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Amy Mays Play Days

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Gildersome
Amy Mays Play Days

OFSTED GOOD registered Childminder.I offer far more than comfort & care. Hi Im Amy May, an OFSTED registered Childminder in Gildersome, Morley.

Everything we do is designed to support each child’s development from the moment they walk through my door at 9 months or nearly 4, through fun learning sessions ! I am available 4 days a week at the moment and it's up to you which 4
(I'm sorry i don't do weekends at the moment)

I am flexible on days that you need, so if they change, thats ok and I can start
from 6.30am if required. The end of

day... is generally around 6pm. Im a happily married 37 year old with 2 boys (an 18mth old and a 13 year old),
with a large family and friends network with LOTS of childen- so lots of experience
with caring for little ones for over 13 years! We have a lovely home with large indoor play areas along with a large outside
play area where your little ones climb, slide, ride on bikes & cars, explore the sand,
dig around in the garden and make up plant pots and much more! Whilst learning/exploring they will also be building up their physical ability too
(Ps If you have any little horse lovers, then they can admire the horses that
peep over the fence to say hello too)! I offer a home from home, safe, loving and exciting setting with lots to do on a daily
basis which will be geared around your child. I understand and promote the Early Years Learning within my setting and whilst
your child is within my care and in line with OFSTED, I will help educate and help
your child develop through fun and exciting activities. Plus so you can see what they get up to whilst you are busy, I will track their
progress in their very own Learning Journal this way you can review and get
involved too. Your child will only be 1 in maximum of 3 under 5s in my care, giving you a
1:3 ratio because I believe this way your child will have more 1 to 1 time and
attention to give them all they need towards their development and growth
whilst within my care. We love going out and about. I have my own car, so we can visit farms, zoos
and other places of interest (age relevant) which are all included in my price. Along with good home cooking, which your child can get involved in
(age dependant), will be provided for all children. A full day care would include breakfast, light lunch, healthy snacks throughout
the day and a good evening meal as I believe that a good balanced diet is key
to a happy healthy growing child. I love making and creatiing everything and anything, so be prepared to make
room for all the pictures, gifts, plants, food and exciting arty crafty things that
your child will make whilst in my care too! Also, if you need me to collect and drop off at your home this could be discussed
plus it means there is no rushing your little one either. I have passed all training required for childminding Iam an OFSTED registered Childminder and Iam qualified in Early Years Emergency Aid. I look forward to hearing from you.

06/03/2026

💖Hello , Look At What We’ve Been Up To These Past Couple of Weeks

It’s been a lovely, busy couple of weeks here, filled with play, creativity, and plenty of outdoor adventures! And the weather has been kind to us too.

🌟 Creative Play & Learning
We’ve been exploring colours, textures, and early mark‑making through crafts and sensory activities. The children have really enjoyed getting hands on and expressing themselves.

🥧 Pie Making for Tea
A real highlight was making our own little pies for tea lots of mixing, rolling, scooping, and proud faces as the children helped prepare something delicious. Such a brilliant way to build independence and confidence in the kitchen.

💛 Talking About Emotions
We also spent time chatting about feelings, understanding that it’s completely okay to feel sad, angry, or frustrated, and that talking about our emotions helps us feel better. The children practised showing adults how they feel so we can support them and help create more happy moments together.

🐄 Looking After Animals & Visiting the Farm
We had a wonderful visit to see our cows at the farm, learning about how to care for animals and why kindness and calm behaviour help them feel safe. The children explored the cattle crush, a special piece of equipment that keeps cows still so vets and handlers can help them safely when they need care or have an injury. It was a brilliant hands on way to understand how we look after animals responsibly.

🌱 Re homing Our Seedlings
We also re homed our new seedlings that we have watch growing into the pots the children had made using spoons. They loved gently patting the compost around the roots and talking about how soil, water, and sunshine help plants grow bigger and stronger. A lovely mix of science, care, and patience.

🌳 Outdoor Adventures
We’ve made the most of the fresh air with walks, garden play, and plenty of opportunities for climbing, balancing, and building confidence outdoors.

🎨 Seasonal Crafts
With spring on the way, we’ve been creating cheerful themed crafts to brighten up our play space and celebrate the changing seasons.

📚 Early Learning Moments
From counting and sorting to imaginative role play, the children have been busy developing their independence and early skills through fun, child‑led activities.

It’s been wonderful to see everyone growing, exploring, and enjoying their time together. Thank you for your continued support.

Here’s to more happy weeks ahead!

21/02/2026

🌼 What We’ve Been Up To These Last Few Weeks

It’s been a busy, joyful few weeks here at Play Days, filled with exploring, creating, and growing together.

🌳 Outdoor Adventures

The cold weather doesn’t stop play or learning here. We’ve made the most of our outside space, and when the children showed a big interest in water play, I followed their lead.

This turned into a little trip to the local DIY store, where we explored different types of pipes: transparent ones, metal ones, and the ones used on houses to collect rainwater. We chatted about which would work best for our project, and the children even helped use the scanner at the checkout.

Back at home, we worked together to build our very own waterwall play area. Showed the children how to use a tape measure and hack saw, never too young to learn once they can hold and understand direction I always let them have a go. The children were so proud of what they created, and we had lots of fun testing it out. And of course, we finished with a few bounces on the trampoline to warm ourselves up.

🚗 Trips Out

We’ve had some brilliant outings recently.
• A fun visit to the bowling alley with another childminder lots of cheering, turn‑taking, and celebrating each other’s rolls.
• A trip to a creative recycle centre, where we explored how everyday items can be reused in imaginative ways. That’s where we discovered a massive pipe, perfect for our garden… and we’ve already found lots of fun ways to play with it.
• A visit to the local pet store to see the rabbits, small animals, fish, and even the crickets, the children were fascinated.

We didn’t make it to our farm this time, but we’re planning a visit next week to check in on the cows and see how they’re doing.

🎨 Creative Play

The children have loved getting stuck into sensory trays, painting, sticking, and plenty of messy play.

We’ve also created some brilliant hand eye coordination activities that families can easily try at home, from coloured shaving foam sealed inside an A4 sleeve for mark making, to using cardboard kitchen‑roll tube as a “focal point” for sticking pom‑poms to. These simple ideas are great fun and help strengthen those tiny muscles that support early writing and fine motor skills.

🔢 Early Learning Through Play

We’ve been counting, sorting, building, sharing stories, singing songs, and practising our turn taking, plus we used some play dough and some clay to create, mould and shape into beautiful creations. The little ones have shown so much confidence in their communication and problem‑solving. Did some fun biscuit baking too.

🤝 Social Moments

Snack times, group play, our little tips and routines have given the children lots of chances to build friendships, practise kindness, and celebrate each other’s achievements.

It’s been a lovely start to the year, these are just some of the bits we did. I’m so proud of how much each child is growing in confidence, independence, and imagination. I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring.

10/02/2026

Thought would share this ! It’s all a natural , a learning for you and the child … how you reacts makes a difference

05/02/2026

📚 Story Time, Emotions & Understanding the World

To finish off our week, we sat together and read two lovely books, perfect for supporting story time, behaviour and emotions books are a great tool to help with learning not just reading but allllllll sorts of behaviours we need to help the children learn to do or not do...

Sometimes I read them word for word, and sometimes I adapt the story words depending on the children’s ability to understand and stay engaged to make it fun, add in sounds and daft voices.

At the end, we always look closely at the pictures:
• What can we see?
• Who are the characters?
• Can you point to…?

This isn’t just interaction, it helps me check their understanding, language development, and attention skills. It also guides me when planning next week’s activities so everything is tailored to each child’s needs.

And as always, if you ever want any of the resources we use, just give me a shout.

Remember: Learning is fun. Patience is everything.

That's it for this week... there will have been lots more we have done, these posts today are around the main topics/activities we focused on this week.

Have fabulous weekend, and look forward to hearing all about it on Monday, and we look forward to one returning from there holiday who I'm sure will be exited to tell us what her and a tiny brother got up

See you soon 💖🫶

05/02/2026

🥕 Growing, Food & Learning to Use a Knife (Safely!)

When it comes to growth and food, I always give the children opportunities to help prepare snacks, dinners, and of course the cheeky treats we bake to take home, we LOVE baking here!

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been learning how to cut food safely using special children’s knives. Yes KNIVES! I can hear the gasp already… but don’t worry. These knives are designed to cut food, not fingers. BUT MUST BE SUPERVISED. They’re brilliant, and if you want some for home, just give me a shout and will get some in.

We always start with handwashing. We chat about why it’s important, pump the soap, add a splash of water, and make bubbles, LOTS of bubbles. We see who can foam up the most between their tiny fingers, because then its fun NOT a boring task, then we risen , try not to sq**rt everyone with water and eventually pat dry and get started. 😝

I show the children how to hold the food safely, because these early habits help when they eventually use real knives. We use a gentle sawing action, just like cutting wood and yes, we add sound effects because it makes everything more fun. And don't worry, if the food is not cut small enough, I do then cut it further to ensure we reduce the risk of choking...

Please note: small round and bullet shaped fruit or veg should always be cut up into half or quarters where possible, they are one of the BIGGEST risks of choking and no one wants to experience what its like to get one of those food items out of a young child!!!

We also talk about healthy eating and trying new foods. This week we tried beetroot. I LOVED it… The children? Not so much! And that’s okay, taste buds change, and the more we try foods over time, the more familiar and enjoyable they become so we will try it again.

So, when you’re in the kitchen, let them help. Teach them what adults must do (sharp knives, hot pans, ovens) but let them join in where it’s safe. They can do so much more than you think.

Then the best bit we get to eat our makes 😝mmmmmmm

05/02/2026

❤️ Messy Time Magic, Supporting Learning With Others

I also help support and set up Messy Time sessions with others, and this week we chatted all about Valentine’s Day. That led to some lovely conversations around:

• caring
• sharing
• being kind
• creating artwork with fingers and printing

The children absolutely loved the water play, pouring, filling pots, watching the water splash and trickle. It’s fun, but it also builds coordination, control, and early understanding of how liquids move.

They explored coloured rice, talking about colours and listening to the sound it made on the tray. This kind of tactile, fluid movement is brilliant for fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, just like water play.

One moment that melted my heart: A child gently held a younger child’s hand to help them balance on the sensory tile. That’s kindness in action, real, natural, child led empathy. That’s the love we talk about and promote at Amy May’s.

At the homemade playdough station, they squished, squeezed, rolled, cut, and created hearts, worms, ducks, the imagination never ends! Every squeeze strengthens muscles needed for writing later on.

Then came the sensory lights the children were mesmerised. When the colours changed, of course it was “MAGIC!” ✨ hahah

And the puffle station… well, even I was fascinated. It moves like it’s alive! Scooping it, pushing it into pots, exploring the texture all of it supports development and something new they discovered via messy time.

And while all this is happening, something even bigger is growing:

• social skills
• turn taking
• sharing
• helping each other
• giggling together
• playing alongside others

All of this builds confidence and prepares them beautifully for school life, ready for classrooms full of other little people learning side by side.

05/02/2026

✏️ “Too Young to Understand”? Not at All.

Learning isn’t about age , it’s about ability.

If a child under 12 months can learn to hold a spoon, copy your movements, and pick up tiny bits of food… they can absolutely explore mark making too.

Chalk, chunky paintbrushes, fingers in sand, rice, water, sauce, edible paint — all of these build:

• fine and gross motor skills
• hand–eye coordination
• sensory confidence
• early control that eventually leads to pencil grip and writing

Yes, they get messy — but that’s part of the learning.

So, this week, we got the blackboard out and scribbled away. We made silly sounds as the children made their marks and honestly, it works! Those daft noises spark engagement, curiosity, and giggles. They encourage little ones to keep going, to try another mark, to see what sound comes next. We used paints and brushes, hands if they wanted to!! They love it and all the time are learning to make marks!!

Give it a go next time you’re sitting with your under 2. You might be surprised at how much more they want to draw when learning feels playful, connected, and fun.

✍️ From Mark Making to Writing

All the mark making we do here naturally leads into early writing skills.

This week, we explored letters, simple sheets with lowercase letters (the same way they start at school). The children could trace them with a pen, colour them in, or simply explore the shapes.

And we had a huge WOW moment.

One little lady under 4 years old sat and completed every single letter. She held her pen in a perfect tripod grip, moved left to right (which is a massive developmental step), and only needed help with the very first “a” so she understood the instruction.

After that? She did the entire alphabet herself.
Absolutely amazing.

These are the moments that show how early experiences with mark making, grip strength, and hand–eye coordination all come together to support writing readiness.

05/02/2026

🌱 Learning Through Flowers at Amy May’s 🌼

These last few weeks we’ve been diving into the magical world of flowers, plants, and growing and what an adventure it’s been!
We started by exploring the plants in my setting. For the littlest ones (1 year olds), it was all about gentle touch, colours, soil, smells, and simple words. These tiny moments help them understand how to look after nature when we’re out and about in parks and gardens.

With the 3–4 year olds, we went a little deeper. They learned how to water plants, and now proudly help indoors and outdoors. And no, we’re not precious about the odd splash ,getting a bit wet is part of the fun!

After a run around at Tong’s Play Gym, we spent time looking at the flowers there too. One child chose anything RED (because red is life at this age!), while another inspected spikes, prickles, big petals, tiny petals… all while learning new words and linking them to real objects.

We talked about soil, why plants need it, and even compared it to how we get our food. Of course, this led to the classic question: “Can we eat it then?” Only a little of this sticks at this age, but chatting, even with children who can’t fully talk yet, builds understanding.

Then came the exciting part: choosing seeds! We looked at all the beautiful packets, picked our favourites, grabbed compost, and headed back to Amy May’s.

And yes… it got messy!

We used bun trays with lids to make our own mini greenhouses. Paper bun cases became pots. Spoons (not heavy trowels!) were perfect for scooping compost, just like filling bun cases when we bake. This builds grip strength, coordination, and confidence.
The children placed the tiny seeds onto their soil “cupcakes.” Some landed perfectly, some stuck to fingers, and some “flew away” maybe to grow wild in the outside bin! But that’s the joy of it. It’s not about perfection; it’s about trying, laughing, learning, and feeling capable.

We gently pushed the seeds into the soil, which looked suspiciously like chocolate buns. One child nearly licked their fingers… we stopped that one quickly! haha

Then came the watering. A small jug (watering cans are far too heavy) let each child pour water onto their “mud cupcakes.” Some water made it in, some didn’t, but mess can be cleaned. Learning stays.

We talked about how seeds get thirsty, just like us, and how water helps them grow. Then we closed the lid to keep them warm and chatted about how we feel when we’re hot or cold. Always learning.
Our little greenhouse now sits near a radiator, keeping our “babies” cosy.

And of course… we didn’t stop there!

Later in the week, we revisited the topic with painting and drawing. We talked about petals, stems, soil, and ROOTS. Like hundreds of little straws sucking up water and food.

One painted flower I drew; she selected the petal colour (yes it was red), made slurping noises for the roots whilst she washes the brown paint wash over the top of the roots, and I labelled just a couple of key words. Even though they can’t read yet, seeing words, hearing sounds, and linking them together builds early literacy.

The next day, we traced the roots with pens, brilliant for hand eye coordination, pen grip, and early writing movements, while learning all the time.

Every activity has a purpose. Every moment is learning. And every bit of it is wrapped in fun, curiosity, and confidence building.

There is always a method in the magic at Amy May’s 🌼✨

05/02/2026

🌼 Learning Everywhere, in Everything We Do 🌱

Here at Amy May’s, I offer far more than comfort and care. Everything we do is designed to support each child’s development from the moment they walk through my door. Whether they’re 10 months old or nearly 4, every child is given thoughtful activities and experiences that help them grow, learn, and become school ready in their own time. Please share stories, learnings, ideas and ask for advise if I don't know I will find out.

I'm going to post in sections of why & what we are doing, as other wise it would be a MAMMOTH post as we do LOTS here every week!!! so here we go.....

🚗 Learning Through Play — Even Car Tracks!

Yes, I could build the car tracks for them… but where’s the learning in that? The magic happens when I show them how to build, talk them through each step, and then let them try. Even when they can’t quite do it yet, the trying builds confidence, resilience, and that wonderful “I DID IT!” moment.
All that bending, gripping, twisting and connecting strengthens their little muscles and boosts hand–eye coordination. And then comes the best bit — watching the wheels turn and racing the cars around. Making noises, chatting around who’s in front, who is behind, what colours the cars are, how many cars have we got, it’s not just “play” but full journey of problem solving, physical development, curiosity, and joy.

01/02/2026

When you read a reference and it makes your heart sing, this 100% confirms why I do what I do and love my little setting so much…

💖 it’s hard saying goodbye and it is the nature of the business I built! But it’s lovely to form such beautiful relationships with families that become apart of mine , and love hearing updates on my gorgeous little people that have flown my setting for new adventures as the grow 🙌💖💫

30/01/2026

👋🏻Well after not using social media for a while I thought I would bring it back …

🕵️‍♂️I’m rather cautious , not only am I a childminder, but I’m also a welfare officer, and online communication can open up a conversation about child safety etc … but it’s also a valuable tool for parents and myself so we will give it a go 🥰

💬No names will ever be given , faces won’t be used and will always put the safeguarding of my children as paramount… it is up to parents to decide if they share stories, chat in comments etc …

🎪I hope you find my page fun but useful too. I will be sharing “why” we do activities, will share helpful tips and lots more to help in children’s early years …

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14 Highfield View
Gildersome
LS277TS

Opening Hours

Monday	7:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	7:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	7:30am - 6pm
Thursday	7:30am - 6pm

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