Exciting Animal Rescue

As an animal lover, the environment I have set up for my buddies reflects that love.  We have two small dogs, two cats, and a cockatiel.  I try to impart a respect for all living things, and our past activities have included hatching chicks and butterflies, raising snails, and keeping frogs.  I think animals have much to offer children, and I hope all of my buddies will leave me with a respect and affection for all living things.

My backyard has been set up for outdoor learning, we have many materials and loose parts available for play.  Metal grid shelving has been set up to store our supplies where my buddies have easy access to them.  My love for animals, and my desire to share this love with my buddies extends to our outdoor area.  I have bird feeders set up where we can watch the birds and squirrels who come to visit.

One unfortunate day, Mr. Squirrel was raiding my bird feeders and panicked when I let Tiffany, one of my dogs into the backyard.  Tiffany, doing what dogs do, chased the Mr.Squirrel, who nearly ran into the open door of the house before turning and then getting caught in one of our metal shelves.

My buddies heard the commotion and all ran to the door to watch.  I called Tiffany in and went out to take in the situation.  It was clear Mr. Squirrel was in some trouble.  I think that because he had not only put his head through the wire, he had put his front paws, he couldn't get himself back out.  He squealed pitiously.  Fortunately for him, I had a pair of thick gloves in the shelves just above him. (And fortunately for me, I had my blackberry to snap a picture, too!)

Because my buddies were sitting and watching me from a few feet away, I knew I had to do things just right.  There just wasn't room for me to make a mistake when my buddies were there to witness it.  I could imagine my buddies going home with visions of the daycare lady being mauled by Mr. Squirrel and then having nightmares for years.  Somehow, I didn't think that was going to inspire the affinity for animals that I hope for in my buddies.

I donned the gloves, and carefully approached him, using my best squirrel whisperer voice.  My squirrel whisperer voice is a little rusty and I must have offended him because he immediately bit my glove.  Fortunately, for me, it was only the glove, and not my finger.  I didn't hold it against him, though, I continued my mission, loosening first one paw, then the other.  Then I gently pushed his head back out.  Now free, Mr. Squirrel immediately scurried away. 

Back inside, I was talking with my buddies about the experience and I made sure they knew that the squirrel had bitten me.  Although I want them to love animals, I don't want them to go around trying to pet wild animals.  As we were discussing it, Mr. Squirrel ran back to the spot in front of our sliding glass doors, and looked in at us.  My buddies, the squirrel and I, sat transfixed, paused in time for just a few seconds, acknowledging the event that had just happened.  It was as if he was giving us a thank you for the rescue and letting us know he was all right.  It couldn't have been a more perfect ending! 

Bang on the Drum All Day

My buddies come up with some pretty great ideas all on their own.  These are the ideas that please them, capture their interest and entertain them all at the same time.  Today, for example, it was DRUMS!  A couple of my buddies had some narrow cardboard cylinders and began beating them on the bottom of a couple of containers.  I wanted to encourage the exploration of sounds so I turned a large tub and pail upside down and placed it nearby.  It was quickly incorporated into the drum play and soon other children were finding their own materials to beat and bang with.  It was great fun and we will do more sound exploration over the next little while.  I've left their little set up alone and will be discreetly adding more items to experiment with soon.

One Step at a Time

I was super excited to receive an art easel from the parents of one of my buddies.  Not just a regular easel, either, a super deluxe model.  I had visions of leaving cups of paint at it so my buddies could choose to paint during their free time.  Ha!  Like that was going to happen! Some of my buddies are very young, sometimes as young as 12 months old, so that just wasn't a reasonable expectation. 

I still wanted them to have the ability to choose the easel as an activity, and have art materials available.  So, I came up with the simple solution of tying string to a couple of my crayons and attaching them to the easel itself.  I roll down the appropriate amount of paper, and tape it in place to prevent them from pulling more down.  Now they are free to use the easel as they wish... and the crayons don't get lost, the furniture is safe from their artistic endeavors and everybody's happy!



 





I hope to gradually add more colours, a variety of materials, and more freedom, but for now, this is satisfying our needs.

Keeping the HOME in my Home Daycare

Having a daycare in your home has its challenges.  One of the challenges I was facing was seating for my buddies.  Up until this point, I had tried several arrangements.  I had used our regular kitchen table, sometimes with booster seats, sometimes just the regular chairs, I had used a picnic table, and I had had my buddies sit on the floor using a long, low bench as a table.  My regular kitchen table was awkward for them to sit at, especially for some of my buddies who had a really hard time sitting still.  The picnic table was okay but a little small for working on big projects.  When we sat at the bench, some of my buddies had a hard time staying at the bench.  I considered purchasing a child table from some of the catalogues but most of the tables have a very institutional look that didn't feel right for my home.

I was very excited when I found a large wooden table that was being discarded.  It was bigger than my kitchen table and I knew it would give my buddies lots of workspace.  I set about refinishing, hoping I could match it to the wooden chairs I already owned.  Sanding it revealed that the wooden top surface was a wood veneer and when sanded, some of the base wood showed through where the sander sanded through the veneer.  Because I really wanted some of the wood grain to show through, I used big heart stencils on my table, centering them so that I could keep some wood showing.  I painted the outside edges, where most of the damage was in a black melamine paint.  Since the edges of my hearts were quite rough, I took a Sharpie paint pen and made a zigzag edge around the edges of the hearts.  Then I gave the table several coats of varathane.  I left the legs of the table the original wood colour and just had my husband cut them down to size.  I am not sure I will keep them the colour they are, or if I will end up painting them, too.

I decided to get rid of my regular kitchen table to make more daycare space, too.  It's always a balancing act when you use your home for daycare.  I decided that a useable table for my buddies was more important than the kitchen table I was sacrificing.  My husband and I rarely sat at the kitchen table so it won't be missed too much.  The new table still has a home feel to it and that makes me very happy.

I know my buddies are as excited to start using the table as I am.  Last week, though we weren't using it yet, they were walking around it dragging their fingers along it's surface.  It's the little things that make these projects for my buddies so worthwhile.  Now, I am just working on getting my husband to build me a couple more of those chairs....

Paint 'n Play

My buddies and I recently acquired a large box.  After playing in, around and on the box, it had lost it's strength and had become just a big flat piece of cardboard.  We weren't quite done with it yet, though.


I got a pail and poured in, but didn't mix, a glob of yellow and another of red paint.  I provided sponge scrubbers, dusters, mini mops and bath scrubbies and let my buddies go to town. 










All the tools were a big hit.  When they had put a fair amount of paint on the cardboard (and it took A LOT because some of the tools absorbed the paint, too) they began to paint other things.  Things like the cars, the coaster that came out of the box, and finally THEMSELVES!  Sadly, no pictures of these escapades, I was a little busy containing the fun.

Round and Round

I have really been envying all the wonderful water walls people have created for their kids.  My buddies love water play and I know they would enjoy a water wall.  I haven't created a water wall yet, but I did come up with a fast and fun water play idea.

I had previously suspended my funnel and tube from a hook in the ceiling and my buddies loved playing with it there.  I was looking for a home that would be more long term for this apparatus.  I decided to attach it to one the support beams we have. 

I had my husband attach these holder things to the beam and place a screw at the top that the funnel part could hook onto.  I hung the funnel and wrapped the hose around the post threading them through the holders.  All the loops slow the waters travel down so that my buddies get a chance to observe its travel and sometimes even catch it at the bottom, making it even more fun than it was before!

Schloppity Schlop and Muckity Muck

OOOOOOOOOOH, did we make some fun stuff!  I was inspired by something I found on pinterest with a hanging plastic strawberry basket with slime dripping down.  You can see that one here: http://familylicious.com/science-slime-baskets/ 

Because some of my buddies are pretty young, I wanted something a little safer and because my buddies love messy play, I like things to be easy and inexpensive.  I loved the idea of the hanging strawberry basket and stuff dripping down.  I hung a sturdy collander and made up my own concoction for pouring.  I used 2 cups of cornstarch and about 10 cups of water.  I boiled it on the stove, stirring constantly till it became a pudding like substance. 

When it cooled down to luke warm, I poured it into a big bowl and put it on a stool under my hanging collander.  I provided ladles and slotted spoons.




My buddies got their hands in and squished it.



They ladled and spooned it into the collander.



They watched it drip, drop and plop into the bowl below.



They had an inexpensive and fun messy play day!








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