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My Last Post

Wow! It's been five years people!

Five years since I started this little blog. But sadly, it's time to say goodbye.

I know :(

Regular and loyal readers would have noticed that I've rarely been posting new content here over the last few months. I feel like I lost the joy and enthusiasm that I once had for my little space on the Internet (especially when Little Man stopped having day naps!). But I felt like I needed one last post, on my five year blogiversary to say goodbye, and not leave you hanging, wondering what happened to me.

As I return to 0.8 classroom teaching this year (4 days a week), I'll no longer have the time to devote to keep the Teacher Types blog going. The blog will still be here, you'll still be able to find it if there's something you're looking for (I seem to be still getting some great Pinterest traffic!) I just won't be posting new content any more. As we all know, we just can't do it all.

Thank you to those followers for staying with me all this time, at whatever stage over the last five years that you found me. Only a small handful of you were here at the beginning, and read my every word. You know who you are. Thank you also to the brands who have supported and collaborated with me in a variety of ways. Your trust and faith in me means so much and I'm very grateful to have had this opportunity to represent your brands with my community. Thank you also to the guest posters and the interviewees who have shared their words of wisdom with us all.

I'm a really sentimental person, so naturally, as I was feeling nostalgic, I looked back at some of my favourite and most popular posts in those five years. Some really significant milestones in our children's lives were documented here and I never want that to be erased.

When I first started in 2014 I wrote about discovery bottles, treasure baskets and the importance of reading aloud. All still things that are relevant!! After some busy bag ideas? I've got you covered - click here. These play ideas for 'We're going on a bear hunt' are really popular!

2015 saw this beautiful art work created (which is still hanging in Miss M's bedroom). I reminisced over these getting dressed tantrums (thankfully now she LOVES new clothes and getting dressed up, however dressing Little Man is kind of like wrestling a really strong octopus). The end of 2015 saw us welcome our Little Man and our family was complete.

2016 was probably my biggest year for the blog (because I was on maternity leave). But from a parenting perspective it was the toughest time! I got some expert advice about the Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Waldorf approaches to educating young children (a great read if this interests you). The hot weather here in Adelaide right now made me this of sharing this EPIC water play post with you all to help your kids cool off this summer.

In 2017 I was teaching Year 2s and PE - which was a whole new ball game! I also had lots of fantastic opportunities come my way. We regularly visited Kid & Hub, Little Picassos and Wild Imagination, I wore Frankie 4 shoes and Miss M was the bare footed ring bearer. I represented Teach Starter and shared lots of STEM ideas.

2018 was HUGE for our family with Miss M starting school. She has absolutely flourished and I'm so proud of her! I contributed craft activities to Inspire Book Box, while Miss M and I got creative with what we could make with a cardboard box. We had an amazing Open Day at school and I managed to capture some of the wonderful provocations and 'living things' activity ideas that we used in Term 1 which I'll be sure to use again next this year.

Well friends, that's it, the final words to be typed on Teacher Types. I'll still be around on Instagram if you'd like to keep in touch and see what I'm up to.

Thank you again for reading my words.

Lauren xx

5 Ways to Use Letter Bricks

It's no secret that LEGO and DUPLO are more popular with young children than ever. Little Man spends ages building towers with DUPLO and Miss M creates some amazing, creative constructions out of her LEGO. It's always a popular choice of activity in my classroom and is so open ended with infinite possibilities!

So naturally, if you can find a way to tap into this interest to incorporate some more Literacy and Numeracy with your own children or children in your care - why wouldn't you take that opportunity? Recently I connected with the small business Lime Tree Kids, and they were kind enough to send us some Coko lower case letter bricks to feature on the blog. Both of my kids loved playing with them and it didn't take me long to come up with a list of 5 different ways to play with them!

The great thing with these bricks is that they still connect to regular DUPLO bricks as well as the base, so you can easily add them to your existing collection.

So when I first presented these to Little Man - this is what he did...


...followed by his rendition of the alphabet song, pointing at any random letter he wanted to. But this is great! This is where it all starts people!!

BOOK WEEK 2018: Find Your Treasure

BOOK WEEK is here!! I just love this year's theme Find Your Treasure, don't you? Taking place across the country from the 18th - 24th August, teachers are preparing their engaging activities and parents have (most likely) organised their child's costume.

To me, books themselves are treasured items. Your child's favourite book is a treasure. The one you've read to them over and over again, so often that they can recite it by heart. But of course there are some more literal ways to interpret this year's theme... here are some of my favourite activities!

This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter. 

Image Credit - CBCA

How I Started My Grimm's Wooden Toy Collection

So many people within the Facebook groups I'm in, or on Instagram are often asking "What Grimm's product would you suggest to get started?".

Well, mine began way back in 2015 and I've been gradually adding items piece by piece. As you probably know, there's a lot to choose from! So let me share with you where our collection started and what my latest purchase was, and most importantly, where you can get them from here in Australia!

Disclaimer: Some of these items have been gifted to me by various brands over the years, and some I've purchased myself. Grimm's really is my most favourite wooden toy brand. The quality is beyond belief. This is not a sponsored post. 

My first item was the medium rainbow for Miss M's transformation to a big girl rainbow themed bedroom. If you're considering getting a rainbow (Grimm's signature toy) have a think about whether you want small (11cm), medium (17cm) or large (38cm) and which colour combination you want. If you want to use for small world play, then the small would be ideal. But if you want it for large scale block construction - go large.

SCIENCE WEEK 2018!

Game changers and change makers...

Doesn't that theme just get you excited for Science Week? To me it's all about STEM, innovation, inquiry, investigations and experiments. We want to encourage our students to think outside the box, use their creativity and push the boundaries of what they already know and take for granted.

Science Week 2018 takes place of the week between 11th and 19th of August right around Australia. Some schools might choose to do lunch time activities in the Science labs, buddy class activities, rotations around the school or simply make extra time in their timetables for some super fun Science activities within their own classrooms.


This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter. 

Displaying Special Family Memories

I'm sure I'm not the only mum that has absolutely stunning photos of my kids saved in folders on my computer - just waiting (begging!) to be put on display.

Photos of your kids are just so precious, and I must admit I have a few more around the house of Miss M than of Little Man - so that's why I chose this gorgeous photo of him (taken about a year ago mind you), to have printed on a canvas by CanvasChamp.


This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Brand Meets Blog. 

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