Kozy Kids Family Childcare

A Visit From the Librarian

2012-02-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Oh My... are we one lucky daycare!! We live in such a great little town because our library has an outreach program that allows one of their wonderful librarians to visit local schools, daycare homes, childcare centers and preschool programs. Now, it took me a while to learn about Miss Crystal, but I am so glad I dropped by the library with my young son one evening and there she was, not only with a world of information about visiting the library with my kiddos, but the outreach program. We talked, set up a time, and the kids and I began the wait and the anticipation of having our very own STORYTIME, right here at the house!!! See what I mean... aren't we soooo lucky!!!

Miss Crystal was so great with the kid. I think I was more nervous about the kids getting up, moving, talking, touching, etc... than she was. I guess she's a pro at this, because she did such a great job with the little ones, even helping to dry the tears of one of the kids (yes, brought on by my asking them to sit down. I should have just left it up to Miss Crystal :) ) I am so happy to have this program available to us, and we look forward to when Miss Crystal comes again!!!

I had to post this picture of our morning snack!!

Aren't they the cutest muffins you've ever seen??

We thought so!!

And they tasted as good as they looked ;)

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Free greeting customized with Smilebox

I have also linked up with Momwich

Learning When You Don't Even Realize It

2012-02-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

I know, everyone thinks Kozy Kids is a place for only arts and crafts, games, fun, hugs and kisses, singing, or dancing... but we do a whole lot of learning and growing too. I realized that I don't really talk much about some of the daily learning we do. I think it is because it is so second nature to us that I don't think of it as "worthy" blog material ;) So, today when Little Man was getting such a kick out of using his big boy cup I thought I better get a few shots of this, then I thought, look how big this boy has gotten, using his own glass cup at Shell's. I knew I had to include it in our post today. Self help/Independence skills not only help me, and believe me I start teaching them as soon as I can ;) but they help the child who is learning them. They feel so independent, in control, proud, successful, and BIG.

The little ones not only learn from me, but watch the big kids closely, and learn from them,. Little Man has been watching Sprout and Roo put their cup on the counter everyday since August, and he watched his sister and friends last year, so when he finished his breakfast this morning he made sure I knew HE was going to put his cup on the counter and his bowl in the sink (which was the cutest thing ever, since he can't reach either one) I had to put the stool next to the counter, but with little help from me he accomplished his task and without waiting for the fanfare I wanted to bestow on him, he ran off to get ready for nap. As much as I know it is inevitable that these little ones will grow up, it doesn't stop that little bit of loss I feel when it happens, okay, I'll be honest, A LOT a bit of loss when it happens.

You are right though to conclude that we do accomplish a lot of fun stuff during our time together. If it isn't playing dress up or house, it could be building with blocks or train track. Today we happen to introduce the letter Ee, the color PURPLE, a Square, the number 6 and VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

We read Purplicious by Elizabeth Kann, at the end of the book it talks about how if you mix blue and pink you get PURPLE... so we decided to see if this book was really telling us the truth. What fun we had investigating this hypothesis ;)

We started with BLUE first...

Then added RED...
and what do you think happened???

It turned PURPLE!!!
Right in front of our eyes!!!!

I love how Lil Bit is stretching to get to the top of her paper.

These two were very funny together...
They would continually touch one another's papers, but act very put out when it happened.
That didn't stop them though :)

Today, yeah we learned that blue and red make purple, but we also learned to share our space, to take turns with materials and toys, and to communicate with each other. Miss Michelle learned that Little Man has learned things that she didn't even realized she'd taught him. It was a good day.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

2012-02-05T14:11:00.000-08:00

As everyone who has read this blog for awhile, knows I LOVE to take photos, especially of children. I think they are the sweetest, most precious things in the world and I want to capture this time with them as much as I can!! Children have the most wonderful expressions about them, facially and in their body movements. If I could have my camera strapped to my neck all day I could probably get some really great pictures, but I can't, so I take what I can get and just snap away while I can.

So... I have been following a blog La-La's Home Daycare and she has some fun photography link ups that I thought I could participate in. Today's Link Up is from Ramblings and Photos by Ashley Sisk. Some of the photos are really unbelievable, makes me know just how far I still have to go for this to be more than just a hobby :) So, without further ado, I introduce you to Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

This Sunday's Hunt consists of finding 5 photos to represent the categories of...

1. Color Me Green

2. Strike A Pose

3. Shiny

4. Footwear

5. Hobby

COLOR ME GREEN

STRIKE A POSE
Are they not the SWEETEST!!!

FOOTWEAR
Do you not just LOVE baby feet... especially in Feety Jammie's.

SHINY
I know this may not be the traditional meaning of SHINY, but the way the Sun is shining through her hair makes me love this photo.

HOBBY
Taking photos of my children and the children in my care makes me so happy.
It is a Hobby that I enjoy all the time, anywhere :)

I have linked up with Scavenger Hunt Sunday if you want to go over and take a look at all the beautiful photos other people have taken!!!

Action Photos

2012-02-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have taken thousands of photos of my own children and the children in my care. I love to look back on them and see how we all have grown. I have learned, though, that sometimes the best photos are not the ones with a huge cheese face. That sometimes taking photos of them working and exploring are not only more fun, but usually brings me the best pictures, especially when I am lucky enough to get that natural smile, you know the one... that special smile that evades even some of the best photographers when they shot photos of children this age.

The first set of photos are of the kids playing with our GREEN play dough that we made yesterday. They were off playing in the housekeeping area when I put everything out on the table. Once they saw it, they came running... no time to take off their outfits.

Little Man was the Knight in Shining Armor to Sprouts Princess ;)

I love this face... Sprout was beginning to make a new "cake" when Little Man started for her old "cake."
You can see that didn't go over well :)

Yes, Little Man is saying, "WHY?????"

The kids eventually wandered away from the play dough and went back to their Knight and Princess world, that is until I brought out the Dinosaurs... Making Dino Tracks is always enticing.

Even Head imprints can be fun...

Or wait, what about tails!!!

Sprout was bound and determined to get that Tail Track!!!
Little Man thought that was a great idea.

But feet were so much easier!!!

We got to spend another great morning outside today. It was a little cooler than yesterday, but the sun was shining and the ground was pretty dry, so out we went and what a great time we had!!! I can only hope for another 6 weeks of this!!!

Happy Green Groundhog Day!!!

2012-02-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Whats a Provider to do when she has taken 175 photos in one morning?? I can't put them all in the post, but I want to ;) So, I chose the ones that most represented our day...

We celebrated our GREEN day by making some no-cook play dough. I used a recipe I found on the internet (not sure where), but when I added the alum, it became like elastic, kinda like silly putty. Maybe I didn't add it in the right order, who knows, after we kneaded it for a while, you couldn't even tell.

Tutu's always make art more fun!!!

Making sure it wasn't sticky was a little tricky ;)
We used a lot of flour to make sure it was a good consistency...

When the consistency was just right, we started added fun stuff to create all sorts of things...
When asked what he was making, Little Man said, "ARGH!!!"
A Dinosaur maybe??

Lil Bit loves anything ART related... this was no exception.
She spent most of her morning in her tutu at the art table... to cute!!!

This was real serious creating for Sprout...
She loved when we put sequins out and she took her time making sure they were just right.

After the kids began wandering off to other things, Lil Bit would walk around the table gathering all the sticks up and "using" them for her creation... I'm not sure what it was, but she sure knew exactly what she wanted to do :)

Picking up all the sticks became a coveted job... everyone wanted a chance to put them in the plastic bag
(I'm telling you, you don't have to spend a lot on toys, some wooden sticks and a container, your good to go!!)

It was a little hard to hear that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we may be in for another 6 weeks of winter, but then the kids and I went outside and we found that we could probably deal with it if it stayed this nice for the next 6 weeks :) It was 65 degrees out today... It was beautiful!! We put on our mud boots and ventured outside to find some shadows, puddles, and fun!!!

"Ring Around the Rosie, Pocket Full of Posies...
Ashes, Ashes...
We All Stomp Our Feet, In the Puddle!!!"

Oh Yes, this was a favorite!!
I got a little dizzy after awhile, and man, I know I'm getting old because my back was KILLING me after 5 minutes of bending over and going in circle :)

Finding our shadows... just like Phil

"Look, here's mine!!"

She soooo didn't care ;)

Even the trees made shadows!!!

And nothing could top off our GREEN day better than...

Lil Bit's Gorgeous GREEN toes!!!
You just want to eat them up!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've tried something new, I've linked up with...

An Outdoor Classroom, Sort Of

2012-01-31T11:28:00.000-08:00

The Outdoor Classroom... what that means to me is a wonderfully natural place for children to learn and grow in. If you'd like to see my favorites take a look here, here, or here. These are just a few of the many, many blogs I have seen and read with beautiful outdoor spaces, if you just browse through them, you'll see what I mean. Their spaces are truly beautiful and welcoming.

So, I have spent a long time trying to emulate some of these outdoor spaces. Sometimes it's me that puts up my own obstacle, and sometimes it is licensing issues (which I won't go into) that keep me from creating the outdoor space I see in my dreams. That being said, I did set up a little area on the patio this week with a table and chairs, chalkboard, and easel. I also brought out a couple boxes of blocks to play with, and set some PVC pipe pieces in the sandbox to see what the kids would do with them. I think it was a success...

I don't know if you can tell, there is a race care that he put through the pipe, it is coming out the bottom of the pipe.

Sometimes it's fun to just climb and lie down.
Little Man kept looking over the edge and shaking his head back and forth.

Exploring under the play structure was fun too

Although I haven't been able to create the yard of my dreams, it definitely is fun and there is always an adventure to be had. I'll just keep working my way to where I want to be and some day I'm sure I'll get there ;)

A Hug for a Friend

2012-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

When I was a toddler I only had my sisters and cousins as playmates. I never was awarded the privilege of growing up in an environment with other kids to play with. Not to say either one is right or wrong, better or worse, but when I look at these two little ones, I can't help but think that there is something good about this place they are spending their first years.

We cleaned out part of the Sunroom this weekend and I put this little table in there so they could practice climbing and jumping. Seeing the world from another vantage point is just an added bonus. Scamp and Little Man were both drawn to it immediately, together. They spent a lot of time looking out the window, jabbering to each other, and...

Lots & Lots of HUGGING!!!

We didn't just hug today... we played outside. The weather is amazing and we had lots of fun just playing in the dirt, climbing, swinging and running free. I introduced the letter Dd today, the color GREEN, and the Diamond shape. Laura Numeroff wrote a new book, If You Give A Dog A Donut and I so wish we had that today. We talked about Dogs and had Donuts for Snack... YUM!!

Friends...

2012-01-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was cooking lunch today and heard lots of giggling coming from the Living Room.

This is what I found....

They all climbed up on the couch and proceeded to laugh, giggle, wiggle, make funny faces, sing songs, take socks off, bang heads, (and yest that is Scamp trying to take Sprouts barrette) and enjoy just being with each other!!! To cute!!!

Orange is Everywhere!!

2012-01-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

Orange is a great color!! I didn't think we'd find so much of it everywhere. Sprout even found a shirt that was Orange!! Scamp found some awesome Halloween socks that had Orange on them, and Lil Bit had the cutest little Orange painted fingernails I'd ever seen!!! Everyone found something to bring in and Show-n-Tell with. Some of the items even started with Cc!! A win-win for everyone!!!

Roo brought in this cute Microscope, that she shared with EVERYONE!!!

Look at those wee fingernails!!! I love it!!!

Lil Bit also brought in this Learning Leap Frog...
you can't really see it, but he has an Orange outfit on :)

We mixed all our colored pasta together and played.
They filled and dumped all morning

Little Man was the King for the Day!!!

"Hey, I'm the Queen for the Day!!!

We had Orange flavored Cupcakes today, and you can't have cupcakes without reading If You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Laura Numeroff. Thankfully we didn't have to act this one out :)

After snack we had the Orange Rice Table, Pasta Fun, and Necklace Making out for the kids to explore. The necklace making was lots of fun, and didn't prove to be to hard for the little fingers that choose to have a go at it.

"Don't I look like a Princess??"

"I did it Shell!!"

"Oh Yeah, I got this!!"
(He would get the needle in, every time!! But then would let go with both hands instead of pushing it all the way through... to funny)

"What is that!!!"

There was no real messy art today, but being outside was better anyway. Who know's how long this weather will last, we need to take advantage of every possible warm and dry moment!!!

Our Morning Out

2012-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't been to the library in a very, very long time!! Our library went through a time where they cut some programs and I had a bad experience at a story time with my childcare kids, so we didn't visit often. Well, it's been almost 2 years since I brought my childcare back and I am sorry I haven't gotten there sooner. The new Librarian was amazing, welcoming, and understanding, not just of us, but of ALL the Moms & Dads of young children. We went to a 2-3yr old story time and it was amazing!! The kids loved it. There was dancing, singing, and of course story reading. The books were all quick, engaging and funny. It was a fun time!! We also went on our Orange Finding Field Trip through the children's library and found some great Orange Things!!

Stretch....

This could have been the highlight of the morning :)

An ORANGE book

An ORANGE tag

This ORANGE bow held together a piece of a beautiful little hanging quilt

ORANGE beads...
All at the LIBRARY!!!

These are not quiet toys, so you know the Librarians had to be great!!

Working together

Wow... so much to see and do

Shakin Eggs during a song... I'm not sure they were comfortable getting up and moving during the story time... it was interesting.

But we still got into it!!

Leaving with some books!!!
What a great time at the Library... we will definitely be back!!!

Now the library is fun, but we all knew we couldn't run, jump, climb, or yell when we are there. So, what would be a better way to finish off our morning but with a trip to the park!!!

We are all very hungry after our trip to the library... so we started off with snack!!!

WEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Playing Peek-a-Boo

"Shell, I'm stuck!!"

I see you!!!

Hanging from the ladder is another totally favorite thing to do!!!

"I don't want to go!!"

What a great morning... the kids really enjoyed both the library and the park. This weather makes me yearn for Springtime when we can do this more often. We will enjoy it while it is here and hopefully Spring will come sooner than later :)

Orange You Having Fun??

2012-01-24T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have always said, "Having a Silly Provider makes everything more fun!" even when said provider comes up with a silly title to a post :)

So... we used our bright orange rice in the sensory table today. I haven't seen this much action at the sensory table in a long time. I don't know if it was the color that engaged the kids or the texture of the rice, sound of the rice on the different equipment or maybe just because they were excited it wasn't sand :) but whatever the reason.... they LOVED it!!!

I also introduced the letter Cc today in Circle Time!! What better way to celebrate the letter Cc than making a Crown!!! Tomorrow, after they have all dried, we will put them on for our Orange Finding Field Trip!!! You can always find the color Orange with a Crown on your head!!!

"Cheese, now can I PLEASE get back to painting!!"

Scamp wasn't feeling 100% today, but she still gave painting a try

The jewels made her a little happier!!!

I made up this little activity this morning.
The kids loved Circling the C's with Orange crayon.
(I know, it doesn't make much sense... but we laughed)

Shake, Rattle & Color??

2012-01-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to do a macaroni dying activity for a while with the kids but just haven't been able to get to it.
So when I read THIS post yesterday from Miss Sheryl at Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, I knew there was no better time than the present. I gathered all the materials to have ready for today and left them out for the kids to discover. Today we had the school aged kids home from school, so I thought it would be a fun for them to help us... but that's not what happened...

Little Man getting the macaroni ready for colors

Sprout had fun SHAKIN the bag of ORANGE macaroni

Lil Bit was RATTLING the YELLOW

Little Man was SQUISHING with all his might!!

Here is our Orange and Yellow macaroni.
It was hard getting the Yellow to come out, since the macaroni is already a Yellowish color

Blue turned to green... Oh Well, they loved it anyway.
Lots of Owws & Ahhs...

Orange Rice... it was very squishy in the bag

Our school aged friends had more fun catching up with each other and playing house that they didn't really pay much attention to what we were doing, except Lil Bit's sister... she gave our activity a Shake, Rattle & Squish!! We then set our School Aged friends up with some more Tape Resist Painting. This time we used Liquid Water Colors from Discount School Supply. I told them they could do ANYTHING they wanted, but since everyone has a sibling that took home a Tape Resist Letter Painting last week, that is what they choose to do :)

Although the big kids did letters, the Roo and Sprout were over that and wanted to make some plain old designs

Is that a snake, Sprout??

Having fun exploring and experimenting with a new art medium.

What fun we had today. I can't wait until the macaroni and rice dries and we can begin exploring those over the next few days. We will be making necklaces, gluing, and touching all of them. We can't wait!!

Tape Resist Painting

2012-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last night I was wandering around cyberspace looking for something special to end our BLUE week with. I came across a wonderful blog, Make+Believe. Megan Schiller is the author and she runs amazing art classes for young children. If you live in or near Mill Valley, California and have young children, I would look her up and sign your child up for a class or two.

Anyway, I came across her post, Tape Resist Painting, and knew this was it. What a great way to end the week. Not only getting messy, but we used the first letter in each persons name, so it was personal. It was like magic. We even got to use BLUE painters tape, regular blue paint and sparkly blue paint... the kids loved it!!! Next time I would probably add a little blue sand to give it a little more texture, but I'm learning.

Starting off with the white paper made the letter really stand out...

Yet, when you added the blue paint it all blended together, you could forget all about that silly letter...

and focus on the work at hand!!!

We started just with finger painting, but quickly added the tools we used earlier in the week, plus a few more.

It took Little Man a few minutes to get going, but he really got into it today.

I love this photo...
Sprout is making her race cars dance :)

Now they are "dancing" on her paper...
making special designs.

Scamp enjoyed the tools a lot today.

Everything was like new to her...

She touched, swung around, pounded, pushed, smelled, and even tasted

When Scamp watched me take the tape off,
she swung her head toward me, with raised brows...
It was like she was surprised by what was under all that paint.
Priceless!!!

Thank You Megan for the great idea!!! We had so much fun!!!

We Love Blue!!

2012-01-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

The kids are enjoying our color weeks. They love Process art work (where there is no specific outcome or expected product) and could explore with the paint for long periods of time, whether it is on paper or just swooshing it around on the table top. So, when I saw their Blue Pictures from yesterday all dry, I had to hang them up. They talked about each one as I hung them, how some had butterfly prints and others where just finger paintings. It didn't matter, at all, what they looked like to our adult eyes, in their eyes they all were masterpieces!!

We did mitten art today. It was basically a gluing project. We let the kids "paint" on the glue and then go to town with the blue paper, tissue paper and pom-poms. Of course the painting of the glue was the most fun!!

Lil Bit was a bit annoyed that the "paint" was sticky, but that didn't stop her from finishing.
She spent a lot of time picking sticky tissue paper off her fingers, then squishing it between her fingers again and then prying it off again... it was funny to watch.

One finished mitten.

Today, I wanted to talk about Winter as a season. With little ones the concept of Seasons is pretty hard to grasp, but since we have talked about Summer & Fall, I thought it was important to talk about Winter too. I looked on line for a long time to try to come up with some concrete ideas to help them understand, but couldn't really find anything for such little ones. So, I came up with my own idea. I put a whole bunch of Summer Clothing and Winter Clothing in a sack. I had 2 boxes, 1 for Summer and 1 for Winter, the kids picked out a piece of clothing and put it in the appropriate box. We talked about how long sleeve shirts kept us warm and cozy when it was cold and it was (usually) cold in Winter, so we mostly wore long sleeve shirts in winter. Then we talked about short sleeve shirts and shorts being more for when it is hot, which is typically during Summer. You get the idea :)

Before we started, I had them try to guess what was inside the bag... I am trying to get them to be comfortable making inferences and guesses. A skill that will hopefully be so natural to them when they begin school, that it will carry into not only their social interactions, but academic as well. So, we looked at the bag, listened to the bag and felt the bag... making guesses each time as to what could be in it. I heard pillow, (it was a pillowcase and I was impressed because she used what she knew to make that inference), toys (Santa's sack), and mittens (from our Magic Bag yesterday). Each child used what information they already had to try and make an accurate guess, I was impressed. As we continue, this skill will become easier, especially since their vocabulary will start to expand each time they find something new in the bag.

I used to have a girl and boy bear, but I am missing the boy one, so we used the girl for summer because she was bare pawed :) and in a sundress and then just put a winter jacket, with mittens, in the other box. We talked about the differences between the 2 seasons, focusing on being warm and cold and how clothing helps us to stay warm, or cool us off.

Scamp enjoyed pulling the clothing out of the bag

She needed a little help, but we gave her words for each piece of clothing and where it went.
The more times she hears words, the larger her vocabulary will become.

Little Man could not contain himself during this game...
He was bouncing all over, and could NOT wait to get his hands in the bag!!

I left the Mitten Game from yesterday out today and the Season Clothing Bag out and both were favorite games today.

See I did it!!
The little ones LOVED putting the mittens on and off, that was their game.
If I sat with them, they would help me find the match, but they enjoyed practicing the much more fun skill of on and off!!

We sometimes forget how important everyday life skills are to the little ones in our care. I know we are teaching everyday, putting on coats, hats, shoes, etc... using the bathroom, wiping noses, washing hands... manners, putting dishes away, using our utensils... these are all skills that we don't even think about. But, putting out real live things for them, to practice on their own with, can be beneficial also. Having over-sized gloves, socks, jackets, etc... out for the kids to put on and off easily, will help them when the time comes for, "I do it!" because for 3 of my little ones and I, that time is right around the corner :)

Mittens and Paint

2012-01-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day. The kids played so nicely and enjoyed the new spaces. It seems that the flow (that I am endlessly looking for) may have been found :) The kids don't seem bunched up or on top of each other. They spread out and use the spaces correctly. I am happy.

When I taught in a "classroom" so many years ago, I always had my materials planned out and at my fingertips each week. I had a little basket with that weeks books, another box with art materials, etc... well, now that my "classroom" is in my home I can never seem to find what I know I have. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my 4 children, especially the younger 2, who seem to think anything I put out is for them to use, move, or confiscate. This is my round about way of saying... "I CAN'T FIND MY JAN BRETT BOOK, THE MITTEN!!!" I know I had it 2 weeks ago, my littlest guy and I read it. I know I set it on the shelf in the playroom... but is it there?? NO!!! So we had to YouTube it instead. We found a nice, condensed telling of the book and we were all happy. I am sure I will find my book on Saturday, when our mitten theme is over :) but I'll read it anyway, theme or not!!!

After our little video I got our my magic bag and we guessed what could be inside. We listened for clues, does it make noise (we had some yes & some no's), does it smell (again... yes & no's). We shook it, we felt the outside, we squeezed it. Finally, I let them put their hands inside and feel what was in there. Was it soft? Hard? Before looking inside, we took another guess... the first guess, Socks?? and every guess after, Socks!!! So, finally I let them take one out....

MITTENS!!!!

We sang some mitten songs...

And played "Match the Mitten"
We LOVE mittens!!!

Around the room we had some BLUE paint out for the kids to explore. One was even sparkly... sparkles make everything more fun!!!

There was all sorts of tools to try

This is how Lil Bit looked when she started....

Um... if you look at those arms you can tell how much fun she had!!!

Yup, he tasted it!!!

Scamp loved the paint, but hated the smock.

The sand table was open today

Scamp had fun emptying this box of cars and putting them back in again...

Books are always a favorite

I moved things around a little over the weekend. These photos aren't the best, and I can't believe I don't have any before photos.

I bought the leaf awning from IKEA... the kids love it, but they try to grab at it and pull it down.
Why do kids have to do that???

This is the house keeping area. I want to purchase a bigger kitchen set. I know they would love to have a refrigerator, we'll save for that. The kids have been busy moving everything around and they love to take the baskets from the shelf and use them to transport their creations all over the room.

The sand/sensory area

This is a view from my front door. The housekeeping and book nook are behind me to the left. The little table is for markers and coloring right now. It will also serve for writing and manipulatives. Behind the post is the art area. Sorry, no photo of that one, I must have gotten distracted by something (or more likely someone).

The "classroom" is still a work in progress. More organizing and rotation of the toys. We will get there one day. Hopefully before June :)

Busy Morning

2012-01-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no photos today. The morning went by so fast, I didn't even get a chance to pick up the camera.

Over the long weekend I decided to mix things up and move some things around a bit. I'm glad I did, the kids seemed engaged and having fun this morning. With the move we have to readjust to where things are. Even though all the kitchen food and toys are still on the same shelf, in the same baskets, the little ones were still disoriented because the shelf was not in its normal spot. So, for the next week, or so, we will becoming acquainted with our surroundings again. Keeps them on their toes :)

I like how the housekeeping/book corner came out. I will take some photos and post them, but I made it much bigger and although they all love it, the little ones really enjoy carrying things around, moving items from the table to the shelf, and sitting at the table. It came out cute.

We read the book The Hat, by Jan Brett. We loved how all the animals began wearing Lisa's clothing just because Hedgie had her stocking on his head. Yet, I think the most fun was recognizing the animals and making their sounds. I was hearing pigs oinking and kitties meowing... it was cute, but got a little loud. It was a very mild morning, so we got outside as soon as possible so we could get some fresh air before the wind kicked up and the rain began to fall. We did get rained on, big fat drops on our heads, but we didn't mind and stayed out for a while in the rain. Running and playing in the rain is always so much fun!!

Teddy Bear Day

2012-01-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

Our Teddy Bears were pretty active today, considering they should be hibernating right now. Try as I might, I couldn't get this crew to "hibernate" today :) Instead, I called Teddy Bears to come up to the Circle Time Center to help us count and do our daily activities... we thought that was pretty darn silly.

Scamp didn't think her Teddy Bear, Sherbert, was up to the challenge of counting...

But she sure was!!!

After Circle Time we took our Teddy Bears to have a bit of tea...

My lion is ready Shell!!

We even tried to fill our Bears up before they had to go hibernate again :)

A little "tea" for my friends!!!
(I need to invest in some real china tea cups and plates... I think it would be fun)

After we had our fill of the tea, we got zipped, bundled, and cozy'd up and off to the park we went to celebrate our friend Big Man's 2nd Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Big Man!!!

"What's going on??"

Weeeeeee....

I got this!!!

With slippery shoes, these two tried to get up the slide.
Every time they slipped and slid they would laugh and giggle!!

What a nice Teddy Bear Week we had!! We read lots and lots of books about Bears (thanks to all my families that sent in bear books to share!!), we learned about the color YELLOW, explored the number 3 and even had fun with the letter Aa!! I know next week will be as much fun when we explore a mini-unit on Mittens!!!

Teddy Bear Parade

2012-01-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Today we had some silly, mixed berry muffins. Why are muffins silly?? Ours are silly because they had feet and if that isn't silly enough, I must have put to much muffin mix in each container because they rose up and over the sides... Now that's SILLY!!! We talked about the different color holders we had and who were the ones who got the Yellow ones... Scamp had one and she would not let it go :)

YUM!!

Opps!!

At Circle today we read Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson (thanks Little Man's Mama!!) and Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury & Michael Rosen!! I thought the kids would like the Bear Hunt book a lot, but they didn't get into it. They did, however, love pretending their Teddy Bears were snoring like the Big, Brown Bear did in the book Bear Snores On. It was pretty noisy!!

We then took our Teddy Bears on a Teddy Bear Parade around the neighborhood. They loved it!! Those Bears had the time of their lives, they not only got to see the neighborhood, but they even got to get piggy back rides, and see the Nature Area. Fun Times!!

I think my bear likes the forest!!!

I'm going to protect my bear from the animals
(I'm guessing her friends? :) )

Scamp got to walk part of the way on our Teddy Bear Parade.
It is her first time walking with the big kids, and she thought she was something else!!

Bring Up the back of our parade

Teaching our Bears to "walk" and giving a tired Bear a ride

Is that to cute or what!!!

After being cooped up inside the last few days, it was really great to be able to get outside and not only enjoy the sunshine, but get rid of all that pent up energy. There was running, singing, hopping, walking backwards, seeing the sights and having lots of fun!!

Yellow, Yellow Everywhere!!

2012-01-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Yellow is so bright and energetic. I love that it is on my walls, I love that banana's are yellow, I love that the sun shining so bright looks yellow sometimes. Yellow makes me happy, it makes me silly, any most times, just looking into my playroom with it warm, buttery yellow walls it makes me SMILE!! So, come and see what we did with the wonderful color YELLOW today...

Sprout and her mommy made us some yummy, sweet Sunshine Cakes!!

We practiced using scissors in our Yellow Shirts!!
Yellow shirts always makes the hard stuff more fun!!

We took out some plexi-glass and finger painted with sparkly yellow paint!!
It was so slippery, slimy and smooth!

"Look Shell!!"

Can't be outside, so bringing the outside in

We got out the yellow do-a-dot markers... what fun!!!

Keeping the bottle down was hard for some of us, but everyone got the hang of it eventually ;)

Lil Bits Mommy lent us the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?? by Bill Martin Jr
She also let us borrow 2 piece puzzles what went along with the book.
The kids loved trying them out. Little Man was intent on getting them together!!!

Sprout had fun putting them all together and then we retold the story with the puzzles.

Scamp kept saying "Balk, Balk" for every animal in the book, it was quite funny.
I would tell her what the animal sound was, and she would look right at me and say,
"Balk, Balk!!"

Our bear cave was still out today and the kids had fun playing with the bears today. Since it was rainy today we had the sandbox open and got our hands dirty. Also, there was A LOT of sliding, climbing and jumping today. I can't wait for dry weather so we can get outside!!! Even if it's cold, as long as we are dressed for the weather, it's great to get out into the wide openness of the great outdoors... Ahhhh, I can't wait :)

Teddy Bears and a Race Car

2012-01-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

Today has been a very unusual day for us. There was a lot going on outside our doors and it was hard for any of us to concentrate on what was going on inside. We did manage to get through our Circle Time, introduce our Bear Cave (a tent), and then look through and choose a special Bear from Miss Michelle's stash. Well, it was my boys stash, but they were willing to share!!

Playing Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear was a huge hit, again!!
This time we had our Teddy Bears to help us, so it was even more fun!!

"What's next Shell??"

Look at those smiles!!

Having a silly teacher is always so much fun!!!

So what's going on out there??

They were shooting a Dt. Mt Dew commercial, of course!!!

It was great fun to watch a commercial be filmed. I can't believe what goes into such a short commercial. The amount of people was unbelievable to see. The amount of work to get the house (next door) ready to shoot was exhausting to watch. Yesterday, in the rain, 2 gentlemen were out there for 6 hours painstakingly twisting fake silk leaves onto the trees. Wow!! Today we got to watch how it all gets done. They start very, very early in the morning. The noise woke me up around 4am, banging, dogs barking, and diesel trucks. When the sun started to rise, we got to see the number 88 car being rolled off the truck and begin it's set up. Lots of tinkering, people milling around, photos being taken, neighbors watching. It was a lot of fun. The kids would hear the roar of the race car and no matter what we were doing they would all run to the window to see what was happening. When it finally was over, they were disappointed that it left. It was a great experience.

Yellow, Teddy Bears, and Fun

2012-01-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's quite an achievement to have all your activities and ideas for a theme to flow correctly. Today actually was one of those days that things just flowed the way they were supposed to. During Circle Time I introduced our Winter Theme. We talked about the weather, winter animals, and that brought us to BEARS. Who doesn't love bears. We read Bears Feels Scared, by Karma Wilson It was a cute book, not quite what I wanted to read today, I wanted to read Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson, but I couldn't find my copy :) of course.

We also talked about the color Yellow, the number 3, and introduced the letter Aa. We read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!! by Bill Martin Jr & John Archambault which is a favorite of mine and the kids. I wasn't sure how all these seemingly random things would come together for us, but they did. We made a sun (that was yellow) to help Bear feel not so afraid, we found yellow around the room, we related the letter Aa to different things around the room that start with that letter, and at lunch decided we should name our bear an Aa name. So, tomorrow we will pick one.

Bear sat with us for Circle Time, and while we were waiting for our lunch to cook we played the jump rope game (without the jump rope) Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around!! Lots of fun, giggles, falling down, and spinning around!!!

We counted out 3 YELLOW gumballs for our Gumball Machine

Little Man showing off the YELLOW in his shirt

Painting is always so much fun

Not sure which is more fun, getting the paint on the plate or her hands!!

Very serious work going on!!

Lil Bit enjoyed working with all three paintbrushes, swapping them out and having one in both hands as much as she could :)

Scamp loves sitting in chairs now and will climb up into one any chance she gets. Today I found her with these 2 little people at the table just moving them about and jabbering away to them... she was very cute!!

Lets just hope the whole week flows like today and we get all our crafts and projects in. Although, tomorrow is supposed to be mighty warm out and we may have to scrap it all and play outside... warm weather isn't likely to happen much in the next couple of months.

Who Is Wearing Red??

2012-01-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today was RED day. I asked everyone to wear Red today, somewhere in their clothing, hair, socks, etc. We had a GREAT turnout!! Everyone, including Miss Michelle wore something RED!! Of course my camera conked out when I was trying to get pictures of everyone, so we missed quite a few things from our day. I will never learn, I knew the battery was dying last night, I should have just put the battery up to charge when I thought about it.

Little Man found my son's batting gloves, although they weren't red, they went very well with his RED Shirt!!!

This has got to be the cutest Minnie Mouse outfit I have every seen!!!
Scamp also found a red cloth bag she carried around all morning, that matched her outfit beautifully!!

We also had a RED parade, played some color matching games, counted all the red that our friends were wearing, and last but not least, we watched this YouTube video of the Author, Eric Litwin, tell the story of Pete the Cat!!!

I couldn't help but put the photos from below on today, they kids love playing on & in the slides, but the cost of that is the static... both in our hair and, occasionally, when we touch each other. The ZAP we get is always a surprise, but the hair is something we have come to expect, though today Scamp & Sprout's hair was everywhere!! I am glad my camera was working for these!!

Next week we will resume our WINTER theme, but I am sure Pete the Cat will work his way into our day somehow.

OH NO!!!

2012-01-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

"OH NO!!" That is what I have been hearing all week. You see, every time Pete the Cat steps into something they say "On No!!" and then tells what he steps into. My kids love it. They love the look on my face and have been copying it all week. In the beginning I wasn't sure if they realized that Pete the Cat didn't mind stepping into the different piles of strawberries, blueberries, mud and water... but every time I would ask if he cried, they would shake their heads wildly and say, "Goodness NO!!" I love it!!!

Scamp and Lil Bit saying, "Oh NO!!"

We played Pin the Shoe on Pete the Cat
Loads of Fun!!!

Even the little ones loved it!!

Scamp liked the "blind fold" but didn't want to spin with it on, but if I took it off she wanted to spin.

We then completed a little Pete the Cat book... very cute, you can find it here.
I found both of these activities through the blog, Doodle Bugs Teaching...
I loved this blog, it had a lot of great information, ideas and links!!!

"Hey, I may only be 1, but I can color with the best of them!!"

Ok, I did have a barrette in her hair, but what can you do... she is only 1 after all :)

Cheese!!!

Enjoying the wonderful balmy weather :)

VROOMMMM!!!!

Sprout found some ice in a bucket and wanted to show me her "snowball."
We decided it was a hairy ice man, since all the pine needles got frozen into it.

Another wonderful morning... I am glad the weather isn't so bitterly cold and we could get out. The kids ran, yelled, climbed, pushed, yelled, spun, swung, yelled, and dug for over an hour this morning. It got out a lot of that pent up energy we have been storing the last couple of days. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Learning, Playing, Having Fun

2012-01-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

I decided to turn our Theme this week into Pete the Cat... we are learning about numbers, colors, shapes, as well as sharing, patience, and friendship. What a great book to cover most of those things. Not only is the tune catchy, but the kids are relating everything back to him. So, if you haven't done so yet... get online and find a video to hear the song, it will have you humming and singing to yourself all night long. I actually woke up this morning singing the song...

This morning Scamp HAD to have her purse to go to the bus stop. She wouldn't stop moving for me to get a clear picture of her with it, but man she looked cute!!

We gathered lots of RED things from here and home and this is what we made with them all.
There was a RED comb in there, but it kept falling off the ladybug.

The big kids used scissors today to cute their RED paper for Pete the Cat's RED shoe.

The stickiness was a lot of fun for Lil Bit. She didn't know what she liked more, putting the RED paper on the shoe or touching the glue :)

This is real serious work for Little Man.

I introduced a color matching game at circle time today and the kids had a lot of fun playing with it. It was a little easy for the big girls, but they enjoyed doing it over and over. I think sometimes it's fun for them to do an easy learning game, giving them that feeling of success is always a good feeling.

Taking Turns

Little Man really enjoyed having some one-on-one time with Miss Michelle. He loved picking up the circles, looking at me, matching them and then laughing. He did this EVERY time he picked up a circle!!!

Lil Bit had fun with the matching game too. She would pick up a circle, look at me, we would say the color and I would help her find the matching patch. She would usually put it where I showed her, but every once in awhile she would put it somewhere else, but on purpose. How'd I know this, you ask?? Well, she would put it on the wrong patch and bend over laughing. She is to funny!!!

Working with small children, sometimes the best laid plans don't work out. I thought we would read Pete the Cat once or twice this week, never did I imagine I would scrap all my other ideas and go with a Pete the Cat theme. It's nice to be able to be flexible and have fun with the kids. They learn a whole lot more when they are learning about things they are interested in.

2012-01-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Pete the Cat is a hit at my house!! Not only have we been singing the song, talking about the song, and reading the book (over and over) we decided to make some "shoe prints" with bubble wrap. We guessed what might be under Pete's shoe when he walked over the Strawberry Pile and the result was...

Ok so this isn't about Pete the Cat, but look at that smile... Scamp just opened the door with the cow behind it and not knowing I was behind her I "Mooed." She thought that was pretty funny!!
We did it another 15 times... :)

We Are Back!!!

2012-01-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

It was a little hard getting out of bed when the alarm went off so early this morning, but get out I did. After some last minute cleaning up I was ready for business. Sprout was the first to come through the door... what a big smile and the best hug a Provider could ever want!! Scamp was the only one not so sure about this whole childcare thing again... but after Dad left (sorry Dad, I know how hard it is to leave a crying baby) and a few seconds she was just fine, even smiling and laughing at the kids before they went to school.

Coming back to childcare after an extended break can be hard for everyone. Getting back into routines, getting to know each other again, and missing Moms, Dads, and siblings can be hard, especially for the the littlest ones. So I spent a lot of time close to the kids, on the floor, this morning. I set up lots of fun, open ended things to do, and then let the kids go. It didn't take much time for everyone to find their groove and remember what we do here. It was fun to see the kids rediscovering each other, as well as finding some favorite toys.

Little Man kept trying to put the baby into the stroller and Scamp kept pulling the baby out and dropping it at Little Man's feet. Little Man kept coming to me and trying to get me to make her keep it in the stroller... NOT HAPPENING :)

A little Easel Painting is always a great activity, you can be by yourself, but also with the rest of the kids in the room

Play Dough was a huge success this morning. The little ones are beginning to really want to play with it and not just eat it. They squeezed, rolled, pounded and cut!! How much fun!!

I introduced the color RED today, we looked for RED things, and read a great story about colors. The kids were excited to go to Circle Time and did great sitting waiting for a turn to come up to the circle time center. We read the story Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin. Oh My... What an awesome book. ALL the kids loved it and we spent the rest of the morning singing it. I recommend it to everyone!!! I can't believe I hadn't heard about it before. One of my best friends told me about it and then even bought it for me!! I am the luckiest girl!! What a great 1st day back!!!

Happy 2012!!!

2011-12-31T21:18:00.000-08:00

A Very Pajama Christmas Party

2011-12-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

It is finally here... our PJ Christmas Party!!!

What fun we had!!

This was the tree when the kids came in this morning...
Roo said, "Did Santa come to your house Miss Michelle??"

Yummy Hot Cocoa!!

You can't very well have whipped cream without it getting on your nose!!!

Little Man had to have a spoon to make sure he got ALL his whipped cream :)

Playing "Pass Rudolph"
(basically a reindeer version of Hot Potato)

Some Freeze Dancing!!!

Lil Bit liked bobbing to the music

FREEZE!!!!

It's present time!!! Sprout loved handing out all her presents to her friends...
"Here Little Man!!"

"I can help you with this Roo!"

Little Man had SOOOOO much fun giving his friends their gifts. I was so impressed he didn't try to take one of them back. He knew they were for his friends. To Cute!!!

Loving their mini-doodle pads!!
"Can we open them now??!!!"

"OOOOOOOO.... "
We have this toy here at daycare and Little Man just LOVES it!!
Now he has his own :)

Lil Bit kept that bow on her head all the way to nap time...
this is the same girl who will not leave a barrette in her hair for more than 1 min... Go figure ;)

Scamp didn't really understand what to do, but she enjoyed what was in the packaging.

After we were finished I found Scamp climbing on the stool I left out from when I went hunting for our little tiny hot cocoa mugs... as you can see, she was quite proud of herself!!!

I love baby feet... but festive Lil Bit feet are the icing on the cake!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2011-12-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

We have been little elves the past couple of days!! Getting all our Christmas Presents made, wrapped and hidden from prying eyes hasn't been easy, let me tell you. So, we haven't been taking to many photos over the last couple of days, just to make sure no hints get out there :)

We have also been learning about the Birth of Jesus, the number 2, and the colors red and green. Each day at circle time we sing our days of the week song, our weather song, and then we do our counting songs. The sillier the better for this group, that's for sure!!!

I will have some photos for tomorrow, it is our last day together before our Christmas break and we have a Pajama Christmas Party planned!! We are all soooooo excited, it is hard to contain ourselves each day, just thinking about all the fun we will have is enough to get us all in a tizzy :) So, there should be some great photos from tomorrow!!

Until then...

Just a shot of us having fun at circle time!!

2011-12-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

We took out our magnetic Advent Calendar out today and began our journey to the birthday of Jesus. How exciting it was to listen to each little story about all the different pieces that make up the Story of Jesus' Birth. You see, in each little box there is something to put on the magnetic board. A moon, a dove, a Shepard, Angels, etc... and when you open the door a little story about that piece is played while the children put the piece up. It is really cute. I bought mine a few years ago, but the updated version can be found here or here. I waited until after the holiday a few years back and got mine for a good price, but I also think it was because they discontinued mine and brought out another design.

So, we talked about Christmas, Santa and presents... but when I asked the real reason we celebrate Christmas, both Sprout and Roo told me it was Jesus' Birthday!! Yeah!!

I can do it myself!!

See!!

And I'm gonna put it right here!!

Scamp loved moving the pieces around when it was her turn. Yet, we did get her Shepard up there.

Lil Bit had a little trouble opening the door, but when it would start to talk, she would look up at me with the cutest look, like... "Did I just make it do that?" :)

Putting the pieces on the board required a lot of fine motor skills!

We will be finishing up our presents and projects this week, hopefully getting everything done before the Christmas Break. I can't believe it is already Christmas time, it seems like yesterday was our 1st day of childcare.

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-09T10:53:00.001-08:00

Today we read a book, Counting to Christmas, by Nancy Tafuri. Sprout brought it in to share and it was absolutely perfect for this age group. Nice big illustrations, not a lot of print, and a cute story about a little girl counting her way to Christmas with an Advent Calendar and the things she did on each day leading up to Christmas. Next year I may ask to borrow it again and use it for our December activities... I think it would be cute to count OUR way to Christmas.

One of the things the little girl did was trim and decorate her tree... so we did a little Christmas Tree craft today. I cut out little tree's from an old cereal box we had left over from breakfast this week, used our handy, dandy green glue paint, and lots and lots of little baubles :)

I love how it looks like she is painting the table. You can't even see the tree anymore :)

This is what it looked like when we peeked it away from the table... very neat!!

Hmmmm.... I wonder how long she will paint for ??

Lovin that paint!!!

Little Man is very serious when he paints lately...

It could be because he's not sure what to do when it gets on his hands??? Not that it bothers him when he gets bananas, wet cereal, spaghetti, mud, bugs, or just about anything else on his hands...

Sparkly baubles for our tree... YAY!!!

Well, lets just say Lil Bit had a great time, as always!!!
The poor tree was saturated, just hope it dries sometime before Christmas ;)

Sparkly things help lure her away from the painting...

But, next to paint... washing her hands is her favorite thing to do!!!

Scamp was napping while the other kids were doing their project, so when she woke we set her up to paint too.

She was very serious and jabbering away while she painted.

Hmmmmm.... what's this stuff??

When I turned over her Christmas Tree she continued to pick up the teeny tiny baubles and put them on... what great fine motor skills :)

Here are the, almost, finished trees... I can't wait for them to dry so we can put a hanger on them. I think they will look beautiful on a real Christmas Trees, sparkling in the lights.

Sand, Santa & Squshie...

2011-12-07T11:21:00.001-08:00

It is still rainy here!!! I, for one, am getting pretty tired of the rain. I want blue skies and sunshine!!! This crew needs to be outside, running and working off some energy. Anyone who knows me, knows I usually go out even on rainy days, but this week we have runny noses and coughs. I know rain doesn't make anyone sick, but being cold, wet, and miserable, doesn't help any either :)

Instead, we stayed inside and played in the sand table...

Sand Table??? I think more like sand floor :)

Then we read our "Where Oh Where is Santa Claus" story again and then made some Santa Ornaments...

I made some puffy paint, out of flour, salt, water, and glitter glue, to make the face of Santa with. Little Man kept getting it on his hands. I think, because it was the same color as the plate, he kept forgetting it was wet and messy. Each time he touched it he would say, "OHHHHH..."

Scamp had just gotten up from her nap and when she saw the craft she just had to do it. I decided to not continue the puffy paint with the little ones as it didn't work real well with them. Scamp actually put the puffs on the glue without to much direction from me.

My little Artist.... need I say more ;)

It took Sprout a while to get all the puffy paint on the plate... we finally put a nice glob on the plate and she spread it out.

Here are just two of the finished products...
They are a little heavy due to the flour mixture, but I hope they work.

Lil Bit had fun just playing in the Squshie flour mixture...

My school age kids had a half day today and I let them make some of our button snowflake ornaments.... they came out really cute. Now, since it is nap time, they are watching a movie. Yesterday they came home from school and had to make a Bow Wreath... I love it when they want to craft.

Holiday Crafts

2011-12-06T11:02:00.001-08:00

It was a rainy morning here in NC and after breakfast, free play, and a quick story and circle time we decided to drag out some crafts. We mixed up some colored glue and made a Christmas Bow Wreath and we made a Button Snowflake out of buttons, Popsicle sticks and glue. Both crafts came out really cute and the kids had a fun time completing them.

Working together is always more fun!!

I put in more than a few of Lil Bit's work because I want to show the progression (and absolute fun) she had...

Getting used to the materials

Hmmm... I got this!

Using more than just a paint brush is a much better use of time, don't you think??

If you haven't noticed, the middle of the wreath, which is the table, is getting more paint than anything else :)

That brush is getting pretty slippery now. She goes to use the other brush several times, but puts it back and takes the slippery one again.

Miss Michelle finally lures her away (after 25 mins) with a promise of hand washing at the sink. That way we have clean hands to put on the bows... she liked it, but not as much as the painting.

After the wreath project was cleaned up, we played a little, met the Fed-Ex guy at the door, watched the drizzle of rain come down and then decided we had enough time for one more project before lunch. The fine motor skills this one needed were great for such little hands.

With the little ones, I needed to be one on one so they had to wait their turns. Lil Bit was a very patient girl, and I think because she waited she was ready and knew what to do when it was her turn.

For their little hands I used the great big buttons, and they didn't put to many on, this was much more manageable for them.

It is interesting to see the progression of play this year. Sprout and Roo have started to take on more leadership roles with Little Man and Lil Bit. They are beginning to create wonderful imaginative play and including the little ones into it with them... today, they were going to Santa's Workshop, on a bus :)

"Reading" before nap
Sprout is beginning to remember some of the key passages to books we read and I will hear her "reading" to herself every now and again. She doesn't seem to have the confidence to "read" to me yet, but we are working on it. When I ask her she just smiles and giggles, then walks away from me. She's a pip alright!!!!

Love...

2011-12-01T10:35:00.001-08:00

In Family Childcare the children in your care will usually squeeze themselves not only into your heart, but into your whole families heart. Little Man did just that the day he arrived into this world, he captured all of us, with his little tilts of his head when he wants to be shy, the silliness in him when he wants to play, but most of all when he finally was able to say all my children's names. One of my boys in particular has captured Little Man's heart as well, Cal. He asks about him when he comes in, he looks for him up the stairs all morning, and he points to his picture on the cabinet a million times a day. But what really got me... I was cleaning up from lunch and I turned around and here was Little Man, with Cal's boots on, pointing to his picture saying his name.

Now that's Love!!

Mortar and Pestle and Santa Claus

2011-11-30T10:51:00.001-08:00

I love Montessori and try to bring it into our daily routine. Although I haven't figured a way to introduce our trays, mats, and work to this group yet, I am still working on it. So, in the mean time, I try to bring in special materials or equipment to get the children to practice the different goals I have for them. Today we brought out the mortar and pestle. I brought it to the table with some potpourri for a craft we were doing. I really wanted the big girls to use it and grind the potpourri up, but, although they enjoyed touching it, using it, and learning about it, they didn't enjoy it as much as I thought they would. That doesn't meant it wasn't enjoyed though, the little ones absolutely LOVED this activity. I had a very hard time getting them to put it away and Scamp wanted nothing to to do with a morning nap after she got her hands on the mortar and pestle. It was very cute.

Smelling the potpourri was part of the fun... and Little Man couldn't stop smelling it and saying...

"EEWWWWWW!!!!"

Making sure his friends got a sniff!!

"Huh, look at that."

The pestle was heavy and I think they liked the feel of it.

I only have one, so as patience is not something we have had a lot of practice with, some of us had a hard time waiting for our turn. They did pretty good though, considering :)

Little Man was in charge of the mortar at this point and wanted EVERYONE to take a whiff... they would say, "Yum" and he would say, "EEWWW!!!"

"What do you think??"

"How 'bout you??"

We then took the ground up potpourri and made it into a yummy smelling hanging ornament.... well, hopefully it will turn out that way ;)

I have been talking with the kids about Christmas. With this group, only Sprout and Roo really have any idea that Christmas is something more than just another day and they talk a lot about Santa and presents. So, in addition to talking about how Christmas is the day Jesus was born, we have been, of course, reading and talking about Santa. Today we read, Where Oh Where is Santa Claus?? by Lisa Wheeler. It is such a great toddler book for the holiday. Not to many words, great illustrations, and a reoccurring phrase, "Santa, Santa, Where are You!!?" The phrase changes every other page, but it's pretty much the same thing, just a little different words, so we just kept saying the same phrase and the kids LOVED it!! They loved the animals, they loved moving their heads around to see if they could see him, and we even tried to guess where he might have gone.... we never thought he would get stuck in the snow and have to be pulled out!! It was a cute, silly book that kept even Scamp interested and laughing.

"Its Santa!!"

I Love the month of December... even if it's not December yet :)

Paint, Glue and Cotton Balls

2011-11-28T11:08:00.001-08:00

It's a start to the new week, and the start of the Christmas Season. I love the month of December... not only do we get to learn about the birth of Jesus, the music is great, and I am never without some sort of project to do, art or otherwise.

Today I just set up the easel, with pink paint (I ran out of red and green). The kids love the easel and as long as I'm nearby it goes pretty smoothly when the littlest people use it.

"What, I'm painting... just not the paper!" ;)

"I'm just showing her there are OTHER ways to paint."

Mixing our glue with water colors, then gluing cotton balls onto small stars we found in the drawer.

Little Man carried those sneakers around with him most of the morning. He only put them down if he wanted to paint, glue or put them on :)

Concentrating on not getting the glue on her fingertips.

Pulling apart the cotton was fun enough for Scamp, but...

She did want to try her hand at the glue. As you can tell, I had to put the camera down for this part. I didn't want glue on my nice new camera :)

The cotton, glue and stars were a spur of the moment craft that the girls pulled together as I was going through a drawer for something else. They found the stars, they found the cotton and asked what they could do with them... so after asking a few questions, they thought some colored glue would work out just right.

It was an added bonus that they got so many tactile experiences. The cotton was easily stuck to their fingertips if they got the least bit of glue on them. Then it became very webby on their fingers and even if they tried to pick it off, the cotton would just tear and spread. It was fun to watch. Scamp, however, found just tearing the cotton apart was fun. She would tear it apart, then drop it in the glue. When she did her star, she didn't quite understand that the cotton ball was to stay on the star and we would get another one, she didn't want to let hers go. So she kinda "glue painted" on her star. My mantra this year... Process over product here for this age, process over product :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2011-11-24T15:27:00.001-08:00

Providers are only human

2011-11-23T06:04:00.001-08:00

"Do you need a hug Shell??"

After yesterday's post, I thought I needed to provide a little more description. As a Childcare Provider for children under 5 (3 and under at my house this year) some days can be more stressful than others. Most providers (and teachers) I know use lots of de-stressing tools to keep themselves sane each day, but sometimes they don't always work. The kids just get the better of you :) (or I LET them get the better of me).

What does that mean exactly?? Well, for me, this week at least, it meant lots of noise. Lots of mess. Lots of crying. Putting out one proverbial fire after another. No one child was behaving worse than another, heck, they weren't even behaving out of their age appropriateness. It just got to me more this week than most. Could it be I didn't get much sleep (what, providers sleep?), could it be my teenager is testing his limits a lot more lately (what, providers have kid issues?), could it be that getting a family of 6 ready for Thanksgiving (turkey included) has been harder than I anticipated?? I'm thinking, YES!!! And my little angels are just were feeding off my own anxieties.

I am VERY lucky that I have the BEST families!! I have always had the most understanding, most accommodating, and the most fun families ever. I just want them to know that I LOVE their little angels with everything I have in me. Each day I grow to love them more. Their smiles outweigh their cries, their hugs outweigh their tantrums, their laughs are literally the sound of angels. So Parent's, please know I am only human and I sometimes have a bad day, bad hour, bad morning, or bad week... but I'm excited to open my door each morning, with a smile, ready for a new day, what ever that day may bring.

I just want to end with a poem that I absolutely LOVE from Patricia Dischler. I found it in her book, From Babysitter to Business Owner. A book I highly recommend to EVERYONE who is thinking of opening a Childcare Home or anyone who would like to take their Childcare Home to the next level. Patricia Dischler is full of wonderful stories, great advice and lots of motivation to be the BEST provider you can be!!

Remember Why

Bridget screaming, her vocal substitute for "I'm hungry!"

Peter is crying because, "Sarah hugged me!"

Mikey's drooling and has soaked his shirt.

Bridget eating a shoe, covered with dirt.

Bret took Katie's doll and threw it out the door.

Sarah's in the bathroom wiping her poo poo on the floor.

Rachel is telling them each what to play.

The gate was left open and Bridget is on her way.

They're all screaming now, some for fun, some are sad.

Some scream 'cause they're hungry, some scream 'cause their mad.

They're leaking from everywhere, I wipe but there's more.

Brian's running naked, Peter's peed on the floor.

I wish I could go somewhere quiet and green.

The room is as messy as I've ever seen.

But I'll pick it up, wipe the noses and floor.

Give everyone hugs and catch Bridget at the door.

I'll give Katie her doll, tell Bret and Rachel to be nice,

Take the shoe out of Bridget's mouth, probably twice.

I'll feed them and hug them and tell them I care.

I'll chase after Bridget whether it's here or it's there.

I'll do what I can and if I'm real lucky,

When I serve them their lunch I won't hear, "That's yucky!"

And when I sit down to rest, and get attacked by the mob,

Between hugs and kisses, I'll remember...

I Love My Job!!!

by Patricia Dischler

December 1996

So, you see, I know I'm not alone and it is nothing a hug, or kiss, or cuddle won't fix!!

One Of Those Days....

2011-11-22T11:30:00.001-08:00

Well, I know we have all had them. One Of Those Days. This week has been exactly like that. We didn't get to everything we wanted to. We had lots of messes, and when we cleaned one up, well, you know what happened... yup, some little one was behind me creating another one. When one little one fell and needed some loving, another was falling off the chair needing some loving. At one point I think I had 3 little ones on my lap wailing. No one was really hurt to bad, a bonk on the head, a "friendly" hair pull by a friend, and you always have one that will cry just to commiserate with her fellow crier's.

We did get to paint this week. The kids LOVE paint. The easel is always fun and a challenge for the little ones since it is vertical painting... though it always seems to turn to finger painting anyways, so it didn't matter. :)

Today we finished our Native American Headdress. It was very cute. We have a little book about the littlest pilgrims making friends with the Native Americans and the kid asked a lot of questions about their dress and not the pilgrims dress, so we went with headdresses this year instead of pilgrim hats.

Looking for some turkey to cook up for dinner

Deciding if turkey is a good idea or not.... they decided NOT.
Ravioli (lunch from yesterday) was more to their liking today :)

Although the kids enjoyed playing with their headdresses... not many made it through the morning. Having little ones around can be very damaging to any art project that finds its way onto the ground when little hands are near.

It was only a 2 day work week for me and it seemed longer than some of my 5 day work weeks. Hopefully noses will dry up, friends will be eager to see one another after a long week away and Miss Michelle will be efficiently recharged :) by the time we get back together on Monday!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

Nap Time

2011-11-18T19:24:00.001-08:00

Ahhhhh.... Nap Time!!

Do I Need To Say Any More???

Babies and Circle Time

2011-11-17T11:45:00.001-08:00

My last post on Monday was about finally settling into a nice routine. One in which we have more routine and flow to our day. The routine is finally taking shape and the kids are eager to remind me what comes next throughout the morning.

After reading Monday's Post, Scamp's Mom asked if Scamp joined in our Circle Time. Well, she just turned 1 and she sometimes is taking her morning nap while we have Circle Time. That being said, she sometimes does join us. How does a 1 year old join in a Circle Time, you ask?? Take a look...

Singing and Finger plays always help!!

A very silly Provider is a huge plus...

Funny Friends to enjoy it with... icing on the cake!!!

Clapping, silly Provider, singing, friends... what else do you need??

A hug is always welcome :)

Helping my friends with their "circle time job" always helps me stay interested!!

Having a just 1 year old can be hard at times, but when you see them being so "big" and enjoying every second of it, it makes it all worth it!!

Today is Monday...

2011-11-14T11:12:00.001-08:00

I love the book by Eric Carle, Today Is Monday, where you sing about eating certain foods on certain days of the week. It's catchy and it's fun. I have humming it lately and I know I have the book somewhere, I need to get it out since the kids keep wanting me to sing it for them.

Why do I bring that up, you ask?? Well, we have finally been able to have a consistent Circle Time. It has been a long 2 1/2 months, but we are here. All the kids sit so nicely, and are actually engaged. In the beginning it was a lot like the old kittens in the box reference... every time you got one to sit, another would get up and wander away. You would get that one engaged with a song, story or finger play and another one would make there way away from the circle. It wasn't much fun for those who enjoyed and were ready for that type of activity (Sprout and Roo) but we were patient and kept doing it, although a more condensed version. Our patience has finally paid off, we are officially completing an entire Circle Time, with Days of the Week, Weather, Song, Story and Movement activity... YAY!!!!

It was Little Man's turn to do the Days of the Week... He loved it!!

Lil Bit was a little to short to reach the Weather Wheel... so I gave her a boost. She loved being involved to!!

Singing 5 Little Turkey's (I think) or 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Turkey's... They loved them both.

Outside we practiced kicking a ball. I think Scamp here did it by accident, and was she surprised when the ball shot away from here. Of course I got the before the kick shot and an after the surprised look shot... go figure :)

Lil Bit loved the wind in her face today. She would stand at the little window of one of the play houses and just laugh and giggle every time the wind blew into her face.

"What, I'm not throwing sand!!"

"Give it back!!!"

It's always good to have the right equipment for the job... Roo is picking up all the leaves in the yard :)

Today is Monday and what a wonderful day it was!!!

Puddles, Puddles Everywhere!!!

2011-11-10T10:59:00.001-08:00

What is it with puddles and little kids?? They love them!! I don't know about all you other grown-ups out there, but I hate my feet being wet. I don't like cold, wet socks or cold, wet sneakers over my socks. Yet, Little Ones love puddles. They really don't seem to mind cold, wet socks, shoes or clothes. They actually enjoy it, at least today they did anyway :)

The first puddle we found right at the end of my driveway... Yeah Shell!!!

Although these two didn't get out and actually jump in the puddles... they were splashed and had fun giggling at the other kids as they romped and splashed around.

Running from one puddle to another...

Peek-a-Boo!!!

Jumping, laughing, and being silly

These puddles are everywhere!!

Look another one... Let's Go!!!

Okay... maybe Scamp was a little upset not being able to get out and run through those puddles

Beside splashing, there are things to look at and treasures to find at the bottom of those puddles.
If anyone will find them... it will be Sprout!!

Little Man just kept running back and forth through the water. He was soaked!!!

Just watching and listening to the joy in the kids voices and actions tells me that we will be doing this activity again. We'll just make sure we add some hot chocolate to the end of it next time :)

Painted Fall Leaf Wreath

2011-11-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

We worked on our Fall Leaf Wreath today. Oh how we love paint!! I think if they could they would paint all day, everyday. With washing those hands in between a million times too, because washing hands is just as much fun as painting.

I saw on the blog Teaching 2 and 3 year olds a post about making Autumn Wreaths and I just loved how Teacher Sheryl mixed the paint and glue together, making it a one step process and not a many step process. The kids liked it too...

He just got caught trying to eat his brush :)

Cheese... I'm the big kid, just watch me guys and I'll show you how it's done

Time for the leaves
(I decided to use the silk leaves so that they could be used for a longer period of time without crunching up)

"Do you like mine Miss Michelle??"

Long after all her friends were done, Lil Bit was still going at it...

She needed to get everything just right :)

While Scamp wasn't into painting... she was into playing in the yard.
She loved picking up all the leaves and bringing them to me today!!

Happy Birthday Sprout!!!

2011-11-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Sprout!!!

How fast you have grown!! Your not a baby anymore!!!

Having a Birthday has it's perks... Being Helper for the Day!!!

We love to move that star!!

Yummy Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!!
Thanks Sprouts Mommy!!
Yum, Yum!!

What have we done this week??

2011-11-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Although it seems like this week has dragged on and on... it is finally Friday!!! Looking back over our photos I can see we were pretty busy. Doing what you ask??

Climbing...

Cooking...

Sliding...

Jumping off at the bottom...

Swinging....

Pouting...

Driving (and catching robbers)...

Going to the park...

"Playing" with friends....

Contemplating....

Being Busy, Busy Kids!!!

An update on our 2 tiered tower... it was well used this week. Being out in the open like it is, the contents of the table (wood shavings) became part of every aspect of play going on in the room, from the reading area to the kitchen area. It made it into the living room and the couches, and I even found a mound of it on the bathroom floor!!?? So... I am taking Tom's advice (from Sand and Water Tables) and trying to close the sensory area in on 3 sides. I am not exactly sure how I will accomplish that in my space, but I must make the clean-up a little easier on me. Although, as you can see from the picture above Little Man (as well as the others) were all to happy to use the little broom and push those shavings around the floor for me. They thought the best time to help was after I got all the shavings into the little pile, and while I went for the dustpan, they would "help" and make sure it was scattered around just one more time :) Ahhhh.... I love my job.

Tower Box for the Sensory Table... FINALLY!!!!

2011-11-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to doing it!!! I made a 2 tier tower box for the sensory table. I found the idea from Tom over at Sand and Water Tables. I just love his blog!! He has such wonderful and inventive ideas. I want to try them all out, just haven't been able to find the time/materials to get it going. Well, this weekend I finally did it, and found 2 boxes to cut, tape and create with and the kids loved it!!!!

I used 2 boxes I found in the garage, went to this post on the Sand and Water Tables blog and just went to town. I had some duct tape in the garage, but this morning it looked like most of it was peeling back, so I wonder if it wasn't a different brand, I found the good stuff and the kids and I went about fixing it and getting it set in the table. It was kinda big, but they didn't care. It was hard keeping the wood shavings in the sensory table, and it was a little hard for me to watch them dump it on the floor because the space along side the tower was so narrow, but I did good.

Today is the first day the kids used it, and was interesting because they spent a lot of time using the outside of the box. The ledges and lining things up on the top, and not a whole lot of investigation or playing going on inside the box, or dumping through holes or doors. Though the littlest ones did use the very bottom of the box as a barn for their animals. So, it will be interesting how the week progresses and if the play changes throughout the week.

Wow... will you look at that mess.
Sometimes I can't believe how messy 5 little kids can make a room :)

We had to keep our nifty little sweeper close by today, but I think it's time to invest in one of those little carpet sweepers so I don't have to pull out the big vacuum all week.

This Pound-a-Ball toy is a real favorite at childcare. They love to watch the ball go through the maze. Yet, we can never keep the balls around long enough to get any real play value out of it. They kids are fine if I am sitting right near them, guiding them to stay near the toy with the balls, but if I turn my head, or God forbid, get up and tend to something else nearby, they are outta there with the balls and I can't find them for weeks. I only allow 2 balls out at a time because that way we at least have 2 to play with while I look for the lost ones, but unfortunately we only have 3 left. 1 was lost a while ago and for the life of me I can't seem to track it down. I am hoping it didn't find it's final resting place in the trash can :)

Here!!!

Nope... just kidding :)

Hmmm.... I wonder if she'll turn her back :)

Nope, I guess I will have to play with it!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Although we didn't wear our costumes today, that didn't stop us from having a great Halloween Day!!

We finished our Great Big Pumpkins!!
"Does it look scary Shell?"

"It looks like me!!"

You just have to love that tongue!! Every time she concentrates that tongue comes out!!

My children were home from school today (not sure the reasoning, I think they should have the day AFTER Halloween off, not the day of) and Luke wanted to make a Great Big Pumpkin too!! Roo is helping him by telling him exactly how to do it :)

Lil Bit here loves the sticky glue!!

Don't they look cute!!

Then we played Pin the Face on the Pumpkin... an all time FAVE!!!

I can't believe how big my baby is getting!!

He thought this was pretty funny!!

Sprout was trying to move her head to see around the blindfold... I had to explain that she wouldn't be able to see until she took it off.

She was a little apprehensive... but she did great!!

"I got the stem Shell!!!"

Even Lil Bit got a turn!! She was sooooo cute!!!

Here's how our pumpkin turned out... love it!!!

You can't have Halloween with out yummy, sugary, sweet treats!!!

messy faces come with the territory Roo!!!

I have been a little behind the ball this Halloween, so my boys were carving pumpkins today... better late than never , I always say :)

We learned that pumpkins make the WHOLE house smell like pumpkin!!!

These too used words like slippery, slimy, stinky, and gooey!!

Can't have a party without Pass the Pumpkin!!!

Yeah.. Roo got the pumpkin!!
(We play you WIN if you end up with the pumpkin)

Freeze Dance Anyone???

"Oh Yeah, I got the groove!!!"

And no Halloween is complete without the sticky, stretchy guy that your child MUST throw up on you ceiling... which not only leaves a terrible grease mark on the ceiling, but takes forever to pull down!!!

YUCK!!

We try to counter the sweet stuff with some healthy stuff...
Grapes, Homemade Meatballs, Pasta with Pink Sauce!! Yum!!

These two loved it!!

Mondays are always hard... but when Halloween falls on Monday it seems to take the edge off!! Now, to gather all the paraphernalia for taking my own boys out Trick-or-Treating tonight!!!

Art with Toddlers

2011-10-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

Art with toddlers can be quite challenging. I have looked for different ways to incorporate open-ended art into our daily routine, but find it to be very hard. I need to give the children that sensory exploration, in a space that is made for mess. The key though is to be able to control it when the little ones are around. Dumping, tasting, and investigating is how little ones learn, so that means paint in the hair, belly button, floor, etc... as well as the water from the water table, sand from the sand box, glue from the glue bottle... ok, I think you get the picture :) Anyone who knows me, knows I don't mind mess. I don't mind cleaning up a mess... but with 3 little ones, it happens that while I am cleaning one up, the other 2 are creating messes I wouldn't have dreamed about. While I am cleaning up that mess... 2 more messes pop up on the other side of the room. I'm not talking paint only, it could be anything. I am making the effort to make messy fun available everyday, but it doesn't always happen.

I took out the easel this week. We painted great big pumpkins. It was a great experience for the little ones. Using the paintbrush, figuring out how to get it in the little opening on the paint pot, and then moving it on the whole sheet of paper (which didn't really happen without a lot of examples). But, they had a great time. Of course it was on their hands, on my floor, at the corners of their mouths from when I turned my back for a mila-second, and a little bit on the paper.

I also let the kids put sticker spiders onto their little marble painting webs. The little ones loved the stickiness of the stickers!! Another sensory experience they love.

I am going to try and get this art thing under control and make a messy area in the playroom. I think its time.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!!

2011-10-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready To Go!!!
We're ready Miss Michelle!!!

The lady at the register was so impressed by us!! She wouldn't let us get on the hayride until she got a photo of all of us together.

Yay, the Hayrides about to start!!

Can you believe how much I have grown from last year??

Here piggy, piggy, piggy!!

This guy wanted to give Scamp a kiss!!

"Hmmm.... I don't know Lil Bit, you think you can carry it??"

"Oh yeah, I am all over this one!!"

"Come on you silly pumpkin!! You are coming home with me!!"

Can you believe this!!! I GOT IT!!!!

This was Little Man last year... Wow, he's grown!!

This one's mine!!!

Look at me!!!

All our Loot!!!