Welcome to 'The Learning Journey'

Hello and welcome to The Learning Journey.

It’s something one of my college tutors taught us to do in the early days of training, and it’s a lesson that’s stayed with me all these years.

Back then, Early Years training focused a lot on the view from a child’s perspective. Many of the lessons would have us imagine we were the children ourselves, taking part in activities like making scented play dough and crafting our own finger puppets to put on a show with.

Simple ideas… Now imagine the impact it had on a child doing this for the first time.

A smell they never experienced before, maybe a texture too.

The anticipation and the excitement of having to wait to join in the activity, and the social interactions you may have never had before.

Not the simple activities we thought they were, perhaps?

I remember a conversation with a colleague and mentor, reflecting on our childhood memories, the houses that felt enormous, staircases and hallways that stretched on forever!

As adults, we now see these spaces as ordinary or even small. But as children, everything felt big, exciting and full of possible adventures.

These memories have influenced how I approach my work with children and how I continue to learn from them.

After more than 20 years in preschools, forest schools and as a nanny, I’m still fascinated, even, dare I say it, a bit envious, by the way children experience the world: with wonder, curiosity and a deep drive to understand how things work and where they belong in this big new world.

This blog aims to be a place to explore ideas, to reflect on what we notice in our everyday interactions with children and to think a little more deeply about what’s going on beneath it all.

I’m by no means an expert, but I do have a passion for the Early Years and I hope to learn and grow in the most honest way I can.

If you’re someone who spends time with children, whether as a parent, practitioner, or anything in between. I hope these thoughts inspire something useful for you too. If any of the ideas explored here help just one person connect a little more closely with a child in their life, then this project would be a success.

Do you have any memories of a place, or experience, that really stood out as a child?