Using our imaginations at Crawford
21 Sep, 2015
Imagination is the source of creativity and we certainly have an imaginative bunch here at Crawford Childcare. A recurring source of fun in the toddler room is pretending to be animals. The toddlers especially enjoy being cats! Eilish really likes to crawl around the room telling everyone she meets that she is a cat. Robert and Amelie are usually the first to join in the game and we often have a whole room of toddler cats in a short space of time. 'Pussy cat pussy cat' is one of our favourite wind down songs in the toddler room. The toddlers will often lie down when…
We love splashing around in muddy puddles in Crawford Childcare, Glanmire Co. Cork. The toddlers have been enjoying splashing about in the puddles from all the recent rainfall. The Montessori children were more cautious carefully wading through the puddles in their wellies. Not so for the toddlers! Aoife decided to try and empty the puddle with a cup and went back and forth from the puddle to empty her cup on to the grass. Luke cycled straight through causing lots of spray to the delight of his watching friends. Conor decided the best place to play in a puddle was to sit in its very…
All the children at Crawford Childcare have been very busy the last few weeks planning and building our very own bug hotels. Our Bug Hotel’s will provide warm and friendly accommodation for a wide variety of tiny beasties in their natural environment all year round. Each room was set a task to plan and create their very own bug hotel and first prize went to the hotel that checked in the most guests on judging day. Throughout the week the children gathered various materials such as boxes, bottles, flower pots, straw, pipes, wood, earth, shells, twigs and leaves to build and design our very own…
There is a lot of excitement here at Crawford Childcare as our summer camps are in full swing. Summer camps cater for children aged 3 to 6 years through to the end of August. The camps follow the children’s interests in the outdoors in our fabulous natural play spaces. The children divide into small groups to “hike” to their meeting points. Our beach area is a favourite spot for burying treasure and treasure hunts. Our camp area is where we mix many a concoction in our ensuite mud kitchen. We often sit around on tree stumps telling stories, making jokes, singing songs and sharing our…
It is the summer season and finally Mr Sun has made an appearance! The babies love to hear the Mr Sun song at the moment as he is finally out! As many of the babies get ready to head away and enjoy the sun this summer we decided it would be fun to do some art and craft this week in the baby room to represent the sun in a fun way. Art and craft activities are a great way of helping children use their imagination to create their own entertainment. Making something on their own gives babies confidence in their abilities by allowing them…
The babies had surprise a visit from our lovely friend Iggy the dog recently. He also brought along Noelle (local vet), Laura (local vet nurse) and Daisy (guinea pig) from Cashman & O'Driscoll vets. The babies were playing outside when Iggy the dog came in. This allowed the children to come in and meet him as they wanted. We were surprised that the children that don’t have dogs or other animals at home were the first in! It was a great experience for the babies as it was some of their first times actually seeing a dog up so close! The children appeared to be…
The most requested book at story time in our toddler room is the Ginger bread Man and it is a firm favourite. Often Seamus, Aine, Robyn, Roisin and Aoife will join in the story telling and sing “Run run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me I’m the Ginger bread Man!” The Toddlers love to point at the animals and name them and get very excited when they spot the fox especially. James is always out to spot the fox when he does he says “Look the sneaky fox is going to eat the Gingerbread Man!” in warning. During play the children often…
The babies got a little bit closer to nature in Crawford Childcare recently as they explored our garden looking for bugs and different types of insects. Ryan and Eilish were really keen on hunting for creepy little critters using equipment from an insect exploring kit brought in by Charlene. The kit came with a collecting jar and pooter. The babies were very clever at using these and soon became insect investigation experts. The equipment allowed the babies to explore, catch and see bugs and insects up close. Ryan loves ladybirds and spends a lot of time looking for them since he found one playing in…
At Crawford Childcare, Co. Cork we are currently working towards becoming an accredited Health Promoting Service. One of the areas we have been working on for this is well-being/ emotional literacy. To support this we have recently introduced the idea of a friendship stop to the children. The idea is that if anyone feels a bit down or just wants someone to play with them they can visit the friendship stop and a buddy will join them to help them feel better. This has benefits for both children. The child looking for a buddy feels supported without having to talk about their feelings and without…
As part of my College Course Early Childhood Care and Education FETAC Level 5 I am completing 120 hours work experience here in Crawford Childcare, Glanmire. It was my whole life passion and fascination to work with children. Children show us a world that we may have forgotten how to imagine and it is a world full of wonder. Small experiences are major events to children. When raindrops fall on their hands they might tell you it feels tingling or they can look at a moving worm for a long time out of pure fascination. They trust you without any doubt. It is so important…
