox (I have cut the leads off). I have paired it with a computer joystick (used as a gear stick). The children use it to drive the car like mum or dad.

[loocyloo]

the favourite 'toy' here are the baskets of sensory/heuristic items ... fircones, conkers, log slices, sticks, bark, corks, stones, shells, bottle & jar tops ( metal/plastic ), small baskets/boxes/pots/tubs/bottles, old cds, chocolate box insides, dried pasta, small rubber nuts & bolts, acrylic gems, ice lolly sticks, wooden and plastic pegs, old wheels, bits of Velcro ... plus fabric from the 'dressing up' box, small world toys and dolls!

oh, and a collection of sensory bottles.

they can be entertained all day, creating and making up games and stories. with supervision, even my youngest mindee at 9mths is capable of playing and exploring safely.

[FloraDora]

the favourite 'toy' here are the baskets of sensory/heuristic items ... fircones, conkers, log slices, sticks, bark, corks, stones, shells, bottle & jar tops ( metal/plastic ), small baskets/boxes/pots/tubs/bottles, old cds, chocolate box insides, dried pasta, small rubber nuts & bolts, acrylic gems, ice lolly sticks, wooden and plastic pegs, old wheels, bits of Velcro ... plus fabric from the 'dressing up' box, small world toys and dolls!

oh, and a collection of sensory bottles.

they can be entertained all day, creating and making up games and stories. with supervision, even my youngest mindee at 9mths is capable of playing and exploring safely.

Same here! Loose materials are always a winner.
The basic dolls house and Sylvanian families are missed if not out too by all age groups and genders.
Anything small world ..along with loose materials gets lots of extended play.
Water science is a favourite too by all.
Gardening/ digging tools are used daily in the digging area or sand or just dragged around as mine love oversized things.

Musical instruments.

Duplo seems the most versatile construction, we have people and animal and vehicle/ train so it is used as small world with building to extend or just to stack towers! Also good for number and colour sorting and pattern following. I have made a set for each child of the letters on bricks, they always hunt for these and make their name before other play.

You need to look at your fortè, and equip for that first ...mine is outdoors...then science based.....the rest has come over time - I tend to use books to follow - so my equipt has grown when linking in these. Also children's next steps ...I might need to make or buy resources to help me ensure they are met.
Different age children like different focusses sometimes.

[bunyip]

Toy kitchen (IKEA)
Sticks
Snow
Public footpaths
Cows
More sticks
Tractors
Trains
Bigger sticks
Mud
Puddles
Muddy puddles
Bag of very nearly but not quite stale bread
Tractors again (tractors are great: never realised before I became a CM how just seeing a tractor could make one's entire day just wonderful)
Conkers
Did I mention sticks?
...........................and so on. :thumbsup:

[Maza]

Toy kitchen (IKEA)
Sticks
Snow
Public footpaths
Cows
More sticks
Tractors
Trains
Bigger sticks
Mud
Puddles
Muddy puddles
Bag of very nearly but not quite stale bread
Tractors again (tractors are great: never realised before I became a CM how just seeing a tractor could make one's entire day just wonderful)
Conkers
Did I mention sticks?
...........................and so on. :thumbsup:

We don't see tractors but oh my word, if they see the 'bin men'/refuse collectors well that really makes their day. Do those guys know what heroes they are to kids?

[primrosecottage]

thanks for the replies it's always helpful to ask other's opinions!

[alex__17]

Yes sticks are a favourite here too and bin men are their heroes esp if they wave, they still talk about how father Christmas helped them just before xmas (bin men wore santa hats, it made their whole year!)
Feathers are also an excellent find, and old leaves and daisies :-) we almost always take a bucket or basket out on walks to collect their little treasures :-)

[loocyloo]

Yes sticks are a favourite here too and bin men are their heroes esp if they wave, they still talk about how father Christmas helped them just before xmas (bin men wore santa hats, it made their whole year!)
Feathers are also an excellent find, and old leaves and daisies :-) we almost always take a bucket or basket out on walks to collect their little treasures :-)

Have you seen the 'not a stick' book? Lovely story book about a stick that is NOT a stick!

[AliceK]

Does anyone else have children who collect stones?? All my LO's collect as many stones as they can, stuff them all in their pockets. I don't know how they manage to walk some days their coats are so full of stones :panic:

xxx

[alex__17]

My son likes collecting stones to give to daddy when he gets home, luckily most of the sticks and leaves are taken home for lucky mummies and daddies too :-)

[Maza]

Does anyone else have children who collect stones?? All my LO's collect as many stones as they can, stuff them all in their pockets. I don't know how they manage to walk some days their coats are so full of stones :panic:

xxx

My lot are OBSESSED with collecting stones! We're going to paint some of them next week.
They can spot a smooth round stone from a mile off, or one with a pretty colour. I suppose they are closer to the ground than we are!

[FloraDora]

Stones and sticks...here too..but I do encourage them to look at things and find what is unique.

My DH has a pot on the windowsill and they bring him a special stick which he wows over and keeps in his special place on the windowsill - it actually looks quite nice! ( well the pot is nice and the sticks look ok).
They then get transferred to the picture making/ slot posting pots in the garden after.

I use a felt tip that can withstand a fair bit of weather and the children and I will draw on stones ( Thankyou cosy catalogue for that idea) but one LO has a stone pile in a special place and when she is out with me or parents/ grandparents she collects for her pile. When we play in the garden she likes to play with them, distribute them, collect them...but she won't have them drawn on.

I wonder what a prospective parent would think if we all just had our found, natural, loose resources available - no other toys? They are the most used, but I still am drawn to toys - for instance Maza I had never seen playmags and now I have looked at them I would like them in my magnet discovery box....so onto a wish list they will go as they are quite expensive.
We live near a canal and my LO's will watch the canoeists ( my next hobby ) and narrow boats for ages, just sitting, watching and chattering narrow boat owners/ holiday people are always so friendly and chat to us if we sit near the lock. Opposite the steps to the tow path is a metal recycling centre - the cranes there are so exciting and if they are moving!!!!!! Squeels of pleasure!
One of our local shops is a princess dress shop, this time of the year they change their 3 modals in the window regularly, (prom season soon) my 2 Girls love to look, get all excited as we cross that they have changed...
But best of all ( after Tuseday - bin day) is the new Co-op being built, we take photos every week ( the work men love to pose) and are doing a timeline.....we keep talking about if it will be finished before somebody's birthday...2 birthdays have passed and it isn't yet. the shopping list for opening day I hope will be significant in Mark making terms - purpose for writing etc...
I want to move to the countryside / seaside on my official retirement but...currently I am seeing my urban area through toddlers eyes and it is wonderful!

[Maza]

Playmags are fantastic FloraDora. I got them for DD(6) for Christmas and so I could justify the cost. She loves using them with little tea lights inside her creations and they look beautiful. One three year old mindee makes something new and totally different with them every day and I am in awe. When the sun is shining through the window the colour is reflected onto the carpet and we watch it move around throughout the day. If you look on The Artful Parent website she has done a couple of posts on ways to use playmags. You do get a good amount of pieces in each box and so it is good value for money in that way.

I love your timeline! We have also just had a new co-op built and our local school is expanding to 'two form entry'. We have watched the progress with interest but I wish I had thought of the timeline and linked it to birthdays! Tomorrow I am going to make a slot box for our sticks and stones! Have you read 'Bonting' by Shirley Hughes? It always makes me chuckle when Alfie cried most of the way home from the seaside because he had lost his stone!

[hectors house]

Hardly any of my resources are new - I love charity shops and car boot sales.

I have an outdoor sand pit with builders sand in (makes better sand castles as it's gritty like beach sand), also have an indoor activity tray with coloured rice in and selecting of spoons, pans, funnels etc. Outdoor water table. Kids love playing with toys standing up so things on tables are great.

Toy cars are a must as is a Fisher Price garage (I did buy that new) - I had one for my own daughter and sold it when I gave up childminding, then I started up again and had to buy another garage! Yes it's plastic but it's so much stronger than the wooden ones (that the ramps fall off of).