Our Blog

Following on with the theme of running forest school from your own back garden, this May Felix (one of our incredible Poppleton practitioners) brought in a tank of tadpoles they’d fished out of their pond with their little boy. This has helped develop the children’s understanding of nature and learning about how...

Forest school operates on the basis that the best, and most holistic, learning environment for little ones is anywhere outdoors with access to as much exploration space as possible. Here at Muddy Boots, we place a great emphasis on spending as much time outdoors as possible in all weathers, because...

Everyone who works in Early Years has been asked THE question: “Do you really get paid to just play all day?”Short answer? Yes! And we love it! But there’s also a long answer, so bear with us:Children learn through play, especially play which is interesting and engaging to them. This...

Last night we hosted our Annual Staff Awards! In more normal times we would have got dressed up, eaten a lot of pizza, enjoyed a beverage or two and celebrated together…  But this year it was a Zoom special! After a record-breaking amount of votes, we gave away awards at...

Hopefully, you caught it on our socials this week, but we are really pleased to announce that after a whole bunch of nominations, shortlisting and over 250 votes, our Charity of the Year for 2021 is Tiny Tickers! Here is a little more about them, and the fantastic work they...

It may be that we are desperate to get in the Christmas spirit, but we have had an idea, and it’s one that we are VERY excited about…  This year has been tough for most, but especially hard for some. With everything that has gone on with the coronavirus, including...

We have some very big, and VERY exciting news! We have been shortlisted for TWO Nursery World 2020 Awards! Before we get to which categories we have been nominated for, here is what the awards are all about: “Open to everyone involved in early years education and childcare, the Nursery...

We have some VERY exciting news about our Pioneers Out of School Club… As the dark nights draw closer, the weather gets a little chillier and our Pioneers navigate the strange and wonderful world we live in, we thought a change was much needed! After a hard day of school,...

Sing it with us…  “Magical food, wonderful food, marvellous food, fabulous food, beautiful food… Glorious food!” At Muddy Boots, WE LOVE FOOD! We believe that the right combination of healthy food, sociable mealtimes, balanced nutrition and varied, freshly prepared menus encourages healthy little minds and bodies (as well giving our...

Hopefully, you have seen on our social media, but our Parent Zone app is changing! It’s stacked full of different sections to help you keep track of all the different elements of nursery life, including observations, images of your little one day-to-day, your invoices and finances, all nursery comms and...

As the school summer holidays quickly roll around the age-old question of ‘how am I going to keep the kids entertained for 7 weeks’ is ringing in the minds of parents everywhere, especially after exhausting possibilities over the last 3 months.  After receiving the most recent guidance from the government,...

Parenting is amazing, fulfilling and full of love right? Of course it is, but it’s also really hard and comes with lots of challenges. One of the things we get asked about most is how to deal with tantrums. So… we thought it might be helpful to share some of...