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Join us at Car Free Day on Saturday, June 9 from 11am to 4pm for hula hoop fun! For more information about what’s happening, visit www.ourstreet.ca .
There are many benefits of playing board games with your children!
Social:
- A TV-free activity for you and your child to enjoy.
- Mommy/Daddy & child time.
- Practice of turn-taking and cooperating
- Sharing in an exchange of ideas and points of view.
- Making decisions and choices and accepting the consequences.
Emotional:
- Practice in regulating emotions if child does not “win”. Avoid competition if a cooperative alternative is available. Play in teams rather than one vs. another.
- Sharing and communicating emotions—both excitement and disappointment.
- Developing self-esteem while gaining success at playing by the “rules”.
- Focusing attention on the game and avoiding distraction.
- Persisting even when frustrated and coping with disappointment.
Communication, language and literacy:
- Responding appropriately to the verbal and print directions on how to play the game.
- Using new words and building vocabulary.
- Recognizing numbers in print and counting.
- Recognizing colours and shapes and matching their names.
Cognition:
- Asking questions to solve problems and clarify understanding.
- Using numbers, letters, shapes and quantities of items.
- Sorting objects, pictures and things into groups (classifying).
- Identifying patterns and knowing what comes next in a sequence.
- Using memory to remember picture cards in a matching game.
- Using counters to represent objects.
Physical:
- Fine motor dexterity, eye-hand coordination, by picking up and placing small items such as cards and game pieces.
- Large motor in floor games such as hop-scotch and twister.
- Auditory skills when identifying sounds on a sound bingo/lotto game.
HAVE FUN!
Mark your calendars! Its time to start thinking about Kids Tri 4 Kids 2012.
ScotiaMcLeod is thrilled to present the second annual Kids Tri 4 Kids on Sunday, June 10th at Carling Heights Community Centre,LondonON.
Last year’s event was a huge success as we raised over $15,000 for Childreach, a local charity whose main focus is to ensure every child has the best start to life by supporting the adults who care for them. The funds raised helped, in part, to open a new and much needed Outreach Program in Cherryhill Mall.
Online registration is now open! Space is limited so register early to ensure your spot in this year’s race. Be sure to sign up before May 27th to get your personalized race bib.
The entry fee is $42 per participant, with a minimum of $12 going directly to Childreach. We are also pleased to offer a family discount this year. The second, third and fourth child registered will be at a reduced cost of $37 however, you must register all participants at the same time under the family option to receive the discount.
We know you had a great time last year, so be sure to share this post to all your friends and family so they can join us at this amazing event.
Please visit our website for event details and to register.
We can’t wait to see you there.
Some of the challenges that families face in the summer are not having a huge budget to spend on things to do, meeting the needs of a variety of ages, and beating boredom.
We recommend you PLAN! :)
- Think ahead
- Post activities on a calendar
- Plan for structured and unstructured activities daily
- Include your children in the planning
- Schedule a break in the day for everyone to relax (e.g. read or nap)
Our parent educators have compiled a summer handout. Click on the link, save, print, share and enjoy!
Summer is coming to a close, and the anticipation of back to school is just around the corner. For children and parents, this brings up feelings of both excitement and nervousness. Creating a “Back-to-School Scrapbook” with your child can help both of you deal with these feelings and assist with preparing your child with this new transition. Your scrapbook creation can be made into a summer-long project, with a large portion of it being child-directed. The scrapbook will be a concrete tool that will provide a visual for your child about the upcoming exciting changes that they are about to experience.
Things to Keep in Mind:
- Age of your child
- Interests of your child
- Attention span
Mini Field Trips:
- Go to the dollar store to pick out an album and scrapbooking supplies
- Visit to the school, classroom, and teacher
- Go shopping for a knapsack, snack box, clothes
Pages to Include:
- The school & teacher
- Shopping for supplies
- Wearing the new school attire
- Calendar to mark off the days until the start of school
- Picture schedules of what will happen every morning to get ready to go to school and what the routine will be at school (story, play, snack time etc.)
- Activities that the child may participate in at school
- Art, water & sand play, playdough, music, dramatic play, books, building toys
- Friends that the child imagines they will meet
- What they imagine their first day might be like
- A “Back to School” Yearly Tradition
Materials:
- Photo album, scrapbook
- Variety of scrapbooking papers, stickers, embellishments
- Some type of adhesive (glue, photomounts)
- Pictures – photographs or magazine
Useful Websites:
Common Sense Parenting – http://www.parenting.org
Canadian Parents – http://www.canadianparents.com/grade-schoolers
Scrapbooking Supplies Checklist – http://www.trustyguides.com/scrapbooking.html
The scrapbook that you and your child have created will be an amazing conversation starter during the weeks leading up to your child starting school. Perhaps you and your child can look at it every evening before your child goes to bed, and different school activities can be talked about. Or maybe it can be pulled out when your child voices concerns over certain new activities. Enjoy the quality time spent with your child being creative together and preparing for the next milestone in their life. Perhaps it could turn into a yearly summer project?
Written by Heidi Payne, ECE Resource Centre Librarian
In 2004, Childreach planted a maple tree at the front of our property on Maitland Street, in memory of founder Dr. John McKim. Against all odds, the tree has flourished! Three trees had been planted in the same spot previously, and all were the target of vandals and none survived. This tree, an Autumn Blaze maple, is “guarded” by a portrait of Dr. McKim, painted on the side of our building in 2006. In addition to honouring a wonderful man, the tree has helped beautify the property, and has begun to provide shade for families and staff at the centre.
We’ve nominated our tree for the Best Company Tree in the Amazing Tree Quest. Please help us recognize this great tree, by voting for it by Tuesday, August 31.
DISNEY’S GEPPETTO AND SON: The “When You Wish Upon a Star” Musical! is showing until the end of this week in the Rotary Reading Garden at the Central London Public Library. This is a PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN-EVENT. No ticket is required.
SHOWTIMES:
Today at 7pm
Thursday, August 5 at 7pm
Friday, August 6 at 7pm
Saturday, August 7 at 10:30am & 5:30pm
Sunday, August 8 at 5:30pm
The classic tale of an aging toymaker and his puppet, Pinocchio, takes on new meaning in this new musical, with songs by Stephen Schwartz of Wicked fame, and based on the touching Disney film! Join the Blue Fairy, Stromboli, and a lively cast of characters, as Geppetto journeys beyond the toyshop to discover what makes the “perfect child”. This lovely family musical, a magical mix of heart-warming fairytale and action-packed adventure, is a perfect fit for family audiences. Everyone will love following Pinocchio’s journey from awkward puppet to real live boy, and will be charmed by Geppetto’s transformation from tyrannical creator to real live father. 75 minutes. (G)
A couple of weeks ago, we posted a series of activity ideas relating to a beach party in preparation of the summer. Today, we have the entire booklet for you to download and print for free.
What are you waiting for? Gather up your children and have fun! :)
Teach your children these simple rules of playground safety and conduct so that they can play safely and courteously at all times.
- Don’t play with or on broken toys or equipment. If a toy breaks while you are playing with it, give it to an adult or tell an adult about it.
- Know and obey the rules of the playground.
- Play in the playground only when it is open.
- Approach other people’s pets carefully. If they are scared of you, they may hurt you.
- Get off the seesaw only when both riders have both their feet on the ground.
- Do not destroy the equipment. Treat it as if it were your own.
- Throw trash in the the trash cans or baskets.
- Watch out for others using the playground.
- Do not sit at the bottom of the slide. Climb up the ladder, not the slide.
- Do not walk directly in front of or behind moving swings.
Discuss these rules with your children, and reinforce them on the playground.
Our ECE Resource Centre staff are always pulling together seasonal and themed activity booklets that are full of songs, fingerplays, games, crafts, recipes and activities. We sell these booklets to childcare providers, early years teachers, and parents – anyone who is looking after children. The price of a booklet is super low as we simply need to cover the printing costs. It got me thinking that we could skip the printing and make the file a pdf, and then we could share it with everyone online for free. Free and fun stuff makes me super happy.
So without further ado, I would like to present the first of our free, fun, easy to download activity booklets titled Ice Cream Shoppe! Skip the trip to Dairy Queen, and make your own blizzards while singing ice cream cone songs. :)
Please let us know in the comments if you found this useful! We’d love to hear how you incorporated into your children’s play and learning.
