Do you plan different topics each week?

[CrazyBabies]

I currently mind 4 part timers, two of the children are 1 1/2, and two are 3 yr old.
We are out at toddler groups each morning, then lunch, younger children nap, them school run, then an hour left before home time.
I find it hard to plan topics such as The very hungry caterpillar, but we don't really have long to cover planned themes,
I am just wondering what everyone does?
Should I perhaps plan a theme to cover a month and do little bits of it at a time.
I plan childrens individual goals in their learning journey, focussing on the EYFS.

I don't do topics at all.
We do whatever we / the children fancy doing each day.
makes life a lot easier!

I have similar sounding days to you and don't have the time or inclination to do topics. I suspect I'll have to think about it nearer my next inspection but for now I'm happy the children in my care enjoy themselves and have access to a wide range of activities and are covering all areas of learning.

I used to, but realised that the full time child I had was only ever getting time to do anything about the weekly topic one day a week as we don't go out that morning.
By the time we have done the school run, been to a group/park etc, picked up at nursery, had lunch and nap, it's time for the afternoon school run. Once all the older ones are here we might do a craft or something planned, but not every day.

We do lots of activities but generally they not linked together by anything apart from what I fancy on the day.

The only time we might do a topic is in the school holidays if the weather isn't great. I planned loads of bad tempered ladybird stuff over the summer, we did none of it. The children all wanted to be outside.

I plan each week based around a letter. So, for example, if it's a 'P' week, we might have a picnic, play with finger puppets, go to the park, make penguins, etc. etc. I find it just helps to focus us, so we don't have any 'what are we going to do' moments when my mind goes blank.

Of course, we have picnics and go to the park on non-'P' weeks, too - we just focus on different parts of them depending on the letter.

I have a plan for each half term with activities loosely based on a theme or topic, and taking on board unrelated things such as celebrating birthdays, sports events, local stuff like fetes or musical performances. Then if we don't fancy doing what is in the plan, or have a better idea, we ditch the plan without a second's thought!

If the children are particularly interested in something then I might do a topic about it, but it would be at most one per term, certainly not weekly, and sometimes I don't do them at all. Young children need lots of time and repetition to process new ideas and I think a lot of it would go right over the heads or be quickly forgotten with weekly topics.

I like the idea of a letter a week baby powder. I might use something a long those lines, thank you!

I don't plan themes/topics they tend to naturally occur. It may develop from something a child did over weekend, something they saw or were told about, the weather, if something big is happening in our area, I.e Olympics...so on and so on.
I found planning was usually a waste of time because children would always take the lead so half the time things were being crossed out and scribbled over on my planing sheet (ofsted like to see changes made to planning though-shows you are child led)
Don't feel pressured to have structured learning time, it's not realistic and not necessary for ofsted! X

I'm the same as Cullercoats. We played tennis while Wimbledon was on and collect leaves in Autumn, but most topics are led by the children. We went through a pirate phase during the Summer, football is a current favourite, drawing picture of parents has happened a lot this week. I have backup plans, in case the children run out of ideas, but that rarely happens.

If children attend another setting which has rigid plans, I get a copy of them, so I can respond to anything that child might be interested in at the time.