As the weather warms up, one activity that can be fun to do is soapy water play.  Water and soap play is always a hit for the children of all ages.  Please keep in mind the importance of supervising children and to reminding them about safety rules when playing with bubbles.

Get out your large size buckets, household cleaning brush, old toothbrush, or sponge, some water and soap, and something for children to wash.   It can be as simple as washing dolls, plastic toy car, or even the patio and backyard fence.  For extra bubbly fun, whip up the soapy solution with hand blender.

Last but not least, make some bubble solutions for children to make some cool bubble experiments.  My go-to recipe is using equal part Dawn® dishwashing liquid (blue) and water, to make my fail-proof bubble solutions. However, there are many other great bubble recipes out there that you can experiment with as well.   Bring out bubble wands or make your own bubble wands using craft pipe cleaner, straws, or wire hangers.   And you will have hours of fun with bubbles with your families.

Singing songs and reciting rhymes is one of my favourite activities to do with children of all ages.  It can be done anywhere and anytime.  From singing birthday songs, to singing lullabies to put your child to sleep, there are many opportunities to sing to children.  All it requires is your voice.  It is free and fun!

Children love to listen to their parents’ voice, especially parents’ singing.  Best part is, you do not have to be a professional singer to entertain your children.  All you need is to start with repertoire of a few simple songs that your child responds to, and sing these songs regularly.

It can be favourite childhood rhymes, or new songs that you make upIf you only know the tune to some songs, consider humming the tune or clapping/tapping the beats to favourite songs.   Make up your own songs and be creative.

Singing songs and rhymes is a wonderful way to interact, sooth, and play with your children.  Regardless of how well you sing, your voice is your child’s favourite voice.  Happy singing.

Many families are making daily walks as part of their family routine.  Walks are great way for families to connect with nature and get some physical activities.

While walking is fun by itself, it might be fun to add some activities to daily walks.

1. Play a game of I-Spy and look for particular objects on walks. Encourage children to look for certain colours, alphabets or numbers that they can find during walks.  See who can spot the most squirrels, raccoons or butterfly while on walks.
2. Encourage children to do some bird watching or listening to the beautiful music birds made. Learn about the types of birds that are in our neighbourhood and the characteristics of the birds.
3. Go for scavenger hunt and find some nature materials available on our walks. From flowers to pine cones, sticks and stones, there are many beautiful materials to collect while on walks.
4. Encourage children to use camera to take toy or actual camera, binocular or magnifying glass for walks, so children can take photos or use their magnifying glasses to closely examine the nature while on walks.
5. Incorporate different moves during walks, such as interval skipping, hopping, running. Encourage children to come up with different moves they can do while going on walks.

Cooking for families can be more challenging than ever during uncertain times.  But it is also a great opportunities to everyone to venture out and try new recipes and cooking techniques.

Cooking together can be a great way to connect with each other. Families can explore the different culture and food through finding simple and healthy recipes, shopping for the ingredients, preparing the food, and eating the delicious creation together.

Children learn about healthy eating, science, and even math in the kitchen.  They are more likely to try the different food if they helped to make it.  More importantly, by preparing the food yourselves, you can select the quality of ingredients in your recipes.

Cooking together with children can be fun and interactive with a little bit of planning and preparation.  Embrace this challenge and enjoy the process learning to cook new and healthy food together.  Remember that food prepared by you always taste better because it has a special ingredient: your love.

Today’s families face more uncertainties in all aspects than any previous generations.  Parenting and navigating in today’s complex and uncertain world can be challenging, thus causing stress and anxiety for families.

However, there are ways to cope with the pressures and for families to thrive in times of uncertainties. This can be great opportunity to learn about ourselves and family, redefine who we are, grow as a family, and develop stronger bonds with each other.  Take the time to learn new skills, explore new ventures, learn valuable life lessons, re-examine one’s priorities, and pursue dreams.

Let us face the future of uncertainties with open heart, open mind, creativity, and flexibility.   Remember that changes often happen for a reason and it often helps us grow and change for the better.  Combined with hard work and faith, use the endless possibilities of uncertainties to create a whole new story for our families and to grow in ways we never imagine.

See below for a list of virtual programs, compiled by ECD Table.  There are great resources for families.

FREE Virtual Programs Spring 2020 Master Burnaby

While digital correspondence, such as electronic mails or texts, are convenient and fast, there is something special about receiving a handwritten note or drawings from friends and family that brings me feeling joy and nostalgia.

Unlike email, writing letters are physical evidence that someone cares about you.  It allows communication with more than just preset fonts on computer screen.  From handwritten letter to handmade cards, or photographs and children’s drawing, these mailed memorabilia are something that are worth keeping and treasured for years to come.

The personal touch of letter can bring people closer together than an electronic mail or e-card can.  Letter writing requires extra thoughts, time, and effort and hence makes it more meaningful for both the sender and receiver.  It can strengthen family ties, especially for extended families and friends in home country, who might not be computer savvy or do not have access to internet.

Moreover, there is something special about sending and receiving mail for children. It gives children a sense of importance to be receiving mail addressed to them.  It also teaches children the importance of being patience and what it means to take extra effort to make the connection.

To introduce children to the art of writing and mailing letters, I made a cardboard mailbox, with opening at back for children to open and take out mails.  I also provided children with stickers for stamps, envelopes, papers, and markers.  Encourage other family members or friends to write to start writing to children and corresponding with each other as another form of communication.

During this challenging times, where social distance is required, what better way to send our love than sending message of love and kindness through writing and sending letters.

Have some empty boxes at home?  In addition to recycling them, cardboard are great play materials for children.   Delivery packages, cereal and pasta boxes…..  They are not just a box…  A box can turn into a train, truck, dog house, and many more.  Best part is, most boxes are free, readily available and can entertain children for hours!   What can we do with a box?

Depending on the age of children, find different ways to involve children in the cardboard play.  Most children are contend with just playing with the boxes as is.  The children can crawl in bigger boxes, play pretend oven and so much more.  For smaller boxes, children can stack them up as tower and knock them down.  Boxes can also be recycled and turn into something totally different.

In order to transform the boxes, children can be encouraged to use their imagination and creativity to find different uses for the boxes. They then ‘plan’ and ‘design’ what they want to do.  And with a little bit of duct tape, scissors and other materials found at home, magic happens.  Do try to include everyone in the family, even for younger children.  Younger children can participate by helping to select the colour, placement for window for their playhouse, etc., as a way to involve them and have ownership of the family project.  Make sure to allocate time and space for children to work on their boxes, and take time to make the boxes to the next level of fun for them.

When families come together to create, whether it is a mailbox made out of a granola box, crowns made from recycling chocolate box, and play dome from the many more boxes.  Whether it is playing with reinvented box creations or simply playing with the empty boxes, these boxes guarantee many hours of fun and learning opportunities.  So the next time there are cardboard boxes, invite your children to think outside the box and have fun!!

In the times when early learning programs are not in sessions, some families are worried about children missing out on opportunity to learn, and missing their Strongstart facilitator and local librarians’ story time sessions.

With the closure of libraries, there might be limited access to great books, but there are many great digital books available, as well as many virtual storytime that can be accessible in the comfort of your own home.  While the libraries are closed, families can access the online resources that local libraries have prepared for families to help families with the love of reading.

Whether it is printed books or digital books, below are some tips to inspire the love of reading at the comfort of your home.

• Create a home environment conducive for reading. Ensure proper lighting, comfortable seating, and good selection of quality books.
• Introduce reading to children starting at early age, starting with read aloud to young children.
• Condition children to associate reading with pleasure by incorporating reading into part of daily family routine.
• Make reading time a quality bonding time, a special uninterrupted time to connect with children on deeper level, and have meaningful discussion through books.
• Be a good role model and set good examples by reading regularly. Children are great imitators. If children sees adults reading regularly, they will do the same.

Reading is most affordable, yet most valuable and meaningful way to connect with your children. Inspire and motivate children to love reading by making it a shared family activity that fun, entertaining, and exciting.

Reading together, whether it is an electronic or print book, is one of most effective ways to bond with our children, and connect on a deeper level. Remember that our children do not need or want digital storybooks with fancy effects or an audio-visual device that offers a professional storyteller with perfect English skills.  What our children really need is having their parents’ time and attention – reading books together regularly can be a powerful bonding experience.

While parks and playgrounds are closed, we can still appreciate nature in our own backyard or when going for walks while practicing safe social distance.  And appreciating flowers and making arts using flowers can be a great activity to do with young children.

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Start by appreciating all the different flowers in our backyards, be it wild flowers, planted flowers.  Encourage children to use all their senses, such as look closely at the flowers, the bud, seeds, the colours, size, number of petals; smelling the flowers, appreciate the softness of petals or the edges of leaves and thorns.   Be mindful of safety such as poisonous plants or the thorns, prickles, or spines.

If flowers are in your own backyard and is safe to pick, you can also use the flowers for activities, such as making flower collages, paint with flowers, or pressed flowers art.   Research and learn more about the names of flowers, which pollinators are attracted to which flowers, and so on.   Discover and appreciate the beauty of the amazing world of flowers by stopping and smelling the flowers.

Hello Lochdale StrongStart Families,

Hope you all doing well in these uncertain times.  I am thinking of you, and really miss seeing you all at StrongStart.   I am in process of reaching out to you via email or phone call to check in with you.   I’d love to hear from you to let me know how you are doing.

This is an unusual times right now, and I am grateful to have this blog as a way to communicate and connect with you and your children, until StrongStart reopens. I hope to use this blog to share with you all some ideas and resources, such as songs and rhymes, activity ideas, and to support each other.  This is a blog for all of you so feel free to let me know of any activity suggestions and feedback.

I hope we can continue to stay connected through this blog until we meet in person again.   Please check back to the blog soon for more posts.   We are all in this together and we can get through this together.   Please take care you and your families.