Car Free Day

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 .

Family Fun Festival 2012

Tickets are now available for the Family Fun Festival on Sunday, February 26, 2012.It’s a fundraiser for Childreach and lots of fun for the whole family – from the young to the old.  Sunday, February 26 from 11 am to 2 pm at the Hellenic Community Centre, 133 Southdale Rd. W., London.  There will be activities, crafts, face painting, cupcake decorating, balloon animals, Imagination Playground, silent auction, goody bags, buffet brunch, ice cream bar, visits from Tinkerbell & Buzz Lightyear, and more!!!  Tickets are $10 for children 2 to 12 and $40 for adults.  For more information call Jane at 519-434-3644 ext. 36, or purchase your tickets here!

Summer Family Fun

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!

This is Literacy

This IS Literacy is an initiative of the Literacy Implementation Team of the Child and Youth Network.  This team’s goals are to improve literacy by 2011 and to be a provincial leader in child, youth and family literacy by 2015.

What are we talking about when we say we want to “make literacy a way of life”?   We all may use the word “literacy”, but not have the same understanding of what it means.   In terms of the work of London’s Child and Youth Network and this website, literacy is defined as:

• The ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed and written materials and
• The ability to express thoughts, feelings and ideas
• Literacy is a key piece of helping people achieve their goals, develop their knowledge and potential and participate fully in their community.

Why the Focus on Literacy?

The Child and Youth Network identified literacy as one of its top 4 priorities. Literacy is an issue for London’s children, youth and families.

• Over 27% of our children are not ready to learn when they enter Grade 1
• In 19 of 26 London neighbourhoods at least 20% of children are not ready to learn when they enter Grade 1
• At least 1 in 3 children in London ages 8 to 14 is not meeting the literacy and numeracy standards established by the province
• 19% to 23% of youth in London are failing to graduate from high school (within 5 years)
• 1 in 5 adults in London is functioning at the lowest level of literacy, often unable to read basic signs and medicine instructions

The emphasis on literacy needs to start at the beginning of a child’s life. Children who struggle with literacy will become youth and adults who struggle with literacy.

Although London is average in terms of literacy – no better and no worse than other communities – being average comes at a cost. Compared to those with low literacy skills, people with strong, well developed literacy skills are:

• Better able to earn a living and contribute positively to the workforce
• More likely to seek medical help when they need it
• More likely to maintain healthy diets and to be physically active
• Less likely to suffer from diseases such as diabetes and poor cardiovascular health
• Less likely to suffer from work related injuries
• Less likely to be involved in crime
• More likely to advocate for their children

What is Family Literacy?

One of the goals of the Child and Youth Network is to improve family literacy. How is family literacy different from literacy, in general? The term family literacy has 2 components. It refers to literacy activities that take place in the everyday lives of families and it refers to programs that aim to increase the amount and frequency of family literacy in homes and communities. It’s what families do together in their homes and out in their local community or neighbourhood. Family literacy is:

• About the ways families use literature and language in their daily lives
• About how families learn
• About how families use literacy to do everyday tasks
• Some examples of family literacy include:
• Shared reading activities
• Parents/caregivers modeling appropriate language skills, labeling objects and actions and describing what they or their child are doing

This website provides you with lots of ideas on how you can make literacy a part of your everyday life.

Fun-tastic Fall: Magic Drawings

You will need:

• white paper
• cotton swabs
• baking soda
• water
• purple grape juice

Here’s what you’re going to do:

1. Have your child combine one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of water in a cup.
2. Let your child dip cotton swabs into the mixture and make designs on sheets of white paper.
3. Let their designs dry completely so that their papers look blank.
4. Have them paint over their designs with purple grape juice.
5. Watch what happens!

For more fun-tastic fall crafts, recipes, stories, activity ideas, and poems, download and print our Fall Funtastic Book!

Ice Cream Shoppe

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.  :)

Ice Cream Theme Activity Book

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.

Toad Villas

* Appropriate for ages 3 and up

Objectives
- to learn about the benefits of toads and frogs in our garden
- to encourage their occupancy in our garden

Materials
- clay pots (preferably broken in half)
- live toads to look at or pictures of them
- clay soil and grass clippings to make adobe houses

Part One:
Read a book about toads to the children (see list of books below for ideas), discuss their needs, likes and dislikes.

Part Two:
Go on a toad-seeking expedition in the garden, or show children some toads you found previously.  Children can hold the toads if they want, making sure they are gentle.  Talk about what toads are doing in the garden.  Ask how they think we can make sure the toads stay in the garden.  Introduce the idea of making the toads a home.

Part Three:
Have fun making the toad houses with the children.  Have them help you place the houses in the garden, creating a nice shady shelter for the toads.  Place a source of water near the house for the toads.  A shallow container can be buried and filled up with water to make a shallow pond.  Check it often throughout the summer, changing the water at least weekly so mosquitos don’t take up residence.

Questions to Ask:

• How are toads different from frogs?  Toads generally have dry, bumpy skin and live on land, while frogs have moist, smooth skin and live in or near water.  Toads have stubby bodies with short hind legs.  They walk rather than hop.  Frogs are skinny and have long legs.  They have strong, webbed hind feet for leaping and swimming.
• Do toads croak?  Yes, both toads and frogs have distinctive songs.  That’s how they call the females.

Resources:

• Frogs and Toads by Bobbie Kalman and Tammy Everts, Crabtree Publishing Co. 1994
• From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer and Holly Keller, Harper Collins Pub. 1994
• For a children’s website on frogs (including pictures and sounds), visit http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/living-green/living-green-citizen/for-kids/frogs-for-kids.html ; for answers to frog questions, visit http://cgee.hamline.edu/frogs/science/faq1.html#life
• Frogland – http://allaboutfrogs.org/froglnd.shtml

Indoor Beach Party

Whisk your children away to the beach without leaving your classroom or home!  Put on your sunscreen, grab your sun hat, and stay where you are!

What you’ll need:
Water table or outdoor kiddy pool or shallow pans filled with water
Sand table or sand box or shallow pans filled with sand
Dish soap (mild formula such as Ivory)
Small plastic fish, shells, and other underwater objects
Sand toys such as shovels and pails
Beach towels
Bathing suits

Make water scopes to look and see what is under the water in the wading pool or water table.   To make a water scope, remove the top and bottom of a large coffee can using a can opener.  Use a hammer to pound down the edges around the can so that they are smooth.  Cut clear plastic wrap or bags into pieces that are large enough to cover the top of the can.  Secure the plastic with a rubber band.  Have your children submerge the can under the bubbles (from the liquid soap), and they can pretend to be underwater explorers and report on the the neat things they see under the sea!

Activity:  Fish in the Sea
This game can be played indoors or outdoors during your beach party.  This game is similar to Duck, Duck, Goose, but instead we are going to call each of the participants “Guppy”.  Remember to make that each child gets a turn when playing this game.

Have your children sit in a circle, facing inward, while one child, the ‘picker’ , walks around tapping each child sitting in the circle on the head, calling each a ‘Guppy’ until finally picking one to be a ‘Shark”.   The ‘Shark” then rises and chases and tries to tag the ‘picker’, while the ‘picker’ tries to return to and sit where the ‘Shark’ had been sitting.   If the picker succeeds, the ‘Shark’ is now the new picker and the process begins again.   If the ‘Shark’ succeeds in tagging the picker, the ‘Shark’ may return to sit in the previous spot and the ‘picker’ resumes the process.  The game continues until the children tire of it.

Activity: Sand Sculpting

What you’ll need:
1 cup of play sand
1/2 cup of cornstarch
3/4 cup of hot water
nautical-themed sand molds and cookie cutters

Mix all of the ingredients into a pan.  Cook slowly stirring constantly until very thick.  Cool mixture.  Form objects unding cookie cutters with nautical shapes or sand molds.  Let dry in the sun and overnight (approximately 12 hours).  The children could even paint them when the shapes are dry!

Stay tuned for a wiggly fishy snack recipe in tomorrow’s post!

Find more ideas here – http://www.ehow.com/how_4543277_throw-indoor-beach-party.html

Building a Community

I found this ‘poster’ out in cyberspace, and it spoke to me. 

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  

Nadine Reeves, Administrative Assistant

Spring Activities for Preschoolers

 

Now is the time to join your youngster in learning scientific concepts while gardening.  Give your child their own “plot” whether it is a corner of your vegetable or flower garden, a flowerbox or a variety of small containers (pots, an old wagon, a lined basket), it will be his/hers to prepare, sow and watch.  Use seeds that will delight little gardeners with noticeable growth within days or weeks (marigolds, nasturtiums, beans, peas, radishes, lettuce).  Add some seedlings for instant colour, then water daily and let nature take its course.  A spray bottle is fun and exercises hand and wrist muscles.  Children love to add “ornaments” to their landscape – rocks, shells, hand-made or purchased ceramic figures, a saucer bird bath, or whatever else catches their imagination.

 

Here are four practical ideas that you can try with your preschoolers.  Enjoy these fun activities together and watch your seeds grow!

 

Beans in a Bag

You need:

®       1 ziploc bag

®       3 different bean seeds

®       2 cotton balls

®       2 tablespoons of water

 

1.      Place 2 of each different kind of bean in Ziploc bag.

2.      Add 2 tablespoons of water.

3.      Add 2 cotton balls.

4.      Close bag.

5.      Tape bag onto a window to watch the beans sprout roots, stem, and leaves.

6.      Beans can be transplanted in soil later.

 

Marigolds in Peat Pots

You need:

®       2 peat pots

®       6 marigold seeds

®       Soil and water

 

1.      Fill pots ¾ full of soil.

2.      Plant 3 seeds in each pot.

3.      Add 1 more tsp. of soil to cover seeds.

4.      Add 1 tbsp. of water to dampen soil.

5.      Place pots in sunny window.

6.      Water daily to keep soil moist.

 

Grass in a Shell

®       You need:

®       2 half egg shells

®       Soil

®       Pinch of grass seed

®       Water

 

1.      Fill shells ¾ full of soil.

2.      Sprinkle a pinch of grass seed on soil.

3.      Top up with 1 more tsp. of soil to cover seed.

4.      Add 1 tbsp. of water to dampen soil.

5.      Place in a sunny window and keep soil damp.

6.      A face could be coloured on the shell, and grass will sprout as hair on the head!

 

Magic Soil

Encourage children to help cut up all organic waste such as vegetable and fruit peelings.  Layer with soil, grass clippings, leaves and other plant trimmings in a composter or hole dug in the garden.  Keep moist, aerate by turning over weekly and voila!  A fertile food for plants and reduced curb side garbage.