One of the many things I’m thankful for about my days as a stay-at-home-mum with a toddler, is the joy of seeing my dear 1-year-old daughter play, learn and explore the world around her. She’s now able to communicate very well and has adapted her own names for things. For example, she learnt to say ‘butterfly’ a little while ago (or ‘fly-a-fly’ in actual fact), and now any insect that flies is called a ‘fly-a-fly’. She also calls food ‘yummy-yummy’ and a xylophone a ‘ding-ding’ – which is actually quite an appropriate name for an instrument in my opinion. Her cute names for things make me smile already, and I know that as she gets older she will continue to observe the world around her with her own unique perspective. What a blessing it is to be able to share this with her. 

As a teacher, I remember finding it very entertaining hearing some of the observations that little ones shared with me. There were moments where I’d stop and think to myself ‘I never thought I’d hear THAT’.  After a few years on the job those moments became a little less frequent because, well, it simply took a lot more to surprise me. I recorded some of the insightful things that have been shared with me by these precious little ones over the years to give you an idea of what it’s like working with young children and to hopefully make you smile. 

(Please note: anything to do with sickness, boogers or toileting patterns has been filtered from this list. We’ll save that for another time.)

Did you know?

• Antlers are the things that stick out of ants’ heads.

• Snails would dance if they had legs.

• If you’re not a mother and you’re not married, you must still be a kid.

• If you don’t get the head-lice out of your hair, they’ll start to build houses and cities and everything!

• Harriet’s cousins are staying with her this week. They’ve visited from another world.

• Ellie will be having 19 kids when she grows up, but only if her tummy allows.

• Halle went on a holiday because she’s allergic to Australia.

• Mrs T doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up.

If you’ve heard anything like this in your classroom, feel free to share it with me in the comments section below.

If you’d like to read more of my musings, then take a look at this post where I reflect on the power of children’s drawings.

Have a question or a request? You can contact me at blueskydesignsbymrst@gmail.com.

(Edited from original post written in November, 2016.)