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Stories of Play on Instagram

🎉 BRAND NEW FREE RESOURCE <link in bio> 5 Thi

Exactly 4 years ago today, armed with a challengin

Exactly 4 years ago today, armed with a challenging 7 month old who didnt sleep (swipe to see), I was feeling very lonely and isolated as a SAHM.

It was my own personal choice to stay home.

And whilst I honestly love being home and having the privilege of watching my girls grow up every single day, it didnt mean that it was/is an easy decision to make.

Being a SAHM is easily one of the most thankless job in the world. Plus the fact that I truly loved my job as a kinder teacher pre-kids.

I really missed teaching and I really missed the person I was before becoming mum.

In a bid to keep my mind engaged apart from the everyday mundane that is nappy changing, feeding and sleep settling, and to get connected with other teachers/mamas on the same journey as I was, and to find something I was passionate about and to do something that was just for ME, I bit the bullet and started @storiesofplay sharing the hows and whys of activities I did with my firstborn.

4 years later, it's grown to the beautiful community that it is today with so many of you following along on our journey and reading our stories. Many of you have also become close friends ❤️

What’s even crazier, is that somehow, even in the midst of the chaos of having 3 kids in 3 years, this passion has grown into the business that I have today where I get to show parents how to help their children engage in self-directed play and to learn joyfully with ease.

Only by grace.
In fact, it’s been grace upon grace upon grace.

So incredibly thankful for the past 4 years but I know the best is yet to come.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for all of your love, encouragement and sharing what I do with your friends.

So to say a massive thank you, we are gonna be celebrating it BIIIIIG this August 🎉 #watchthisspace 😉

I never expected this to be part of my story. But

I never expected this to be part of my story.

But there it was. Evidence of the start of losing our precious 7 week along bubs number 4.

Becoming yet another statistic of the 1 in 4.

Yesterday morning was meant to be our first scan to find out bubs due date. All the blood tests I’d done two weeks ago had come back positive, healthy and looking great, just like my first 3 pregnancies had been.

Except this time it wasn’t and it wouldn’t be.

I know we’re so incredibly blessed. I honestly feel like I’ve never taken having healthy pregnancies and healthy babies for granted and I’m truly so grateful for my 3 children every single day.

But yet on some level, I also don’t think I’ve ever come to comprehend HOW MUCH of a MIRACLE their mere existence even is.

Until now. Until I joined the 1 in 4 statistic.

I know I’m forever changed because I’ll never look at my 3 kids the same way ever again.

From now on, it’ll always be “I GET TO”.

On that note, it doesn’t matter that we’ve 3 other babies. It still hurts, it’s still a loss we grieve, especially when it’s been over a year of waiting and praying for this child.

If you are reading this and you understand my pain, I’m sorry that you understand.
So incredibly sorry 💔

A loss IS a loss.
A child IS a child no matter the weeks.

You are not alone, as I’ve come to personally experience from the countless family and friends who’ve reached out to me to share their stories.

And if you’ve experienced or never experienced loss and are still waiting, my heart aches for you and I’m standing with you, praying and believing that your miracle is on its way.

The path to and of motherhood is so uniquely different for each of us, and yet in the bigger picture, there is an unseen connection that brings us together because no matter what season of motherhood you find yourself in, in the waiting or in the messy chaos of everyday life, mama please please please know that you are most definitely not alone! ❤️

All my love,
Jules

Does your play space encourage children to engage

Does your play space encourage children to engage in independent self-directed play?

Here are 3 questions you can ask yourself.

1) Are the toys in plain view and easily accessible or are they hidden in tubs and boxes?

2) Are they displayed at a child’s eye level?

3) Does each toy that’s out have a designated home/ spot?

I know for an adult, having toys all contained in one massive tub or toy storage box is very much preferred. It keeps us sane because the mess is kept hidden away when the toys are not in use. It doesn’t spill into the adult’s living space.

But to a child, out of sight, out of mind. Children won’t gravitate to toys that they can’t see. Also, they will constantly be bugging you to find that very special toy that they can’t easily access and that is not going to help with their sense of autonomy and independence.

If you haven’t tried it yet, my big tip here is open shelving.

It’s not about creating an Instagrammable space.
That’s never what I’m about here.

But with an open shelf, not only does it look inviting FOR YOUR CHILD and invites your child to get in and play, it encourages SELF-HELP, a sense of AUTONOMY and INDEPENDENCE.

I also like to use baskets and trays on my shelves as it’s visually appealing, it’s portable and makes it easy for my children to bring an activity to wherever they choose around the house (and back!)

Everything has its own place and it honestly makes clean up at the end of the day so much easier as it’s a clearly defined home for each toy and activity I place on the shelf.

So what do you reckon?
Open shelving - yay or nay ☺️

Tell me this doesn’t sting!! It sure did for me

Tell me this doesn’t sting!!
It sure did for me 😅

So I currently have a 4yo going on 14yo with signs of attitudes in her tone of voice
A threenager
A 19mo who thinks she can do everything her older sisters do.
#struggletown

Everytime parenting gets a little too much, one thing I often try to remind myself are these two questions -

What values/qualities do I want to instill in my children?
What kind of a human being do I want to raise?

This is what influences what I say and do as a parent on a daily basis. Because values, qualities and habits instilled at a young age lay the foundation for the type of adult that they will eventually become.

This is not to say I always know to do and say the right thing all the time.

Cos I dont.

And even if I do know, I am human and part of being human is occasionally getting triggered by the things my children do.

But what I do know, is when I have a vision as to the kind of human beings I want to raise, it is much easier getting there.

Because even when I occasionally derail or get off track, the vision in front of me means that I can always get back on track again (apologising, making amends, having honest conversations with my children about how mummy is also always learning too)

So for me, my parenting goal is to raise kind, confident and resilient children. How about you? What’s your parenting goal? 😊

📷: @perthchildrensot

Can I tell you the story behind this beautifully s

Can I tell you the story behind this beautifully stacked rainbow?

The @grimmswoodentoys rainbow in this first video was stacked by Miss 4 for her sister some time this week, stacked specifically for her sister to collapse. But it was a long process getting here.

Not seen in this video is countless HOURS of frustrated crying and angry tears spread out over several DAYS of not being able to successfully achieve this goal she had set out for herself.

She had recently watched a video of me creating this stacked video for 16mo her, back when Miss 3 was just born (swipe to see how young I was 🤣💁🏻‍♀️🙈). She was fascinated and she excitedly wanted to learn how to do it.

Except the excitement quickly turned into massive frustration when she realised just how tricky it was to get it just right.

The distance between each piece, the angle and exact placement of each piece. So much precision. Hand-eye coordination. Focus. Concentration.

Yet the slightest wobble of her hand as she gingerly placed the final piece atop the other precariously stacked pieces, only for everything to come crashing down.

Hot angry tears. Screams even. Over and over again.

Until the first time she finally did it with all the pieces remaining intact. That disbelief on her face and then the joyful exuberance. That immense pride on her face that I couldn’t wipe off if I tried.

She did it a couple more times, and then as she grew in confidence, she did it for her sister and coached her sister to do what she had done before.

These are the moments I live for.
These moments that I have the privilege of getting front row seats to.

Of them struggling and then overcoming.
Persisting and persevering.
Failing failing failing failing and then celebrating sweet success.

This is the magic in the mundane 🙂
Have you got your own magic in the mundane story to share?

32 Quick & Easy Drawing/ Creative Prompts For You

32 Quick & Easy Drawing/ Creative Prompts For You In One Post. (Save this to come back to it whenever you need inspiration or share it with a friend who needs some inspiration).

Thinking of all of you who are based in Melbourne so I decided to do this post compiling all the drawing/ creative prompts I’ve ever shared in one location because these can be used in a hundred and one ways and my girls get so creative with them.

Throughout the day today, I’ll also be sharing more tips on how to get your children to engage creatively with these prompts as well as inspiration for the possibilities of these prompts in my Stories so make sure to check Stories for that.

You’ve got this guys! Cheering you on 🙂

Much love,
Jules

(tag a Melbourne-based mama who needs some inspiration or encouragement ❤️)

HELLOOOOO!!! There’s been quite a few new faces

HELLOOOOO!!! There’s been quite a few new faces around here so I thought I’d jump on here to say hi and share 🖐🏼random facts about myself

I’m Jules, a SAHM mama to 3 girls under 4, on our way towards a homeschooling journey (but not as you know it 😉) Because I’m also a play parenting coach and I show parents how to help children learn joyfully and with ease, through child-led play and everyday life, without the worksheets, lesson plans and an endless stream of activities.
#AuthenticLearning

Now moving on to 🖐🏼 random facts about me!

1) I am a huge F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan and I honestly cannot even remember how many times I’ve watched the entire 10 seasons haha. I can most definitely finish off the punch line of every joke 😄

2) I love spoilers. I’ll wikipedia what a movie is about before watching it haha. With reality TV series like survivor, I’ll read the spoilers to find out who’s eliminated and then watch it with the hubs while constantly annoying him by saying “I know who’s out! Do you want to know?!!!!”😂

3) I used to be really afraid of ALL furry animals. I probably still am🙈

4) One of my life goals in my early twenties was to learn as many languages as I could. So I ended up taking several language classes for Spanish, Japanese and Thai. Unfortunately I can barely remember any of it now 🤦🏻‍♀️

5) I love math, like word problems and quadratic equations and algebra kinda math 🤪

Now it’s your turn! Does any of this describe you too?? Also, a lovely follower was chatting with me in DMs the other day and mentioned that she’s an OG follower back when I JUST started this account almost 4 years old!! 😱 So I’d also love to know, how long have you been following my account for? Are you an OG or a new-ish follower? Or if you prefer, where are you following from?? I’m curious about that too! :)

❌ Mama, stop worrying about whether your child i

❌ Mama, stop worrying about whether your child is behind!

Over the past few days, I've had several conversations with regards to Authentic Learning

Some of you are wondering if this is right for you.

If you've got time to implement the things I teach inside of the membership.

If this will work for YOUR child.

Look I'm honestly not incredibly special or smart.

My children are not geniuses who have an IQ of 300.

What I've got is years of KNOWLEDGE trained with a Masters in Early Years and years of EXPERIENCE as a busy SAHM mum of 3 who is also running a business from home.

I know the things I do because it took me years of training and more years still of actually working in several preschools.

My children are able to do the things they do because I've implemented my knowledge as a teacher in our home since they were born.

This works because I put in the work!

And I promise it'll work for you too IF you know what to do

And if you don't know how, I’m here to show you how

But I'm gonna be straight with you - Authentic Learning is NOT for everyone.

It is for you if you want your children to love and BE EXCITED about learning

It is for you if you want to learn how to set the groundwork for your children to learn independent and curious learning

It is for you if you want to raise children who are able to think critically instead of learning by rote

And it is most definitely for you if you're sick and tired of creating activities after activities just to keep them engaged and entertained

It is NOT for you if you are after quick fixes or to tide you through one more day!

It is NOT for you if you simply want to be able to show friends and family that your children can write all the letters of the alphabet or can count up to 100 and you're ok with them not understanding the deeper concepts behind those tangible skills.

As a mum, I care about your physical and mental well-being as a mama who thinks she has to do ALL the things before your children are able to learn

As an educator who's passionate about education & learning, I care about your children's future because I believe children are so much more capable than we give them credit for 👇🏼

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Home
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Invitations to Create
- Why Process Art/ Invitations to Create?
- 31 Days of Invitations To Create
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