December was filled with fun activities for the Blue Sky Daycare children. We kicked off the month's holiday festivities by learning how to bake pretend Christmas cookies. This was a great way for the children to learn about the cooking process, and since each pretend cookie came with a holiday-themed picture on the "frosting," we were able to name each image and talk about what each image represented. One of the next crafts we completed was a jingle bell necklace. The hol

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

After the winter months have passed us by, the warmer temperatures and the warmth of the sun are most welcome! The children and I had a wonderful time this month exploring the changes that begin to appear around us as winter's snows are melted away by spring's bright sunshine. Since the snow melted, the children had a great time playing outside. Rain gear helped us all keep dry as we looked for the first green leaves. Our first discovery were the shoots of the hardy chive

We had so much fun in February that the month zoomed right by! We finished up a hibernation theme that we had started in January with a fun activity. I cut entrance holes in several large boxes (which were kindly supplied by one of the daycare families). We reviewed some books about hibernating animals, then the children decided which kind of hibernating animal they wanted to be. We had a bears, woodchucks, and chipmunks! The children had a wonderful time picking out their

Our 6th annual tie-dye day was a great success although we had to postpone it until the first days of August to ensure that all the children could participate. The children did a fantastic job creating their tie-dyed masterpieces and helped with nearly all the steps involved. They picked out their favorite design, helped moisten the shirts with a spray bottle, named and selected the colors they wanted to use, and carefully squirted the dye onto their shirts. The end products

July is often a month families enjoy beach visits, so this month we chose to learn about beaches, underwater creatures and the ocean. There were plenty of opportunities to learn both inside and outdoors. Our circle time activities for the month centered on starfish, turtles, and fish. The children's favorite was a fingerplay about starfish because they got to take turns picking up my hand at the end and pretend it was a starfish. The fingerplay went like this: Five little

June brings the beautiful summer flowers, and with them... the BUGS! The children and I learned about several different types of common bugs this month through a variety of sources including books, matching games, pretend play, and real-life interactions with bugs. Searching for bugs around the yard was a favorite activity in the beginning of the month. The children and I brainstormed areas we should look for the bugs. Through our search, we learned that many bugs live on

May's flowers arrived as promised, and we used them to make fabulous flower crowns to celebrate May Day. The children loved searching all over the yard to find cheerful yellow dandelions and got lots of exercise running back and forth with handfuls of flowers to give me. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate high spring. Our outdoor explorations have gone beyond picking flowers. We have also enjoyed planting seeds in our flower garden and preparing t

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

January's focus was on all things chilly-snow, ice, icicles, snowflakes, and more. The children and I had lots of fun learning about winter weather, states of matter, and how to dress properly for cold weather. We learned a little about how some animals handle the cold weather by hibernating or migrating, and we made a wonderful bear cave to practice hibernating in ourselves! With the winter weather keeping us indoors so much, we stayed active through a variety of games. O

The children and I had the chance to get in a spooky mood and use our senses to explore some creepy bugs, some real and some pretend. First, the children got to handle a range of rubbery, stretchy, sticky pretend worms, some big black pretend spiders, and some wiggly pretend centipedes. The worms were definitely the most interesting to the children. We talked about how the worms felt in our hands and practiced using the words "squishy," "stretchy," and "wiggly" to describe t

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

The Monarch butterflies we've raised from eggs are finally emerging from their chrysalides as beautiful orange-and-black adults. Here is one Monarch's journey from egg to butterfly. His name is Flutter. Here is Flutter as an egg. This is how Flutter looked just before he hatched. This is Flutter as a newborn. Flutter is about the size of a hyphen. Here is Flutter in his second instar. He has shed his outgrown skin once. Here is Flutter when he had just molted. You can s

Today we had so much fun learning about bubbles! We began the day by making more homemade bubble solution. Our recipe included 6 c water, 1/2 c Dawn dish detergent, 1 tbsp of cornstarch, 1 tbsp of glycerin, and 1 tsp of baking powder. As you can see, the children were quite focused on getting every last bit of each ingredient into the bowl. Stirring was lots of fun, too. The mix became quite foamy before we let it rest. While the bubble solution settled, we did our morning

Today we overlapped some of our sunflower-themed activities with a fun bubble activity. Right after breakfast the children looked on as I made a special bubble solution using cornstarch, baking soda, glycerin, and water. The solution had to sit for a while, so we let it rest as we went about our daily routine. The children loved another telling of "Why the Sunflowers Hang Their Heads" and then retelling the story as they acted it out. We enjoyed the sun as we ate our snack o

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 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

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