Deck the Halls with Christmas Crafts – or not!?

Mel Shepherd • December 3, 2024

It’s that time of year again, where the debate starts to rage about what Christmas activities we should be doing with our Early Years children.


Do we send home matching ‘handprint’ Christmas cards to each child? Or do we leave everything entirely up to the child and allow them to create something, if they wish, that is entirely child led.


The controversy around this can seem somewhat irrational and, to be honest, hasn’t been helped in recent years but the use of the term ‘craptivities’ when it comes to these more uniform Christmas crafts. I really strongly believe that we should be able to debate and share our opinions in Early Years, without belittling what others do.


Realistically, I think there’s a middle ground that we can meet in, which still involves the child and gives them to opportunity to be creative, whilst also sending something home at Christmas for parents.

I think that provocations are the way to go in terms of Christmas Activities – setting up some resources, and potentially some examples, to provoke children’s interest and spark an idea.



This may be Christmas coloured paints and glitter for them to explore, green card and finger painting for trees or pieces of card that could create a snowman. Children can then be as creative as they wish with these resources, some may be inspired by examples you have provided and others may use their creativity to make something else, even adding in extra resources maybe.


There is learning to be had in this, whichever way the children go about it. Whether it be fine motor skills using some of the tools needed, problem solving to work out how to make a something like the examples or developing creativity by finding other resources and making their own creation. 

None of these examples are entirely child-led, they have all come from an adult led idea and set up – but, as long as we are providing a wide range of other opportunities for child led learning and creativity, then an adult led activity here and there can fit in really nicely.


I’ve also found that some children can find entirely open-ended creativity a little daunting, so providing some ideas and support may actually be how we support children’s individual needs and help them to engage in something they may otherwise have found tricky to know where to start.



But what if they don’t want to join in? Well, the simple answer is, they don’t have to! You might offer a little encouragement, make a suggestion of who they might want to make a card for, but ultimately, if they don’t want to, we’re not going to force them.

For children who don’t want to join in, I would often take a picture of them enjoying some other Christmassy play or even just in their usual play and pop it on a card for their grown-ups.
 
 

Of course, we all work really hard to put the child at the centre of everything we do and honestly, pre having my own children, I was a little more ‘militant’ in my belief that focussed, tick list Christmas crafts should be banned – then I became a parent, and the hypocrite in me surfaced that quite likes the card that comes home at certain points in the year (as long as I can see my child has had something to do with its creation other than just on handprint placed on!).


I think we have to acknowledge that we do what we do for children’s families too, to a lesser extent of course than the child, and I don’t think it causes any major harm to sometime do a small activity with the important grown ups in that child’s life in mind as well.

So, let’s try not fall out this Christmas about the sort of activities you’re doing in your setting for those little people – and maybe we can just meet somewhere in the middle whilst also agreeing that we’re all just doing our best to make Christmas special!

Creating a Child-Led, Play-Based Curriculum

By Mel Shepherd • March 4, 2025
Embedding your ethos into your curriculum.

Born to Play, Built to Learn

By Mel Shepherd • January 30, 2025
O. Fred Donaldson, Ph.D said that "Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn." This summarises the basis of play based learning and explains the key to why play is so integral to child centred learning within our Early Years settings. This blog will explore why play based learning is vital and some of the ways it benefits children in their holistic development. 

My Essential Early Years Book Shelf

By Mel Shepherd • November 21, 2024
I absolutely love children’s books – there are so many fantastic books out there and it can be hard to know where to start. I started this as a top ten, but it was too tricky to narrow it down, so here is my list of essential Early Years books to have in your setting. It certainly is not an exhaustive list, but it is one that is full of books to enjoy with children that hopefully you will love as much as they do!

What does 'Quality' Early Years provision look like?

By Mel Shepherd • November 21, 2024
So, you book me to come in and support you to improve the quality in your setting, but what does that look like? Does quality have to fit within a certain approach? Does it have to involve particular styles of resources? Do you need all your team to be trained to Level 6? The answer to all of these is ‘no’ but of course it’s more complicated than that, let’s try and unpack it. When we really break it down, at its core, quality Early Years provision is one that puts the child at the centre of everything it does and focusses on meeting each child’s individual needs. The Early Years landscape can be confusing and overwhelming right now with different approaches and schemes telling you they are the right way to ‘do’ Early Years. The reality is, you need to find what works for you and the children in your setting. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to Early Years! When I look at quality in a setting, there are a few key things that I am looking for: Sequential Learning - does learning flow through the rooms to support children’s development and support with transitions Adult interactions - are adults at the child’s level, engaging with them and learning alongside them Why this? Why now? - can Early Years Educators talk about the ‘why’ for what they are doing and why it is relevant for that child/group of children at that moment in time? Curriculum and ethos - what do you want for children when they leave your setting and how are you supporting them to get to this point? Team wellbeing and support - are staff happy and well supported at work, do they want to be there and have the training they need to be able to Leadership - are leadership confident and clear about what they are wanting to achieve as a setting? Do they model this for the rest of the team? Do they have a good knowledge of what is going on within the setting? Team training - are the team well trained? Do they understand what is expected of them and have the tools to achieve this? Safeguarding - do the team have a good understanding of how to keep children safe? All of this can be achieved with a range of approaches, resources and schemes and, in the most part, is focussed around the team and leadership in the setting all being on the same page and having the skills and tools they need to achieve the best for the children. I am a big advocate for In the Moment Planning and open ended resources, but this might not work for your cohort or for your team to meet the needs of your setting. That’s something that you can decide as a team who knows your children, families and community and what they need. When I come in to look at quality in your settings, what is important is for me to get to know you, your setting and understand the ‘why’ behind everything you do. This way, I can help to support you to develop the quality in your setting, whilst still keeping what makes you, you! If you think I can help, feel free to get in touch.

Teaching or Childcare - and do we have to choose?

November 19, 2024
This debate is something which feels like it’s raging in the Early Years world at the moment and there are two big areas of focus: 1 - To raise the profile of Early Years and its amazing, wonderful practitioners 2 - To help people (especially the powers that be) to understand the importance of play and how children learn through play. There is a lot more around this area but these are two topics which I think the majority of the Early Years community would agree are important right now for so many reasons - policy making, the staffing crisis and outcomes for children to name a few. So what is it that we do? It’s a complicated question, because if you list out the daily job role of an Early Years Practitioner it is endless. But the overarching question is, are we teachers or are we childcarers, and does it matter what our title is at the end of the day? Let’s take a look at some of the opinions people have about Early Years and how they could impact the sector. “You just play all day” We’ve all had this said to us about our jobs, haven’t we? And it’s very tempting to argue back that we don’t just play all day - but actually at its core, isn’t that what we’re doing? Shouldn’t we be responding with “yes, and it’s great, let me tell you about all the things we learnt while we played today!”? If we argue against this idea of ‘playing all day’ then are we risking reducing people’s understanding of the importance of play in the Early Years even more? “We’re teachers, we spend all day teaching” This is absolutely true as well - teaching and play aren’t mutually exclusive! In fact, I would go as far to argue, in the Early Years, you can’t have one without the other. Early Years practitioners are 100% teachers, and I strongly believe that they should be valued just as highly (if not more so) than any teachers throughout any of the rest of the education system. If we don’t get it right in the Early Years, then it can have a massive impact on children’s future journey through the education system, and the same can certainly be said for when we do get it right But there’s more to it than the typical ‘teaching’ role (or how that is perceived), we have to be careful not to lose the ‘care’ aspect of Early Years as well.