Basingstoke | Messy Play Classes

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Lene Perkin

lene@littlelearnersuk.com

Welcome to Little Learners Basingstoke! We run Messy Play & Mark Making classes and events across Basingstoke. We also offer Little Learners birthday parties! Please get in touch if you have any questions.

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About me

Little Messy Learners

Hello my name is Lene and I live in Basingstoke with my husband Chris and our two children, Benny 9 and Emilie 7. I run Little Learners parties and messy play classes in Basingstoke. A multi award-winning educational mark making program that develops early writing skills through messy play.

I am a primary teacher and for the past 10 years I have mainly taught in Key Stage 1. Teaching children has given me first-hand experience of what mark making brings to children. Mark making supports skills needed for early writing, fine motor skills, hand-eye co-ordination and so much more.

So come along, join us for lots of messy fun and help your child make their mark.

I look forward to meeting you in classes, please contact me for further information.

What are Little Learner classes all about?

Little Learners is a wonderful way to engage young children and develop their physical skills such as core strength and coordination, as well as social and communication skills.

Enjoying messy play sessions helps to develop their early writing skills too. Each week we practise a different shaped mark. As the children practise making marks, we can start to show them how to form letters and numbers. This is great for getting them ready for school!

Classes are all mixed ages with activities to suit babies up to pre-schoolers. This means that they are great for siblings.

My aim is that my classes are relaxed, welcoming and fun, enabling you to spend time with your child and help them to develop skills they will need for the future. It is also a great place to chat and meet other parents. Come and join in some mark making sessions in Basingstoke! I look forward to meeting you. Any questions please just ask.

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Parties

How about a Little Learners Party for your child? Did you know I can tailor our parties to your child’s interests or favourite characters?

I can cater to themes such as Peppa Pig, Unicorns, football, Under the sea and many, many more. I can either set up the party at a venue of your choice and leave you to party or I can set up, host and stay and tidy up.

The party room would typically be set up with a variety of themed messy and dry trays, sensory play, painting and drawing stations, play dough, crafts and a dance area. The party packages start from £100 for up to 15 children and your party can be set up at a venue of your choice – I can bring everything required, deliver the session and clear up all the mess afterwards – what could be better? For an additional £20 we can provide a ‘cake smash’ tray! For more information, or to check availability of parties or messy play classes in Basingstoke please get in touch – lene@littlelearnersuk.com or check us out on Facebook.

Birthday Surprises…

Know someone with a birthday coming up? Would you like to send someone a surprise?

Here is one example of a messy play bundle I sent off to a little boy as a surprise. I added colouring sheets and a personalised note.

Get in touch if you’d like to send someone a surprise. (Does not need to be just birthdays)

I cater for different budgets, can add moondough, rainbow rice and paper/card. I’ll pack it all and pop it in the post for you.

Get in touch and I can send over some bundle ideas.

Lene@littlelearnersuk.com

Little Learners Outdoors – We will be back Spring 2024!

All the fun of Little Learners classes but outdoors. These will be one off events so you can pick and choose which you would like to attend. The classes will have paint, messy play trays, water play, a mud kitchen, play dough and so much more. Look out for dates for 2024!

Awards

Little Learners Conference February 2022 The Spirit Award & The Helping Hands Award

Runner up in Little Ankle Biters Hampshire Awards 2022 for Best Children’s Party Entertainer

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Parent Testimonials

Find out what people say, don’t take our word for it!

We’ve been attending Little Learners for over 7 months and we absolutely love the sessions and we are already looking forward to next term and the outside sessions in the summertime!

Lene works so hard to set up the stations so that they are purposeful, engaging and moving the children’s learning forward with the next mark making skill. During the course of our time at Little Learners, my now 18m old daughter has grown in confidence and has made strides in her mark making, early language acquisition and fine and gross motor skills. My once hesitant baby who wasn’t too sure of getting her hands and feet dirty, is now the one most likely to be the messiest

She really gets stuck in and there’s no stopping her now! I’m looking forward to how much more she learns and develops at Little Learners as she gets older.

The added bonus is that there is no cleaning up, it gives you some great ideas to continue and try at home and the bucket of water at the end is my daughters favourite part!

Thank you Lene for all of your hard work and dedication!

By far the best baby class I’ve been to, and wish i had found it sooner! My son is nearly 16 months and is very boistrous, so the messy play was perfect. I look forward to going again.

We chose Lene to host our sons 4th Birthday party on Saturday, she was brilliant from start to finish nothing was too much, she interacted well, with everyone, her art work was amazing we chose a firework and space themed event, she sure delivered that!! She hosted the party from start to finish, very reliable and professional, my son absolutely loved this party, Highly recommend Thanks Lene!

My daughter and I have really enjoyed these sessions, such a great idea for sensory and development. Lene is a great teacher, and really cares for the children and parents. My daughter has started at 7 1/2 months of age, and will be continuing for future sessions. Thank you for a great experience x

Thank you to Little Learners Basingstoke for an amazing Thomas themed, messy play birthday party. The children had so much fun and got super messy! 🚂

LL Basingstoke is amazing. I have been coming to classes for 2 years now (face to face and online). Lene is an amazing teacher who loves her work and in very invested in helping your child develop. The activities are suitable for a range of ages so, once lockdown is over, I can take both my duaghters aged 2 and a half and 5 months and they will both get something out of it. If you love the idea of messy play but don’t want the hassle of tidying up, this it PERFECT!! Also, the bundles and resources that Lene sells alongside have been brilliant during lockdown and I will continue to use these beyond too. Her services are brilliant and I highly recommend her and Little Learners!

Debbie Grimes

Thank you for the class today. I am very impressed with how it was all run! Tbh I felt quite nervous about coming beforehand but went away really looking forward to next week. L loved it too and is such a good age now to really enjoy the activities (even if he didn’t want to stop playing with the cars

Little learners is an amazing group and I am so glad my daughter and I have got to experience it. My little girl who is 10 months old absolutely loves attending.

Lene has put a lot of hard work and effort into making it fun and enjoyable for all the children, despite all the Covid guidelines she has to follow.

Each activity allows the children to explore and learn in such a fun and safe way.

Thank you Lene, keep up the good work.

Lindsay Brown

We recently hired some trays and equipment from Lene, and bought some of her bundles of messy play activities. Both were really thoughtfully put together and gave us some much needed new ideas for lockdown play! I have a nearly 2 year old and a 4.5 year old and they both enjoyed all of it. Thank you Lene!

Megan Jensen

My son used to go to Lene’s classes and seeing him transform from not paying attention, he actually started to mark-make, concentrate and enjoy the messy play! Most recently however, we ordered a messy play bundle for lockdown. It’s been a lifesaver for both my boys! Thank you Lene!

Priya Brown

My little boy absolutely loved his first little learners session!
I think he would of stayed all day playing if he could of! He especially loved the colourful spaghetti pumpkin!
Every detail was thought about from the fun activities to the clean up! It was brilliant he had so much fun exploring and getting messy!
What I thought was great was it so nice to be able to get my LO all clean and tidy before his afternoon sleep.
Lene is so friendly and welcoming. Definitely recommend this class!
Thank you Lene!

Lucy Wright

We have just finished our first term with Lene at little learners and we love it. Each week we have so much fun and there is always so much to play with. The classes are a nice size and Lene is so welcoming and friendly. I would definitely recommend anyone with little ones to come along and embrace the mess! We can’t wait for next term!

Charlotte Ross

Thank you very much for a super session today. My boys loved it! All the activities were well thought through and certainly all geared towards the Halloween theme.

Sam Hicks

My little one loves it! Can’t wait for the next session! He is engaged in the activities for the duration of the session and seems at ease in the setting. Lene, the lady running the classes is so friendly and laid back. We felt welcome at our first class so we immediately booked onto the summer sessions. You’ll be seeing more of Noah! Highly recommended!

Afia McCoy

Really love this group, my 2 year old has great fun and is kept amused for the whole hour, I highly recommend.

Gemma Simpkins

Fantastic class – my 6 month old thoroughly enjoyed making his mark!

Elise Farzam

Had such a great summer session with Lene today. She has such a fantastic manner with children of all ages and let’s get them really stuck in! The messy trays were all set out beautifully (until the kids intervened!) – both inside and out. Max loved doing the ‘swirl’ in a range of textures and especially loved getting stuck into the lumpy custard! Thank you so much for such a fab session – I fully recommend to all.

Michelle H

FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we do messy play?

Messy play isn’t just about having fun (although that’s a big part of it!). It’s also a crucial aspect of children’s development.

Here’s why:

What do Classes involve?

Welcome and introduction to the weekly theme
Unstructured play across the stations including;
- Wet messy play (e.g water, slime, chia seed, tapioca pearls etc)
- Dry messy play (e.g cereals, grains, pasta etc)
- Playdough
- Painting/Art Exploration
- Fine Motor Skills
- Colouring In
- Gross Motor Play
Pack Up and Goodbye