August and September were filled with fun and interesting activities for the Blue Sky Daycare children!

July arrived with its usual dose of heat, and to keep the cool off, the children and I decided to use some refreshing lemons. We chose several lemon recipes to make, and then did a taste test. First, we made lemon-poppyseed muffins. This duo did a great job taking turns as they poured, dumped, stirred, and put muffin papers into the pan. These activities were a great way to introduce measurement, counting, and to refine small motor coordination. Other children helped to ma

February may be a short month, but it does not lack for holidays, and we celebrated! Groundhog Day: We started our day reviewing what we learned about hibernating animals in January. We came to realize that groundhogs hibernate, too, and if they come out early, it's likely that the cause is warmer weather (among other factors), and warmer weather means an early spring. The next thing we did was make a graphic organizer to show how many of us thought that the famous groundhog

The waning light of November brought the children and I to a more introspective place, and through the month we worked on cultivating the little "lights" inside our heart as we practiced good manners, kind words, and gentle hands. We started our month with some fine motor skill activities, most notably playing with Tinkertoys. The children created their own structures with the sticks, wheels, tubes, and a variety of parts, then we worked together to make cars and a variety o

The daycare kids were so excited when they learned that today was applesauce day! Our visit to the Homestead Orchard was simply magical- we had perfect weather and loads of beautiful apples within reach of even the smallest child. Apples always need a good washing, so we began our day by scrubbing our apples well in soapy water with a touch of vinegar. The children practiced using a scrub brush and enjoyed the sensation of the warm water and foamy bubbles. Once all the appl

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

Last night I took a picture of Tiny the Monarch in his chrysalis (yes, he is a boy!). You can clearly see that the chrysalis had darkened and his wing pattern was clearly visible through the outer layer. Usually this is a sign that the butterfly will emerge within 48 hours, and Tiny did us proud. He emerged at the crack of dawn and though we did not see him come out, we caught sight of him while his wings were still small and crinkled. The children and I watched as Tiny wi

September is well underway, and we are focusing on apples right now. We have a lovely variety of circle time movement rhymes and fingerplays that have to do with apples and apple trees. Here is the one that we begin with: Way up high in the apple tree Two little apples smiled at me. I shook that tree as hard as I could, Down fell the apples. Mmmm- they were good! After our morning routine the children and I talked about how tall apple trees were and named all the colors of

There was a slight chill in the air this morning, so we focused on some big-body movement games to warm us up today. After our morning routine, the children and I had lots of fun setting up a pretend grocery store. There was so much wonderful cooperation from the children involved in this- the children worked together to clean up all the toys and put them in the proper baskets, then to move the baskets to an area away from where we'd be playing grocery store, and most impor

This morning was lots of fun. After our calendar, weather, and monthly circle time routine, the children requested some extra circle time activities including several rounds of "Ring Around the Rosy" and singing "Do You Know the Muffin Man." This set the stage perfectly for making muffins! We began by measuring out butter and sugar, adding an egg, and then mixing them all together. It was fascinating to watch the beaters twirl around in the bowl. Next, the children helped

It's amazing how much change can occurr over a weekend. Today we welcomed another new face to our daycare family, a little boy of almost one year. The older children had many questions about their new friend and were very eager to show him all about what we do. After our morning routine, the children and I checked in our our tiny caterpillars. Though they are still very small, their growth and change in appearance was obvious, especially when the children and I took a supe

We had a very special celebration today- a birthday! It's so much fun to make a special day filled with favorite activities for the birthday child and it is a lovely time to reflect on the child's journey so far at Blue Sky Daycare. During calendar and weather time, we took time to talk to the birthday child about what it was like when she first came to the daycare as a tiny baby, then how she grew and had milestone moments through her time here. We talked about some fun ac

We loved celebrating ice cream day today! After our morning routine, we talked about different flavors of ice cream, then we filled out a graph as we counted how many people liked certain flavors. It turns out that only one of us likes mint chocolate chip, and vanilla is the winner! Right after our graphing activity, we began our own ice cream making experiment. We gathered a big bowl of ice, resealable bags, salt, sugar, cream, and three flavorings- cocoa powder, vanilla

Today was another chilly day and the children and I decided it was a perfect day to make our favorite vegetable soup and bread meal (usually reserved for fall and winter). After our circle time, we quickly paid our garden a visit and came back with two zucchini to add to the soup. The children helped chop and add carrots, celery, onion, and the zucchini to the pot... ... then they added vegetable boullion cubes, water, and tomatoes. I put in on the stove to simmer while we

Today was chock-filled with fun activities for all the children! Once we finished our morning routine, we talked about making water flavored with fruit to refresh us during snack time. The children and I agreed it would be a perfect way to refresh our bodies after some outdoor play in the heat. We decided to add strawberries and some mint leaves. This was a perfect opportunity for the little in attendance to "cook," so we let her add all the strawberries... ...and most of

We were excited to change the calendar over from June to July this morning, change out some of our toys, and put some of our July decorations. We hung a bright orange and yellow sun in the window and added some pictures of sea creatures that correspond to our fingerplays. After all the changeover and an introduction to our new circle time routine for July, we worked on using a set of tangram boards and matching the the small wooden shapes to the pictures on the boards. We l

As the children trickled in after breakfast, we started our day working on a large jigsaw puzzle. We worked on sorting the pieces into groups by color and texture or by what small pictures they had. Some pieces had tiny purple flowers; those pieces all went in one pile. Another group had the chestnut color of the horses pictured. Those went in another pile. Sorting and figuring out where puzzle pieces go is a wonderful early math activity. It helps children develop their

We had so much fun celebrating Flag Day today! After calendar, weather, and circle time, the children and I looked at a picture of the United States flag. We talked a little about its features- its red, white, and blue color and the shapes of its stars and stripes. I set out a set of felt cut outs so that the children could build a replica of the flag. At first, we worked on it together. We talked about which way the stripes should go, where the blue rectangle should go,

Glorious June- your weather makes all our water play dreams come true! Once we were done our morning routine, we spent the majority of our morning outdoors exploring all the ways water makes things slippery on the slip-n-slide. Of course, we had to get the ball rolling by trying out our own bodies. Some of the big kids helped the littles walk carefully until everyone was comfortable and familiar with the slippery surface. We alternated periods of high pressure and low press

During one of our recent trips to the park, another adult told me about a larger park that was just a little further away, and today we set off for uncharted territory to look for the new park. After changing our calendar over to June and doing our calendar and weather routine, we packed up our snack, lots of water, and some surprises and set off on an an adventure! We spotted so many interesting things on our way to the new park- big, showy iris flowers, a colorful birdhous