Discovery Room The children had lots of fun at our interest table this week making pictures/creations from the different objects and materials that were provided. We followed the children’s interest and added material to our table such as Christmas cards, cardboard, paper, crayons, cellotape and envelopes. The children got to work using their imaginations and creativity. The children used some of the new material in role play. They used the paper, crayons, cards and envelops to make postcards and Christmas cards to send to their friends. Robert decided to send his card to Poland, while Zach wanted to send a card to his house. Some…
Adventure Room Lots of fun painting this week as the children were very interested in getting brushes, paint and paper plates. Very quickly they started to put the brushes aside and found their hands/fingers much better at the job! Elena gave them some paper so they could stamp their handprints. Parents were very excited to see the handprints on paper. Exploring Room Kieran was pointing up to the treasure basket on the window ledge so we had to bring it down for him. After placing it on the floor for Kieran other children quickly came over to explore and investigate the contents of the basket.…
Discovery Room Our Christmas show is only around the corner and practise is in full swing. The children are very excited about the big performance and we are discussing what props are needed. This year’s show is called ‘Christmas around the World’ and the children have been wondering how Christmas is celebrated in Hawaii and Australia so we decided to make props for these countries. You’ll have to wait until the show to see them! Some parents have told us the children are very excited about the show and practising their songs at home. Adventure Room There’s no escaping Christmas at the moment! Amanda got…
There was lots of excitement last week as all the children who attend our Discovery Room went on their school tour. For some it was their first ever bus trip although we also had some more experienced bus riders who explained to us about double and single deckers! We set off in a 53 seater single decker. Before the off the children met in our outdoor play area to run off a bit of the building excitement and to slip on their wellies. We took a quick photo of our super helper mums and we headed out to the bus in a trio of two…
Bubbles are magical and fascinate children and adults alike. We love them at Crawford Childcare. Recently Tara was blowing bubbles and some of the children gathered around. This was the first time that some of the youngest children had experienced bubbles so it was very exciting. Emma, Leon and Ruby were the first to go over to explore in the big cloud of bubbles that Tara had created. Tom and Ethan were more reluctant as they sat nearby watching the other children exploring in the bubbles. As the bubbles floated around the room some of the children began to get very excited and started to…
Many of the children in all our 3 rooms enjoy hike time over to our natural play area. There the children explore our beach area complete with sand, cobbles, water wall and water, our campsite with mud kitchen, music wall, tree stumps, loose parts and open ended structures, and our secret garden with flower beds for digging and planting. Our youngest children in the Exploring room often show excitement when they hear the words hike time. Many of our children in the Exploring room have not yet developed enough verbal language skills to put this into words but instead communicate their delight with smiles, chuckles…
At Crawford Childcare we take the words of Pablo Picasso “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up” to heart but what does that mean? Children enjoy art because it is fun and provides the opportunity to be creative. This can be for one child using a paintbrush to mix paints together to make new colours on the page or for another child it may be the process of continually gluing on a page without ever sticking anything to this glue. In both instances the child is learning through their actions, developing a sense of creativity,…
At Crawford Childcare lots of the children love to play outside and play with water. Although we have a good few puddles at the moment some of the children were worried that they might dry out. We fitted a water butt to one of our drain pipes outside to give the children easy access to their own supply of water. The rain water is collected by the shores and stored in the water butt itself ready for use. The water butt has been placed high enough to fit a collecting bucket under but low enough for children to operate themselves. The water can flow out…
There has been a lot of work going on in all our rooms recently as the team worked together to create cosy areas in each of the rooms. Each cosy area was planned carefully. We wanted our cosy corners to be places for our children to feel safe, separate from other play areas, a place to relax, wind down and to read. Forward facing libraries, shelving and soft furniture and drapes form the basis of our cosy corners. We ensure there are a range of books including catalogues, magazines, paperbacks and hard page books on offer. Our babies love our Nursery Rhyme books and point…
The babies have been taking advantage of the nice weather by pumping up a paddling pool and filling it with balls to make their very own ball pit! The children were all excited about the ball pit and some dived into it the minute they laid their eyes on it. The ball pit was a great way for the children to play energetically or to wind down and relax while enjoying this sensory experience. The babies loved spending the day climbing in and out of the pool as well as rolling around inside it. Some of the children even appeared to be pretending to swim…