Washing and cleaning toys.

Last week our day home agency held a health and safety workshop presented by a health inspector from Alberta Health Services.

Many points were made on how to have healthy and safe environments, spaces, equipment, how to control the spread of infection and how to safely handle and prepare food for children.

A super easy idea was presented about organising toys that need to be washed or cleaned and sanitised, especially those that are constantly in the mouths of infants and toddlers!

A simple bin, tote box or laundry basket placed in your play area (out of reach of the children) where toys needing washing and cleaning can be placed out of the way is a great addition to any play room. A lidded bin or basket would also be something to stop the children retrieving they toys back out!
At the end of the day the toys can simply be placed to soak in a bleach solution or ,if able, placed in a dishwasher with a sanitisation cycle and then left to air dry!

Winter Cotton Ball Fun for Toddlers

We all know the familiar scene, you buy your toddler this wonderful, bright, noisy, educational toy and they play with the packaging instead! Toddlers are naturally very curious, discovering and exploring everyday and keeping up with them during this busy stage of development is a full time job! So how about these simple and inexpensive activity ideas using cotton balls to keep them busy? These ideas were found on the toddler station on www.preschoolexpress.com Have fun exploring with your toddlers! WINTER COTTON BALL FUN COTTON BALL PAINTING Pour a small amount of tempera paint on a plate. Let your child use a cotton ball like a paintbrush, dipping it in the paint and then brushing it onto a sheet of paper. Use one color of paint or try two colors that mix well, such as blue and yellow or red and yellow.   FLUFFY SNOWFLAKE Cut a snowflake shape out of self-stick paper (the kind used for covering shelves, cupboards, etc.) Remove the backing and place the snowflake sticky side up on a table. Let your child place cotton balls all over the sticky side to make a fluffy snowflake. SNOWBALL WALK AND TOSS Give your child a paper plate with three cotton ball "snowballs" on it and place a basket on the other side of the room. Have your child balance the snowballs on the plate while walking carefully over to the basket. Let your child toss the snowballs into the basket before returning for more. COTTON BALL SNOWSTORN Make a "Cotton Ball Snowstorm" with your child. Place a handful of cotton balls on the floor. Join your child on the floor as you blow the cotton ball "snow" all around. Can you make your snowstorm wild and windy? How about gentle and breezy?

Song time!

Music and singing are great fun with young children and an important part of their development. Sometimes, though once we've sung all the old favourites we can be left struggling for mew songs and rhymes!

Why not check out www.preschoolexpress.com and click on the song and rhyme station!

There are loads of great songs categorised by themes and seasons. Many are new words set to familiar tunes!

This is one of our favourites, and currently being used in our song and rhymes mentoring sessions for February! It's a great way to start your song time and encourage all the children to be involved and feel part of the group!


MARY'S HERE TODAYTune: "The Farmer In The Dell"

Mary's here today, Mary's here today.
Let's all clap our hands and say.
Hip, hip hurray!

Continue singing about other children as they join the group.

Valentine heart suncatcher.

What a beautiful way to decorate your windows this Valentines Day! The love will shine out from your home!



You will need:

• Squares of tissue paper in valentine colours.
• A heart frame.
• Two pieces of contact paper / sticky back plastic.

On roll one piece of contact paper and place the heart frame on stcky side.

Fill the middle of the heart with the tissue paper squares. Overlap the paper and do not leave any spaces.
Sandwich the frame inbetween another piece of contact paper and then cout out heart!

This idea was discovered on makingmerrymemories.blogspot.jp

Light table.

What a great idea for a sensory activity and so easy to make!

This light table was made by one of our day home providers and successfully used with all children she cares for!

She simply placed push on lights inside a lidded clear tote box and then placed different coloured transparent objects on top!

Turn out the lights (a basement would be great for this) and let the children do what they do best, discover and explore!

winter candle

This wonderfully simple but effective craft idea was seen at one of our day homes!

You will need:

• A glass jar
• Mod podge and lustre mod podge (alternatively white school glue that dries clear)
• Tissue paper (torn into pieces)
• Glitter
• Tea light candle

How to make:

1. Cover the jar in Mod podge (or glue)
2. Stick on pieces of torn up tissue paper
3. Paint lustre mod podge (or glue) over tissue paper
4. Sprinkle on, or roll jar in glitter.
5. Leave to dry and place tealight or other candle inside.

Different shades of blue look great for winter candles but you could make these candles for any time of the year. Red and pinks for a valentines candle, oranges and yellow for fall or red's and green's for Christmas.