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A very warm welcome to our latest edition of Parent Chat. We are pleased to offer you and your family a variety of helpful, practical information and ideas and are delighted to bring you the latest Scottish Government childcare news from Natalie Don MSP, the Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise*.
We have some ideas of exciting, creative activities for your child to experience, featuring the benefits of transient art, messy play, and loose parts play, and our Top Tips for Parents and Carers covers the topic of storytelling.
On the food front we have a delicious, filling, sausage and tomato pasta recipe that you can cook together and enjoy, and Vicki Rae of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, recommends some healthy snack ideas for children who have allergies.
In ‘Caring for children who are born premature’, Dr Una
and also healthcare, education and social care professionals. We bring you up to date with our Planet Pledge and hear what it has meant to one childminder. Your child’s setting might perhaps be interested in signing our Pledge to the Planet.
To conclude, we have our two book reviews. The first has been written by Yasmin Hackett, who is the Early Years Digital Content Coordinator at Scottish Book Trust. Yasmin writes about The Duck Never Blinks, whilst in the second, Gillian Paterson, Early Years Scotland Early Years Practitioner, describes her daughter Isla’s current favourite bedtime story book Mummy Loves Me.
Best wishes
MacFadyen highlights an important guideline which aims to support children and young people born preterm and their parents and carers,
Early Years Scotland would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere thanks to our Editor Gwen Garner, for all her hard work and dedication to the organisation over the past 26 years.
Gwen will be very much missed at Early Years Scotland, and we thank her for her commitment to both the organisation and to the production of our high quality magazines over her many years as Editor. It has been a pleasure working alongside Gwen and everyone at Early Years Scotland wishes her all the very best for the future.
Jane Brumpton, Chief Executive Early Years Scotland*To find out about the Promise visit: https://thepromise.scot/
Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise, Natalie Don MSP, brings you an update on childcare from the Scottish Government.
I took up the post of Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise in March 2023 and it is a post I feel truly honoured to hold. On a personal note, as a parent of two young children, 4 and 2, who both attend a private nursery, I understand the amazing work that our childcare staff carry out every single day, and the difference this makes to family life.
We already have a generous childcare offer in Scotland, and it is one I am proud of, making a difference to over 97,000 children right across Scotland. Our current funded early learning and childcare (ELC) offer supports children and families, and helps in our national mission to tackle child poverty. All three and four year olds are eligible for 1140 hours of funded, high quality ELC, regardless of whether their parents work or not – putting children first. The offer of 1140 hours is also available to around a quarter of families with a two year old who experience the most disadvantage. We now have over two years of successful uptake of the 1140 offer and are seeing high levels of parental satisfaction.
We are also committed to expanding funded childcare, to help tackle child poverty. In our Programme for Government (September 2023), we set out a package of proposals to expand access to childcare for low-income families and move us towards a more accessible and affordable system of childcare in Scotland longer-term. I am absolutely committed that we take the time needed to make sure this expansion really meets the needs of children, including younger children, and their parents and carers. I look forward to providing updates on our childcare expansion work in future issues of this magazine.
I visited one of the excellent 2 Stay Play and Learn sessions, and got to meet some very special little ones and their grown-ups and saw what a difference it makes to the families
Finally, one of the best parts of my role as Minister is to see first-hand the amazing work done by the childcare sector in Scotland. I have had the pleasure of visiting many fantastic settings across Scotland and I am thankful to all of the little ones and the members of staff for making me feel so welcome. I visited one of the excellent ‘2 Stay Play and Learn’ sessions at Bridgeton Community Learning Campus in the east end of Glasgow last year and it was a wonderful example of a safe, welcoming space for local families to gather with their
children to play, learn and chat. I got to meet some very special little ones and their grown-ups and saw what a difference it makes to the families who come along both to have that time with their children but also to make connections with other parents. It is a great example of giving families what they need and want in a place they feel happy to come along to.
If you want to find out more about accessing childcare in Scotland, the Parent Club website at www. parentclub.scot is full of useful information, links and resources.
Lorna Kettles, Early Years Scotland’s Policy and Engagement Manager, brings you up to date with our Planet Pledge.
At the 2022 Early Years Scotland annual conference, attendees were asked ‘What one thing has had the most positive effect in supporting your children, families and setting to become more sustainable to support the fight against climate change?’
Responses to this question formed the basis of the Early Years Scotland Planet Pledge, which was created and developed in collaboration with our staff and a sub-group of the Board. As well as the findings from the conference, the initial pledge paper demonstrated what Early Years Scotland had been doing as an organisation to support the fight against climate change and demonstrate positive action towards sustainability. As part of this process, we were able to distil all of the information received into four key areas of focus for the pledge, which can be found at earlyyearsscotland.org/about-us/earlyyears-scotland-planet-pledge
The pledge was launched to coincide with World Environment Day on the 5th June. Early Years Scotland filmed a video in the Riverside Community Garden, attached to the Riverside Community Hall in Govan, where at the time we ran one of our Stay Play and Learn sessions. As well as outlining the rationale behind and
Childminder, Fiona Duncan-Kerr, describes the changes she has made since signing the Planet Pledge.
purpose of the pledge, we took some beautiful shots of the children in the garden, where they were able to smell and touch the plants and even found a ladybird!
The campaign supporting the pledge has been very well received - we have over 150 settings signed up and counting. As part of ongoing engagement, we have reached out to those who have signed up to the pledge to find out what they’ve been doing within their settings. These will also be shared on our website as part of a suite of peer learning, best practice resources. This is currently being worked on, with the aim to create a library of information which can be used by settings across Scotland to tackle the climate emergency.
I signed us up for the Early Years Scotland Planet Pledge to give us a visual (certificate) reminder in the setting and something to evidence our ongoing commitment to the environment for when the Care Inspectorate visit.
Our adventures away from home provide the perfect opportunity to explore different environments but also to do ‘forest shopping’ for our nature table and growing loose parts collection. We have gained a solid understanding of nature in our local community and actively seek opportunities to help care for it. We also appreciate the benefits of being outdoors for our physical and mental health. Our craft activities have drastically also changed - no more spending money on prescribed crafts and much more use of natural items and saving items from the recycling bin.
We have reduced our impact on the wider environment by making better choices such as washable cloth baby wipes, rechargeable batteries, reducing how much plastic we buy, and using less paper. Not only do we have a more environmentally sustainable service but a more cost effective business model too.
Educational Psychologists Sophie Harker and Danielle McShane, write about infant mental health.
Mental health and wellbeing are important at every stage of life, including in the early years. When we talk about infant mental health, we are referring to a child’s capacity in their first five years of life to form close relationships, recognise and express emotions and explore and learn about their environment.
Within these first five years of life, the journey towards positive infant mental health involves developing close and secure relationships with adults and other children. Through these loving and nurturing relationships, children learn to experience, manage and express a full range of emotions. Children have
the opportunity to form relationships and develop these skills in every area of their life including with their family, their community and in their early years establishment. Having positive experiences during a child’s early years can lead to positive mental health, which in turn can lead to healthy social and emotional development.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 10 children in Scotland were reported to experience poor mental health (Green et al, 2004). More recent figures suggest this increased to 1 in
6 since the pandemic (NHS, 2020). By prioritising and protecting infant mental health, we can set children on a positive developmental path, with the tools and skills needed to fulfil their potential. Whilst children’s futures are not determined by the age of five, research tells us that positive early experiences are linked to later life outcomes such as:
• peer relationships
• academic success
• wellbeing
• financial stability
• general health
We have an important role as adults to support infant mental health and wellbeing and many things you may do already can help - you don’t need experts. Here are some ideas to support you.
Forming close, loving attachments with children can support them to feel safe, learn and explore the world around them. You can form secure attachments with children by:
• talking to them using a warm and friendly tone.
• keeping children physically close e.g. skin-to-skin contact with babies and cuddles.
• responding to their cries and reassuring them.
• getting down to the child’s level when communicating with them.
• modelling how to deal with tricky situations e.g. sharing and waiting their turn.
reading a book or going for a walk together.
• commenting on what you think they might be feeling and why e.g. ‘I can see that you are sad that Jack has your toy, waiting is very hard’.
• modelling how to deal with these emotions in healthy ways e.g. ‘It is okay to be angry but it is not okay to hit others’.
• creating opportunities for children to experience and celebrate the ‘small wins’ e.g. praising them for good manners, giving them a sticker for tidying away their toys or taking a picture for their memory book when they try something new.
You can support children to explore their environment and learn by:
• creating a home environment which feels safe, with clear, consistent boundaries and routines at home.
• engaging your child in developmentally appropriate activities (www.bbc.co.uk/tinyhappy-people/activities/zjh8hbk has lots of fantastic examples for activities).
parent! The more consistent you are the better, as this allows your child to learn routines, feel safe and trust that you will always be there to love and comfort them.
Parenting is very rewarding and can also be challenging. If you are struggling with your own wellbeing, or you have concerns about the wellbeing of your child, you can reach out to your child’s early years establishment or health visitor. They may be able to offer some advice and signpost you to community or parentbased supports near you. We have listed some resources below which you might find useful.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Kids Independently Developing Skills: www.nhsggc.org.uk/kids
Children First Parent Line
www.children1st.org.uk/help-forfamilies/parentline-scotland
Autism Toolbox
www.autismtoolbox.co.uk
The Parent Club- Wellbeing for Wee Ones
www.parentclub.scot/topics/health/ wellbeing
BBC Tiny Happy People
www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/ activities/zjh8hbk
ingredients - and perhaps even the taste of them? Do they enjoy painting, cutting and sticking with no thought about any mess they might be causing?
variety of pens, pencils, felt tips, crayons, chalks etc. that allow them to use their imagination. Children should enjoy the process without the need to create an end product.
All of these are examples of messy play and this kind of play is important for your child’s development. It involves all their senses and supports their progress in many different ways. Messy play is good for your child because it...
9 helps to develop co-ordination - hand to eye, balance and body control - as they work with different materials and objects.
9 develops important social skills such as sharing, turn-taking and cooperation.
provides opportunities for literacy and numeracy development. Making playdough with you, for example, gives your child the opportunity to count and measure.
Exploring messy resources presents lots of possibilities for descriptive talk and developing vocabulary as well as problem solving and planning. Encourage your child to describe how something feels, what they are doing and what they plan to do.
Moon sand is inexpensive to make and is a great alternative to sand. It can be made and added to an outside sand tray or simply put in a basin or any medium sized container. Alternatively on a rainy day why not make moon sand and play with it inside?
Moon sand is very crumbly and can simply be moulded by pressing it together, and there is no need to buy buckets or equipment as clean containers such as yogurt pots, margarine tubs, cupcake
pat and make patterns in the moon sand. Once the great creations have taken place simply crumble it up and start all over again.
Moon sand recipe
8 cups all-purpose flour (no need to buy expensive flour)
1 cup of baby oil
Put in a large basin, container or sand tray
To make your moon sand more exciting you could add scented powder products or coloured powder paint before you start mixing the moon sand; glitter or sequins can also be added for that extra sparkle.
Other items to add to the moon
MOrE MESSy PLAy OVEr PAGE
Provide a table or large tray, a plastic bin liner or shower curtain and ready-mixed paint.
Cover the table or tray with the bin liner and then put splodges of paint onto it. Encourage your child to mix up the paint and make designs with their hands and fingers. Try writing their name or drawing a simple face for them to copy. You could also use some toy vehicles to create patterns and trails or use household objects to print patterns.
This is great fun in itself but if you want a picture to keep of the finished design, then lay a piece of paper on top of it, press down lightly and peel it off again to create a print.
Encourage your child to use their hands to explore the gloop’s texture in the bowl, as your child explores it, you should be enjoying it too. You’ll find that as you squeeze the gloop or apply pressure, it will feel like a solid, and as you relax your hands, the gloop will run back into the bowl as a liquid.
Talk to your child about the texture and how it feels whilst both of you are exploring it. For example, you could say, ‘When we squeeze it, it gets hard, but look as we open our hands the gloop is soft and runny again. Isn’t that funny?’
Gloop is a little messy, but it is definitely worth making and enjoying with your child. Don’t worry it’s very easy to clean up afterwards.
400g pasta (any kind)
Method
1. Cut the sausages into chunks and fry in a little oil until golden all over.
2. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft.
3. Pour in the can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Tip the drained can of sweetcorn in for the last 2 minutes.
It can be spiced up a little for the adults by adding 1-2 teaspoons of chilli powder at the same time as the tomatoes.
5. Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and drain.
6. Mix the pasta into the sausage and tomato sauce and serve.
7. Nice with garlic or crusty bread.
It can be spiced up a little for the adults by adding 1-2 teaspoons of chilli powder at the same time as the tomatoes.
• For free milk, fruit and vegetables for family visit www.mygov.scot/best-startgrant-best-start-foods
• To find your local food bank visit: www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-afoodbank/
Dr Una MacFadyen, retired Consultant Paediatrician and member of Children’s Health Scotland, highlights an important guideline which aims to support children and young people born preterm and their parents and carers, and healthcare, education and social care professionals.
In most nursery classes of twenty or more there are likely to be two or three children who were born premature. This means that they were born two weeks or more before their due date. A few of these children will have been born up to 15 weeks before term and may have health problems or significant developmental delay that is identified in their records and likely to lead to an assessment of needs and a plan for any additional support for their education. However, more are ‘Moderate and Late Preterm Infants’ with no obvious health problems and no identified developmental problems, but they may benefit from recognition of the potential benefit for
education professionals being alert to the challenges that any preterm birth can pose.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on ‘Developmental follow-up of children and young people born premature’ published in 2017, confirms that premature birth can impact on brain development in ways that may become apparent only in the long term, particularly in relation to specific sensory processing difficulties that can present as learning difficulties including dyscalculia, as well as dyslexia, or affect the pattern of emotional intelligence, maturity and forming relationships.
Every child is different, and many children born preterm do not differ from their peers in health, growth or development, but for some it may help to keep their early birth in mind when they seem to struggle with what is expected of them. Being born early may put their birthday into the ‘year ahead’ for nursery and school entry resulting in their classmates being almost a year older, physically bigger and
developmentally more mature. In addition, the expremature child may find multiple sensory inputs overwhelming. This can show itself as apparent extreme shyness, ‘over-reaction’ to busy, noisy or fast -moving situations (like the average nursery class). It is not always routine for information about children’s birth to be recorded but it can be very helpful to both parents and childcare professionals to have an understanding of its relevance. Often parents will be aware that this child is different from their other children in how they cope with new and exciting experiences, but they may find it hard to describe what they observe and so considering deferred school entry may not be explored or accepted as appropriate.
In paediatrics we have learnt that premature infants’ brain development is influenced by their early sensory input, and we practise ‘developmental care’ to try to optimise the creation of normal neural pathways and to minimise adverse or traumatic early experiences.
We encourage effective positioning, limiting bright light exposure and noise levels and encouraging skin to skin ‘kangaroo care’ by parents to give positive touch, smell, sight, sound and limb and joint position (proprioception) input. Parents are encouraged to be as involved as they want and feel able through an approach called Family Integrated Care (FiC) that aims to include them as key members of the team around their baby. With the knowledge and skills that parents share with the neonatal professionals they build their confidence as experts in interpreting their baby’s behavioural cues and taking appropriate action or seeking help effectively. This confidence prepares the family with ‘health literacy’ when communicating with health professionals that can enhance the communication when working with their GIRFEC contacts and Team around the Child*.
For some, but not all, young children who were born early, we may now be seeing the need for ‘less is more’ for stimulation and paced learning with quiet time-out options and more individualised learning plans to help this growing group of learners have the best childhood and future possible. As research progresses there are evidence based resources for education services that relate to different ages and stages now up to senior school but as always, the early years inputs build the foundation on which later health, learning, development, and wellbeing can grow.
*Team Around the Child is a network of practitioners who work together to agree a plan and delivery of support to meet a child or young person’s assessed needs. They work directly with the family or young person.
• To read the NICE guideline – Developmental follow-up of children and young people born preterm visit: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng72
• Visit: www.childrenshealthscotland.org
• Education resources – PRISM: www.nottingham. ac.uk/helm/dev/prism/index.html
• Fathers Network: www.fathersnetwork.org.uk/
• GIRFEC: www.gov.scot/publications/getting-rightchild-girfec-policy-statement/pages/1/
• Family Integrated Care: https:// familyintegratedcare.com/
Vicki Rae of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation recommends some healthy snack ideas.
When it comes to nourishing children, it’s essential to prioritise their health and well-being. For children with allergies, providing snacks that are both nutritious and safe becomes a crucial consideration. By tailoring snacks to their specific allergies and avoiding potential triggers, we can ensure every child can enjoy
delicious and healthy treats. As each child’s allergies are unique, it’s crucial to take their specific dietary restrictions into account. Some common allergens include peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, wheat, soy, and seafood. This article provides some snack ideas that are suitable for those with common allergies.
Fresh fruits
You can create colourful fruit kebabs using allergen-free fruits such as grapes, melon chunks,
pineapple, and strawberries. These refreshing treats are not only visually appealing but also packed with essential vitamins and minerals. Fresh fruits are typically safe options for children with allergies. However, it’s essential to be aware of any specific fruit allergies that a child may have.
Vegetable sticks with dip
Carrot sticks, cucumber slices, and bell pepper strips paired with allergy-friendly dips like hummus,
By tailoring snacks to their specific allergies and avoiding potential triggers, we can ensure every child can enjoy delicious and healthy treats
VegETABLE StICkS WITH
FreSh
VegGiE
Transient art is known as moveable art. It is a collection of materials that children create a picture from and there is no permanent end product. Children will often spend a considerable amount of time moving materials here and there to create a picture. Transient art can be done indoors as well as outdoors.
Transient art offers your child the ability to create and explore materials and it can help develop their creativity as well as their imagination skills. With the materials being moveable, it allows children to think of ideas and change them when needed.
Start by collecting objects from your back garden, local park or a nearby forest or the beach. Have a look around and begin to collect any sticks, pine cones, pebbles, shells, leaves
and much more and put everything in a bag to take home. Once home, separate each object and material and have a little discussion about what has been found.
Take a square piece of paper or whatever shape you like and let your child use their imagination and create something artistic; it could be a pattern, shape or even a boat or face and then if they wish, take it apart and make a new picture. You also don’t need to use a piece of paper or take the materials home, just find a flat area on the ground and create the picture there. Why not take a photo of each picture and share your child’s artwork with other family members or friends?
The best thing about Transient Art is that your child can develop a picture
over and over again, creating different variations and sequences without any mess.
Describe what they have put together
Talk about the objects and materials used, for example the texture - is it smooth or rough? The length of the items - is it long or short? The shape of the items - is it big or small, oval or square?
Some examples of what you might want to start collecting
Leaves • Feathers • Pebbles • Small coloured gems • Sticks • Cotton reels • Wooden blocks • Pine cones • Beads • Pieces of string/wool • Pieces of pasta
While you are collecting items for transient art, you could start collecting loose parts! In early childhood, loose parts mean interesting objects and materials that can be moved and manipulated with their play. Loose parts can be collected around the house, out and about or you can buy materials and objects.
At home, loose parts could be:
Cushions • A picnic rug • Tarpaulin • An old sheet • Bottle tops • Empty washing up liquid bottles • Egg cartons • Yogurt pots Margarine tubs • Pots and pans • Buttons • Ribbon • String • Pieces of material • A selection of sizes of cardboard boxes • Bubble wrap • Clothes pegs • Toilet roll tubes.
Basically, anything that would go in your recycling bin!
You could take your child on a walk to collect some loose parts, and then they can combine the natural loose parts with the man-made loose parts to enrich their play experience. A beach, local park or woodland would have lots of opportunity for loose parts.
You could collect:
Pine cones • Shells • Twigs • Leaves Grass • Moss • Feathers • Bark • Stones
Anything your child finds interesting!
Other things you can use for loose parts play are log slices, old tyres, rope, cable drums and other similar items but these would require sourcing or purchasing.
Gather some of these items and you will find that your child will make up their own mind about how they will be used. They may like counting them, sorting them, or building with them. They can pull them apart, explore the shapes and textures, and line
them up. The great thing about loose parts is that children can use their imagination. It is important to let your child take the lead. Loose parts play is a social activity, so children could be encouraged to talk about what they’re doing with the materials. They will be developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Loose parts play also encourages problem solving, creativity, concentration and planning.
Did you enjoy listening to stories when you were a child? Do you enjoy reading stories? Do you like to share stories with your child?
Storytelling and stories children hear help them to understand the world in which we live. Reading and listening to stories helps children to understand different cultures and people and share different experiences. Children who have stories read to them regularly also have a better understanding of how to deal with people and different situations which they may encounter.
Storytelling has many benefits for young children. It helps children to get to know different sounds, words and language and helps with their communication skills.
Storytelling and stories children hear help them to understand the world in which we live
Listening is also an important part of storytelling. As they hear new words, they will begin to recognise sounds. Imagination and curiosity are also developed as well as social skills. Children begin to understand the value of books and they will enjoy listening to familiar stories over and over again.
When reading stories to your child it is important to ask questions. This can help to extend your child’s vocabulary and understanding of the story. As children grow and develop, they will begin to ask their own questions about the story. This is natural and enables them to think about and gain an understanding of the sequence and characters in the story.
Sharing stories with your child is a special time but remember you don’t always need to use a book to tell stories. People were telling stories before books were invented. Making up stories with your child can be fun and exciting for you both.
Have fun exploring a range of different types of books with your child such as:
¾ Repetitive books. The Gruffalo and Hairy Maclary books are good examples of these. Children love joining in the repetitions.
¾ Rhyming books. Children can often guess what the last word will be because of the rhyme.’ Brown Bear Brown Bear’ and ‘Chocolate Moose for Greedy Goose’ are two examples.
¾ Picture books. These are ideal for very young children. They can often ‘read’ the story themselves just by following the pictures.
¾ Pop-up books and books with moving parts. These are fun and help hold your child’s interest in the story.
¾ Tactile or sound books. They may have different surfaces for your child to touch as you read such as the fur on an animal or a squeaker to make its sound.
¾ Fiction or Fact? We tend to think stories have to be fiction – invented tales, but often real life stories can be just as exciting.
¾ Traditional tales such as Snow White, Cinderella or The Three Little Pigs.
¾ Audio books on a phone, tablet or CD. These are especially good when travelling and you can listen to the stories together. You can find children’s stories on YouTube and some are free.
¾ Kindle books. These don’t have the lovely feel that a real book has but are a good way of storing lots of stories in one place and children nowadays tend to be very comfortable using electronic gadgets.
Indoors
Find a comfortable cosy place to snuggle up with your child for story time. It might be on a bean bag, the couch or when they go to bed at night. Make sure there are no other distractions by switching off the TV or radio.
Out and about
If you are lucky enough to have access to woodland, a beach or park then you can use those exciting locations to invent stories together with your child such as Who lives in this wood? Are they friendly? Or perhaps a pirate story at the seaside? Children have much better
¾ Try to lose your inhibitions and be as dramatic as possible when reading stories. Change your voice with each character. Raise and lower your voice to create suspense and anticipation.
¾ If reading to more than one child at a time remember to look up from the book and have good eye contact with them. Your facial expression can enhance the story too.
¾ Focus your child on the illustrations by asking questions about what they see or by pointing out something in the picture. Try asking what they think will happen next before you turn the page.
¾ Puppets can help your child engage and really focus on a story. You can make simple ones yourself with wooden spoons or paper bags.
You and your child can invent stories when you’re outside
imaginations than us so just start them off and see where it takes you. You can do this on journeys too by spotting things out of the car, bus or train window and then making up stories together about them.
¾ Dressing up items allow your child to become one of the characters in the story. • You can create a story sack for a particular story by collecting objects, props or dressing up items and putting them in an old pillowcase ready for storytelling.
¾ Sound effects help make a great story. Use objects found around the house such as yoghurt cartons, pot lids and wooden spoons to create appropriate sounds. Your child then needs to concentrate on the story in order to come in with the sound effect at the right moment.
If your child just wants to re-read their favourite book over and over again, this is a natural part of development. Having a favourite book at an early age is linked to success in learning to read.
* This information comes from one of the series of Early Years Scotland’s Top Tips for Parents/ Carers which cover a wide range of topics play and learning, child development, numeracy, literacy and much more. and are available exclusively for members to download free of charge from the ‘MY EYS’ area of our website at www.earlyyearsscotland. org.
We all need to blink every now and then – that is, except for one duck in particular. In The Duck Never Blinks, a faceless narrator is slowly driven to madness by a duck that never, ever blinks. No matter what the narrator does or says, this dastardly duck refuses to close its eyes, not even once.
The comic panel-style of this picture book only adds to the humour as each illustration features the duck resolutely staring back at you, surely leaving little ones with a sense of anticipation and hilarity that only heightens throughout the story.
I love the stripped back and slightly surreal concept behind this picture book, as it offers plenty of opportunity for playful readings that are enjoyable to both the caregiver and the child. See if you can spot any change in the duck’s expression
Yasmin Hackett, Early Years Digital Content Co-ordinator at Scottish Book Trust, writes about a hilarious picture book, The Duck Never Blinks, by Alex Latimer. Yasmin recommends this book for children aged 3-5 years old.
from one illustration to the next –and naturally, challenge your little one to a staring contest afterwards!
This book is published by Andersen Press. To find more fantastic books for children on their website visit https://www.andersenpress.co.uk/
Alex Latimer is an award-winning writer and illustrator. Find out more on his website, visit https:// alexlatimer.co.za/
Visit www.scottishbooktrust.com Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years programme Bookbug provides free Bookbug Sessions and free bags of books to every child in Scotland. If you have any questions about books or reading, why not get in touch with the Bookbug Detective who’ll be happy to help: bookbug@ scottishbooktrust.com.
Gillian Paterson, Early Years Scotland Early Years Practitioner, shares her experience of reading with her daughter Isla.
As an early years practitioner, I know the importance of reading to your child. It has many different benefits such as developing their speech and language, encouraging imagination through reading, as well as creating a stronger bond between you. At the end of a busy day of work, nursery and cleaning, along with all the other Mum duties, there is nothing better than settling down after bathtime with a cosy cuddle and a favourite book with my daughter Isla. Isla loves to come out of the bath, get her jammies on, brush her teeth, and then snuggle into her bed with a book. Isla enjoys picking a different book each night. The favourite story we have just now is ‘Mummy Loves Me’ written by Georgina Wren. Isla enjoys this book so much, but if it’s
Daddy’s turn to read her a story she asks him for ‘Daddy Loves Me’ written by Georgina Wren.
When we are about to start the story, I will ask her ‘Are you comfy?’. I then read the story to her using different tones for various parts and characters. Isla also likes to join in and ask lots of questions, ‘What are they doing?’ ‘Can we do this?’. This is great for Isla’s language development. As we go through our story Isla likes to stop and talk about something that we have done before. For example, the part in the story where they are in the pool Isla will talk about a time we have been swimming and then asks, ‘Can we go swimming?’. This is her remembering things we have done in the past and associating what’s happening in the book with her own life experiences. We continue with our story which could be a ten minute story book, but this usually takes us a lot longer as we enjoy
talking about the different pictures and experiences within it.
It’s great to spend some quality time with your child after a busy day. Cuddling up and enjoying a story is also a good way for my daughter to tell me things about her day, as she is settled, relaxed, and wanting to chat after her book, about her day. It’s also good for you as a parent to share your day with them.
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W e ' r e h e r e t o l e n d a c o n f i d e n t i a l l i s t e n i n g e a r a n d o f f e r h i n t s , t i p s a n d a d v i c e . Y o u c h o o s e h o w i n v o l v e d y o u ’ d l i k e t o b e . F i n d i n f o r m a t i o n , c l a i m f r e e b i e s , g e t o n e t o o n e s u p p o r t , c o n n e c t w i t h o t h e r s o r j o i n o u r p e e r m e n t o r i n g s c h e m e a s a m e n t e e o r a p e e r m e n t o r .
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L e d b y t h e W h y N o t ? T r u s t i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h p a r e n t s w i t h c a r e e x p e r i e n c e , s u p p o r t e d b y E a r l y Y e a r s S c o t l a n d a n d S c o t t i s h A t t a c h m e n t i n A c t i o n .
