This month, the children and I focused on the delights of spring, specifically on the life cycle of plants and rainy weather. We engaged in projects that reflected the changes we were seeing outside. The green flush of new grass and leaves and the emergence of lovely spring flowers were the subjects of our artwork, and we played matching and sequencing games that used flowers and plants to teach colors and the plant life cycle. Our April circle time revolved around the chang

As the gorgeous misty sunrise I saw this morning can attest, autumn is here, and along with it is a new face at Blue Sky Daycare! This gorgeous face joined us yesterday, and the children and I are just thrilled to have an infant in our midst. The older children asked all kinds of questions about the baby, and we spent most of yesterday discussing how to keep the baby safe while the big kids still had lots of fun. During our calendar and weather routine, we changed our calend

It's fascinating how occasionally the children's play witll take a leap ahead developmentally. Today felt like one of those days because I noticed several instances where the children combined play materials of different sorts in novel ways with no input from me. It all began after our morning routine when one of the children used a playsilk to enhance a block structure he was building. Soon after, the other children imitated him and soon we had a room full of peek-a-boo bl

The children seemed to be in a quiet and meditative mood this morning, so I decided that a good chunk of time spent making and playing with blocks was just what was needed. At first, the children and I focused on just square blocks... ... but after a bit we decided to mix and match the Lego-style blocks, railroad tracks, and natural wooden blocks. Soon there was a whole town with a railroad and a zoo! While the big kids focused on blocks, the little in residence had a very

Today we started our day as usual with our calendar, weather, and circle time routines. After that, the children (with occasional help) made some wonderful pretend houses, castles, and even a garden from large lego-style blocks. We used figures to bring the structures to life and played out several scenarios like walking to the park, taking a dog for a walk, and visititng a princess. We have wanted to visit the park for several days, and today the weather was just right for

Today began with block play after our usual morning routine. We used a combination of rocks and handmade nature blocks, and the children used their imaginations to make "bridges," "a hiding spot," and "a tower." Some dolls were moved in and the children played with them happily for quite some time. Once the block play faded away, we moved on to some gross motor play. I brought out a large tent with a tunnel, and the children and I had lots of fun pretending through the poe

Today we decided to do a fresh take on our block play. After our morning routine, I had the big kids play an imitation game. I had them follow a series of steps as I built a structure to create structures that looked the same as mine. I was astounded by how easily they were able to do this! Adding new rows that are in the middle of two blocks below to create pyramidal structures is a tough spatial challenge for the kids, but they were up to it! Once the big kids and I wer

The weather didn't turn out the way we had hoped, so today's Earth Day celebration was somewhat more subdued than planned, but as usual, I had a backup plan ready to go just in case! I changed things up and began the day with some block play that focused on patterning. The big kids made towers of blocks with patterns while the littles occupied themselves with building their own towers, taking apart the big kids' old ones, or putting the blocks into the block bin. The big k

While we had a nice time doing our morning routine, the fun really began when we started bringing out the lego-type blocks! First we started with the biggest blocks for the littles. I had the big kids build towers with the large legos while the littles and I worked on learning to seat the blocks properly and hold down the base of their towers so they could build higher. After a little while they got the hang of it and enjoyed playing on their own. Soon after, I brought out

Today was a great day to do our favorite creative activities inside. The grey clouds and misty weather kept us in, but we had fun anyway! We began our day with our usual calendar, weather, and circle time routine, then moved on to some block play. The littles and I worked on making and breaking down block towers while the older children were free to construct whatever they wanted. One child made a restaurant, another made a "sheep's wool and milk machine," and another made

Trains turned out to be the toy of choice this morning after our morning routine. We practiced our manners while trains chugged along the tracks. We used phrases like"excuse me, please" or "could I please come through" when another train was in our way. The littles worked on using the magnets to attach one train car to another. We also practiced our "chugga chugga" and "toot toot!" noises, which brought lots of smiles. After our snack time, we did our second gardening ac

The children are so excited to share their love on Valentine's Day that loving behaviors seem to be spilling over into our regular routines. During our calendar routine we've been talking about ways to show our family love- picking up after ourselves, giving hugs and kisses, waiting patiently for our turn to talk in a conversation- every day seems to bring new ways to show love to our little circle. The older children have taken extra special care of the littles and have be

What a great day it was today! The sun was finally shining and everyone seemed energetic and refreshed. We had a wonderful time doing our morning routines. In fact, they went so quickly and smoothly that we had plenty of time for the block play that took up most of the rest of the morning. We began by having the bigger children count out ten square blocks of the same size and shape, then having them assemble the blocks into a tower. Tower building with legos is the wheelh

Part of why I love being a daycare provider is watching children learn naturally with just the tiniest hint of guidance from me. Today there were several situations in which just a wee bit bit of setting the stage from me resulted in hours of engaged play and learning. To kick off our day, we set up our last state of matter experiment. I put out a set of underwater creatures and we observed them. I asked the children to compare some of the creatures. We observed which on

I try to fit block play in with the children about once per week. Blocks are what childhood education experts call "open-ended" toys, and anyone who has recently watched the Lego movie knows just what I mean... Legos and other blocks have the potential to be something other than and greater than just blocks- they can be a tower to knock down, stairs, a barn, a castle, a cave, a racetrack... the possibilities are literally endless. It is toys like this that help spark childre

Today turned out to be a day where we hunkered down and did the best we could given circumstances. The day was ripe for making snowmen and frolicking in the snow, but one of the children wasn't feeling 100 percent, so we made today as gentle and relaxing as possible. We proceeded through our morning routine at a slightly slower pace and kept things a little quieter and calmer than usual. After that, we settled in for some fun block play. I encouraged the bigger kids to crea