Five Minute Mum: Time For School: Easy, fun five-minute games to support Reception and Key Stage 1 children through their first years at school

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There will undoubtedly be moments of blissful family joy and moments where you check your calendar to see how many days until they are back in school but either way I hope these ideas mean at least there might be a few more of the joyful moments. Also featuring games suitable for big groups on holidays or at parties, this is endless fun for kids, and sanity saving for their grown ups! After years of working in sports broadcasting she quit her job to become a Teaching Assistant, which her colleagues at the time found baffling!

Unlike nursery staff, the ratio of adults to children in a school is often very different and they don’t have time to help every little person zip up their coat or put their trousers back on after PE. If you are after a sneak peak from my new book Time for School (out on 15th April 2021) then you’re in luck. He would have only turned 4 in the June and be into proper school just a few short months later - it felt like madness and I often lamented the loss of my baby. Now I’m a stay at home mum who enjoys thinking up silly games to occupy my two little nose miners on a daily basis.From topics such as how to encourage water safe play to how to make baking or crafting quick and easy (and slightly less messy! Once upon a time, Daisy Upton was a Teaching Assistant working in schools, where she drank hot cups of tea. Turn up to the school gates with snacks as they are always ravenous after a day at school, and a little boost goes a long way during those first few months when they come home utterly exhausted from all the information overwhelm and sensory overload. Our team is made up of book lovers who are dedicated to sourcing and providing the best books for kids. You could read it all at once or dip into it during the build up to this big new adventure - it’s entirely up to you and your little one!

It explains the broad basics of the curriculum in a really easy to understand way and cuts through all the jargon to tell you exactly what it is you need to actually know as a parent supporting your child at home. Explain anytime they are feeling worried, they can press their special love heart and it sends a magic cuddle to Mummy or Daddy and they can send one back. We attempted to try and make the reading a regular thing and between my husband and I we heaped on the praise and sat patiently as he sounded out the letters “c-a-t” and said the word “PARK”.

Galt Rainbow lab - this kit is fun to do anyway but the pipettes, tubes and little pots are brilliant for basic potion play afterwards using the food colouring. If you’d rather hear me chat through these ideas than read the article below then here is a video of me talking through all things starting school - WATCH HERE. All the games in my books are designed so that hopefully anyone can play them with just usual household stuff. Hand washing – here’s our hand washing song we sing which means they soap and scrub for long enough. Gellibaff - we had a lot of fun with this during an afternoon bath in lockdown, I’ve got some slimebaff to try too.

On this page you’ll find all the games and activities I’ve played with my children since they have started school. They go at snails pace because your kids are off school for a long block of time (lockdown flashbacks anyone?For some children being able to draw simply requires showing them how to hold a pencil (one block) but for others they need to be shown how to draw each shape individually with support (lots of blocks). I feel as I’ve been both on the school side and the parent side I have a helpful insight to support those that might feel overwhelmed by this big new adventure.

We do our best to provide good quality books for you to read, but there is no escaping the fact that it has been owned and read by someone else previously. The book band reminded the same, he still often sounded out ‘m-a-n’ and said “biscuit”, we still reached for the bottle of wine after ‘reading’ with him!Tell them what you enjoyed about school, as hearing you explaining that you went too and liked certain bit will help them to discuss things. Starting School gives you and your little one glimpses of all the learning they will do and all the fun they will have. with uniforms, meeting their first teacher, getting to school on the first day, making new friends, finding their way around, having fun at playtime, asking for help, packing their bag, learning about letters and numbers, going to assemblies, getting changed for PE, and much more. It’s really tempting when you see your child struggling to do something to just step in and do it for them.