Part time child care

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 13 – Alphabet Nature Hunt

During this COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are home with their children and looking for things to do. This is a daily post to give you ideas of fun things to do. It comes from activities that we implement at our daycare centre using our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum. Since we are closed during this time, we are sharing the activity for you to implement in your own home. Enjoy!

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 13 – Alphabet Nature Hunt

Language and Literacy go hand in hand, especially with young children.  A toddler’s brain is at peak ability for learning, meaning a solid groundwork for language and literacy can be established at this time.  For young children presenting language and literacy together is easy and natural, because they are not differentiating written language from spoken language the way adults do.  It is all just learning how to communicate. We have a fun language and literacy activity to do outside with your children. We call it the Alphabet Nature Hunt.

Step 1: Sit down with your child and talk to them about some of the things they see when they are outside.

Step 2: Help them to create a list from A to Z of items they think they could see on their walk. Let them use their imagination. It will help to keep them busy and excited while outside.

Step 3: As you go through each letter, have them tell you what they could see. Ex. A is for Ant, B is for bike, C is for cat, D is for dog, E is for elephant. Not likely to be seen in nature but how exciting to add an elephant to your hunt.

Step 4: As you are out, put a check mark beside everything that you saw from your list and an “x” beside everything you didn’t.

Step 5: When you get home you can discuss everything you saw. For the items you did not come across, it is a great time to discuss with the children where they could find those items. You could then read a book about one of them to see where they really can be found. Or even better, you could google the item and allow the children to explore it.

This is a great way to use language and literacy to tie in to technology and build and expand on the ideas. It’s also a great opportunity for physical activity and exploring nature. If you are not comfortable going for a walk in the neighbourhood at this time, you can simply explore nature in your own backyard.

This daily kids activity incorporates many learning areas based on our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum including: STEAM (science/nature), physical activity and language and literacy. 

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 12 – Impulse Control Games

During this COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are home with their children and looking for things to do. This is a daily post to give you ideas of fun things to do. It comes from activities that we implement at our daycare centre using our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum. Since we are closed during this time, we are sharing the activity for you to implement in your own home. Enjoy!

Today’s Activity: Impulse Control Games

Self-regulation—or the ability to control your own emotions and behaviour—is an essential life skill for children: It helps with everything from social relationships to self-care to learning how to read and write. If a child can handle their feelings and choose to act in ways that help them achieve specific goals (such as ignoring distractions to focus on reading, or not melting down after losing at a game so other children will want to keep playing with them), they are off to a great start in life.

Any game that requires controlling impulses and movements can help children increase their control over their own thoughts, emotional responses and actions. Those games that involve winning or losing also help children practice being a good sport and tolerating discomfort, so they’re better equipped to deal when things don’t go the way they’d hoped.

Here are a couple of easy games to help your child to self-regulate by learning to control impulses.

1. Freeze dance. Have a dance party with family members and tell everyone that when you stop the music, they must hold very still. The first person to move is eliminated for the next round. The winner is the last one dancing. Children tend to feel more comfortable in an environment that is familiar to them, like home. This is a great time to help children with their emotions by letting them see that eventually everyone gets out, that they will have another chance and that with practice they will get better.

2. Simon says is another great option. One person is the leader and tells everyone else to do an action. If they say Simon Says and then the action, everyone follows. If not, they don’t. Children must follow rules and instructions. This means they have to listen, without distraction to make sure that they get it right.  Again, play with family and when you don’t follow what Simon says, you are out until the next round.

Although it can be tough to teach our children that it is okay to lose in a world where everyone gets a trophy, it is a valuable life lesson for when they are older and more difficult defeats will come. Self-regulation is the key to a successful future.

This daily kids activity incorporates many learning areas based on our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum including: Mindfulness through Self-regulation. 

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 11 – Fizzy Ice Cubes Activity

During this COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are home with their children and looking for things to do. This is a daily post to give you ideas of fun things to do. It comes from activities that we implement at our daycare centre using our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum. Since we are closed during this time, we are sharing the activity for you to implement in your own home. Enjoy!

Today’s Activity: Fizzy Ice Cubes Activity

Science is a great way to keep kids entertained. It is usually filled with cool things happening, bright colours and sometimes unpredictable outcomes. Science education activities provide children with opportunities to develop and practice many different skills and attributes. These include communication skills, collaborative skills, team working and perseverance, as well as analytical, reasoning and problem-solving skills. This is an interesting experiment involving baking soda and vinegar with an icy twist!

Step 1: Gather the following ingredients

1. 1 cup of baking soda
2. 1 tsp of clear gelatin
3. ¼ cup of water
4. Food colouring
5. Ice cube tray
6. Vinegar

Step 2: Mix together the baking soda and gelatin

Step 3: Add of few drops of food colouring to the water and pour into the baking soda mixture. Mix well. You can separate the mixture into four equal parts and have four different colours or make extra batches with new colours.

Step 4: Separate the mixture evenly in the ice cube trays. Freeze overnight

Step 5: Remove the cubes from the tray and put them in a shallow dish. Let your child pour some vinegar over the ice cubes. Watch it begin to fizz. You can use a small measuring cup, a turkey baster or eyedropper to pour the vinegar to develop fine motor skills.

Here’s some questions to ask. What do you think will happen when we pour the vinegar over this? What do you think will happen when the colours begin to mix together? Do you think one colour will melt faster than the others?

This daily kids activity incorporates many learning areas based on our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum including: STEAM (Science) and language skills. 

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 10 – Going on a Bear Hunt Activity

During this COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are home with their children and looking for things to do. This is a daily post to give you ideas of fun things to do. It comes from activities that we implement at our daycare centre using our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum. Since we are closed during this time, we are sharing the activity for you to implement in your own home. Enjoy!

Today’s Activity: Going on a Bear Hunt Activity 

Many communities have banded together during this pandemic with “social distancing” group activities for kids. Some of these activities included posting shamrocks in the windows on St. Patrick’s Day and walking around the neighbourhood to find them. Today, I came across another one of these activities on a few social media parent groups and I want to share it as a simple activity that you can do today. At our daycare centre, one of the children’s favourite songs is “Going on a Bear Hunt”. When we put the music on, the children gather around and pretend to go on a hunt. They LOVE it! For today’s activity, you will go on a bear hunt with your child and possibly your whole neighbourhood!

Step 1: Find a teddy bear and put it in the window or front porch of your home so that is visible to people walking by.

Step 2: Get a copy of the “going on a bear hunt” song and download it to your phone. You can find it on Youtube.

Step 3: Play the song while you go on a walk in your neighbourhood. See if you can find any bears in the windows of your neighbourhood homes. Many community parent groups have posted this so you may see some families participating. Also, you can try to organize it on your own street if you have a way to contact them. Perhaps you can post this activity on your neighbourhood social media group to encourage more awareness and participation.

Step 4: Take pictures of your bear and any other bears you find along the walk.

Enjoy all the physical activity and sense of community belonging that comes with this activity!

This daily kids activity incorporates many learning areas based on our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum including: Physical activity, social and language skills. 

Daily Activity for Kids – Day 7 – Cardboard Box Activity

During this COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are home with their children and looking for things to do. This is a daily post to give you ideas of fun things to do. It comes from activities that we implement at our daycare centre using our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum. Since we are closed during this time, we are sharing the activity for you to implement in your own home. Enjoy!

Today’s Activity: Cardboard Box Activity

Have you ever noticed that kids love to play with boxes – and sometimes more so than what was inside the box? A cardboard box is a versatile toy that you can transform into anything you want. All you need for this activity is your imagination and an empty box from a recent delivery. In these days, you may have lots of empty boxes around from the deliveries you are getting. Here’s some ideas to transform your cardboard box into hours of fun!

Step 1: Find an empty cardboard box. This can be any size but bigger is better! Bigger boxes allow your child to get inside it which is always more fun. (make sure there is nothing in the box such as plastic wrap/foam and there are no staples or other hazards)

Step 2: Gather the materials you need to decorate your box. You can use crayons, markers, paint, glue, collage materials. Let it dry completely.

Step 3: Ask your child what they want the box to be. There are endless possibilities here. The box can be a boat, truck, train, rocket, garbage truck, garage, house etc. Try to go with your child’s ideas instead of your own. Remember, the box can be a boat one minute and a train in the next one. Follow your child’s lead.

Step 4: Add specific features to the box for more interest. Make holes for windows, add a chimney, wheels etc.

Step 5: Research more ideas of what you can with a cardboard box. This website has some great ideas!

www.herecomethegirlsblog.com/2013/12/26/100-ways-use-cardboard-box.html

We use cardboard boxes often in our daycare centre. We know that as soon as we bring out a box, the children are ready to climb inside it. Be sure to stay safe and supervise their play while using the boxes.

This daily kids activity incorporates many learning areas based on our Four Pillars of Learning curriculum including: STEAM (engineering, art).