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Mother's Day Crafts and a Song

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:36:15 +0000

It's been a while since we've had an update, but today we have a couple of Mother's Day crafts, and a cute song for the kids to sing.

Some of our SK’s came to daycare singing this song yesterday and it is just too cute. Needless to say we made sure to get them to teach it to our preschoolers and toddlers to sing for mom this weekend!

M-O-M-M-Y (Sung to: B-I-N-G-O)
There is someone that I love best
And Mommy is her name-O.
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
And Mommy is her name-O.

No Sew Rice Sock

A simple craft perfect for mom after a long hard day at work. Take a sock, a long tube sock works best. Fill with rice, (not instant) and tie a knot at the top. Now mom can warm the rice sock in the microwave and wrap it around her neck to relax after a hard day’s work!

Magnet Handprints

My daughter made this craft her first year at daycare and it is still my favourite. Thank you to Marie for such a fantastic idea. Create handprints on sturdy cardstock. Glue handprints to magnet paper and cut out around the hands. Write the child’s name on one and Masterpiece on the other. Podgy or seal for longevity. Mom now has two handprints help display her little Picasso’s work on the fridge.

Christmas Crafts

Andrea — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:03:09 +0000

Here are two great Christmas themed crafts for Toddlers, and one for Preschoolers.

Toddler

Cotton Santa Beard

You will need:

cotton balls
glue
paint brushes or popsicle sticks (to spread glue)
santa face print out

Print a santa face with a large beard area.
Have the toddlers "paint" glue onto the beard.
Stick cotton balls on for the beard.

Rudolph

You will need:

brown tissue paper
red pom poms
glue
reindeer drawing or print out

Have children paint glue onto the print out.
Stick on tissue paper (small suares work well to practice fine motor skills)
Slue a red pompom on for rudolph's nose.

Preschool

Hand/foot reindeer

You will need:

brown paint
red paint
black marker
background paper

Have children dip their bare foot into brown paint.

Stamp foot in the middle of the page

Dip both hands in brown paint.

Stamp both hands side by side at the top of the foot to be the antlers

Use your thumb in the red paint to be rudolph's nose

When dry, use the black marker to create the rest of rudolph's face.

Remembrance Day Activities

Andrea — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:29:31 +0000

Here's a few simple crafts that should be good for all age groups, to celebrate Rememberance Day.

Heart poppies

Basic poppy craft, easy for all ages. The basis for the majority of the crafts we do for our Remembrance Day theme.

Materials:

Red construction paper
Black/green construction paper
Scissors
Glue

Trace a heart onto red construction paper. Each child will need 4 hearts. When the hearts are joined in the middle they create the “petals” us a green/black circle to cover the connection point.

Felt poppies

Our school-agers make these poppies. Felt is harder to cut then paper and the result is a more realistic poppy for them to wear.

Materials:

Red felt
Black/green felt
Scissors
Glue
Safety pin

Instructions as above, glue a safety pin to the back of the poppy to wear.

Poppy Wreaths

Materials:

Same as heart poppies
Cardboard circle

Create a number of heart poppies as above and glue onto a cardboard circle to create a class wreath.

Cross and Poppy

Materials:

Same as heart poppies
Cardboard
White paint

Trace and cut out a cross shape from cardboard. Paint white. When dry, glue a heart poppy on the cross.

Peace Dove

We have had difficulty finding Remembrance Day crafts in the past to last an entire week. Over the years we have shifted to add a peace element to our Remembrance Day weekly theme. We make Peace Doves to hang from the ceiling. 30+ doves hanging from the ceiling of the classroom can make quite the impression!

Materials:

White construction paper or card stock
White computer paper
Scissors

Enchanted Learning has a craft almost identical to the one we’ve been doing the past few years. Their instructions are very clear and detailed pictures show where cuts should be made.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/newyear/dove/

Halloween crafts

Andrea — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:14:30 +0000

You asked, we answered! Here are more Halloween crafts for your little witches and goblins (or princesses and spidermen) to help decorate your classroom.

Pasta Skeletons

Materials: Different shaped pasta, glue, black construction paper.

Tie in your science discussion on the human body with some spooky crafts. Simply let the children use the pasta as bones and create their own skeleton.Older children may choose to paint the pasta white beforehand, but either way makes a nice contrast to the black paper.

Paper Plate Spider Webs

Materials: white paper plates, black paint, marble, pipe cleaner (optional)

So easy, and so cute! Pour a small blob of black paint in the middle of a paper plate. Let the kids roll their marble around the plate creating black "webs". The original blob becomes the spider on the web with the addition of some googly eyes and 8 pipe cleaner legs.

Spooky Ghost Necklace

materials: white school glue, paper clip, googly eyes, wax paper

This is so easy. we've used this technique before to make sun catchers, why not Halloween ghosts? Lay out your wax paper on a flat surface. squeeze some glue onto your paper and spread out into your spooky ghost shape. Add a paperclip to the top so you can attache a string later. It will take a few days for your ghost to dry, but once he does, peel him off and tada a perfectly spooky necklace.

Welcome

Andrea — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:42:48 +0000

Welcome to all our new members!
We hope you are enjoying your time here at AskanECE. We want to make this site about you, what do you want to see? What do you want more of?
Voice your opinion.
Got an article idea? Send us your articles and maybe we'll publish your work on our site.
Want to be one of our experts, email an admin with your experience and credentials.
Share your programming ideas or ask questions, we're here to help.
Nominate your DCP or a co-worker for our monthly award. Show them you appreciate their hard work.

Congratulations

Andrea — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:08:02 +0000

Congratulations to our very own Theresa Ryan! Theresa won the Individual Award of Excellence for Children's Services at the Child Care Conference held in Durham Region today!
We at AskanECE, acknowledged her first, but nice to know that all of Durham Region acknowledges her effort and passion for child care too!
Way to go, Theresa!

Durham Region Child Care Forum

Andrea — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:41:52 +0000

The Durham Region Child Care Forum is holding its Annual Conference at the Durham District School Board Office on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Last year’s conference was fantastic and I came away with tons of free stuff, information, contacts and I had a lot of fun too. There are door prizes, a great lunch, a vendor and service provider fair, keynote speaker and of course, workshops.

Registration begins at 8:15 in the Atrium, followed by the Keynote speaker at 8:45 in the Cafetorium. Participates registered for two workshops in the morning. Each workshop is 75 minutes with a short 15-minute break in between. An extended 90-minute lunch is catered in the Cafetorium.

Before (or after) you eat, make sure to visit the vendor fair and the Discovery Rooms (behind the registration area). The afternoon workshops run from 2-3:15pm. Refreshments are once again served in the Cafetorium while Awards of Excellence and door prizes are handed out.

Do not miss this! The door prizes are worth the wait trust me!

Canadian Election and Child Care

Andrea — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:04:16 +0000

As a childcare provider, and parent, the topic of childcare is important to me when it comes to election time. I was very frustrated to not have all the information I wanted from the different Parties at my fingertips. I heard more about what other parties were not going to do, then actual campaign platforms from the Parties themselves.

After some digging, I have found some information from the 4 main political Parties about their campaign platforms as they pertain to childcare.

Conservatives:

Plan to continue the $1200/year family tax credit

Have given money to provinces to help create spaces

Liberals:

Develop a National child care program at $1.25 Billion / year

Change parental leave structure, so people who take shorter leaves get the same benefits in the shorter time frame.

Extend maximum leave time to 18 months

Green:

Restore the National Child care program, (see Liberals above)

Tax credit for companies that put childcare spaces in the workplace.

NDP:

Enact the New Democrats’ Early Learning and Child Care Act – which has already passed Second Reading in Parliament - to establish the program in law for the first time in Canada.

Establish and adequately fund a Canada-wide childcare and early learning program. Will make high quality, accessible, affordable, non-profit and licensed childcare available to Canadian families, including aboriginal Canadians. These initiatives will create 150,000 new childcare spaces in the first year, growing to 220,000 spaces per year in the fourth year.

Ensure a healthy head start for kids. Will develop a Children’s Nutrition Initiative to support and expand provincial and local programs that provide healthy meals to schoolchildren.

Hopefully, this information will help you as you make your decision on who to vote for in the October 14th election.

Some Older Crafts

Andrea — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:33:02 +0000

As we get in to October, I thought now would be a good time to revive a few older articles. For our Canadian readers, next week is Thanksgiving, so here are some activities for your Toddlers to do:

http://www.askanece.com/crafts/toddler-thanksgiving-arts-and-sensory-activities

And for everyone, Hallowe'en is coming up, and we know how exciting that is. Here is our two part article from last year on Hallowe'en crafts:

http://www.askanece.com/for-teachers/crafts/halloween-crafts-1

http://www.askanece.com/for-teachers/crafts/halloween-crafts-2

I've become a bookworm

Andrea — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:01:25 +0000

I used to read a novel or two a week. Then I became a parent and my reading consisted of I Will Love You Forever and Dear Zoo over and over again. I am still a parent, but battling the "terrible twos" has forced me to seek outside help. So off to www.amazon.com I went and ordered my own library of toddler survival guides. It's been a few weeks and I must admit I am in love with three of these books. So much so, I am using their advice at work and at home.

I highly recommend The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. I read his The Happiest Baby on the Block when my DD was young and loved it as well. He is well spoken, easy to understand and best of all, easy to put down and pick up later when your two year old decides to ride the cat down the stairs. The illustrations are comical and relate to the material; A must for blurry eyed moms trying to read at midnight while they wait for the last load of laundry to be finished in the washer.

I am also enjoying Toddler 411 by Denise Fields and Dr. Ari Brown. A super simple, easy to read (notice a trend here?), question and answer guide to "surviving picky eaters, temper tantrums, toilet training and more!" This book is a gold mine of advice. I love the table of contents. It is set out in such a way that I can find exactly what I am looking for in the heat of the moment. Like when my daughter threw her lovingly handmade by mommy ballet tutu on the floor and announced "No put on tutu mommy, no ballet, no dance" and stomped upstairs. The humorous real life stories in the reality check section of the book helped me (through my tears) understand that while I might be ready for her to be a prima ballerina, she may not share my enthusiasm and it is OK to let her adjust at her own pace. So for now we'll hang up her ballet slippers and keep reading the book.

Last, but certainly not least, I am LMAO at Vicki Iovine's, The Girlfriend's Guide to Toddlers. I was pretty sure I would enjoy this one, as I had previously nearly gone into labour reading her The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. She is bright, funny, brutally honest and did I mention, funny? There is good solid advice mixed with the comforting words of a best friend. A must read for any parent, day care provider, or even someone thinking of having a kid.