Concentration

I am a process over product girl mostly, but Holiday Time really brings out my Memory Making Mode... We all want those cute little crafts to hang on the Christmas Tree, so we can look back years later and say "Oh Jack, look you made this in preschool... do you remember?" and the kids get all excited, finding their special ornaments and wreaths for the wall.

How do I reconcile this?? Well, look at these little faces...

The look of concentration as they fine tune those fine motor skills are... Priceless. The little white paper is hard to peel back, but they kept at it. Asking for help when they got frustrated, but eventually everyone (well almost everyone, my Little is 18 mths, she couldn't quite get it, but she tried) figured out how to peel that paper back by themselves. They were so proud of themselves!!!

I DID IT SHELL!!!!

For $1 we used our fine motor skills, we experienced sticky-vs-smooth, we cooperated, shared materials, waited our turn, and most important we socialized, talked, and just had "together" time, all of us. It was a moment that to me, their "teacher," was absolutely... Priceless!!

Morning Play

What a busy morning!! We started our morning off with Forts and Tunnels!! Believe it or not... there are 4 kids under the blankets and pillows. We received a whole bunch of extra couch pillow when we needed some repairs to the couch, and the kids found them recently and have been "building" with them ever since. The Tunnel around the coffee table is a very important thorough-fare at our house.

All the ages get involved

We worked on our fine motor skills while using the droppers and red water colors to dye our macaroni for our Holiday Wreaths

We topped our morning off with almost an hour and a half of play at the playground!!!

It has been raining here and my backyard is a swampy, muddy mess!! I am so glad our community has such a wonderful playground for the kids to use!!

A stray "Wishing" flower...

We also had time to work on our wreaths, play in the water table, have circle time, and open our 3rd box on our Advent Calendar... a donkey today :) We had a fun morning, the week has flown by.

Toddlers

Toddlers... What a wonderful age!! This post is for my toddlers!!

When I started my Family Home Daycare I didn't really give a lot of thought to the age groups I would have. How they would interact. How one age would influence another. How any age would influence our day. Well... I do now. I have had infants through preschoolers in my care and they all add something to our program. We have had to adjust our days to accommodate naps or feedings. We have had to keep prized toys out of reach or precious art work up on the shelf. People think I started my "preschool" program because of all the preschoolers I have at the time, but really it is just for the structure to our day. We want to be busy and engaged all day, so this was the best way for ME to achieve that.

Now, why toddlers today?? My toddlers have given me such joy this week. They have been interacting, playing with the "big" kids, getting ooey gooey, and learning to "sit" in circle time. Now, I only have 1 full-time early toddler, and then a friend comes periodically to have a play date or have a celebration, and this week we began our Advent Celebration and working on Christmas Crafts... so they have been here off and on.

To watch them is so wonderful, it reinforces why I do what I do. I love giving them the opportunities and experiences they crave. I love working with a multi-age group. The little ones learn from the big ones, the big ones learn empathy for their little counterparts, the big kids get to be the "teacher" and yet they love giving the toddlers a turn at being the teacher. The big kids have learned to share their environment and have made adjustments to make their "babies" part of their daycare family. Having just a few toddlers together is a blessing. They can learn without having to be on the look out for another toddler doing or wanting the same things as them. They can still be the "baby" of the family here, because the preschoolers are learning they had their turn and now it is time for them to be the "teachers" for the toddlers. It all seems to be working... well, most days :)

I remember working in the toddler room at a daycare center... having 7 to 10 toddlers together at one time... it was a long, hard day. Now we had a wonderful center, we did wonderful, engaging learning experiences... but the sheer number of toddlers together was overwhelming... mostly for the toddlers. We only had usually 2 people... which meant 4 arms and if your lucky you could get 3 children on you lap and in your arms for a hug... unless of course someone wasn't pushing another off :) I just couldn't do it all and they could not understand why not. I always felt I was falling short in that classroom.

With my group now, I feel like I can give all the hugs, kiss away the tears, wash up a boo boo, or just hold a sad/happy child... when I need to, as many times as I need to. We still have our days of stubborn tantrums, teething, and learning to share... but with only 1 and sometimes 2 it seems like I am having an impact on their lives. That they are learning here... about being a toddler and striving to be like those big preschoolers they see everyday.

I know multi-age groups are not always the ideal for every child, yet for us it seems to work. I love watching them blossom from the infant that comes first to the "big" preschooler that leaves to go to kindergarten. It is an amazing process and I am so glad to be involved in it.

Here are just a few out takes from our week...

reading with friends

green paint... loving the ooey gooey feeling in her hands

Look at this!!



smellin the candles from our scent tray




play-doh time

Thirsty??

What do you think??

I can cook it for you...

Watercolors

Toddlers amaze me... they are such sponges and have such personalities. They are becoming little people so fast and trying to get as many experiences under their belt as they can. I learn so much from them everyday!! The most important their ability to Love!! Again... I love my job.

Another Great Day

Today we didn't get to many photo's... but we had a lot of fun learning about the meaning of Christmas!! We have a great new Advent Calendar that talks and tells the story of Jesus' Birthday and a magnetic board that we can put the special pieces up on as the story is being told.

We read some silly books about Santa and some more touching books about Baby Jesus. The kids enjoyed having the playdoh out to "act" out what we read about, and then we went outside!! We ran, dug in the dirt, chased our friends, built "caves" in the climbing structure, ran some more and then ran even more!! It was such a cool, crisp day... the sun was shining and the kids had a ball.

Being from NY I remember the GRAY winters. Starting in November all the way through February it was gray. The clouds were out most of the time, the snow gray from the salt and dirt, the cars were gray from the salt and dirt, it was just gray. The kids didn't get out as much, and didn't get to bask in the sunlight as much. Here we get cold weather... but the sun seems to be shining so much more and makes you want to be outside even when it's cold. I'll be sometimes wishing for a cold, rainy, snowy day so we can stay in... the kids always want to be outside. I'm glad.

Now... don't get me wrong... I do MISS the snow fall from New England!! We would get 1,2,3 feet sometimes. The kids are missing an experience in that also. The sledding, the snow forts, the snow ball fights, and the ice palaces. We had a lot of fun on those days. We get one "good" (which is relative mind you) snow a year. It snows maybe a foot or so, the schools are closed, the kids all go outside as soon as possible and try to get all the fun in before it melts away. We get the fire burning, the hot chocolate flowing and the gloves and boots out for their once a year ritual. The next day... it's pretty much gone. It's pretty funny in fact. We have been here a little over 3 years... and that's how it has been every winter since we got here. People talk about the time it snowed 5 feet or what not... but not since we have lived here.... I'll keep you posted this winter!!!

We also began working on our songs & finger plays for our Holiday Program... the kids are sweet. They get nervous and excited about it... Thankfully I keep it short and sweet!! All in all I think we had a great morning!!!

Nice to be Back

What a wonderful weekend... lots of food, family and fun!! I missed my routine and am happy to be back. We spent some time this morning outside before the rain came. It was nice to run, dig and especially swing!!

We love digging... we have a wonderful sandbox to dig in. Yes, it has some twigs, leaves and acorns in it, but that's OK, right? No, it is so much more fun to dig in the dirt anywhere else. It doesn't matter someone (probably one of these 2) will come running along, chasing a friend or pushing a dump truck, and trip and fall... nope, it doesn't matter :) I think the sheer energy it takes to dig a hole in this hard NC clay is what matters. Getting their shovels, buckets and dump trucks out to begin their "dig," it is hard and they love the "work" of it. There is a lot of discussion of how to best go about starting, how large it should be or when to stop. I love watching them.

We will begin our Holiday Month tomorrow. I like to delve into Holiday's Around the World this week, and then narrow it down to Christmas. We talk about what we think the meaning of Christmas is and how our families celebrate. We then have our Holiday Program before the Christmas Break from school. It is a small thing, we have our families come, do some songs or little play, and then we watch a DVD of our first months of daycare while we eat some snacks (proudly prepared by the kids... YUM!!). So, I need to get started on those songs and props!!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Kozy Kids!!!

We have so much to be Thankful for!! I am thankful for my family, my Kozy Kids, my health, my ability to love what I do, the Families that have stuck with me through a rough time, and for all the wonderful moments that happen in my life everyday!!

Thank You! Thank You!! Thank You!!!

Swings

Today we went to the playground. Our playground isn't huge, it has some climbing structures and some newly installed swings... Oh how we love swings. The kids are beginning to get the hang of swings. The skills necessary to get on, get them moving, jumping off, and watching for other kids in front of and behind them. I wish I had some pictures of the kids on the swings today, you see the swings in my yard are nice and low and perfect for the kids to get on and off on their own. They can also lie on their bellies and pretend to fly. Not so with the swings at the playground.

The swings at the park are so high off the ground you would think they were designed for teenagers, not young children or even young school aged kids!! Yet today I saw a determination that only a preschooler can exhibit!! I have a strict policy that if you can't get up on a piece of equipment by yourself, then you probably can't get off either... so they can only go as far as their bodies can take them. This is to prevent falls or a child using a piece of equipment that is beyond their skill level, and yes a little bit of selfish reasoning that I won't have to get a child up or down a million gazillion times (but really that is just a small part).

Anyway... the kids all went over to the swings and began trying to get up on those swings. No one asked me to help, and only 1 child got on themselves. He got down and instructed the other kids on how to do it, and even helped a few try to "jump" on. Another child got on too and was very excited. Some of the others just decided it wasn't that important today to get up and ran to the climbing structures and began a game of tag. However, we had 1 little girl who tried and tried and tried to get up on that swing. She asked friends for pointers, she tried to pull herself up, she tried getting on her stomach and bringing up her knees, for about 10 minutes she struggled to get up on that swing before she got so frustrated she started to cry. Her friend came over and tried to help her again, she was invited by others to play tag... she was having none of it. She wanted to get on that swing. Her Mom finally went over and helped her on the swing... showing her how to put her hands and pull herself up... she was happy to be on the swing, but you could see that she wanted to get on that swing by herself. It was a mixed pleasure. And because of it she only lasted on that swing for about 2 minutes... huh.

Is there a time to intervene?? Her Mom asked if she could show her some pointers, she said yes. But in the end was it as gratifying to her?? I do believe that when we go to that playground again she will have the same determination, if not more, to get on that swing herself. I can't wait to see the look on her face when it happens!!!