My First Term as a Little Learners Franchisee

Wow, my first term as a Little Learners franchisee has finished already – and what a whirlwind it has been! I’ve had a regular 26 children coming to my three sessions in the Colchester area, with a few more that have joined in with a trial session.

What have I learned at Little Learners?

Not all children will throw themselves into messy play – and that’s ok! The mixed age groups have been perfect for this as the younger children often look to the older ones to learn what to do with the tools….and the younger children tend to go straight in with their hands (and mouths!) whereas the older children will sometimes hang back if they are unsure of a texture. Over time, all of the children have learned to explore freely, which is EXACTLY the mission of Little Learners.

It is scary singing in front of adults! But the children don’t mind if my singing is pitchy, out of time or anything else as long as I’m enthusiastic. They join in and one grandparent told me that her little one described me as “the singing lady” so I must be getting on ok!

Red is not a good colour for spaghetti – it looked far too much like worms. I will be sticking to a safe blue or green spaghetti mountain I think.

What have the children learned?

That mark-making can be fun! We have explored straight lines, curves, zig zags and circles in a range of ways with many of them replicating the opening session movements through their play (without even realising).

They have learned how to share – tools, toys and space. Our classes aren’t packed full of children so there is always space to access activities that they want to try but the social skills that we need to learn in life are able to be practised during our sessions.

The children have learned about letters, numbers, shape, size and position through chatting with their grown-ups and the people around them.

What have parents learned?

You are going to get JUST as messy as the children! My Kelvedon session usually starts with the parents taking their shoes off so they can get stuck right in.

That messy play can be recreated at home with the simplest of ingredients – cloud dough made of cornflour and hair conditioner was a popular one and crazy soap also went down well this month.

Variety is the spice of life – no week is ever the same as the next – not only do our characters and marks change, but also the provision I offer. I’ve used cereals, mash, spaghetti hoops, sand, glitter, sweetcorn and all sorts of other materials.

What a term here at Little Learners! Thank you to ALL those that have joined us and I look forward to seeing you again in the future along with some new faces – I’m looking forward to delivering more messy fun to you all during October, November and December.

If you want to see what we have been getting up to, check us out on Facebook and Instagram by clicking the images below.

See you in class soon!

Anita – Little Learners South Colchester