Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone could help? I'm a registered childminder and due my FIRST visit soon but am stressing. Its quite overwhelming!! What do Ofsted like to see the children doing? I'm always at Toddler groups and Children centers so rarely at home. I do do playdough sessions, craft activities, attempt cooking/baking etc but not sure what to do when Ofsted come. Do i Just leave the children to play, or set up a activity for them to do?

Any help or tips would be really helpful

Thankyou

Chevonne

OFSTED like to see a nice environment that children can selfselect from easily.If you have really little LO's then dont try and plan too much ,just interact as normal and provide them with toys that you can explain what they are going to gain from ,keep your routine as nomal as you can or you'll get grumpy kids.and my best bit of advice if you have older ones 3 or 4 yr old tell them that a lady/man is coming from santa to see if they are being good boys and girls and anyone who is naughty might get their toys taken back :D:D

I had my first graded inspection last week. I didn't set up any special activities for it. My LO (22 mths) goes straight for the garage and fills it with small cars and trains, so that's always out for him. Other activities/toys that follow his interests were all easily accessible for him and he could point to the playdough, paint for me to put out for him or could get the crayons and pencils if he wanted (which he didn't). Other than that, I'd just changed some of the toys around from what we'd had out before Christmas. When he wanted to go outside, we went in the garden. I followed his lead and used whatever learning opportunity came up during play - linking trains together, role play with pebbles from the sand tray as food, mark making with our fingers in the sand etc.
I have Ikea Trofast storage. I made sure I finished labelling all the drawers before she came. I'd done one with LO's home language on (cars of course!) which she loved, as I's already got the Russian for that word from mum. The inspector said it would be good to have it on more drawers so not only would he see it, but the other children would see a different language too.
Good luck!:)

Thankyou both for advice, really appreciate it! Samcat, when you say labelled the toys, was that something that OFSTED want you to do, is thier a certain way of labelling? All my boxes are labelled but with tags I have designed that relate to whats inside. Is that ok, or do i need to relate them EYFS learning?

Thanks again!

Thankyou both for advice, really appreciate it! Samcat, when you say labelled the toys, was that something that OFSTED want you to do, is thier a certain way of labelling? All my boxes are labelled but with tags I have designed that relate to whats inside. Is that ok, or do i need to relate them EYFS learning?

Thanks again!

the labeling is so we are showing the written word in our setting as often as we can,i think a simple lable with contents ,eg cars ,dolls, crayons etc will be great as most things cover that many areas your lables would be massive and complicated. i have a resources catalogue with photos of all my toys ,its just a cheap photo album beside each picture ive wrote what areas of learning it covers,OFSTED loved this,enables selfselection and shows you have a good understanding of what each toy provides

I put a laminated label with a picture and words of what's inside the drawer, box, bag. Something really simple so the children can identify what's in there before they open it, so it's making it more accessible to them and you're introducing them to print in the environment. Sounds like you do something similar anyway!

Do what you and the children would feel comfortable doing. Anything strange will make the day more stressful.

I had my first graded inspection a few weeks ago I kept things normal and we did playdough that way it was less messy and proved a great topic of conversation with inspector and children too. We played with puzzles, magnetic letters and read some books.
My boxes are laminated and labelled with pictures and words, well currently half are as I have a 14 month old who makes it her mission to take them all off!!
Good luck you will be fine, they just want to see a nice normal atmosphere.

You guys have been amazing. Thankyou you all for your advice!!!
Am now on the hunt for a laminator!!!!

me too, just a normal day. We always have out smallworld, some type of construction, home corner is set out and garden toys are the same.

If playdough is planned I'd do that but wouldn't do it especially - I tend to avoid activities that are messy when ofsted visit as trying to talk and supervise and clean up is not easy :laughing:

I had my first graded inspection last week. I didn't set up any special activities for it. My LO (22 mths) goes straight for the garage and fills it with small cars and trains, so that's always out for him. Other activities/toys that follow his interests were all easily accessible for him and he could point to the playdough, paint for me to put out for him or could get the crayons and pencils if he wanted (which he didn't). Other than that, I'd just changed some of the toys around from what we'd had out before Christmas. When he wanted to go outside, we went in the garden. I followed his lead and used whatever learning opportunity came up during play - linking trains together, role play with pebbles from the sand tray as food, mark making with our fingers in the sand etc.
I have Ikea Trofast storage. I made sure I finished labelling all the drawers before she came. I'd done one with LO's home language on (cars of course!) which she loved, as I's already got the Russian for that word from mum. The inspector said it would be good to have it on more drawers so not only would he see it, but the other children would see a different language too.
Good luck!:)

Hey just out of interest what did you use to stick lables on. Mine keep falling off.

Hey just out of interest what did you use to stick lables on. Mine keep falling off.

Wrap Sellotape round and round tge boxes.

I put double sided tape on the back of my labels. It sticks to the boxes pretty well, doesn't make a mess and is easy to replace if needed.

Hey just out of interest what did you use to stick lables on. Mine keep falling off.

I use Velcro dots

I use the glue dots but I will try velcro as that way when i have a swap around i can also move the lables around?

Will see how it goes.