Carly Budd Developmental Play Academy

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🏆Paediatric Neuro OT training individuals, NHS, charity & third sector teams in inclusive early development & play for 0–3's 🚼 of ALL abilities ♿️
Train with an award-winning OT at the Developmental Play Academy®

What having jelly and ice cream reminded me this week…We’ve had such a lovely week in Norfolk with my parents, my brothe...
29/05/2026

What having jelly and ice cream reminded me this week…

We’ve had such a lovely week in Norfolk with my parents, my brother and his family celebrating my 40th. We had a full on 90s-style night but honestly the whole week felt a bit 90s.

Games, break dancing competitions, table games, cricket outside, children on bikes, long walks, sandy feet and everyone helping themselves to food from bowls in the middle of the table.

One night we had jelly and ice cream and it instantly took me back. Although I was born in the 80s, the 90s feel like my real childhood memories. Slower days with more freedom and creativity. More time outside and more made-up games that somehow lasted for hours?

Watching my children and their cousins this week really reminded me how much childhood has changed. Childhood feels so curated these days. Everything planned to the nth degree, organised fun, screens and constant entertainment.

And yes, some of it is lovely and children absolutely benefit from so many opportunities and experiences. Some children also really need routines and predictability too. I’m definitely not anti screen! But I am about balance!

And that’s what seems to have gone off kilter … this week reminded me that children still really need the simple things. Space to get bored, make things up, move their bodies, connect and just play. Low cost and no cost activities.

Less fancy pants set ups and more jelly and ice cream đź’ś

What do you think? Do you remember jelly and ice cream at parties?đź’–

www.carlybudd.co.uk

Huge congratulations to Clare on qualifying as an OT Approved Tummy Time Practitioner 🎉Clare is passionate about suppor...
22/05/2026

Huge congratulations to Clare on qualifying as an OT Approved Tummy Time Practitioner 🎉

Clare is passionate about supporting babies and families with a responsive, developmentally informed approach and understands how tummy time and floor based play can be adapted to support ALL babies.

She is committed to helping families move beyond outdated myths and misconceptions around tummy time and early development, including some ideas that are sadly still shared by some health professionals today.

Tummy time is so much more than “time on the tummy.” It supports movement, sensory experiences, regulation, strength, play and early development foundations, its part of a whole series of floor based play and should always be tailored to the individual baby 💛

I’m also so pleased Clare is continuing her journey with me as an Advanced Practitioner through the Infant and Toddler developmental play 0–3 Programme, deepening her knowledge in developmental play, sensory processing and play-based approaches that empower families.

Congratulations Clare! Super proud of you ✨

16/05/2026

Obvs this is a joke….But when people say that tummy time doesn’t matter, it’s often a misconception of what it actually is.

Tummy time isn’t one thing, it’s not plonking baby in the floor to get on with it… it’s a fun position for play that builds so many skills and foundations for lifelong function.

It’s floor-based and parent-based exploration, it’s connection, it’s movement, it’s development happening in real time. Tummy time is evidence-based for supporting early motor development …but it’s not one rigid position, it’s a range of adaptable, developmentally meaningful movement experiences

And even the most poorly of little ones can incorporate some form of tummy time with the right guidance and adaptation.

Parents don’t need to feel like they’re doing it wrong, most are probably doing more than they realise, but when we say it doesn’t matter we risk preventing babies from exploring their body’s, developing their brains and more!

That’s why I teach practitioners to really understand the depth of tummy time and floor-based play, and what I call positions for play… a “play diet” of developmentally appropriate experiences.

It’s never about ticking it off tummy time as a thing to do, it’s about understanding what it actually is and how it forms part of a natural need for babies to move against gravity in order to grow and develop.

www.carlybudd.co.uk

I’m looking for 5 practitioners to join my Tummy Time Practitioner™ Training 💛 Tummy Time is so much more than “time on...
12/05/2026

I’m looking for 5 practitioners to join my Tummy Time Practitioner™ Training 💛

Tummy Time is so much more than “time on the tummy.”

It is one of the earliest foundations for movement, sensory processing, postural control, visual development, bilateral coordination, body awareness, regulation, fine motor skills, and later functional motor skills.

Research continues to highlight that early tummy time experiences are linked to motor development outcomes, strength development, head control, and opportunities for babies to move against gravity and explore their environment.

But most importantly… it’s about connection, play, confidence, and helping families feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.

The feedback from professionals completing this training means the world:

✨ “100% would recommend.”
✨ “So beneficial and worthwhile.”
✨ “We’ve embedded this across our whole service.”

This training helps practitioners truly understand the why behind tummy time, developmental play, movement foundations, and sensory experiences and how to support babies and their parents in realistic, responsive, play-based ways.

If you work with babies and families and want to deepen your understanding in a way that is evidence-based, practical, and immediately applicable, I’d love to welcome you 💫 Please comment tummy time below and ill send more details 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏿👇🏾

I’m looking for 5 practitioners to join my Tummy Time Practitioner™ Training 💛 Tummy Time is so much more than “time on...
12/05/2026

I’m looking for 5 practitioners to join my Tummy Time Practitioner™ Training 💛

Tummy Time is so much more than “time on the tummy.”

It is one of the earliest foundations for movement, sensory processing, postural control, visual development, bilateral coordination, body awareness, regulation, fine motor skills, and later functional motor skills.

Research continues to highlight that early tummy time experiences are linked to motor development outcomes, strength development, head control, and opportunities for babies to move against gravity and explore their environment.

But most importantly… it’s about connection, play, confidence, and helping families feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.

The feedback from professionals completing this training means the world:

✨ “100% would recommend.”
✨ “So beneficial and worthwhile.”
✨ “We’ve embedded this across our whole service.”

This training helps practitioners truly understand the why behind tummy time, developmental play, movement foundations, and sensory experiences and how to support babies and their parents in realistic, responsive, play-based ways.

If you work with babies and families and want to deepen your understanding in a way that is evidence-based, practical, and immediately applicable, I’d love to welcome you 💫

Please comment below and I’ll send more details about a special rate for 5 practitioners👇🏼👇🏻👇🏾👇🏿

When I graduated from the University of Essex with a First Class degree in Occupational Therapy back in 2008 I had no id...
04/05/2026

When I graduated from the University of Essex with a First Class degree in Occupational Therapy back in 2008 I had no idea where this path would take me. What followed was years of experience in the NHS, a move into independent practice, and l becoming a mother…all of which deeply shaped how I understand children, development, and the importance of play.

Alongside this, I trained as an infant massage and baby yoga instructor and became a lecturer for a number of years… I later created my own online training academy for practitioners working with babies, children, and families - the Developmental Play Academy 🌸

Over this time, something became very clear to me. Families want this knowledge about how to support their child’s motor skills, cognitive skills, visual perception, and skills that set them up for life.. with loving playful interaction at the heart, but it’s practitioners who carry it forward into real life. They are the bridge between evidence, understanding, and everyday practice, between what we know and how we support families with confidence and clarity, and I am grateful to have had the privilege of training over 600 practitioners across the world 🌍

I never set out to be an “influencer” but I do believe this work is helping shape and influence thinking within the baby and toddler and early development space in a meaningful way.

If you’re a practitioner wanting to deepen your understanding of development and play, and feel more confident in your work with families, I would love to support you. Even if you already have a background in early years, or none at all, I can assure you training with me will shape your practice and give you knowledge and tools for life 🙏

www.carlybudd.co.uk

There is a whole community of professionals and caregivers who sit at the heart of a baby’s earliest experiences, and mo...
28/04/2026

There is a whole community of professionals and caregivers who sit at the heart of a baby’s earliest experiences, and most of them have no idea just how powerful their position really is.

Family support workers, baby group leaders, postnatal yoga teachers and movement specialists, OTS physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, health visitors, midwives, doulas, perinatal workers … every single one of you are working within a window that is extraordinary in its importance and all too brief in its nature!

The early months and years of a baby’s and toddlers lives are when the nervous system is doing its most fundamental work. Primitive reflexes are integrating, postural reflexes are developing, and the movement experiences a baby and toddler has during this time are literally shaping the neural architecture that will underpin how they learn, regulate, connect and participate for the rest of their lives.

Tummy time, floor play, rolling, reaching, rocking … these are not optional enrichment activities. They are neurological necessities, and the adults around that baby are the ones who make them possible.

This is exactly why and what I teach in my Advanced Practitioner in Developmental Play Training for 0–3 years - the depths of why and how to support babies and toddler movement and play experiences.

Whether you are a clinician looking to deepen your neurodevelopmental knowledge, a practitioner wanting to set up your own programmes or courses for parents either as groups or 1-1, or a professional who wants to understand what is really happening beneath the surface of the babies and young children you work with, this training will change the way you see early childhood forever. This is not your standard child development course, it is a deep dive into neurodevelopment, the power of movement-based play, and the positions for play that give the nervous system exactly what it needs to thrive.

Do take a look at my courses, they are changing so many little lives and I’d love you to join me 🌸

www.carlybudd.co.uk

🏆 I am absolutely buzzing! Two years later and I’m a finalist again at the OT Excellence Awards. After winning three ca...
24/04/2026

🏆 I am absolutely buzzing! Two years later and I’m a finalist again at the OT Excellence Awards. After winning three categories in 2024, this honestly means the world.

I have poured my heart into the training I offer. It’s an accumulation of years of clinical experience working in paediatrics within in NHS Child Development Centres, Paed rehab teams and independent OT practice (shout out to ) and supporting children who aren’t always following a “typical” path.

It’s the bridge between the clinical and the everyday, empowering families, bringing play to life in real environments, and giving practitioners the knowledge, confidence and competence to support development not as a generic milestones checklist, but through a truly neurodevelopmental lens with the how to of 100s of practical ideas, with the nuts and bolts of the why!

OTs, physios, speech therapists, midwives, maternity nurses, doulas, lactation consultants, infant massage and baby yoga teachers, family support workers …watching this community take that knowledge and run with it has been extraordinary. Community projects, SEND-specific groups, charities across the UK and beyond. The ripple effects are real, so to my community, I say thank you for trusting in me 🌸

And always it’s the babies, the toddlers and the families at the heart of it all. Everything is for them 🫶🏼

Address

Colchester

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 3:30pm
Thursday 10am - 3:30pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 12:30pm

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