Childcare Chronicles

The childcare kiddos have been keeping me on my toes.  Last week was especially busy and we’ve been fighting runny noses and temperatures.  Nothing serious…more run of the mill type stuff.  It was also a week with two early outs and a no school day.  Those always throw me for a loop.  This time we had a pretty good time.

Here are a couple things we’ve been up to.  I have two of these sets….

It’s a Melissa and Doug Sandwich Set of felt food.  You can find it HERE on Amazon.  It’s a popular toy at my house.  The kids were playing it the other day and I noticed the “menu” tickets had gotten ratty.

Long ago when I bought this set I noticed on the back of the box that it listed pictures and names of all of the food pieces.  Well I cut that part of the box off thinking the kids could use that as a “menu” of sorts.  They sure did.  But then the menus started getting ratty so I put the pieces into the printer and printed more “menus”.  Those got ratty so I put them into the printer and printed new “menus”.  This time I took the time and laminated the “menus”.

A kind blog reader sent the order tickets.  The kids use the menu and tickets all the time with this sandwich set.  I can’t tell you how many sandwiches I’ve eaten since I originally bought the sets.  Having the “menus” and order pads really promotes reading and writing.  I try as hard as I can to incorporate learning like that into simple play.

I’m hoping the laminating solves my “menu” problem for awhile.

With the new wooden boxes I got as decor for the living room the sandwich set is now always available for the kids to play anytime they want and now, they are playing it more than ever.

We started in on a few St. Patrick’s Day activities.  This was a fun craft the kids did the other day.  I cut out a shamrock using this shamrock pattern.

I used double sided tape and taped them to THESE painting boards for kids.

I gave the kids a cork along with yellow, blue and green paint.  The kids used the cork and stamped the painting board with paint.  Once they were done, I lifted the shamrock off the paint board.  It left the white unpainted shamrock in the middle of the board.

After they dried we glued a picture of the kids and the little saying on the bottom.  Carver was a little aggressive with his paint and a little bled near the stem of the shamrock.  The rest of them turned out a little better.

I painted a coat of modge podge over the top.  I didn’t let the kids do it as they paint and paint and paint over the same spot..then the green paint would rewet and smear.  They turned out kind of cute.  If I had to do them again, I would cut the center picture a little bit smaller.

I like to do crafty projects with the kids but also like them to learn something from it.  This time we worked on knowing that if we mixed yellow and blue paint, it turned green.

We have been doing a lot of activities related to books.  Have you seen this book?

It’s a favorite here.  You can find it HERE on Amazon.  The kids did a little activity that went along with the book.  I took a picture of them eating spaghetti and printed it on cardstock.  They glued it and the saying from the book “Not now can’t you see, I’m eating spaghetti” onto black construction paper.

Then I mixed glue and water.  We ran short pieces of yarn in the glue and laid them on the picture.  The yarn dried to the picture to look like spaghetti.

They turned out so cute.

We’ve been incorporating as much learning in as possible.  This day we made Cheerio bars.  Find the recipe HERE.
We take turns pushing the numbers on the microwave.  We watch the timer run down and when it gets to 10 we start counting backwards.  It’s simple stuff but the kids are engaged and happy.

When I was thifting… I picked up this book Cookie’s Week (Here is a link).  It’s one of those books I had forgotten about.  When I saw it I bought it immediately.  I’ve been trying to get the kids to think a little deeper so I showed them the cover of the book and asked them why they thought the family might have called their cat Cookie.  No one knew…then I remembered I had Oreos in the cupboard.  I got them out and then asked the kids what color their cookie was…then Carver yelled “the cat is black and white like the cookie”.  So then the kids got to eat cookies and listen to stories.

We did a collaborative drawing in chalk the other day….The kids enjoyed this.  I drew some of a picture over naptime.

The school kids came home and added to it.  Whoever wanted to could draw something but it was suppose to “go with” the picture.

Here’s how it ended up.

The grandbabies who come to childcare are getting to be a handful.  (Georgia took a tumble and hurt her nose…she isn’t dirty)

Both of them just turned a year old.  Neither of them is walking.  Both of them are teething.  Both of them got tubes in their ears last month as they’ve had lots of ear infection.  Both of them get everywhere.  Georgia is in the cupboard ALL OF THE TIME!  I take her away and she goes right back there.  They like each other and often stick together when they are both here.  They get along really well with the older kids too.  They are out in the population with all the rest of the kids and the big kids are good with them.

It’s good that they are growing up as a new little one starts here in a week or two.  I don’t know if I’m ready for tiny babies again, but I’m sure I’ll figure it all out.  I had to laugh the other day when Karl said, “You’re starting another generation with babies again”.  Ha!! these babies are only one…but at this age, it does almost feel like another generation.

…and that is the childcare report.