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Young children love to move and soon after taking their first steps they often seem determined to unsteady themselves again. Children seek out opportunities to make themselves dizzy by spinning or tipping upside down, or to challenge their balance with swinging or rocking. 

I am a huge fan of balance bikes. I discovered them for my own children, 12 years ago. I had a 4-year- old that was struggling to learn to ride a bike and I hadn’t considered two wheels for my 18-month-old. 

Oh, there is so much fun to be had when singing nursery rhymes with young children! Some children love nothing more than to move around and have a feeling of freedom and energy. Many nursery rhymes are active and naturally promote the physical instinct of getting up and moving to the words. There is a natural beat and rhythm in nursery rhymes, offering the youngest of children the opportunity to join in by wriggling, bouncing, smiling and giggling.

You might have heard people talking about heuristic play or have seen adverts for various different treasure baskets and wondered what exactly these people were talking about. In this blog, we will explore some of the ideas that underpin treasure baskets and heuristic play, and offer some suggestions about how you could use some of these ideas at home.  

There is nothing quite like being in the fresh air. There are so many proven benefits to being outdoors, whatever the weather. 

It is common for children to develop skills at varying rates. Even siblings can hit milestones at different stages of development from one another.  

As a parent, it can feel like there is constant pressure to spend money on toys for children. The choices when it comes to what toys are best for your child are impossibly endless, too. Is it better to opt for only wooden toys, or is plastic actually pretty fantastic? 

As your precious child starts to grow, so to their motor skills begin to develop. When a baby is born, their muscle development starts in their head and neck. As they develop the ability to move and control these, they will then progress onto the large muscles in the body such as their core, legs, and arms. It is likely that when your child reaches the age of two, they will be able to walk and run, and their gross motor muscles will continue to improve and refine throughout their childhood. 

When you pick up a new baby or pass them to someone for their first cuddle, you often hear comments about making sure that you support their head! Your baby does not have the strength to control their head when they are born. But the ability to control their bodies starts at their head and moves to their toes so you will notice them holding their head steady and moving it to look at things quite quickly. In this blog, we will look at how your baby develops control of their head and the part that primitive reflexes play in your baby’s early head movements.  

‘Gross Motor Skills’ makes up one of the six key streams of development here at My First Five Years. It's a skill that underpins and intertwines with many other aspects of early learning. There is plenty of activities that your child can take part in that will help to develop, with many able to be adapted to any child's level of development and interest too!