A NEW ADVENTURE

 It has been A LONG time since I have been active here and lots of updates to make.  I am starting a new journey that I hope is helpful and fruitful to families and early childhood educators!  I hope to share stories and activities that with be impactful in the learning and development you share with the seedlings around you.

Join me as I journey through this adventure!  I will share more as I develop it and I would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions ideas or support that you might have or need.

Let's start with the basics!  Brain development...did you know?

Share your comments!  What did you learn?  What can you add?  

St. Patricks Day activties

 Wow....I can't believe that March is here and half gone already!  We have had some fun this week with some messy art activities.

We painted shamrocks with green peppers cut in half.

 

Everyone joined in the fun with finger painting rainbows.  The babes finger painted using cool whip and food coloring while the older kids had shaving cream and paint.  

M was a little nervous to dig in with her hands at first and just mixed it with a wooden dowel but she soon dove in!  :)

C kept pretty much to using dowel to mix and splash the shaving cream.

P did not hesitate to dive in and have a spread his shaving cream everywhere!  :)

 We also enjoyed some straw painting. 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Schick Hydro Silk - review

I was given the chance to try the Schick Hydro Silk razor and I love it!  I had my doubts at first because I am use to my current razor having a gel that gets a bit slimy when wet (which I didn't much mind before because it was doing its job).  When I used the Hydro Silk razor I didn't feel the water activated moisturizer but after I was out of the shower, and now two days later I can feel it!  My legs are still soft and smooth....the moisturizer definitely hydrated my skin!  The 5 Curve-sensing blades give a nice clean close shave too.

I also like the simple holder that comes in the starter kit.  It is just a small plastic holder attached to a suction cup that you set the razor in.  But it is an improvement from the big box holder I received with my last razor (I didn't even put that in my shower....too big and bulky).  The Schick Hydro Silk holder is small and blends into my white shower wall so you barely notice it.

I received this product for free as a Bzz Agent and my reviews are honest.

Farm unit and some late Halloween week activities

Hello and welcome to A Child's Haven!  This week we are learning about FARMS.  

We are having a lot of fun learning about some of the animals you might find on a farm and what products those animals produce.

On Monday we learned about pigs.  Our art acivity was cutting out shapes (circle, oval, rectangles, triangles) and gluing together to make a pig.  We glued him onto brown paper so he was in the mud.  Then we used a paper towel bunched up and dipped in brown paint to make our pig full of mud.

(sorry no time for pics....I will have a picture of our finished farmyard at the end of the week)

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Today (Tuesday) we are talking about cows.  Lots of fun activities kept us busy this morning!

We made butter!  So easy and fun!

What you need: heavy whipping cream, container with tight fitting lid, salt (optional), bread or crackers 

Just put a little heavy whipping cream into a container with a tight cover and shake, shake, shake.  You can add a clean marble to the cream to help it go a little faster.  It takes about 20 minutes.  Take turns "churning" the cream while you read a couple of stories and it will soon be ready!  (You will hear the liquid separated from the butter when it is done) You can add a little salt at the end if you like.  We put the butter on some homemade pumpkin bread.  Delicious!!!!!

We also milked a cow today!  ;)  This was a ton of fun!!!!

What you need: vinyl glove, needle, water, white paint, container, towel

Take a vinyl glove and poke a hole in the finger tip with a needle.  Then mix the water with some white paint.  Pour the paint into the glove and while you hold the top of the glove closed...let the children "milk" the cow. Keep a towel handy for any spilled milk! This was a huge hit!!!!!

For art we made a quick cow.  I cut out the cow and had some paint on the table to use with fingers to add some brown spots to our cows.

(sorry no pics yet.  I will have a pic of our finished farmyard at the end of the week. ;) )

I found this here:http://mrsosterman.blogspot.com/search/label/Farm and I am totally doing this next year during farm week!  I don't know where I can find hay bales anymore this year.

Here are a few quick pics of some events we did during Halloween week.  Sorry they are late but I didn't have time to blog.  Better late than never ;)

We made a haunted house with blankets and read some stories and did some flannel board activities inside.

 We made some gooey goblins with some green food coloring mixed with shaving cream all over the table.  Big messes are always so much fun to make!!!!! LOL

 Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon to see all the fun we are having!!!!!

Help spread the word!!!!! Referral bonus! PLUS OCTOBER SPECIAL

Being a new business; my first goal is to get the word out that I am here. Could you help? I am offering $10 Kwik Trip gift cards to anyone who refers a family to A CHILD's Haven. 

Details:
No limits on number of gift cards
One gift card per child enrolled ($5-part time; $10-full time)
Child(ren) must be enrolled for 30 days prior to granting gift cards.

Share my website that houses details about my childcare program:
A CHILD's Haven - http://achildshaven.blogspot.com/

Share my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/A.CHILDS.HAVEN.WI

References available upon request.

Thank you!

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OCTOBER ENROLLMENT SPECIAL

1 week of free childcare!  

Free week redeemable 30 days after enrollment.
Offer valid for full-time care only.
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Halloween fun

 There are so many fun activities to do for Halloween.  I have recently discovered these magnet pages you can use on a cookie sheet, fridge, or magnet board. (I picked up one of the drip pans from Walmart and attached it to my wall with velcro strips).  I found a couple of magnet sheets here: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/PumpkinMagnetPages.htm

I also created a simple pumpkin magnet sheet that can be used to create jack-o-lanterns using the circular magnets.  You can find my make a face pumpkin and download it for free here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-a-pumpkin-face-magnet-sheet

 Today we finished up our adorable little spiders.  We painted the styrofoam balls yesterday and they were not quite dry in the afternoon so we added the eyes and legs today.  P loves his little spider!

 I will post more of our Halloween activities and crafts over the next couple of weeks.  Stop by again soon to see what we have been up to!

Fire Safety Week - Days 1 and 2

This week is national Fire Safety week and I am excited to be pulling out my Sesame Street Fire Safety curriculum.  This curriculum is available free through the U.S. Fire Administration for schools and fire departments.  For more information follow this link: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/citizens/teachers/sesame.shtm

I used my cricut and Sesame Street and Friends cartridge to create some fun puppets to go along with the stories in the curriculum.  The book does include some pages to photo copy and color as well.  I just got word that the CD is on its way to me....next year for fire safety we will be upgrading to a cd (no more waiting while Sara finds the right song and story on the cassette tape. ;) )

 

DAY 1 - HOT THINGS BURN

We played a fun game with post it notes and bingo markers (red and blue).  I put a post it note on items around the house and my little seedling used the red bingo marker if it was hot (not safe) and blue if it was cold (safe to touch).

We also threw together this fire truck out of a cardboard box that has been sitting in my breezeway just waiting for the perfect project.  This was a big hit!  We have a jump rope for a water hose too.

DAY 2 - MATCHES AND LIGHTERS ARE FOR GROWN-UPS

We read a story about Big Bird and learned to find an adult if we ever see matches or lighters.

DON'T TOUCH ~ FIND A GROWN UP

Here are my fake matchboxes I made that were placed around the room for my seedlings to find and practice calling a grown up for help.  Just a simple piece of card stock cut and folded in 3's and some wooden sticks I had that I trimmed and colored with the red bingo marker.

Then we painted FIRE!  Finger painting with red and yellow. 

More fun planned for the rest of Fire Safety week so come back soon to check it out!