Secret Mum Club with Sophiena - Show & Tell with Katie Taylor

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

The ladies are joined by Katie Taylor, a Forest School Leader and outdoor activity specialist for the last Show & Tell episode! From wand making to ice play, she shares her top tips for keeping children busy whilst embracing nature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to The Secret Mum Club. I'm Safina. And I'm Emma. And this is your Thursday's episode. We're still in the summer holidays doing our show and tell. Each week, Emma and I will be sharing one new activity we're doing with the children. So you can give it a go or tell us what you've been up to. And we've got another special guest with us today. So here we go.

up to and we've got another special guest with us today so here we go so what's your activity of the week to be fair we've done a couple we've done a couple so we've been doing you know when you cut shapes out of paper to make like a christmas snowflake yes but we've just been doing our own random own random designs paper, is it? It's not like a paper chain. It would look like a snowflake and you cut the corners or cut a hole in the paper or lines. We've been doing those and we have been one colouring them in because it makes funky designs, using them as like a stencil or we've been holding them up to the sun

and it makes a reflection onto the decking. Oh, that's nice. We did that for hours. Couldn't do that with Joseph because he's scared of shadows. He's scared of everything, to be fair, but he's scared of shadows because of the Gruffalo's Child and bees and flies and dogs barking and engine noises. But apart from that...

Buses? Does he like the bus? He doesn't like it when things like roar past and make a loud... The buses do when they walk past you and they go... Yeah. Sudden loud noises he doesn't like and then the Gruffalo's Child has ruined shadows for him. Because, you know, the mouse makes the big scary shadow. Yeah.

But anyway, that sounds like fun for you. But you can use them as a stencil. Yeah. You can use them as a stencil or use them to colour. Like they make a well funky picture. Yeah. And also today, because I'm here, I decided to cut some potato shapes. So Chris has fresh potatoes with little shapes in them

for the babies to do some painting today. Gosh, you're so good. I only had some rooty potatoes that needed using up, so I thought, best not chuck them. I'll make some stamps. Potato stamps. Yes, I did. That's a classic, that is.

So they're doing that today while they're home with Dad. Oh, nice. I know. So what have you been doing? We haven't been up to much, to be honest. I knew you were going to say this. You're coming in every week dry. You don't do nothing anymore to support this relationship i don't do anything with my kids

no arts and crafts um no i we've been away we've um staying with the in-laws for like nine days you could have crafted with the in-laws they could have done it for for me because i don't like the mess in my own house this is true could have done it there um but they've got loads of outside space so we've just been when it wasn't raining spending loads of time outside they've got a big field so we've just been like running around joseph's been playing with his cousins the weather's been good hit and miss hit and miss to be honest wales singland you know wales it was wales worse than anywhere else oh my god it's so wet i it literally rained. What really annoyed me was it was raining there when it was really nice down here. You winded me up.

So like my family were like, oh, really sunny in the garden today. And I was like, I'm stuck indoors in the bloody rain. But when it was nice, we were doing a lot of outdoors time. It's very rural where they live. So you can just go up the road and see loads of sheep. Isn't that phenomenal? Joseph loves it because obviously it's so different to where we live. Yeah.

The problem is when he sees animals, he thinks he's on a farm. And I'm like, there's only one field of things to choose from. Yes. And he's always like, where's more? Where's more? Where's more? Where's the cows? Do you know what I saw the other day?

I went to Cheddar Gorge. Do you know that goats can stand vertical on a mountain? What is that? I know. We were driving through Cheddar Gorge and I was like, what if a goat just falls on us? It was so fascinating they'll never fall though I've never seen anything

like it because they're such good climbers well they've got velcro feet yeah hooves like when they come off I didn't know there were goats in Cheddar Gorge though yeah on the cliffs

wow on their approach to Cheddar Gorge is there actual cheddar there yeah loads of cheddar yeah cheddar I think that's why it's called Cheddar Gorge

or why cheddar's called cheddar do you know what we actually walked through one of the caves and there was like shed loads of cheddar in there what like they were using it as a fridge because it's so cold in there and they just had these loads and loads of cheddars did it stink no well it smelled like cheddar stagnant water how many times can you say cheddar cheddar cheddar no it's um it was a phenomenal place yeah i want to go actually they do the cheese rolling there. Have you seen that?

Is it down the hill? They throw themselves down a hill. It's like a yearly competition. Is that the one where they just fly and like bang onto it? Yes. That's dangerous. I think they're chasing a wheel of cheese. So what if you reach the cheese?

You win it? Yeah. I think if you come first. I will look like the roll of cheese if I ate all of that. And then when you win and get to the bottom, you have to eat a whole wheel of cheese. No, I don't know if that's true. Oh, in one sitting?

Yeah. Like Bruce Bogtrotter with the cake. Safina with the cheese. A cheesecake. Yeah. But you know, I can't recommend that enough. Trader Gorge was great. Yeah, I'd love to go there.

It was so beautiful. Never seen anything like it. And also, as we were driving, it looked like the cliffs were on us. Yeah. Like falling in on us. Yeah. You had lovely on us. Yeah. You had lovely weather for it as well. We did have lovely.

Again, though, we had a couple, we had a day or day and a half where it was raining. Yeah. It's the West Country, isn't it? Yeah. But it was stunning. But again, rural out there. There's loads of animals everywhere. It's so nice for the children, isn't it?

To see, well, especially Joseph, because he's grown up in London. London. Yeah. To see something different. You know, breathe some clean air. Breathe some. Take that horse manure right in. It's good for the lungs isn't it horse manure as well as we get the plants if you have a fun holiday show and tell activity for us why not get in touch email us hello at secretmumpod.com or with secretmumpod on tiktok and instagram

next we'll welcome our special guest. For show and tell through the summer holidays, we're talking about all the fun activities you can do to keep your children entertained. And to give us all a bit of inspiration, we've got a special guest. That's right. We've got Katie Taylor, an early years foundation stage teacher and forest school leader. And she's the author of the Nature Adventure book and you can find her online at Early Years Outdoor. So welcome Katie. Hello. Hi, hello. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. How are you? I'm okay. I'm enjoying the summer holidays and the nice weather. We need to know a little bit about you. So we obviously know your fantastic job. need to know a little bit about you so you we obviously know your fantastic job are you a mummy i am i've got three children um i've got an older one who's um off at university but she's home for the summer you don't look old enough you do not look old enough i've spread my children out over

over lots of ages so i've got a 21 year old a 14, a 14-year-old and a 9-year-old. Oh, my goodness. And how are they? Do they get along? Yeah, most of the time. And are you a primary school teacher? Is that what early years? I'm in section class, so yeah. And I've been 17 years, so a long time now.

Wow. Reception is honestly my favorite they're honestly like Katie I'd mean nothing in this but all good things but it's like Miss Honey teachers like they're just so you are so wonderful and honestly I don't know how you cope with all of them children when they're hot sticky screaming and shouting I turn up at the end of the day and I'm like are you okay not to the end of the day and I'm like, are you OK? Not to the children, just to the teachers. There are some challenging days, but obviously lovely days as well. Definitely exhausting.

But I love it. Oh, I was going to say, it must be such a rewarding job. You get to learn like the first year as well. You obviously could probably speak better. I can only speak from like the mum, the mum side. But I feel like that first year they change so much, don't they? Oh, definitely. What they're coming from, what they can do and then what they leave. And you don't see the difference. You're just there every day with them, aren't you? And then at the end of the year, when you look back at photos and what they could do at the beginning of the year,

wow, actually, we have made a difference. Yeah, like you go through their little books. Our school did like a little book. And from like their pictures, right at the start, she looked really babyish. And then she's gone through obviously the year and then the handwriting changes and they write their name at the end. And it's like the whole book is like, it's really, it's an emotional journey.

I'm not going to lie. It's got to be one of the biggest like developmental milestones that you'll have probably in a school year. Because the difference between like four and five or five and six it's quite a lot isn't it yeah yeah they come in just sort of scribbling on a piece of paper and just making maths and then at the end when they can leave writing sentences and telling you stories and doing all sorts of lovely things so it is a massive difference from the beginning to the end of the year which is lovely to see yeah it's lovely mine's this year was Dottie's um reading

her reading has been absolutely phenomenal for somebody that she was never interested in a book she has she just she just reads and it just it blows my mind how they literally go from no reading to just read like it's crazy like you won't obviously Jojo's gonna go through it and Sadie when she's ready but you just are not prepared for it like they just come home one day and they're like oh the on cat and you're like how do you know what that says sorry what what wild my worst thing now is because Colby's Colby's eight but he's in the year group so my niece is nine but they're in the same year group because she's an elder and he's a younger of the year so he's probably at sort of the stage of your your nine-year-old but it's like now I can't when I say to Chris I'm like F-U-C-K and he's like do not swear like that and I'm like oh

yeah sorry you can also spell. Oh even Joseph's got that now we're like uh where are the S-N-A-C-Ks and he's like raisins. How have your summer holidays been because you I was going to say you're off work but obviously you've got loads of children to look after so you're still really busy. Yeah lots of children and then I have a lot of websites I've just been making a few resources and doing that as well alongside it. So what's your website? So people can download sort of outdoor activities like mud kitchen recipes or just activities to do outside really or teachers can come on and get some resources for their classrooms and things that are a bit nature-based because I like everything

sort of to be natural and outdoor related. So I just try and make my resources around my children. So it's a bit harder when they're off. You've got your Instagram page as well, which I was looking at um earlier i need you to convince me about the stuff you were saying you were right because it's all like arts and crafts and like muddy stuff which is like not gonna lie my worst nightmare um so tell us a bit about some of the stuff that you post on there because it all looks so like clever and creative i wish i could be that mum but i'm just not i feel like you'll get there the older that they maybe maybe yeah and it doesn't

have to be messy and dirty and you can use things like sticks or stones and pebbles and nice clean things as well so you want that sort of connection with nature you don't you don't have to get so dirty and get covered in mud and be disgusting there are nice side of things and go and collect some leaves and make little things with those and that's what we try and do in school as well and just try and bring that sort of nature side in rather than having to buy loads of resources all the time or even in the holidays with your own children you don't need to keep buying loads of stuff just go outside and find a few things to buy what's in your house and make things that way so yeah it's just sort of

using what's around you and and that's what I try and do on the Instagram page is just try and make things that way. So, yeah, it's just sort of using what's around you. And that's what I try and do on the Instagram page is just try and make sure that actually people don't have to go and spend loads of money buying all these wonderful resources that keep everybody occupied because we can use what's around us. Yeah, well, I had some mouldy potatoes, you know, when they go a bit rooty. So I did the, I cut some shapes in them for today

where they're home with Daddy to do some do you remember the potato printing yeah they're at home doing they're at home doing that today but i am very much an advocate for we are very much outsidey people we love spending time and that's not even so much venturing outside of the house we love to just use the resources of our garden yeah um and we love doing we love doing stuff at home like we got a bug hotel that's just been renovated um that's currently still under renovation there's a lot of things going underway for the bug hotel but i'm i'm so an advocate for that because i think there's just so much pressure that the six weeks holiday comes around and it's a time that we need to be out and doing all these expensive days out and if we're really honest children don't remember those no they remember the time we

renovated our bug hotel yeah and that's all they talk about is the time that that time because I feel like them their memories are so much more special yeah so yeah I'm an advocate for that I don't know I remember sort of being a young child and just mixing up sort of mud potions and just in the garden. You just sort of got thrown outside, didn't you? Yeah. And all of this, let's go and buy expensive toys and build this and do that. We just didn't do that when we were little.

And look at us. Yeah, we survived. We turned out great. We turned out really great. I remember I used to make my mum a perfume. I used to, like, leave a bowl out that collected rainwater. And I used to just put, say, one time I did actually put her real expensive perfume in there, not understanding because I was too little.

And she was like, this smells like my Chanel. And I was like. Smells like Chanel number five. so right Casey we know you're all about spending time outdoors and we love that do you have a few show and tell activities for the summer holidays yeah a little think about actually use what you've got in your house so I thought the first one that we just love doing we have a little thing about actually use what you've got in your house so i thought the first one that we just love doing we have a little mud kitchen but you don't need a really expensive sort of mud kitchen to go and have a little play and do some of those made your grandma's old cupboards and see if you've got pots and pans and just

the trinkets you can ask around you can go in charity shops and just get some some really old pots and pans that no one to miss and just steal a few stick a bit of mud in there some water some petals and leaves go and children will spend ages sort of mixing it up pouring making their own creations they can make soup you can make whatever you want but don't drink it and eat it really that to me and the children in my class and my own children it's something that they just love and you can sort of pop it on it on the side on the ground if you've got a mud kitchen get it in there and just sort of mix it up and have a go and then while you're in there you can be pretending oh yeah i'd love to drink we do the tea bags as well so we collect up our old tea bags for the

week and then we do the staining. Yeah, do the staining and the paper and we make treasure maps in the garden and things like that. So we used to do that when like, you had like a bit of homework and it needed to look like old. And you burn the corners.

You burn the corners on the hob. Do that under adult supervision. But yeah, I used to love that. Yeah. And we do that. And then the children go around the garden and they create like a little map. A treasure hunt.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's loads of blackberries and things out there at the moment so you can do things like just push up some berries just see what you can find on the trees and and around on a lot of things and just pop those in and have a go you can do you can stain things like that you can make your own paint so you can crush up like blackberries or whatever kinds of things and if you freeze so if you crush up some berries and freeze it in pots whatever you can find and then you can use that and paint on the ground it washes away you don't have a big mess this is blowing my mind like how did you how do you know about this stuff do people just know this stuff I guess it's trial and error with some things isn't it no but I would never just be like, let's go make our own paint out of blackberries.

Like, it's so clever. How did you, is it something that you've always been interested in? Yeah, I just think when we, I did some probably school training a few years ago and that sort of ignited my passion to just utilise everything that's out there and look into everything. And yeah, so I just think now when I look around I think when I'm on a walk I'm like I really need that pinecone oh I'm gonna take that yeah and when I see things now I think oh that would be great for this oh I'd love to use those with that so is that robbed off on your kids as well do they start doing the same thing now my middle daughter definitely um my son loves to get involved and have a go, but my eldest daughter, she's just, oh my gosh,

stop picking the leaves up. I can't even hold her in this shirt. But I say, when you're my age, you will definitely do this with your children. You'll love it. Did you find your daughter to be more creative and crafty then? My middle daughter is. She just absolutely, I say to her, when I'm old,

you can take this over. You can have a go at this you're definitely the creative one I love that so much Dots is creative like Colby loves craft but he's definitely in an era of being like I'll play football he just wants to be outside playing football yeah yeah do you want to do this like let's just play football let's go stop looking at the leaves mum Mum. Play football with me. Have you got another one for us? Yeah, just that. Well, what about some stick wands?

So if you just go and find any stick and you can have a go. If you've got some string or some cotton or some wool and then wind it round, you can make patterns round there and if you can just show leaves or whatever you've got and you hold them on and then wrap those round, then you've got a little nature wand and they can if you can just show leaves or whatever you've got and you hold them on and then wrap those around then you've got a little nature wand and they can have a go making spells they can use them and they can be if you've got little books um that are all about witches and things and they love those they can have a go with that or harry potter if they're a bit older you

can have a go at making that's such a good idea and it's better than a wand from Harry Potter World because they cost £50. Do that. No, crazy. Can't be. Yeah. And this, loads more fun. Find your own stick. Find a bit of nature. Wrap some lovely colours around it.

It keeps them entertained for a little while. I love that. That's really clever. That's one I can do with Joseph because he always picks up a stick in the park anyway. You can go home and decorate it. But we can jazz it up now with a bit of string or wool. And he likes doing the spell at the end from Room on the broom when they go iggity ziggity zaggity

zoom yeah you go find the string real difficult if you use pipe cleaners they can bend those around easier because they can just bend it and they don't have to tie the string at the end and do all that so really little ones get some pipe cleaners and wind a bit in those around your stick that's a cute one that's genius i'm gonna do that one that is a cute one i love that you've got to film it though it's okay yeah yeah i'll have to prove it and then our last and final one of your show and tell today i think um any kind of sort of ice play and freezing things so you can use nature you can just freeze any kind of lovely flowers if you've got a bunch of old flowers um that have died stick those in your in your little pots

freeze them you can do big ones that take ages or little ice cubes but then if they're interested in that and they love playing with the ice you can have that melting it but stick some of their toys in stick anything that they they love um into ice and they'll spend hours trying to make them melt and having to go on a hot day it'll keep them cool so you can stick them outside and and then when it's gone there's no mess it just washes away dries up so i love ice play yeah you can put the farm animals i love that one i think we spoke about it briefly before because i keep seeing this all over my instagram and i'm like that's one that's not too messy so i'll probably actually do it and i'm gonna put he's one that's not too messy. So I'll probably actually do it.

And I'm going to put, he's animal obsessed. So hide his animals in the ice cubes. And like you say, especially now when it's been hot, I'm like, what am I going to do with the babies today to keep them cool? Yeah. Get him outside. And get the farm animals frozen. Dig in a block of ice. I don't know how Joseph would take it if he'd be angry that his cow is in ice.

Yeah. He might get a little bit cross. He'd probably just be annoyed with me for putting it in there. But no, I think that's a really good one that i feel like we could actually we could actually do have you got any he's a little bit scared of like being outside and getting like muddy and dirty i've got no idea why i feel like i might have no pass that on to him but he's only two and a half so you've got any tips for me to actually get him outside in the first place um maybe for just i mean if it's because it's raining

or if it's some things like that, get yourself a lovely pair of wellies and say, the first thing you can do is let's get these wellies on, let's go and jump in a puddle and see if he likes things like that and just sort of go from there, get him a special little coat.

It's just for outdoor adventures or a little backpack that you put some nice things in. And then when you get there, you can say, oh, shall we get our crayons out while we're out there? Or his favourite things that he takes us in his little backpack. So it's like his little adventure where he goes on adventure and that's my outdoor adventure pack.

That's a cute idea. You could set him on adventure just because he won't go in the garden at the moment because he's scared of the bees. A bee flew at him once and now he's scared. Maybe you could get him like a magic cape. That will protect him. Protect him from the bees. Maybe leave a little note from like Queen Bee

to say I've left you this special cape because I know you're afraid of the bees. And he does love wearing stuff as well. He's a bit of a fashionista. So I feel like clothes and stuff, that might be the way. And a cool pair of shoes might be the way forward. Cool pair of wellies.

What baby doesn't love wellies? Exactly. They love a wellie, don't they? Wellies are the best. Wellies are the best. Is there anything else you can share with us? Anything we can give to our listeners to help support them through the holidays,

apart from drink a large glass of wine and keep on going? That's definitely the secret isn't it um i don't know just just sort of embrace the outdoors and and just try and get outside if your children are a bit cranky let's let's go outside and and obviously if they're not into it but just a short walk and just get outside and sometimes when you get back actually they're much better because they've been outside in fresh air so staring at the screen all the time and you're inside the house you're so let's just get out let's come back just gonna have a look and and just see what's around you and I think sometimes we're so when we go outside we're just so focused

on we're going somewhere we're going from here we don't actually just stop and take it all in so just nice to go on a walk for a walk's sake and just spend some time with children no devices and just get outside and do that yeah yeah we did a beachy one the other day that tired them out and we got the shells and things and then we came home and painted the shells which again that was a good one honestly my garden looks like i've got about 45,000 people's garden in my garden. Every section of the garden is completely different. But it's lovely, though. And they love going out and seeing it all, don't they?

Yeah. I'm all about getting them outside because basically my goal all the time is to get them to sleep. And I'm like, that's going to tire them out. Yeah. It's perfect. A bit of fresh air. And I think Stefan was saying to me the other day, because I'm always moaninganing about the weather and the rain he was just like just dress for the weather you can't wait for it to be sunny if it's going to be wet and rainy just get the right clothes on and just

get outside yeah and that's it just sort of making sure that you've got the right kit just to keep them if they're unhappy outside because they're soaking or they're freezing then that's what they'll remember oh I hate when that's because it's so cold really invest in a good pair of gloves and a little hat that'll see you through and try not to lose them and then yeah i put also put a crate in the back of the car so no matter the weather we have so i have a warm pair of clothes hot clothes and we've got raincoats hats i just have a little trunk in the back of the car so even if they go out and it's hot and they get wet, I've got another change. Like we were playing in town the other day. They had all the fountains

on in town and the babies wanted to run through them and then they were like, oh no, we can't because we don't have a change of clothes. I was like, don't worry,

I've got a spare pair in the car. So they just ran through the fountain while we were walking around town. They got absolutely soaked through. Like they did like the sloppy walk back to the car.

And then I just changed, I got spare towels in the car. I just keep a little trunk in the car of everything that we need. That is such a good idea. I'm the mum that's never prepared. Joseph wanted to go into the fountains on a hot day, ended up with the heaviest,

saggiest nappy, traipsing around. I obviously didn't have a swim nappy, didn't have a change of clothes. I'm that mum. Yeah, just get it all in the car. Get yourself a little crate in the back of the car.

Such a good idea. I just keep it all in there. I do, my first purpose was to do that though, was in case we ever broke down. But now it's evolved in the car. Get yourself a little crate in the back of the car. Such a good idea. I just keep it all in there. I do. My first purpose was to do that, though, was in case we ever broke down. But now it's evolved over the years. Yeah, it's grown. Yeah, it's grown. There's snacks in the basket as well. You're the best.

You sound very organised. Well, thank you, Katie, so much for chatting with us today and sharing with us your show and tell suggestions. Yeah, you can find out more about what Katie does online. Just search earlyyearsoutdoor.co.uk. Let us know how you get on with Katie's activity suggestions or Mr. P's or Jack's from earlier in the summer. And we'd love to hear your suggestions as well.

You can email us hello at secretmumpod.com or with secretmumpod on TikTok and Instagram. And we'll be back for a relaxing Sunday soak on Sunday for 15 minutes of you time. And because it's a bank holiday, we'll be back on Tuesday next week. And we'll see you next time on the Secret Mum Club.