Lots of our pretend play toys like our fruity market crate, veggie crate, mini chef chopping board and fruity blender are all about chopping fruits and vegetables, but what happens when its all peeled and chopped up?

We love composting here in the Tender Leaf household, and its the easiest thing to introduce to your earth friendly children.

Every tea bag, apple core, vegetable peeling or fruity scrap can be chucked onto a compost heap in your back garden, eventually breaking down with the help of thousands of little worms and insects, and in roughly a years time the top layer can be removed revealing beautiful nutrient rich peat like soil. This can then be used to feed your hungry little plants from spring through to autumn.

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This article has been taken from the RHS site....

Although councils offer green waste collections, the RHS encourages home composting because it does not involve heavy transport, with its associated environmental costs.

When to compost

Composting is done all year, as and when suitable materials are generated in the garden or home. However late summer to early winter is the peak time for making compost.

The site and container

It is important that the site is not subjected to extremes of temperature and moisture, as the micro-organisms (bacteria and fungi) that convert the waste to compost work best in constant conditions. Position the bin in light shade or shade; it is often more convenient to use a shady area of the garden.

An earth base allows drainage and access to soil organisms, but if you have to compost on a hard surface, then add a spadeful of soil to the compost bin.

Bins retain some warmth and moisture and make better compost more quickly, but even an open heap (not enclosed in a bin) will compost eventually. Any of the compost bins on the market should produce compost as long as they exclude rain, retain some warmth, allow drainage and let in air.

Bins less than 1 cubic m (1.3 cubic yd) in size are much less effective than larger ones.

Getting the right balance of composting materials

Aim for between 25 and 50 percent soft green materials (e.g. grass clippings, annual weeds, vegetable kitchen waste, or manure) to feed the micro-organisms
The remainder should be woody brown material (e.g. prunings, wood chippings, paper, cardboard, straw or dead leaves)

The bacteria and micro-organisms that produce the compost function best when the balance of green and brown materials is correct.

Avoid letting any one material dominate the heap - especially grass clippings, as these can become a slimy, smelly mess on their own.

Kitchen waste and grass clippings are best mixed with brown woody material, as they tend to be wet and easily compacted, excluding air.

Some common composting materials

\nGreen: Grass clippings; soft, leafy plants including annual weeds; fruit and vegetables, uncooked kitchen waste; selected pet waste/bedding
\nBrown: prunings and hedge trimmings (ideally shredded), woodchip, leaves, paper and card (torn up or shredded), straw, plant stems
\nAccelerators and activators: Products such as ‘Garotta’ are sometimes added where green waste is in short supply. They contain high levels of nitrogen (a nutrient found in green waste), but should not be necessary if green waste is plentiful. It is also possible to purchase activators containing carbon (a nutrient found in brown woody waste); these are aimed at composting grass clippings or other green waste where there is insufficient brown waste
\nLime: People sometimes think you need to add lime to the compost heap, but there is no need to do so

Turning the heap

Turning the heap adds air; air is necessary for composting to occur. If the heap is too wet or becomes compacted, then the composting process is slower as less air is available.

Ideally, place a lot of composting materials on the heap in one go, and turn it periodically (perhaps every month) to introduce air. Failure to turn the heap is probably the main cause of poor results.

Many gardeners are unable to fill the heap in one go, as they accumulate waste gradually. Because of this, home-made compost is seldom as perfect as municipal compost, but it is still effective.

Remember to keep the heap moist in dry weather – turning will give you an opportunity to assess the moisture level.

When is the compost ready?

Garden compost can take between six months and two years to reach maturity. Mature compost will be dark brown, with a crumbly soil-like texture and a smell resembling damp woodland.

It is unlikely that all the material in the heap will be like this, but any remaining un-rotted material can be added to the next batch of composting materials.

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We might not be going on that big holiday this year, but we are still managing to do lots of day trips and mini breaks as countries across the globe make 2020 the year of the staycation. Even on a short trip you want to keep your little ones entertained and with something different to screen time!

One idea we always do is have a little bag ready for each child with a selection of toys and treats in it that they might not have seen for a while. The secret is to make sure they haven’t seen whats in the bags until you are on the trip to maximise the amount of time they want to play with it all!

Here’s what we do:

Find a small bag (we like to use pencil cases or wash bags)

Select a few toys small enough to easilly fit in the bag and easy for them to get out. It’s good to have a vehicle that they can push along surfaces, a character (small doll, lego figure etc) and a few animals. Here's some of our favourites:

Some arty bits, a few crayons, mini pencils, tiny drawing pad (we like to make ours with small pieces of paper stapled together)

Last but not least a few sweet treats! A lolly is good on a journey as it lasts longer and isn't too messy! We love Biona Organic Rainbow Lollies which have been made with natural flavourings and no refined sugar so no crazy sugar rush!

Now you can sit back, relax and just answer the occasional \"Are we nearly there yet\" question!

\n#kidlife #ethicaltoys #sustainabletoys #diytoys #ToysToGo #travellingwithkids #daytrips\n

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It’s that time of year again when nervous parents and excited school starters get ready to start their first day. With just a a week to go you might be asking yourself what you can do to help your child?

You might want to start by reading the new book by parenting expert, Sarah Ockwell-Smith called

\"The Starting School Book How to Choose, Prepare for and Settle Your Child at School” with lots of great advice including the following tips:

Practicing getting their uniform on and off

Being toliet savvy

Practice school runs

Being unique as possible (bags, water bottles etc)

Plus many more great ideas and a more in depth look into making this milestone transition as smooth as possible.

Available to buy now:

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780349423791?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8uvYw7uk6wIVBbd3Ch33EQVxEAkYASABEgJwpfD_BwE

Another thing to remember is that emphasis is on education through play in reception year. So although it is good if your child is familiar with their numbers and alphabet, it is perhaps more helpful to for the teachers that your child can hold a pencil, use a glue stick, cut with scissors. These can be great things to practice with your child over the coming days. We have a wonderful activity

involving cutting and sticking on our Tender Leaf UK website. You can print it out for free here:

https://tenderleaftoys.co.uk/products/counting-carrots?_pos=1&_sid=c66f69d36&_ss=r

In addition to the prep, why not pop a few educational focussed toys infront of them, something fun to fill their time with but at the same time starting to focus and retrain their spongey little minds after their time off... We have a few really gorgeous toys that involve introductions to counting, fractions and letters.. They are really bright and colourful so are incredibly attractive to little ones, for example our how many acorns or alphabet pictures.... And for children who are a little older, the citrus fractions is a really popular toy for us and loved by kids alike!

We’ve also rounded up some more great books and products relating to starting school here below…

What ever you do to prepare your child, it will still be an emotional roller coaster, especially on that first drop off! Maybe the best thing to remember for the parents is some tissues! Good luck everyone!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starting-School-Picture-Puffins-Ahlberg/dp/0723273464/ref=asc_df_0723273464/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310977458808&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4028759557293352605&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9050373&hvtargid=pla-487433427533&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1846168856/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=oxfowl-21&camp=1634&creative=6738

https://www.mybusybots.com/collections/all-products/products/getting-ready-for-school-pack

https://tenderleaftoys.co.uk/products/alphabet-pictures?_pos=1&_sid=13a42c4dc&_ss=r

https://threadbeardesign.co.uk/collections/pencil-cases-and-wash-bags

\n#backtoschool #firstdayofschool #firstday2020 #endofsummer #backtoschoolnote #schoolspirit #schoolready #freedownloadactivity\n

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It’s wonderful watching your child’s imagination come to life when playing with their toys, or with anything from stones found on the beach to twigs in the park! Sometimes your child might want that extra, little help suggesting what to play with next. And all it can take a few simple prompts to help them on their way.

We’ve listed some ideas here:

Toy box rotation

Divide your pretend play toys into 2 to three boxes and rotate them through the week to ignite some renewed pretend play ideas.

Print out our Cafe menus

We’ve designed a free printable cafe menu based on our popular Birds Nest Cafe pretend play toy. You can download it here and have a go filling it in with your child:

https://www.tenderleaftoys.com/blogs/tender-leaf-blog/birds-nest-cafe-printable-1

Set up a scene

Line up your child’s teddies ready to go on a pretend play adventure.

This could be a pretend visit to the doctors, vets, shops. Let them decide

and have fun!

Check out our medical set!

$\"Tender$

Themed toys

For example selecting all your farm animals plus some nature finds from a recent woodland walk. Then leave them on a tray for your child to find the next day and watch their delight in creating their own farmyard world!

Stacking Farmyard by Tender Leaf Toys

For many more ideas and a more in depth look into invitations to play and what it really means check our the wonderful blog post from

@theempowerededucatormusings here:

https://www.theempowerededucatoronline.com/2018/05/setting-up-invitations-to-play.html/

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Notebook

All about composting!

Grab and go DIY Toy Sets

Back to school vibes!

An invitation to play