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

The weather outside was frightful, but we dressed up to make sure we stayed warm and dry all through January. The rainy weather wasn't as much fun as being able to build snowmen, make snow angels, and throw snowballs, but we made the best of it. We looked for signs of animal activity and wondered what animals could be hiding under soggy leaves and rocks. On the days that were too cold to go outside, we had plenty of activities to keep everyone busy inside. One of the childr

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

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

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

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

The children and I are really beginning to notice signs of fall all around us. The bees are slow and less numerous, the brightly colored leaves are beginning to fall, and the calls of migrating geese can be heard throughout the day. Our circle time aims to capture the flavor of the season, so we've included several Halloween-themed fingerplays in the morning mix. One of them is "Ghost of John." Sung in a minor key, it is particularly spooky sounding and goes like this: Hav

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

Today's apple theme was upstaged a bit by the fun and enthusiasm that always goes into our bread making. The children began by adding yeast... ....then sugar (usually we use honey, but we were out!)... ...then a mix of flaxseed, sunflower seeds, oatmeal, millet, and cornmeal... ...and then flour... ...more flour... ... and extra flour followed by a good stir and lots of kneading. While our bread rose and we waited, the children and I set out for an end-of-summer walk. Since

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

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

The older children have been deep in the throes of pretend play, and as soon as we finish our morning routine, they have been inventing all sorts of familiar scenes to recreate. Children play through familiar scenes to deepen their understanding of the world they see around them. They practice being part of positive social interactions and discover more about how they fit into the world through this kind of imaginitive, constructive play. Today's play scene revolved around a

The children and I have been having so much fun with our sunflower theme so far! We love the beautiful coffee filter sunflowers hanging high in the window, we love our circle time fingerplays about sunflowers, and most of all, we love the story I've been telling about why sunflowers hang their heads. I adapted the story from Madge A Bingham's Overheard in Fairyland. You can find her telling here. The big kids and I have enjoyed working on our counting through one of our fi

August has been a perfect month for sunflowers- our two mammoth sunflowers outdoors are just beginning to bud (at about 7-8 feet tall!), and so our morning pretend session included cooking up and serving some sunflower seed bread with sunflower seed butter. We've also been enjoying two sweet sunflower-themed fingerplays. One of them goes like this: Here is my garden (make one palm flat toward ceiling) I rake with care (make raking motions with three fingers of opposite han

What a great day it was to celebrate a birthday! We began our day with calendar, weather, and our sunflower and bubble circle time rhymes, then launched right into making birthday cake/cookie bars. This time we decided that a pumpkin recipe sounded super yummy. After we examined the ingredients, the birthday boy got to add sugar to the flour... ... and stir it well. Next came the baking soda, baking powder, and salt... After that the children added cinnamon, nutmeg, and c

This morning we had a wonderful time after our morning routine. The children and I worked together to make clothing matches as we played dress-up with a set of magnetic dolls. We made up stories all about where the dolls were going to go and why they were dressed the way they were. Our favorite story was about a doll that liked to go out in the rain and stomp in puddles. She also liked to feed the ducks bread and talk to her friend the frog. Once the dolls were all dresse

Over the past few days we've found several Monarch butterfly eggs attached to the undersides of milkweed leaves. We've been keeping a close eye on the tiny yellow-white eggs, waiting for the tips to turn dark, for that is a sure sign the tiny caterpillar inside is ready to hatch. Today was our lucky day. We noticed that two of the eggs had darkened this morning, so we checked them periodically... ... and just after lunch the caterpillars hatched! The newborn cats were abou

Since we knew the day was going to be hot, the children and I made an effort to start our morning routine a little earlier than normal so we could go to the park. The children were attentive and we had lots of fun doing our calendar and weather songs, dressing "Tim," and doing our circle time activity about starfish and turtles. Soon we were on the road headed to the park. It was a long walk, but made more fun by one of the daycare parents and big sisters making the long tr