How to Make Paper Ring Chains

This is a great activity for the age group of the children in my daycare (just over and just under 2). Not only can the activity help to develop fine motor skills like hand-eye coordination, but it can also be used to teach colours. The fact that it is simple and produces quick results helps to keep the children focused that much longer.

We made paper chains as decorations the day before our celebration of Aidas's 2nd birthday. These chains can be used for any celebration, however, and I expect we'll be making them again as we near Christmastime.

Materials: construction paper in various colours, scissors, clear tape

Procedure: 

1. Using various colours of construction paper, cut out strips that are roughly an inch wide and 9 inches long. (Thinner and/or shorter strips can be cut for older children as a variation, but large chunky pieces are much easier for this age group to manage.)
2. Show the children how you join the two edges of a strip to "make a circle". Tape the edges together using a small piece of scotch tape. (The children can help put the tape on, but you will probably need to follow up with another piece to make sure it holds.)
3. Instruct them to put one strip through the circle you are holding. (This will likely be the extent of their physical participation in the making of the chain.) When the strip is halfway through the circle, join the edges of that strip and tape them together.
4. While holding it, have them place another strip through the circle you have just completed. When it is halfway through, join the two edges of this strip together and tape.
5. Continue this process until the desired chain length is reached.

**To help teach about colours, you can ask the child what colour they are putting through, tell them what colour they are putting through, or ask them to get a particular coloured strip.

Teaching Colours, Washing Floors, and Contingency Plans

Early this week, during morning snack, we read a book about colours. It is a Turn & Learn book in which you must turn a little wheel at the side to match the colour being referred to on the page. We talked about the colour on the particular page, and matched the colour on the wheel to it. Then, I gathered some toys of that colour and grouped them on the table. This little lesson would be virtually impossible without a 'captive audience', as they would tamper with the piles and thus not see the colour groupings. 

We have also been noticing what colour plate, cup or bib each child is using during meal times. At other times, we talk about what colour pants, shirt or socks the children are wearing. On our outings, we have been stopping to notice colours: the red mailbox, orange pumpkins, blue newspaper box, etc. 

After lunch one day, one of the children decided she wanted to help me wipe up the floor. Of course, then all the children wanted their own cloth to help out. It was so sweet, and I was very appreciative of their help. Part of me kept expecting them to belt out "It's a Hard Knock Life", in chorus, though.

We have been having plumbing problems in the apartment, recently. As we were having snack on Thursday, one of the workers in the apartment building came in to fix a leak under our kitchen sink. He said it would be helpful if we would get out of the apartment for a while, since he needed to solder the pipes. So, dirty dishes on the table and all (ugghhhhh) we quickly packed up and walked to Chapters in Bloorwest Village.

The kids had a great time playing at the Thomas the Tank Engine table, and other various activities, as you can gather from the pictures above.

Since I was trying to keep the kids out as long as possible before their naps, I decided to give them lunch 'on the road'. We stopped at Timothy's and got a blueberry muffin, and an egg and ham sandwich. Of course, they downed this quite quickly and were hungry for more. 

So....we stopped at Pizza Hut and ordered Cheese Bread Sticks. To my chagrin, as I was paying, the cashier added, "It'll be about 10 minutes". Oh. Four kids, tired and hungry. The video below is a small taste of what this waiting was like. (All kidding aside, they really were pretty good, considering the fact that it is excruciating to wait 10 minutes for food when you are 2!)

On Friday we got the dress-up bin out. Then we coloured on Bristle Board, using markers and crayons. Of course, we talked again about the colours we were using as we did this activity. The kids are definitely getting more into colouring. The activity lasted far longer than it ever has....possibly a whole 5 minutes!   

Daycare Halloween Party

Yesterday we had a little Halloween party at the daycare. Noah and Aidas were in their costumes for practically the whole day. Noah chose to be Tigger all day. Aidas opted for cool firefighting duck in the morning, and Tigger in the afternoon.

The kids often dress up in these clothes anyway, since most are in our dress-up bin. B. wore one of the Tigger costumes in the morning, and L. was a firefighter for parts of the morning. M. is currently only into wearing the backpacks.

I had blown up 5 huge pumpkin punching balloons the night before. Two of them popped that night. The rest of them popped as we began to play with them. One of the Tiggers was not too pleased with this. I'm not sure if they were faulty, or if I just blew them up too darn big!

So.....we decided to do the Halloween puzzles I made for them, instead.

I used a black cat picture I got off the Internet, and some pumpkin shapes I still have from when I was teaching. I also cut out a ghost from white bristle board. Then I cut each of the shapes into 3 pieces to make puzzles. They needed help to keep the pieces from sliding under each other, but it was a fun, festive activity. And I just tossed them in the trash at the end of the day.

We also made paper spiders. (See previous post.) The kids had fun dancing around and dangling the spiders from the strings.

At snack time the kids had a special treat: ghost cookies! Noah and I picked them up from Bread and Roses in Bloorwest Village the night before. Boy, these cookies went a long way!

They were still eating them for afternoon snack! Yes, it was an extra nutritious day at the daycare! But hey, you gotta have some fun, right?

The kids spent a long time outside in the afternoon. They are enjoying their outdoor time even more at this age. I haven't had any requests from them to go back inside, even when it is rather chilly and windy. This bodes well for the upcoming Canadian winter!

Simple Spider Craft for 2-year-olds

SPIDER CRAFT


Materials

• black construction paper, white glue, googly eyes, clear plastic tape, black yarn

Procedure (per child)

1. Cut one circle out of black construction paper for spider's body. (Use an upside down bowl as an outline to give you a perfect circle.)
2. Cut six little rectangles out of the black construction paper for spider's legs. (They should be as long as the diameter of the circle, and about 1 or 2 cm wide.)
3. Place a line of white glue diagonally upward near the edge of the circle. Demonstrate to the child how to stick the leg (rectangle) on. Verbalize it for the child: "Stick the leg on the glue." Have the child "push down" with his fingers to glue the leg onto the body.
4. Follow the same process, sticking one leg on at a time. (Using a clock analogy, place the legs at 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 o'clock). Reduce assistance as you go along.  For example, for the second or third leg, have the child try placing the leg over the glue. Remind them to "push down".
5. As soon as all six legs are stuck on, take the spider away from the child. Tell the child the glue needs to dry. Wipe off excess glue with a tissue.
6. When the glue has dried, turn the spider over and place two small globs of glue near the top of the circle. Give the child one googly eye at a time and ask him to "stick the eye on the glue". 
7. Tell the child the glue needs to dry. 
8. When the glue has dried, cut a piece of black yarn, about 8 inches long. Tape one end to the middle of the spider (on the eyes side).
9. Holding the spider by the other end of the yarn, show the child how to dangle the spider. 
10. Hand it over to your child for play!

*Note: You can make the main activity time for the craft for the initial part of gluing the legs on. Then you can get the child to glue the eyes on during meal time, since it takes such a short amount of time. 

Five Little Ducks

FIVE LITTLE DUCKS
(This is a popular Raffi song. You could also use duck cutouts as props, without the mama. Just hide one duck at a time, and bring them out again in the last verse.)



Five little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mama duck said
"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"
But only four little ducks came back.


Four little ducks went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only three little ducks came back.

Three little ducks went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only two little ducks came back.

Two little ducks went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only one little duck came back.

One little duck went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But none of her five little ducks came back.

Sad mama duck went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

And all of her five little ducks came back.

Five Little Pumpkins

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
This is originally a Raffi song. Very fitting not just for Halloween, but also because as of next week I will be looking after five little "pumpkins" in the daycare (including my son). Use real pumpkins or cutouts. I have added some actions we have also used for this song.



Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said 
"Oh my, it's getting late!" (Point to outer wrist for watch.)
The second one said 
"There are witches in the air." (Arms up, flutter fingers.)
The third one said
"But we don't care." (Shake head.)
The fourth one said
"Let's run and run and run." (Move arms in running motion.)
The fifth one said
"I'm ready for some fun."
Ooo ooo went the wind (Blow on child's head.)
And out went the light
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight. 

Home Daycare News

We went to High Park on Monday to play in the leaves. Since we had last been there, the machines had cleaned the leaves up. The leaves had been collected into a few huge leaf piles, so we chose one that looked good and enjoyed it!

They really wanted to (and kept trying to) climb to the top of the pile, but that didn't look like such a good idea. Plus, we really only needed about one twentieth of this pile to have fun in.

The kids enjoyed pretending that they were squirrels sleeping in the leaves. We pretended the leaves were a blanket, and sang the "Sleeping Bunnies" song, but changed it to "Sleeping Squirrels". FYI, that is a cookie in Aidas's mouth, not a leaf! 

We had so much fun, even if we were ABSOLUTELY filthy at the end of it! Totally worth it.

The next day, we went back to High Park. We visited the High Park Zoo. The kids saw llamas, yaks, sheep, cows, peacocks and bison.

After the zoo, the kids got out of the wagon and walked down the path for a bit. They really enjoyed it!

We also did some finger painting this week. Noah is FINALLY into it! B. is not ready to try it yet. He was a little grossed out by it. This was how Noah originally viewed it, so I'm sure, in time, B. will enjoy it too.

Later in the week we visited a nearby parkette. The kids seem to like this area, so we will use it as the backyard we do not have! 

I had bought children's hockey sticks from Value Village, so the we tried them out. 

Doesn't it look like they're really playing hockey? Well, except for Noah holding the stick with one hand!