Party Time!

We love any reason to celebrate (particularly if there is cake involved) and what better theme to start with than your favourite children's book. Parties are a great way for families to get to know each other and a fantastic project for the children.  Check out the feature From the Bookshelf on the Hip Hip Hooray blog for more inspiration.

Save The Date

How time flies, we can hardly believe it's been twenty years! Mark December 6th on your calendar and tune in for more details to follow.



Crazy Creative Paint Brushes

Get out your early childhood professional superhero cape!  A fun activity for the children and you will be keeping the earth green by recycling! We love this idea for hand made paint brushes.  Check out Deborah J. Stewarts article "Hand Made Paint Brushes for Preschool" for complete details and start rummaging through your junk drawers.

Training Calenders are Here!!

The days of summer are soon coming to an end and so begins the preparation for fall and back to school. Our fall training calendar is in the mail and on it's way to the child care providers on our database as we speak!  You can also find a list of our training opportunities at childcareoptions.ca 

This will be last time the training calender will be mailed!  Child Care Options is going green and will be distributing future issues by email. Please make sure we have your current email address!

The Hungry Caterpillar

We love this idea for extending Eric Carle's classic" The Hungry Caterpillar. Pop over to gourmet mom on the go and check out the Hungry Caterpillar feast!

Inspired by Nature

Stop by Playing by the book and read "Trees, Leaves and Sandwich Boards".  Aside from the fab book review on "Mama Miti",  there is the most amazing idea for collecting items from a nature walk.  There are also great resources on music and activities around nature and trees.  Just looking at the beautiful photos is inspiring enough to race to the nearest park!  Looking for more inspiring nature ideas?   Try our Early Childhood Resource Library

Introducing The Arts

 

Harmony in Red - Henri Matisse

It's no secret that we are big supporters of child development here at Child Care Options, and the arts are an important part of that process.   Research  shows exposure to arts in children has a positive influence in their overall achievement (in areas such as math skills and problem solving.)  Take a look at Catherine Read's (from Simon Fraser University) paper "Fine Art, Imagination and Literacy" for more details. 

 Looking for ways to incorporate the arts in your everyday environment?  A great place to start is a series of board books by authors Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober.  This colourful collection includes the beautiful art work of different artists accompanied by simple rhyming text.  You can read these at circle time, one on one and have them out for children to explore on their own.  Check out an excerpt from "A Magical Day With Matisse"below. 

 

Want to check out these books in person? Make your way to our our Early Years Learning Store!