Special Announcement

Before I begin, I’m very proud to announce that I am an official speaker at the Childcare Expo in the Midlands on the 27th of September 2019 at 12.30pm.

Please do come and join my workshop to get a real hands on experience of More to Books.

https://www.childcareexpo.co.uk/midlands/workshops-midlands/

And now for the blog…

I’m not an advocate for screen time. I think it should be limited.

But I’m also a 24/4 nanny, who knows that children need down time as much as nannies or parents do.

Here are five tv programmes that can be useful in those times that you need to cook or do jobs, and of course, books to go with them, because after all, there’s more to books than reading.

Maths

Odd Squad is an American TV show where a group of children run a department investigating all things “odd”

I particularly love the episode where someone steals a cake and they have to work out the shapes.

I usually get drawn in to the excitement as much as the children and there are many a joke that I also appreciated. The episodes tackle lots of mathematical problems.

History

Horrible Histories (photo credit: IMDb.com)

Eagerly awaiting the Horrible History film on Romans as I mentioned in my last blog, but I’ve watched this with Nanny children whose children are as young as three. The magazine style to this programme means the little short songs and sketches are interesting for all ages AND the amount they discuss poo will get any child giggling.

Geography/Science

Andy’s Wild Adventures (Photo credit: cbbc.co.uk)

To take your child around the world without leaving the television are these short but sweet fact files on habitats, eating habits and offspring.

Not only could this be under history as well, these small delicious programmes are exciting and packed full of facts. Awesome for if your little one is obsessed with dinosaurs too. I once took a nanny child to the Natural History Museum just to look for Andy’s clock but sadly it isn’t there. I’d totally commission one if I worked there.

Check out https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/andys-dinosaur-adventures for episodes and fun games.

Charlie and Lola

Encourage your child to look at the book while they watch the programme and they can match some of the speech up to what Charlie or Lola are saying. Although these are fiction unlike the 4 programmes above, they follow every day topics that support daily routine and life.

Head here for some episodes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d6l9l/episodes/guide

More to books…

Literally, going to the library or book shop and finding books on maths, science, geography, history and daily routine will enhance their learning through watching these programmes and reading around the topics.

For maths books, Activity books that are interactive, you can get ones that come with a wipeable pen so children can re do maths sums/word problems. Above is an example of a times tables wipeable book.

For history books, as well as reading the Horrible History books, for older children, choose a period in time of the history you watched and get age appropriate books to enhance their learning.

For geography books, after watching the Animal programme, read books about the country that the animal is from.

For science, read books about the animal that is in that programme. These can be fiction or non- fiction.

For Charlie and Lola, get Charlie and Lola books!!!

What educational programmes do your little ones love to watch? Send me a photo!

Let me know if you’re coming to the ChildCare Expo in the Ricoh Centre on the 27th of September.

I hope to see you there.

Love Kat x