Month: November 2020

I absolutely love the colors of the fall.  If you are like me, you sure  can’t resist collecting those autumn colored leaves from the ground.

Have you ever tried pressing them and creating all kinds of fun projects with the kids? Try this simple and cute fox to start with, than you can experiment with some more complex ones.

What you need:

• white card stock
• black cardstock
• googly eyes
• white glue
• paint brush to apply to glue
• scissors
• marker

Directions:

1.  Head outside to find your art materials. Look for leaves with a variety of shapes, textures, and colors.
2. After bringing all the leaves home you could rinse and pat the leaves dry.  Or, just press them as is.
3. Pull out the leaves, gather your supplies, and get crafting!
4. Encourage kids to take time moving the leaves around and experimenting with various shapes and colors.
5. Once the kids are happy with their designs, they can use paint brushes to apply glue on the backs of the leaves before pressing them into place.
6. Add the black cardstock circles and the googly eyes.
7. Draw some whiskers.
8. Display the finished art so the whole family can enjoy!

Looking for more ideas?

Check out this site for more leaf art inspiration.

Hello Families,

Today’s post is shared by Anita Olson, Early Childhood Community Consultant.

Anita Olson works on the traditional, ancestral, and unseeded territory of the Coast Salish peoples for Family Services of Greater Vancouver as Burnaby’s Early Childhood Community Consultant (ECCC).

She has been working with families and young children for well over a decade and as a parent herself recognizes the challenges, complexity and delight parenting brings. Understanding the foundational importance of infant and early childhood development, Anita shares information, strategies and practical tools with parents as they begin and continue their parental journey. Focusing on the parent/caregiver and child relationship, Anita’s work with families aims to create and preserve loving connection and curiosity. Anita holds a current ECE license, BA and MEd from Simon Fraser University.

If you would like to speak with Anita, email her at aolson@fsgv.ca or call 604-723-9548

Since the pandemic began many changes have ensued steering families to make decisions they never thought they would ever make. Working from home with little children banging on the door demanding fishy crackers may not exactly be what you thought going back to work would look like. The low level anxiety people are faced with everyday as the pandemic lingers on, just shouldn’t be – and yet, here we are.

Children feel stress too and are really good at letting parents/caregivers know through their behaviour. Play dates are postponed, grandma and grandpa need to stay safe and can’t help out like they use to. Parents are concerned about their children’s social and emotional development and screen time. The list goes on. Stress and anxiety are real and present for many families – all members included.

Now, I am not one for magic bullets, but that’s kind of what I’m going to share with you here. Being in nature and the benefits it creates may be as close to a magic bullet as we can get. There is an ever growing body of evidence based research pointing to the power of nature for adult’s and children’s well being. Children 3-4 years old are recommended by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology to engage in 3 hours of physical activity spread over the course of every day. Young children need to move and challenge their bodies. Parks, gardens, beaches, forests, even the back yard are perfect spaces for children to get their move on. Children who engage in nature tend to be physically healthier because;

– Heart health is better – they move more and sit less

– Have better eye health – children who spend more time outside reduce the risk of myopia (nearsightedness)

– Sleep better as the sun helps regulate sleep patterns

– Improves the immune system

If you are feeling low, being in nature may give that needed boost. There is a vast body of research on how spending time in nature actually reduces stress, anxiety and depression for children and adults. Being in nature calms the brain by reducing cortisol (the stress hormone) and boosts endorphins and dopamine (happy hormones) in the body. Walking though a forest is call, shinrin-yoku, in Japanese, which literally means, “forest bathing” because of this calming effect it embodies.

Playing in nature offers children unstructured play where the possibilities are seemingly limitless to choose and design what and how to play. By engaging with their world by their own accord, children have the opportunity to make meaningful discoveries about the world promoting creativity and imagination.

Discoveries on colours, patterns and shapes found in nature make the great outdoors the perfect place to begin learning about early math concepts and language development. Research on learning outcomes for school aged children with regular access to outdoor lessons show significantly stronger reading and writing skills than for children without these nature experiences. The sights, sounds and smells of nature help calm the nervous system cultivating better focus and concentration, both key factors to learning.

There are also many studies linking time spent in nature reducing ADHD symptoms. Being outside matters!

Getting outside and into nature has benefits for the entire family. Family programs held outside, such as Strong Start, offer families a special gift. These outdoor programs allow for multi-generational shared learning and exploration in an environment rich with information that promotes physical and mental well-being. So, it may not be the magic bullet – but it’s close!

https://www.csep.ca/home https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/42/eaba2578 https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/sour-mood-getting-you-down-get-back-to-nature https://medium.com/parentingplace/nature-walks-f9971e064c0 https://www.ementalhealth.ca/Canada/Nature-and-Why-Its-Essential-For-Kids-Brains-Information-for-Parents-and-Caregivers/index.php?m=article&ID=52861 https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/ https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/kids-vs-screens https://www.outdoorplaycanada.ca/research/#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20evidence%2Dbased,(e.g.%2C%20increased%20happiness) https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_nature_helps_children_learn https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/spend-time-in-nature-to-reduce-stress-and-anxiety https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/mental-health-benefits-outdoors/

The poppy art that we’ve done in the past at Strongstart can be enjoyed by young kids. They are simple enough for toddlers and preschoolers to make with little assistance.

For instruction how to make this simple Poppy Field Printing check out this video by Wecreate Lessons.

For kids age 4 and up check out this step by step painting lesson:  How To Paint Poppies For Kids by Art for Kids Hub.

Have fun painting.

Remembrance Day is a day to remember people who fought and died in wars. It is on November 11th. On that day in 1918 came the end of World War I with Armistice with Germany.

Remembrance Day was started in 1919 by King George V of the United Kingdom. On the same day, other countries also have days to remember war and soldiers.

Traditions:

Lest we forget

There are some things that people do on Remembrance Day at 11:00 AM. That is when the World War ended. At a ceremony for Remembrance Day, a tune called “The Last Post” is played on a bugle (or sometimes a trumpet). Then there is two minutes of silence. At the end of the silence, the bugle plays a tune called “Reveille”.

In many countries, many people wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, and for a few days before. The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower to commemorate those who died in war. People bring wreaths made of poppies to Remembrance Day ceremonies. The poppy is a symbol to show they remember the wars, and the soldiers who fought in them. Poppies were chosen as a symbol because they often grew in battlefields after the soldiers stopped fighting.

How Can You Be Part of Remembrance Day?

WEAR a Poppy—You can find poppies at many of your local stores or Legion halls. Donations are voluntary and what you can afford to offer.

ATTEND A CEREMONY online- show your appreciation for those who have dedicated their lives to serve this glorious country that we call Canada.

OBSERVE a 2-minute moment of silence—On November 11th at 11:00.

Let your child see what you do to honour veterans. Talk to them about Remembrance Day if they ask questions.

When you’re explaining the meaning behind Remembrance Day to your preschooler, gauge how your child is feeling and what they’re ready for. You’re the best judge of how your child will react, but kids often understand more than we give them credit for. Explain as much as your child can handle. It’s okay if they don’t understand everything you say. Every year they’ll learn more.

Please join me for simple poems for preschoolers about Remembrance Day here.

For older children or adults please check out my favorite poem “Why Wear a Poppy?” – By Don Crawford here.

We remember.

What you Need:

• A large jar
• Small cups for food colour
• Gel food colouring or washable watercolours
• Shaving Cream (not a gel version)
•  Droppers

Directions:

1. In a small cup, mix the food coloring with some water
2. Fill the large jar with water until it is about 3/4 full.
3. Place the jar and the cups of colored water on the table. Place a pipette in each cup of colored water.
4. Right before the kids are ready to do the experiment, spray a bunch of shaving cream in the jar until it is just a small bit above the top of the jar.
5. Ask the kids to pick up some colored water with a pipette and squirt it on top of the shaving cream cloud. Repeat this step one or two more times but pay close attention to what is happening below the cloud!

The colored water will begin to seep down through the shaving cream and into the water below. Just like rain!

How it Works

The shaving cream represents the clouds, and the water represents the air. The colored water represents rain. As the colored water saturates the “cloud”, it gets heavy and eventually is so heavy that it can no longer hold the water. It “rains” down into the jar – through the “air.” It is just like real rain falls through the air.

Rainy days are here! What can you do with a preschooler on rainy days?

Experience it and learn about it.

​Go for a walk in the rain. Feel the water running and dripping. Catch drops on your tongue. Look to the sky and see the clouds the rain is coming from. Search for a rainbow (is the sun out?)

Water play, with plain water. Use sieves, watering can, hoses and tubes, etc. Make “rain”.

Measure rainfall during the day in a clear plastic cup marked with permanent marker measurements. Write it down. Measure again tomorrow and compare.

Count the puddles in the yard. Puddle jumping and splashing.

Explore an umbrella.

Possible Discoveries

​Rain is water. It falls from clouds when the clouds become too heavy with water drops. When it rains, everything without protection gets wet. What are some forms of protection? (Homes and other buildings, umbrellas, coats and hats, cars, and other vehicles etc)

People, animals, and plants need rain. Do you know why? Water supports life – we all need to drink water every day to help us grow and stay healthy. Plants need water to grow. What might happen if plants did not take in enough water?

We also need water to wash ourselves. If we had no water to wash ourselves, what might happen?

Sometimes rain is very light, and sometimes very heavy. Vocabulary: sprinkle, spit, downpour, shower, mist, deluge, flood, drizzle etc

For Circle Time about Rain click here.