Phonics Stars Beckenham

When you first enter a Phonics Stars™️ session, it appears to be a well-structured fun and active playgroup – with children and parents enjoying numerous group and individual activities; often with huge grins all round.

Some of the activities are quiet, measured and engaging, others are noisy, energetic and joyful.
However, all of them have one common denominator; they involve interactive and enjoyable play, which also teaching valuable life skills and preparing the children’s minds and bodies for preschool and school life.

We believe in promoting learning through play. For it really is the best way!

We’re thinking of all children, parents, carers and teachers as we head back to school life.

We send our love and luck to all as they venture off to school. Wishing everyone good health and happiness.

With love from all of us at Phonics Stars 💕✨

Being able to use scissors is an important skill for children to develop. Using scissors in many activities, including arts and crafts, gardening and problem solving.

Children may have the skills to use small scissors by 3 to 4 years of age, but
scissor skills are not always fully developed until around 6 years of age.

Before teaching your child to use scissors, encourage children to participate in some fun activities that will strengthen hand and finger muscles and improve bilateral coordination.

Fiskar scissors are useful for early learning cutting for they open and close easily and have a short, blunt tip for safety.
It’s important to find easy to use scissors to build skill and confidence, if the scissors children use do not cut well this may lead to frustration.

Scissor safety is critical and should always be emphasised at the
beginning of each cutting activity.

✂️ Avoid walking with scissors, but make sure you model the correct way to hold scissors when walking (blade down inside a fist of a hand)

✂️ Remember moving the paper and keeping the elbow and arm nice and still helps to learn good control.

✂️We keep in mind what we are cutting. Whether it’s paper, string, playdough or any thing else, we always check with our grownups what we can and can’t cut.

Above all stay safe and have fun!

Phonics Stars™️ would like to mark the sad passing of Jill Murphy by recognising the value of her wonderful work.

Murphy has created many stories that have helped children to understand the world around them as well as giving them the inspiration to become creative and independent learners.

Her legacy will be to have given generations of children from the past, present and future many hours of delight and precious happy memories reading.

Research had shown that reading with children contributes to the following:

📚 The ability to learn new words and understand the language they hear.

📚 Picture books are 2 – 3 times more likely to include a word that isn’t among the 5000 most common English words.

📚 It’s not just how often you read together but how you read together. Starting a conversation about the story, labelling objects or talking about characters feelings further helps to develop a child's vocabulary.

This in turn helps them to express
themselves at school, self- regulation and have fewer behavioural problems than peers without the same level of language skills.

These are but a few benefits or gifts that we can give our children by teaching them how to read.
What better way to do so than with a Jill Murphy story?

"The hour was late. Mr bear was tired, Mrs bear was tired and baby bear was tired so they all went to bed"

A classic and timeless child's book.. we hope you find Peace at last. Thank you and Goodnight Jill Murphy.

This is something to work on as early as possible, especially when you want to somewhat master our last ‘Top Tip - Getting out the door’.

Our children are used to us stepping in and doing things for them and let’s face it, we often do it because we are in a hurry to get on with the next thing in our busy schedules.

Taking the time to encourage your child to be independent in dressing and un******ng is a vital skill for them to master before going to school.

There are some simple tricks children can learn which help them to slip into their coat independently.

Tune in to tomorrow’s post for this 😊

Being able to ask for help is an essential skill for everyday life, but it may be a tricky concept for some young children as they often want to 'do it themselves' or are totally reliant on you helping them with absolutely everything!

Talking about the following questions might help them navigate how to ask for help appropriatly:

⭐️ What are somethings you can do without asking for help?

⭐️ What are some things you still need help with?

⭐️ How can you ask for help?

Having suggestions for answers of each of these could be useful. The last one would be great to model with your child or role play..... you be the child and let them be the teacher. 👩‍🏫

When our children go to school their name is on everything, from coats, shoes, water bottles, their tray and coat hook.

Children are busy at school and it’s really easy for them to pick up something with a SIMILAR name, maybe it starts with the same letter. Let’s be honest uniform does all looks the same!

Being able to recognise their own name can be done in a number of different ways, many you already have at home!

⭐️ name on their bedroom
⭐️ named cups and bottles
⭐️ books with their name in
⭐️ using magnetic letters on the fridge

It’s equally important that they begin to recognise what is NOT their name and why it’s not their name.

⭐️ sort post it notes with names beginning with the same letter
⭐️ ask questions - how do you know this is your name? Does it have all the same letters? Can you find the names that are not yours.

Another top tip to help your child be as independent as possible when they start school.

In the words of Albert Einstein “Play is the highest form of research”

At Phonics Stars™️, we believe in play. We provide opportunities for children to learn through play. Our activities can be adapted to simplify or extend learning and how children recreate or play with the toys and games can vary from each individual child.

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist and philosopher of science.

Even as a young boy, Einstein showed he had a great mind for maths and physics. Albert Einstein’s theories about light, matter, gravity, space and time are forever discoveries that have impacted so many.

Its interesting to learn that Einstein was slow to develop his speech, unable to speak until he was four years old. You can imagine the words used by his grandmother to describe Einstein, in the 1880s children were treated incredibly different to how they are now.
It’s also interesting to find out that apparently he was rather disorganised, often forgetting appointments, socks, brushing his hair etc.

Einstein articulated the principle of relativity and attempted to disprove quantum theory until he died in 1955 at the age of 76.

So from a child who was a late speaker, a person who may have found being organised a challenge, he was actually a world genius.

Children continue to amaze, their curiosity, their minds and how they play is fascinating.

Let children play, for play is the highest form of research.

It’s the start of the summer holidays! Which means we may well be visiting our parks more than usual. 🌳☀️🌻🌱

So let’s spend a moment to share our favourite parks and natural spaces, to appreciate and be grateful that we are able to gain access to the places that have brought so much happiness to our children, our families and families before us. 🐿

Read the following from keepbritaintidy.org

🌳Love Parks Week 2021 - 23 July - 1 August 2021🚲🛴⛲️

This year, our parks and green spaces have been a vital lifeline to many of us during the lockdowns.

Around 9 in 10 people surveyed by Natural England in May 2020 agreed that natural spaces are good for mental health and wellbeing. 💞

And yet, our green spaces have been under immense pressure, with local authorities telling us they collected, on average, an extra 57 tonnes of litter during the first lockdown alone.

As we head into summer, our annual Love Parks Week provides a moment to send a rallying cry; to Love, Respect, and Protect our parks throughout the summer of 2021 and beyond.

We love working closely with local preschool and nursery settings, children’s centres and holding classes for children and their parents/carers within community spaces.

Read on to find out what Preschool and Nurseries have to say about their experience of working with Phonics Stars.

Phonics is more than letters! We believe passionately about children learning through play, movement, dance and creativity. Building muscle, developing listening skills and confidence.

Find out more, send an enquiry to [email protected] or call 07852278956

Goodbye Half Term, and Hello Phonics Stars™️ Children and Families!

🌟 Welcome back 🌟

We hope you enjoyed your half term?

We’re so happy to be back to play with you all again this last term before the new academic year starts in September!

See you soon. Keep shining because you are all amazing 💕🌟