Many of your little ones may have already developed a special interest. A special interest is just something that they love and are drawn to. For August - it's bins! Some kids love bikes, some love dogs, I've seen some kids pretty obsessed with Frozen!

As an adult, it can get quite frustrating to hear about the same thing over and over again and I know some parents worry that their children are too obsessed and not branching out. I'm here to tell you that special interest are awesome!

WHY?
kids are more likely to learn when their special interests are at the centre of the learning. It's sort of the same with adults - I know that if someone talks to me about cars I completely switch off, but if you talk to me about make-up I'm totally engaged! Our interest engage us - so if you use your child's special interests to engage your child (keep their attention) then they're more likely to listen to you and learn new things.

TEACHERS DO THIS!
Teachers know that special interests can fix all sorts of issues in the classroom. Sometimes even adding a tiny picture of a special interest to the corner of a worksheet can make kids want to do it! August's teachers use 'checking the bins' to help him settle into nursery every morning.

HOW WE USE BINS TO TEACH AUGUST

• We talk about the day that the bin lorry comes. We recite the days of the week and cross them off on a calendar, counting down to Wednesday!
• We talk about the colour of bins.
• We count bins that we see, and how many we see the bin lorry get.
• We look at the writing on bins and talk about the letters.
• When I find other words that start with B, I point to the B and say "a B! b b b just like bin! B b bin!".
• We draw bins and I talk about the shapes: a rectangle for the bin then circles for wheels. The lid is a square.
• We use describing words like rough, smooth, dirty, clean, shiny, hot, cold
• We teach the concept of 'full' and 'empty'.

Think of your child's special interest. How could you manipulate it to teach them new things? Reach out if you need some help and tag a friend who's kid is obsessed with something!

Watch me do this with August here