Hebburn mum aims to bring learning and fun together with launch of new online shop

Cherie Mobberley, from Hebburn is a qualified primary school teacher, and has taught in England, France, China and the USA.

But after having her first child, she decided to turn her passion for education into new avenues, and now uses her skills as both a parent and teacher to promote learning through play with her new business.

Launching The Early Teacher, the business promotes learning through play with toys such as role play sets, traditional wooden games and buildable animals.

“I left teaching because I knew that the heavy workload I brought home wasn’t what I wanted when I started a family,” said Cherie.

"However, I quickly discovered that the teacher part of my brain never really turns off. When playing with my children I always set up activities and games that I know will lead to good development in the key areas of learning.

“I decided I wanted to put my skills to good use, so I initially started a blog to help others with fun ideas to help their little one's development. It wasn't about making them sit at a desk and do a lesson, but adding in little bits of learning into playtime - without the children even realising.”

The Early Teacher was born during the first coronavirus lockdown, at a time when parents were scrambling to find educational resources to use for homeschooling.

The business originally sold learning activity packs for young children, including dry wipe handwriting sheets and alphabet mats but now with lockdowns hopefully a thing of the past, Cherie has decided to take the business in a different direction.

She added: “With the market quickly becoming saturated, I wanted to find a different way to encourage learning and development at home, but making sure it was fun.”

The Early Teacher’s new online shop will stock a wide variety of toys that help with children’s learning and development, whilst having a small impact on the environment.

To visit the Early Teacher’s shop and find out more, visit www.theearlyteacher.com

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