September is the perfect season for exploring the local area on a walk, with a tub and searching high and low for blackberries.
This is a great free activity for your Nannying children, regardless of their age; teeny tiny ones can enjoy some fresh air and explore nature, whilst older ones can participate in exercise, selecting the ripe blackberries and putting them in the tub to take home.
You could also turn this activity into a scavenger hunt; this covers lots of learning elements. Depending on the ages of your nannying children and your walk, you could discuss colours, counting the blackberries, the local road sign shapes and numbers, sizes of the leaves on the grounds and much more!
Lots you will have noticed earlier in the month, I went blackberry picking in Surrey with a little person.
G, 2 and I collected a handful in a tub. We washed the blackberries and crushed them using a stick (from our walk) and added in some water. This made a great blackberry paint for natural mark making on a large piece of paper. It also enabled her to use and develop her fine and gross motor skills (EYFS, Development Matters).
Following on from this, we looked at making Blackberry playdough. Take a look at the recipe below and tag me in your photos on Instagram (with parental permission) and let me know how you get on.
Playdough is very important in the Early Years; developing and strengthening those fine motor skills. These are the muscles which help children to write and hold a pencil correctly at a later stage in their life.
Playdough also has the ability to develop a child's imagination. As soon as you add other elements, the possibilities expand and continue to grow!
These elements do not need to be expensive; think googly eyes, uncooked pasta and spaghetti, knives and forks to make patterns, play scissors, wooden sticks, a kitchen roll tube with bubble wrap folded over and much more!
Let their imagination flow.
If you like this article, comment and let us know below; would you would like our Nanny Agency to share other playdough recipes for the autumn and winter months?