The Yellow Door Blog

The Secret Life of Minibeasts: Fun Learning Ideas for Children

Exploring the world of insects and bugs with young children opens a door to a wealth of learning opportunities. From fostering curiosity and a love for nature to developing critical thinking and fine motor skills, the benefits are endless!

Navigating Early Years Transitions – Activities to foster emotional well-being

As September approaches, the excitement and anxiety about the new school year begin to surface. For young children, the transition to different rooms in nurseries or to school can be a significant emotional milestone.

Supporting Speech & Language Development in the Early Years

Jenny Hiller, CORU Registered, Senior Speech and Language Therapist, offers invaluable guidance to practitioners through a collection of short videos to support speech & language development in the early years.

The Magic of Mud Kitchens in Early Years

Mud kitchens have become a staple in early years education, offering a wealth of benefits that support the development of young children.

Prehistoric Play!

Dinosaurs are a source of great fascination for many children. Here’s a few of our favourite activities to use with our dinosaur-themed resources to achieve early learning goals in playful and interactive ways.

10 ways to become a nature-nurturing nursery

As educators we need to prepare children for the world they will inherit. We do so not with dire warnings, but by encouraging in children a sense of joy in the natural world, helping them to care for and respect it. With such delight comes a sense of the world’s precious nature and of our need to cherish it for others. Understanding this is the motivation for making small changes that will create more environmentally responsible settings.

10 ideas for forest school (even if you don’t have a forest nearby!)

As Christopher Robin learned in Hundred Acre Wood, a forest is a great place for adventures. If you don’t have a forest nearby, you don’t need to miss out. Here are some ideas to bring the adventure to your setting.

The Power of Kindness and Gratitude

Have you ever seen the film, ‘Pay it Forward’? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. What starts as a young boy’s school project grows to become a nationwide movement of doing kind acts for others. We may not be able to singlehandedly transform a person’s life for the better, but we can all do a multitude of small kindnesses which, when added up, make a positive and powerful difference in the lives of others.

Love in the Early Years

‘All you need is love’ sang The Beatles, and studies have shown that what makes the biggest difference to children in their early years is knowing an adult who shows they care. There is no other resource that is more valuable to children than a loving adult. We often think about love in terms of family relationships, but loving early years practitioners have an important role too. Sadly, not all children will experience love in their home environment, but, even for those that do, forming loving bonds with the people who care for them in their early years setting is vital, not just for healthy social and emotional development, but for their cognitive growth too. Love actually helps to build brains!

Exploring emotions through bookish play

Just like any other skill learning to identify and express emotions is a vital part of healthy social and emotional development in children. That is why it is important to teach and encourage our children how to identify and cope with big emotions.  As parents, teachers and early years practitioners, it can be hard to know how to do this in an engaging way, but in all honesty, it can be as simple as using books such as Conker the Chameleon and open-ended play resources to model feelings. 