OUR TOP TEN POSTS OF 2016

Catch up on ten of the best of our blog posts from 2016 including some of our most popular educational printables.

The end of every year is a perfect time to reflect on the past twelve months and plan for the year ahead. Over 820,000+ of you found your way to our blog in 2016 to read more than 50 new posts this year bring the total number of posts to over 150 now. 

Our Instagram followers grew by some 20,000 in 2016 while there's now twice as many of you following us on Facebook and Pinterest than in 2015.

My life as a contract teacher saw me working several term long contracts across three different sites from ranging from preschool to Reception age children then up to Year 3/4 as well as managing a special education unit. 

This year on the blog was an exciting one as we listened to what you wanted in 2015 - more printables! Opening our very own online shop and adding many more printables to use in your own classrooms in January.

And we have many more exciting posts to share with you in 2017.

But to catch you up, we're sharing the best of our blog from 2016 here.

15 FUN WAYS TO REUSE ALL THAT CHRISTMAS RUBBISH

15 Fun Ways To Reuse All That Christmas Rubbish - 15 different ideas to try with your children to reuse, recycle, reduce and upcycle some of that Christmas trash that would otherwise go to waste.

For many of us, Christmas means spending time with family and friends. This year that meant 7 children and 9 more adults all opening presents and eating Christmas lunch at our house.

Lots of noise, lots of fun but also lots of rubbish!

Now as tempting as it is to just stuff it all in one of the many boxes that seem to appear Christmas Day and throw it all in the trash, there are some fun projects you can try with your children once all the visitors have left and they are not quite sure what to do with themselves.

30+ GIFTS MY CHILDREN HAVE LOVED BUT DIDN'T ASK FOR

Our pick of the best open-ended toys to gift this Christmas - 30+ toys your children will love but didn't ask for.

It's that time of year when our children are busy filling Christmas wish lists with their favourite things in the hope Santa or some thoughtful relative might bring them.

Quite often it's the latest and greatest toy that makes their list. 

This year IT toy is a Hatchanimal, a couple of Christmases ago it was a Furby. When I was ten, it was a Cabbage Patch Doll. 

Every Christmas there's always that one toy.

And it's oh so easy to get wrapped up in the sales pitch surrounding these items believing that this toy will make your child's day come Christmas morning. And sometimes, you get the fairy tale ending and this toy becomes one of your children's most beloved possessions.

Sometimes it doesn't turn out that way and the toy you just bought for way more than it's regular retail price finds a home at the bottom of your child's toybox collecting dust.

It's not that your child doesn't love this toy. They probably do but some toys are just better than others in engaging your child in play.

Being a teacher and parent of three young children one of whom in the spirit of full disclosure, is a owner of a neglected Furby, I'm often asked for my recommendations. Here's my list of toys my children have loved but never asked for.

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HOW TO USE CHRISTMAS TO ENCOURAGE WRITING

How to use the Christmas holiday season to encourage young children and their early writing attempts from beginning mark making to formulating a letter to Santa.

Before children begin to write, they make lines and circles. They scribble, they make marks and as their pencil control grows so does their awareness that these marks can help them communicate with others. They begin to understand that mark making can be an effective way to share their thoughts and feelings with the people around them. 

It's a crucial step in a child's early development.

Their first step towards writing.

There are many different types of mark making invitations that can be created in the classroom or at home to encourage a child's efforts and Christmas time is the perfect opportunity to get your child writing!

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MAKING YOUR MARK - HOW TO PROMOTE A LOVE OF WRITING IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Why mark making is so important in Early Childhood plus launching a new ebook, Make Your Mark, full of ideas and resources to help educators and parents alike promote and encourage mark making by the youngest of children.

Developmentally, the skill of writing begins with mark making. 

Learning to write is a skill that requires time, opportunity, practice and encouragement. Mark making helps young children to make sense of their world but also opens them up to the realisation that marks and symbols can carry meaning that can be understood by others, allowing them to express their emotions and thoughts through a means other than verbal communication for the first time. 

SAY IT, MAKE IT, WRITE IT FOR MATHS

Using our Say It, Make It, Write It FREE printable 5 different ways in Maths - the ideal resource that's ready to print for use any Early Years classroom.

This one simple printable is so incredibly versatile!

Originally I created the Say It, Make It, Write It mats to make practicing our sight words a little more hands-on and fun but like many of our printables, we've found it can be used so many different ways.

We started using them in our literacy centres. 

Since then, we've started using them in our math centres and they've proved to be perfect for small group or independent work in our classroom.

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ONE SENSORY RICH TUB, TEN WAYS TO USE IT

Ten different ideas of how to use rice to create rich sensory play in the classroom or at home.

Sensory play has an important role to play in Early Childhood. Exposing young children to sensory rich play can help them develop their early literacy and numeracy skills whilst also encouraging their imaginative play and problem solving skills. It can also be an crucial part in meeting the sensory needs of some children during play.

Previously I've shared some of our favorite non-food items for sensory play which led me to thinking about what our favorite items are for promoting rich sensory play. 

What is the most versatile material we use? 
What encourages play in diverse but sustained ways? 
What works for group play, mixed age groups and individual play? 

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HOW TO TEACH CHILDREN TO TELL TIME

How to teach young children to tell time. Teaching ideas and printable resources to help you teach the concept of time and how to tell time in class.

Time is a tricky concept and telling time can be something many children take years to understand and do accurately. 

Teaching time to young children can be difficult as it's such an abstract concept in many ways. Hands on play, games, visual supports and lots and lots of practice can help children understand how to tell time and the concept.

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STEAM KIDS Christmas Edition

The latest offering from STEAM KIDS doesn't disappoint! With more than 25 holiday projects to get young kids making, building and creating you must grab STEAM KIDS Christmas.

The STEAM KIDS team is inspiring our next generation of 
inventors, innovators and leaders to:

question like a scientist | design like a technologist | build like an engineer

create like an artist | deduce like a mathematician

- and, most importantly -

play like a kid.

But this time they've partnered with Rudolph and given STEAM a frosty coating of snow, North Pole antics and a lot of sparkling Christmas trees. 

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30 RIOTOUS RHYMING BOOKS YOUR CHILDREN WILL LOVE

Perfect for reading at home together or in the classroom, here's more than 30 riotous rhyming books your children will love to read and listen too.

As parents we might guess that hearing rhyme is important to our children. 

We all learnt the same nursery rhymes our kids know now. 

Many picture books are full of rhyming words from the classics we read as children ourselves on our parent's laps to this year's newest releases that we might share with our children. 

We sang lots of the same school yard chants we hear our kids singing with their friends at lunchtime in the yard. 

And when you think about some of these, not all of them make a lot of sense as an adult  - Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, The cow jumps over the moon, The little dog laughed to see such fun and the dish ran away with the spoon! What?!?

They are silly and they make kids laugh as they imagine a cow jumping over the moon. 

They are important because they rhyme! And rhyming should be fun! 

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SAY IT, MAKE IT, WRITE IT MATS - HOW TO USE THEM SIX DIFFERENT WAYS

Showing busy teachers how to use this FREE ready to print word work mat six different ways in your math and literacy centers in an Early Years classroom.

Teachers are busy people. I'm a teacher so I get it.

We all like to find resources for our classrooms that are useful and engaging and but are also easy to prep, set up and store when not in use. 

Our 'Say It, Make It, Write It' word mats are one such resource.

Originally created to help my students practice their sight words during our literacy centre activities but like many of our printables, they can easily be used different ways making them an ideal resource for both the Early Years classroom and word work at home.

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CHRISTMAS STEM PATTERN BLOCK CHALLENGE CARDS

A ready to print, just add some wooden patterns blocks to begin using the Christmas challenge cards with a 2D shape focus.

One of our most popular printables would have to be our 2D shape challenge cards. Everyone loves pattern blocks and no classroom seems to be without a set. Many of you have written to tell us that our printable challenge cards have been the perfect addition. You've loved using them in your classrooms and how easy they make differentiation. 

With Christmas only a short time away I've created some Christmas themed challenge cards to add to our pattern blocks.

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HOW TO TEACH 2D SHAPE TO PRESCHOOLERS

A simple way to help young children learn about 2D shapes and their properties through hands-on play. 

Years ago I found a way to help preschoolers with their handwriting with one simple DIY project that can be ready in less than 20 minutes. The same tool I used to teach young children handwriting can also be used to teach them about 2D shape.

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ULTIMATE LIST OF WORD WORK IDEAS

Looking for more literacy work station inspiration and ideas for Daily 5 Word Work? 

Literacy centres or literacy centers (if you live in other parts of the world) are a fun and engaging way to have young children practice those early literacy concepts intentionally taught during class in small group settings.

You can see I've been creating literacy work stations in my classroom for the past few years. Every six months we share our latest literacy centers here on the blog. 

You can see our other posts here, here and here. 

Our literacy centres always incorporates some key focus areas - syllables, rhyme, beginning letter sounds, CVC words, letter recognition, sight words and developing vocabulary. They often have other skills (fine motor, co-operative or physical) built in to them as well.

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MAKING STOP MOTION VIDEO WITH KIDS

How to make a stop-go motion video with your child to create some lasting memories together.

It's school holidays here and we've been having some fun exploring some new apps on the iPad. 

My youngest has been alternating between building secret rooms in Minecraft and learning Mandarin while the eldest has been teaching herself French but arguably, my 10 year old and I have had more fun creating short stop-go motion video together using the app Stop Motion. 

Remember our handmade mix and match rock people? Well they just became the 'rock' stars in our movie.

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MAKE LEARNING TO RHYME HANDS-ON

Looking for more literacy center ideas? These ready to print rhyming clip cards are a fantastic addition to your literacy work stations in class.

Recently I wrote how important developing phonemic awareness was in Early Childhood. It is key to learning how to both read and spell and, then subsequently, write. 

By preschool age, one of the components of phonemic awareness is being able to identify rhyme. 

As teachers, we try to create as many opportunities for the children in our classroom to hear rhyme so as to help them understand the concept. We immerse them with good books that rhyme in class, we play fun games with rhyming words and we use different resources in our literacy stations to help young children build their understanding of rhyme. 

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WORD FAMILY I SPY MATS

Make learning how to rhyme fun with the help of our I Spy Rhyming Short Vowel Sound Word Family printable mats - ideal for Daily 5 Word Work or literacy centre work stations.

Developing phonemic awareness in the Early Years is key to learning how to read and spell. 

What is phonemic awareness? Basically it's understanding that the English language is an alphabetic system in which the letters represent sounds either singularly or in combination. 

Children who have good phonemic awareness are able to take apart words, recognise the sounds being used and be able to put them back together or manipulate them to create new words. 

Being able to identify and produce rhyme is a key component to phonemic awareness at preschool. Many young children still require practice at hearing rhyme when they start school so I've recently added these fun Short Vowel Sound Word Family I Spy printables for our literacy centres in class.

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STEAM KIDS - WATER PENDULUM PLAY

Introducing a fantastic resource for any classroom or home, STEAM KIDS! With over 50 engaging projects to try with your children, you will want this book on your shelf!

Working in the Early Childhood Education sector, many of the hands on activities we plan already incorporate STEAM. 

What is STEAM and why is it important to how I teach young children today? 

Education experts are telling us that to help prepare our children to be the successful innovators they need to be to be part of our 21st century workforce, they need to be actively engaged in their own learning and have plenty of opportunities to engage in subjects such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) to succeed. 

Having fun is, of course, a large part of ensuring they are engaged in such learning so I am very excited by the launch of STEAM Kids! An inspiring new book with over 50 STEAM projects to try at home or in the classroom.

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DIGRAPH SOUND MAZES AND I SPY GAMES

A fun hands-on way to learn digraph sounds, just print these I spy games and sound mazes to add to your literacy centers or Daily 5 word work.

Literacy centres, or word work if you do Daily 5, are a regular part of our classroom timetable. 

Literacy centres are a fantastic learning tool to use in your classroom. They can help build independence and social skills working in small groups while allowing young children to practice concepts or skills already intentionally taught in class. Your literacy station activities should not just fill in time. 

I've been using them since I started teaching and have have found them to be very effective but that means having to constantly find suitable resources to use in our literacy circles. You can find plenty of ideas for your literacy centres here.

Recently my class has been learning the digraphs sounds and needed some practice 'hearing' these sounds in words.

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OLYMPICS INSPIRED ART PROJECT TO TRY

Watching the Olympics? Bring some of the Olympics into class with this Olympic inspired multi-media art project.

I have loved watching the Rio Olympics as have my class. 

With so much community and good sportsmanship shown, the 2016 Olympics is truly something to celebrate. 

There have been plenty of history making moments in many Olympic sports, enough to stop nations around the world so we don't miss them. Such has been the enthusiasm for the Olympics, I created this Olympics inspired art project for my students to do this week. 

It's an art project suitable for students in the Early Years right through to Middle Primary or Middle School using simple materials found in most schools.

TEACHING AUSTRALIAN MONEY

Classroom ideas, hands on play based activities and ready to print resources to make teaching Australian coins easy.

I love teaching Australian money. It would have to be one of my favourite parts of the Australian Curriculum for Maths. 

I do believe teaching young children about money and financial matters is an important lifelong skill. 

In their second year at school, Australian children begin to learn about Australian coins - how to recognise, describe and order the different coins according to their value. 

TEACHING INFORMATIVE REPORT WRITING MADE EASIER

Our ready to print templates make information report writing easier for beginning writers.

Teaching young children different writing genres can be difficult. 

Some genres like recounts and narratives are more familiar and comfortable with but others like information reports can prove more challenging to beginning writers. 

To help assist my students, I created a visual report writing format to help support their first attempts at informative reports.

20 MUST FOLLOW INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS FOR EDUCATORS

There are so many different forms of social media now - Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest... the list goes on and on but my absolute favourite place to find inspiration for my work in the classroom and our play at home would come from Instagram. It's full of amazingly creative people who are generously sharing their ideas with the rest of the world. 

Today I'm sharing 20 of my favourite Instagram accounts that you will want to follow if you are an educator or parent of young children.

HOW TO INVITE PURPOSEFUL PLAY WITH TRUCKS

Perfect for preschool and kindergarten aged children, these transport themed number printables invite purposeful play following children's interests.

Playing with trucks and cars is a favourite of many, some might even say rite of childhood. A classic for very good reason. I had kept my old Matchbox cars and now my three girls have enjoyed playing with them as much as I did then I was their age.

Forever the teacher, I'm always on the look out for ways to incorporate learning into children's play. Gentle ways to encourage children to explore new materials and new (to them) concepts.

Knowing how much my own children enjoyed the sandpit and playing pretend with their trucks, I created these construction themed number mats for play at preschool.

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LEARNING WITH LEGO

Plenty of hands-on ways to use LEGO to make learning in your Early Years classroom engaging and effective!

My children love any hands-on activities that include building particularly when it includes DUPLO and LEGO blocks. 

Following their lead, we've been using LEGO to help learn different concepts like our letters and numbers, beginning sounds and how to spell. We've been using these in our literacy centers in class but you can just as easily use the ideas at home too. 

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PRINTABLE DIGRAPH BINGO GAME FOR /CK/ SOUND

Make learning digraphs in class fun with games like these printable BINGO cards that focus on the letter sound /ck/.

My class of five and six year olds love to play games. 

While the transition from preschool to school involves many changes and adjustments for both children and their parents, the playful learning need not stop. 

Knowing how much my students enjoy playing games during class I've been trying to incorporate more of this type of play in our intentional learning time and in our literacy centres. 

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