About our blogger: Charla
I am an elementary school teacher from Toronto who, for the purpose of enjoying my son's early years, runs a home daycare. I enjoy teaching children, and learning the lessons they have to teach me. I hope you enjoy sharing with me the ups and downs of parenting, and the adventures of teaching the very young!
April 24th, 2012
On March 30th (her due date), at 10:27am, a wonderful, sweet little girl named Leila entered the world and joined our family. She weighed 7.13 pounds and measured 20 inches long. Her big brothers, Noah and Jacob, were excited to meet her, as was her big sister Emily.
My mother and father (her Oma and Opa) came to visit her right away. Her other grandparents, Nanny and Grand-Dad, would have loved to meet her right away but live in Kelowna. They are excited to meet her in May, when they come to visit.
Her Aunt Krista, Uncle Scott, and cousins Kacey and Mackenzie were also excited to welcome her. We all adore her. Read the rest of this entry »
March 29th, 2012
I have to admit, I still cringe a little when I let the kids into the dirt. Our society is obsessed with cleanliness; and, like most of us, I have been shaped (at least to some degree) by the paranoia surrounding the issue of germs.
When I started running a home daycare a few years ago, I was committed to keeping the children relatively neat and clean. Sure, they acquired some food stains on their clothes or got a little dusty in the sandbox; but they were, for the most part, unsullied. As they grew and began to explore more of the outside world, trying to maintain this level of cleanliness was close to impossible. I began to realize that to attempt to limit their exploration of nature in all its dirtiness (I say attempt because I was largely unsuccessful anyway) was to deprive them Read the rest of this entry »
February 13th, 2012
Last week, I had each of the kids make their own Valentine’s mail folder by gluing pink and purple hearts onto a red folder with their name on it. (Oscar got a little help.)
Although these folders can and probably will be used on Valentine’s Day for the kids to exchange Valentines cards, I wanted to first use them for delivering messages of kindness.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 7th, 2012
Materials:
- red, pink, and purple construction paper
- googly eyes
- red and pink craft foam sheets
- scissors
- glue
- pencil
Instructions:
Read the rest of this entry »
February 3rd, 2012
This is a great activity board for teaching children about
- shapes (rectangle, circles, triangle, square)
- sizes (biggest circle, smallest circle)
- colors (choose colors for the buttons, hat, and arms that you think the children need to learn)
- counting (3 buttons)
- emotions (turn mouth upside down to make a sad snowman)
Materials: Read the rest of this entry »
January 20th, 2012
Over the holidays, I made some festive-shaped gingerbread cookies. Noah and I decorated them together on Christmas Eve day. This is definitely an activity you should undertake with your child. It is so fun, it’s guaranteed to bring out the kid in you!
Years ago, I made and decorated cookies to give to colleagues at Christmas time. I packaged each large cookie individually in a clear treat bag, and I brought them to the school I worked at to hand them out with my Christmas cards. They didn’t look so pretty by the time I handed them out, since the icing melted onto the bags. This time I was determined to correct this problem.
I looked online to find out how to dry icing. Apparently, the only solution is something called “Royal Icing.” It is the only icing that dries or hardens. It is very simple to make. You can make it with raw egg whites, but this poses a very small risk of Salmonella (food poisoning). I did not wish to give the gift of Salmonella to anyone for Christmas, so I decided to do it the safer way, by substituting meringue powder. Read the rest of this entry »
January 2nd, 2012
Dan and I bought tickets to Disney on Ice as part of Noah’s Christmas present. Noah has always loved Mickey Mouse and anything Disney. (His favorite Disney movie is Lion King.) We splurged for front row tickets to make sure we could see all the action clearly.
Now, having been there and seen the seating, I would say that there were plenty of other seats that provide just as good a view for less money. Any of the “stadium” seats would be great, since they are leveled. The only seats I would not choose would be anything other than the first row in the VIP section (which is where we were), or anything other than the first row the Field section. Since the rows are not leveled in these sections, your child could have trouble seeing over an adult sitting in front of him. Read the rest of this entry »
December 20th, 2011
Materials:
- red and white pipe cleaners
- scissors
Instructions:
- Hold a red pipe cleaner and a white pipe cleaner side-by-side, to make sure that the ends of both are level.
- Wind one pipe cleaner around the other until you get to the ends. If there is still some left of one of the pipe cleaners, cut it off to make the tops level.
- Cut the entire pipe cleaner spiral in half to make 2 smaller candy canes.
- Bend each spiral near the top until you get the shape of a candy cane.
- Hang them on the tree.
*This just might be the easiest craft I have ever written about! Just be careful with the little ones, since pipe cleaners are sharp on the ends. The 3-year-olds could follow the instruction of holding it by the middle and not touching the ends, but we agreed to place them high on our tree and keep them there for the safety of our 1-year-old.
December 14th, 2011
Materials:
- paper plate
- Elmer’s white “Faux Fur” (available at Walmart)
- red construction paper
- scissors
- glue
- Popsicle stick
- clear plastic tape
Instructions: Read the rest of this entry »
December 7th, 2011
*This craft is suitable for ages 2 and up. Just increase or decrease assistance depending on age.
Materials:
- 1 plain white adult sport sock about 12 inches long
- old newspaper sheets
- piece of white string (about 10 inches long)
- 1 short adult sock of any color (except white) for hat
- 2 large googly eyes (1/2 inch)
- black felt
- 1 orange foam sheet (or orange felt)
- any color of felt for scarf
- thin Popsicle sticks (or coffee stir sticks or brown pipe cleaners)
- black Sharpie marker
- scissors
Instructions:
Read the rest of this entry »
