New Year’s Resolutions at Crawford Childcare
30 Dec, 2013
With the start of a New Year upon us it is a good time to reflect on the past year and things we would like to improve upon for 2014. New Year’s resolutions are a way of setting ourselves goals and help to motivate us to improve our lives. At Crawford Childcare we like to involve our pre schoolers in this too. We sit down with the children and talk about their accomplishments and goals made over the time they have spent with us. We look back at photographs and learning stories to help us remember some of these. It is a time for us…
The pre school years are a time of remarkable development. Pre school may look like just fun and games which include music, story time, dancing and art but these activities all stimulate the brain and your child’s development. Children learn through play in safe and nurturing environments. Building blocks for example are not just amusing but also teach problem solving and physics. A love of learning should also develop in the pre school years. Good learning habits begin to form and the child’s self esteem should build. Resilience also develops at this time. Children should be allowed to make mistakes and feel okay about this.…
One of the hardest decisions for a working mum is who to trust with their care of their child. When deciding on a crèche we recommend visiting a few to get a general feel of how a place operates. Watch out for how the adults interact with the children and whether the children seem happy to be at crèche. Ask lots of questions during your visit and after if that is when they come to mind. At Crawford Childcare we recommend taking a list of things you would like to ask about. We have put together a list of 10 questions we consider crucial when…
September saw the beginning of a new a term at Crawford Childcare. This was an exciting time for both children and parents with mixed emotions involved. For some parents this was the start of their children’s school life. For some children it may have been the first time they were separated from their parents for a significant length of time. Now we are a little over three months into this new term and all children have settled very well and are enjoying their time at Crawford Childcare. These early years are very important. As a parent it is natural to wonder if they are enjoying…
For children, physical activity is one of the vital ingredients to a strong and healthy development. As a result of this, at Crawford Childcare we love to keep fit and active. The children love to have fun and be energetic so we try our best to keep up!!! In the baby room, our little babies spend endless hours exploring the environment both indoors and outdoors. There are various tools in the baby room which allow our babies to be active and to strengthen their physical development. They love crawling through the tunnel, climbing over the steps and riding on the bike. For such little beings,…
In a blog last month we focused on Creative Painting Ideas we use in the setting at Crawford Childcare. Once we got started we realised that we actually do much more than one blog can cover. So here is part 2… Textured painting Paints come in every colour but are usually the same smooth texture. Sometimes we like to add materials to the paint to increase the sensorial experience in painting. Sand and glitter mixed into the palette with the paint creates interesting effects when painted with. Sometimes we add texture to the painting surface rather than paint. Try painting on sand paper or tin…
Brrrrrr….. there has been a definite drop in temperature in the last week or so. Cool, dry and bright spells have meant we are still able to get outside. We believe it is better to learn about the seasons by experiencing them first hand and not just talking about them – although this is important too! Remember there is no such thing as bad weather – just bad clothing. We strongly advise hats, gloves and warm padded jackets. Wellies can ensure little feet are kept dry and cosy too. For the children who are with us in the afternoons the darker evenings mean we can…
In this week’s blog we are shifting our focus to a piece of Montessori equipment – knobless cylinders. We hope this will help give you an insight to the use of this equipment which is part of our sensory range of Montessori materials. Knobless cylinders are a set of four colours. Each colour is kept in a colour coded box containing 10 cylinders. These correspond to the cylinder blocks 1 to 4, which is another set from our range of sensorial material. The cylinders are handled with the pincer grip and the control of error is visual. The cylinders are used to learn about grading…
This week all 3 rooms will be celebrating Halloween! Halloween is full of stories, symbols treats and games which make it so fascinating to learn about. Each room has carved its own pumpkin which the children have now named, Penelope, Mr. Pumpkin and Oisin. There were a lot of ideas about what was actually in the pumpkins before we opened them. We found pulp and slippery seeds! The children tested the pumpkins for weight and liked its fruity smell. Each child will make a pumpkin wish for Halloween – we hope they all come true! All the rooms have been echoing with witches cackles as…
There have been some spooky additions to the crèche this week. Windows have been painted with giggling ghouls, wizened witches, plump pumpkins and barmy bats. Boney our resident skeleton is camped out in reception along with his friend Winnie the Witch. Press her hand to hear her spell and cackle. The hallways have been decorated for the build up to Halloween and the babies have been busy making pumpkin masks. Beware -arrivals and collections are taking a little longer than usual as children are stopping, looking, pointing and talking about all they see! In the Montessori room the children have been learning about zoo animals.…
