Outta This World

This week was space week at daycare. While most of our activities were pretending about space - letting the kids lead the play... - aliens, rocket ships, etc. - we did do a couple projects that turned out really cute. We made spaceships from bowls; We made alien antennae headbands;

We created our own galaxies - with planets, and glow-in-the-dark shooting stars by marble painting;

(ugh - kinda blurry - sorry...)

We worked together to make fun alien pictures from paint blobs!

This week was a blast with some of the active games and activities we did, too. We practiced "space screaming" - no atmosphere to carry sound waves means no sound... Silent Screams! Best Thing Ever!

We threw moon rocks (wads of paper) since everything feels so light in space.

We spun around and around as we traveled through the room - like satellites.

And we did really a lot of blasting off! 3 2 1 BLAST OFF!

Super Fun Week!

Love This Smile

My baby, who is quickly reaching that "no longer a baby" point, is just flat out gorgeous. She has always had the best little smile!

Lately, that precious little smile just keeps getting holes in it. Up until a couple weeks ago, she had only lost 2 teeth - the bottom front ones, and they've been grown in for a long time. She lost first a top front tooth and thought that was too much fun.

About a week and a half later, she pulled the 2nd top one - gettin' a little goofier.

Last night... She pulled another bottom one. OK, pretty stinkin' goofy. Before I had even gotten the camera out to document this 3rd hole in her grin, she'd gone and pulled another bottom tooth! Four teeth missing. Four holes in her smile.

All I can say is, I'm kinda glad I don't have any pictures scheduled! Still gorgeous, but definitely on the goofy side for a while... And, now I have to figure out -- were all these teeth really ready to come out or does she just really like the money she gets from the tooth fairy??

The Start of New Play-Yard Activities

So, a couple weeks ago I began coveting a newly cut pile of logs across the "creek" at our back-yard neighbor's house. We hadn't met him yet, so I didn't feel comfortable just waltzing over, knocking on his door, and saying "Hey, I'd like your logs." But this weekend, he and his son were in their backyard, we were in our backyard and I just did it. I waltzed up to the "creek", said "Hi, I've been admiring your new pile of logs..." and he jumped in and said, "you can have 'em!". Dream come true. And our new friend will be receiving a fresh-baked batch of home-made chocolate chip cookies from the kids and I later in the week!

We took some time yesterday dragging the pile over to our yard and doing some experimenting with what we want to do with them. We added some seating to the fire-pit area for our kids and family. Then, for the daycare area, we did this....

We made a "bridge" with them! A shorter, flatter area for them to walk across, and a taller, more uneven area for them to balance across as they got braver. Today... They Loved It! Look at them - not only did they balance, but they loved jumping off it!

We also started dragging home some long branches that had fallen (we discovered them as we were fishing Thursday night and dragged them into the van along with 7 fishing poles, tackle boxes, camera bags, 4 children and 2 adults - that was an adventure!

We started stacking them together to create a cool climbing/balancing area. Short enough for the little ones to experiment on, challenging enough for the older pre-schoolers and even my older, school-aged kiddos! Tonight B and I will be buying rope to help stabilize the junctions a little better, but they're having fun on it already!

I can't wait to implement more ideas as we come across more stuff!

My Daughter...

is a freak... 'Nuff Said....

Big Ideas

I'm about halfway through the Quality Connections II Class series through ERC I've been taking this summer. I knew I'd be in trouble. Michelle and Karla are so dang motivating and inspirational. My wheels are turnin'. I've got so many ideas kicking around about so many different things. For now, I've decided to focus on 2 major areas. One of my focus points will be my outdoor play space. Right now it is a blank slate. Almost literally. Big, open yard - short on equipment, big on imagination and, now... ideas. (I'll talk about my 2nd area of focus at a later point).

Running the daycare from our home, lends challenges to our family that are different from those run in a child care center setting. While Bronson and I both want a fun, exciting, interesting area for the kids, we also want an area that is pleasing to look at for us. We don't necessarily want to live in the midst of a park or a school-like playground. When Michelle showed us slides last week showcasing natural play-yards, I got very excited. There are so many possibilities - this is right up our alley! A very natural looking setting that is still tons of fun for the kids! Let's do it!

Obviously, creating a play-yard environment will be a very long, on-going process as we look for resources, time and energy to create it, but the possibilities are incredible! Here are some pictures of things we found this week we like for ideas.

We've started to accumulate some supplies - we've got some perfect sized logs coming - for seats, for steps, for borders - who knows... We've found some great limb-y logs that will create... something; we just aren't 100% sure what yet.

Here's where we need your help now... We need stuff! We could use all kinds of things to incorporate into different areas in our soon-to-be changing play area. Here's a list of things we need. If you have any of this, if you know of anyone who has any of this, if you come across anything in the future, please think of us!

Pallets

Scrap Lumber - at least 4 feet long

Large Tree Branches or Trunks

4" - 3' Diameter Logs

Large Flat or Round (without sharp edges) Rocks or Stones (large like needing several people to move)

Square Straw or Hay Bales

Old Parachute

Big Wire Spools (big enough to climb on)

Saw-Horses

Paving Stones

Wood or Steel Fence Posts

Old Tires

Wooden Ladders

Benches

Large Amount of Pea Gravel or River Rocks

Cargo Netting

Railroad Ties and/or Landscape Timbers

I'm excited to see where this journey takes us! Thanks for coming along with us!

Happy Independence Day!

We've had a lot of fun this week gearing up for Independence Day - in our own way! We made these gorgeous, patriotic wind socks to hang in our play yard and enjoy this week.



We also made lots of firework-y art (most of which I didn't remember to take pictures of us doing...). We made glow in the dark stencil art,



painted with koosh balls in red & blue paint for a fireworks effect and we dipped the koosh balls in glue and sprinkled glitter in the design; we created a collage using glitter glue and sequins stars. Super cute art from everyone!

We spent lots of time playing outside as the weather cooled down just enough to be perfect for outdoor summer play! We created a cool tent/fort in the climby cube with a big blanket and the tubes - this kept everyone busy for hours! It became their camping spot, they watched fireworks there, they ran away from bad guys there. They also used great problem solving skills to work together to fix the tent as the blanket slipped, to figure out now to get through the tubes without too many collisions, how to keep the tubes close to the climby cube without it rolling away and so on.







We brought some sand back into the play yard to work on playing (nicely and responsibly) with it. For now, I've made a "sand table" of my own with a large, but short rubbermaid container full of sand and plenty of scooping and sifting toys.







We are working on the concept of keeping the sand in the box and not just throwing it at our friends, or across the yard or dumping it in the grass. We have gone through countless tons (maybe literally) of sand over the past 10 years - they love it, I'm working on it. We'll see how having it in a different setting works for us.

Yesterday was "Wet Wednesday" again and we had lots of fun in the water. The big kids played on the Slip-n-Slide and loved it! They were quick, slippy little gals!









Even one of the little ones worked on getting over her fear. Little Miss K would watch the bigger kids for a while, with lots of interest, then precious T - my very helpful 13 year old this week - would hold her hand so Little Miss K could walk down the slide, after several times of this, she would lay down and let me push her down - just loving it the whole time! By this time next week, she'll be running and slipping down like the big kids, I'm sure! It was amazing to watch her progression as she worked through her fear!



While the big kids played on the Slip-n-Slide, the little boys took advantage of the peace and overtook the wading pool. Baby B couldn't be away from his mower for too long, so he had to bring it in the pool with them.



M is a little fish - he had a blast crawling under the slide the kids had put in the pool.



W has not been thrilled with the wading pool, especially with the rowdier big kids, but he got right in this week and played the whole time! I couldn't even get him to stop scooping water long enough to say cheese for me!



Today we had our final Independence Day celebration with a tiny bit of "fireworks". We did a ton of "poppers" with the kids - some of them throwing them down on their own to pop them, some of the stomping them! They had a ball (and we had a mess!)









I also lit a few smoke balls for them - they loved watching the smoke, checking it out, running through it -











- even though it was pretty stinky!



Happy 4th of July this weekend, everyone! Be Safe!

Another Sad Good-Bye: Miss K

I've known it was coming. I've watched her grow up. Her mom and I have discussed it for months, but I still just don't want to think about it. Tomorrow is Miss K's last day at our daycare; she's growing up and moving on to the school's child care program.

It's the name of the game and I know it's part of the circle of child care, but dang it.... I don't like having my kids leave me to go to school! Miss K has been with me for just over 3 years and her big sister, Miss E, for several years before that... These girls have been part of my daycare family for a very long time and darn it if they didn't just grow up on me. If I could just keep all the kids in our group forever, that'd be OK with me (OK, honestly, most of the time - hahaha), but I imagine the kids, as they grow up to be, oh - the age of my first group of kiddos, Montana, Tana and Hali - 15, they might disagree. I've said good-bye to lots of kids and it stings each time, but I love meeting up with them from time to time as they grow up.

It was been a priviledge to watch Miss K grow from the cherub-faced, baby-clinging little toddler to the funny, smart, inquisitive, beautiful girl she is now. I know I'll still see her around - that's the joy of living in a small town, but I will miss her being a part of our daily routine. Miss K keeps us on task as we're working and is a leader for her friends at playtime. She is a little sponge that just soaks up knowledge and will be a real treat for her teachers.

I'm also very thankful to have had the opportunity to work with her parents - good people, good parents and people that will always remain a part of our daycare family. It is families like theirs that make it possible for me to keep doing what I do for as long as I have.

While I'm sad to be losing the daily connection with Miss K, I am excited to see her in school programs and around town as she grows up. Love you guys...