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

June is a great month to get out and enjoy the beautiful sunny days, and we did so as often and as long as possible. The children enjoyed many outdoor activities, and their favorite was playing in the water. Whether the children were running under the sprinkler, splashing at the water table, or filling and pouring water from pails and watering cans, it was all wonderful for the children's gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and social skills. It's also a great opportunit

The Blue Sky Daycare children had a wonderful time learning about flowers through a variety of activities, celebrating Cinco de Mayo and Mot

April began with plenty of showers, so hopefully our flowers will be extra beautiful in May. Rainy days can still be fun, though. Some of our rainy days we spent clipping flower pictures from a seed catalog and creating lovely flower collages. This activity provided some opportunities to talk about shapes and colors while honing fine motor skills as the kids cut and glued the images. Another rainy day gave us time to make fingerprint flowers. The children practiced drawing

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

September marks the change of seasons and one of my favorite seasonal markers- APPLES! I adore working with the children to make apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, apple sauce, and of course, eat sweet, juicy apples straight off the branch! For the second year, the Blue Sky Daycare family gathered together to visit the Homestead Orchard in Woodstock, IL. This small orchard offers the simple pleasure of apple picking at its best with nothing to distract from the experien

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

The children and I have been waiting for weeks to harvest the seeds from the giant sunflowers that we grew, and today was the day! The seed heads have been drying, and it was relatively easy for the children to pluck the seeds from the petal-like structures that surrounded them. It was work that took diligence and and lots of fine motor skill, but after about a half an hour, the children were rewarded with a big bowl full of seeds. We'll keep some of the seeds to plant next

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

Today was a fun day! During our calendar and weather routine we noted that it was going to be a hot, hot, HOT day and we all agreed it would be lots of fun to do some water play. After circle time we set up a pretend play area with a lake/ocean, a river, and a meadow. It was fun to pretend with sharks and whales in the water and to use our imaginations to reenact scenes from Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe. Before the sun was too intense, we slathered on sunblock, put

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 we were all overjoyed to welcome a new child into the daycare! We've been talking about how we could welcome the new child into the daycare. We thought the most important things we could do to make him feel welcome was to invite him to play with us, be respectful of his choices, share toys, and teach him how we do things together. As the day unfolded, we did the very things we discussed, and the new child's first day was stellar! We began with our morning routine of

Today the children and I did some more exploration of our underwater theme. After our morning routine, we worked on creating some shiny, eye-catching silver fish. First, we worked together to wrap some paperboard fish with aluminum foil. After that, each child used markers to decorate the fish. In the end, each fish had its own unique and special look, and they made a lovely, shiny school when hung on the wall. After that, we had lots of fun pretending to be on a beach. W

July might just be better than June for water play, so we are focusing on oceans as our monthly theme. Our morning circle time routine includes two fingerplays about starfish, one of which goes like this: Five little starfish lived in the sea, Floating and moving as happy as can be. The first little starfish crawled behind a rock to hide. The second little starfish caught a wave for a ride. The third little starfish searched for a treat. The fourth little starfish found some

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 had so much fun this morning! After our morning routine, we pulled out our pretend fishing set and caught lots and lots of colorful fish. Using the fishing poles requires great gross muscle control and patience, but it's so exciting to "catch" a fish that it's completely worth the effort for the children. After everyone had taken several turns fishing, we headed outside and began caring for the garden. We checked the vegetable garden and found two zucchini to pick (we g

What fun we had this morning as the children pretended to be "Summer Fairies" who were responsible for showing the bees where all the nectar was! The children raced around the yard tapping the flowers with some homemade summer wands. When that activity grew old, we checked the vegetable plants for ripe vegetables. We found a tomato, a cucumber, and two jalepenos. After that, we spent some time imagining a town in the sandbox. Before long it was complete with... ... tiny h