Three Outdoor Safety Essentials

Spending time outdoors playing and learning is an integral part of our childcare programs. Children naturally embrace all kinds of weather conditions and are excited by wind, rain, cloudy days, snow, fog, and warm sunny days. The natural environment stimulates our senses with changing temperatures, colours, sounds, and children respond with curiosity and interest to their surroundings.

Playing outside in different weather conditions is fun, but we want to make sure everyone is comfortable and protected from weather condition risks. We need to be aware of what the risks are, and make sure we follow safety guidelines.

Here are 3 outdoor safety essentials for children. 

Hydration 
Hydration is an important part of all outdoor activities; whether a strenuous game of chase, or a leisurely walk in a meadow. Water provides hydration without sugar or added colour and flavour so is ideal for children. It is important not to wait until a child feels thirsty and asks for a drink - because dehydration may have already begun. Instead make sure you always have water available and provide a few mouthfuls during breaks in playing games or sports. Hydration is more of a concern as temperatures or exposure to direct sun increases, but it can happen in all weather conditions. Risks include heat stroke and symptoms such as tiredness, headaches, and a general feeling of not being well. So keep the water bottles topped up and have regular breaks for refreshment.

Sunscreen 
If you're going to be outside for an activity, you will want to protect your skin with sunscreen. The UV light from the sun causes skin damage, which is considered cumulative and is a concern for skin cancer. Even when it’s cloudy out, there are still UV rays out coming through. So don’t think sunscreen is only for the beach. When you buy sunscreen get the highest protection level. While sprays and mists may be the quickest to apply it is also more difficult to ensure a complete and uniform application. In addition, consumer reports are warning to use sprays carefully around children because of the potential danger of breathing in the product. It is recommended to spray your hands and then apply the sunscreen to the child.

So along with the water bottle, make sure you have sunscreen ready to re-apply.

Clothing
What you wear for an outdoor activity depends on what the weather is like for the day. When the sun is out make sure children have a hat to shade eyes and protect their heads from the heat and the sun’s powerful rays. When it's warm, but windy, a windbreaker can protect skin from windburn and UV rays. If it’s raining outside a rainproof jack and boots are the order of the day. If there is a puddle nearby you know it will be irresistible so it’s important to have waterproof boots. In the winter, a good snowsuit, winter boots, hats, and mitts is essential. Remember children are fully immersed in the winter conditions, rolling in the snow, sliding down hills, sitting on the snow covered ground, and they need the extra water-proof and low temperature protection.

Getting children outdoors enriches their lives, and promotes health, and well being. Being prepared for weather conditions with the right clothing, protecting skin, and staying hydrated, will ensure that children are safe and comfortable for outdoor activities.

About Discovery Child Care Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy, which means your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca or http://www.forestschool.ca/

Five Easy Plants Children Love to Grow

April and May are the perfect months for planing new gardens. Small backyard gardens are great opportunities for learning, play, family bonding, and more. Children who grow their own food are far more likely to make healthier food choices. There's nothing we want more than for our children to grow up with the ability to make choices that have a positive impact on their health and well-being.

There are many other benefits to gardening with children - they get a sense of accomplishment, a chance to care for something delicate, and plenty of time outdoors under the sun getting some much needed vitamin D.

While there are a plethora of delicious choices you can make for your garden, there are some plants that are especially easy for children to grow or help grow. Here are 5 easy plants to grow in your garden this year with your children.

Sunflowers
Sunflowers are a great staple in any garden, but especially in a child's garden. They grow quickly and are quite large. You only need to plant a couple depending on the amount of space you have. Sunflowers will sprout in a week, become a seedling in two weeks, and be nearly 2 feet tall in a month.  Once they bloom, about 8 weeks, they will reveal their seed kernels. These can be roasted for a tasty snack. Be sure to get the confectionery sunflower variety so the seeds are edible.

Lettuce
Lettuce is hardy and easy to grow, making it a great option for kids. The leaf varieties mature faster, and like part-shade. They take 7-10 days to germinate and mature in about 30-35 days. They are sure to get your child interested in making a salad with their own lettuce!

Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes are very fun to grow, and delicious to eat right off the vine. It's better to plant them from seedlings as opposed to from seed. You can drive a 2' stake beside each plant and loosely tie them to keep them upright. They like full sun and compost, and will mature in about 50-75 days.

Snap Peas
Snap Peas are popular among kids because of their fresh sweet flavour. The seeds are easy to handle for kids, and they grow quickly. They will germinate in about 2 weeks and be ready to pick and eat in a month or two. When harvesting, teach kids to pick them gently (a great learning opportunity!) so that they do not pull the entire plant out of the ground with the peas.

Pumpkin
Pumpkins are a must have for any child's garden as they have so many uses. Pumpkin seeds are delicious roasted as a snack. The meat inside can be used for baking, soups, or other treats, and the outer part can be used for carving! Pumpkins will be ready to harvest in about 80-120 days.

As we said above, there are so many benefits to including children in your gardening. Giving them a sense of responsibility, ownership, and care at an early age will set them up for success at other endeavors in the future. They will also grow an appreciation for where food comes from. There are also science and nature lessons to be had!

For further reading on gardening with children, check out our other blogs below!

• 10 Ways Children Benefit From Nature
• Tips for Gardening With Kids
• Our Kinder-Garden Grows Healthy Food
• Why kids Need Time in Nature
• Why Playing Outside is So Important

About Discovery Child Care
Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

6 Fun Snow Activities For Children

What child doesn’t love a snow day? You get to bundle up and head out into the yard to play (and learn!). With winter fast approaching and the weather getting colder, it might be time to start thinking about what exactly to do on those days. Playing in the snow can be an excellent opportunity to develop fine motor skills and encourage outdoor learning while still having loads of fun.

What are some benefits to playing in the snow? 

Building A Snow Creature!

Coordination 
Walking through the snow is in itself a test of coordination and balance! Add in activities like jumping, rolling snowballs, throwing piles of snow, etc and you have many opportunities to develop coordination skills in the snow!

Math 
Counting snowballs and measuring the height of snow drifts or the depth of snow are great ways to develop some math skills.

Language 
Winter is the perfect time to introduce or reinforce some great adjectives such as icy, cold, wet, warm, hard, fluffy, crunchy, soggy etc

Science 
Have the children look around at how winter changes nature. What do the trees and plants look like? Can you spot some winter animals, or do you notice any animals missing? You can also talk about the life cycle of ice, icicles, snow, and snowflakes.

Winter Activities 

Here are some great ideas for some activities to do in the snow that will incorporate the benefits mentioned above.

1. Tobogganing is a great way to develop coordination as well as safety skills. Pick a safe hill away from traffic with a clear path. Make a safety checklist with the help of the child. Once all the safety rules are met (helmets are always a great idea!) you can start sliding!

2. Snow Sculptures! This isn’t your dad’s snowman! try making all sorts of different shapes and figures. Animals, critters, monsters, castles, etc… let the imagination fly! Develop artistic/creative skills, language skills, and coordination.

3. Snow Colouring. Fill a few spray bottles with water and food colouring. Have them create works of art in the snow or on snow drifts. Add some plant life back into the scenery by painting some flowery imagery. Or you can even use the spray bottles to give your sculptures some colour!

4. Snow Angels. Almost everyone knows how to make a snow angel. Lay down in the snow and move your arms up and down to create an effect like wings. Laying down in the snow also gives your child a new perspective. Have them describe what they see!

5. Fort building is a great way to develop math and coordination skills. Make blocks out of packed snow and pile them up to build a wall. Remember to be safe when digging any tunnels as the snow can collapse and cause injury.

6. Winter Walk. Take a walk through the neighbourhood to see the holiday lights, or through the local park to observe how nature changes in the wintertime. What plants and animals can you spot?What winter treasures can you find? You could even plan a scavenger hunt and have the child look for branches, winter birds, etc..

 Remember to stay safe through all of these activities. 

• Never play outside if the temperatures are below 25 degree celsius, as skin starts to freeze at this point. 
• Make sure children are dressed warmly- especially fingers and toes. 
• Avoid dressing too warmly as activity in the snow quickly warms up the body and sweat can make a child cold if when they stop moving. 
• Avoid aiming snowballs at cars or people, instead try lining up a few bottles or pin a target to a tree! 
• Be aware of roads and traffic. Icy roads make it harder to stop and icy windshields make it harder to see. 
• Wear sunscreen on exposed skin and eye protection as the sun is reflected off the snow and can cause skin and eye damage even in cold weather.

Building a Sand Castle Is More Than Fun!

Water and sand play are exciting sensory activities that will engage children of any age…and what better place to play with water and sand than at the beach!

The hot summer weather opens up so many opportunities for play-based learning. If you’re planning to take your family to the beach this year, you can incorporate some simple activates that will encourage learning and exploration.

One of the easiest, and more memorable experiences you can create at the beach is building a sand castle. You’ll have a blast with this classic activity, but the benefits far surpass excitement and fun!

Sensory Fun. I love sensory activities - they are easy to incorporate in most activities, but when you are playing with sand and water, it becomes even easier! No matter the age of your children, there are many opportunities to learn during sand castle building. Learning everything from cause and effect, to texture, scooping and sorting, is possible when building a sand castle. Your children can start off by exploring and building with their hands, and then you can add in tools and buckets to help their creativity flourish.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills. Shovelling, building, and even just walking through the sand have major benefits. They all improve gross motor skills. Combined with fine motor skill activities like filtering sand through fingers, sifting, patting and measuring, your child will build their physical development skills in a fun and exciting way.

Like Skills. Building a sand castle will allow your family to work together to create something unique. Cooperation, team work, creativity and communication are skills required to complete your very own castle.

Measurement Skills. Filling up a bucket of water and then dumping it out is super fun for a toddler, but it can actually help teach some basic measurement skills. Basic understandings of depth, volume, weight and measurement can be easily explained when your building your own castle, or even just playing in the sand and water.

Next time your at the beach, keep these skills in mind. You’ll be able to support the play-based learning that goes along with exploring sand and water. And don’t forget to help your kids find a new stick, stone or seashell to decorate their sand castle. This can turn into your own exploration of nature, or even a pre-planned scavenger hunt.

About Discovery Child Care
Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

5 Easy Activities that Will Help Your Bring Nature-Based Learning into Your Home

Learning through play is an essential element of the Discovery Child Care Centre curriculum because it has the power to significantly impact the development of your child’s skills and abilities. When we connect play-based learning with a natural classroom, it results in increased attention span, healthy brain development and many other amazing benefits!

Our outdoor learning centres are the foundation of our natural classroom and offer numerous opportunities for individual learning. Learning through nature and play can be easily extended into your home or backyard by incorporating some of these fun activities!

Build a Garden. Growing your own vegetables may seem like a huge undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be! A garden of any size can create opportunities for learning for children of all ages. Designing, planting, harvesting, preparation, nutrition - the teaching opportunities are endless! If you are concerned about the time and space required for a garden, you can start with an herb garden or even a small boxed garden.

Go for a Nature Walk. Let your little one explore as you head out on a nature walk. Balancing on logs, observing and naming elements you discover, and measuring and digging, are all elements you can incorporate. You don’t have to take a trek in the forest to take advantage of the wonders in nature. Simply rethink your take on nature. While you likely pay no notice to a patch or grass or pile of dirt, your toddler would surely love to explore it.

Create Nature Art. Collect some natural items such as twigs, bark, pinecones, stones and leaves, and create your own masterpiece. This activity will drive creativity and imagination – let your little artist pick their own materials and start creating.

Play with the Mud. Do you have fond memories of making mud pies? Give your children the chance to get their hands dirty and explore the wonders of the earth. Use earth, soil, dirt, mud, water and let them go wild! Try not to worry too much about the mess – designate a place for “mud play” and have fun!

Create a Backyard Habitat. This activity is a great option if you’re limited on space. Make a simple bird feeder or butterfly house to increase the frequency and diversity of wildlife near your home. Your backyard habitat can be built to attract birds, insects, toads, frogs, turtles, butterflies, worms and much more!

As your child learns and grows, you can expand your natural “classroom” to include a wider variety of activities.

Contact us today to learn more about our flexible, play-based curriculum and how we help connect children with nature.

About Discovery Child Care

Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

Playing outside is so important to your child's development - Here's why..

The weather is perfect today. Crystal blue sky with white clouds and a gentle breeze. It's the type of day made for playing outside and learning about nature!

Playing outside may seem like all fun and games - but when you think about it, children are learning so much by being active in the open outdoor environment.

• preschoolers practice and master emerging physical skills like, running, leaping, jumping, ball-handling, catching, lifting objects, pulling and carrying.
• children burn more calories outside which helps prevent obesity
• outdoor light affects the pineal gland, the part of the brain that regulates the biological clock and is vital to the immune system
• outdoor games encourage communication skills and vocabulary
• children have an improved aesthetic awareness, an appreciation of the beauty around us
• being outside stimulates other senses like hearing (bird song, wind rustling), smell (fragrance of flowers, mud, plants), and touch (tree bark, grass, snow)
• being outside lets children be loud, messy, and boisterous - have fun with fewer limitations

Here are some activities from The Early Childhood News..

1. A nature walk is a great way to enhance children’s appreciation of the natural environment. Ask them to tell you what they're seeing, hearing, and smelling. Encourage them to touch – to discover the smoothness of a rock, the roughness of bark, and the fragility of a dried leaf. For young children, these are science experiences.
2. Set up an obstacle course with old tires, large appliance boxes, and tree stumps. Moving through it will teach important concepts like over, under, through, and around.
3. A "listening" walk makes for a wonderful sound discrimination activity. As you walk with the children, point out the sounds of birds, passing cars, whistling wind, even your footsteps on the sidewalk. What sounds can the children identify on their own? Which are loud and which are soft? Which are high and which are low? What are their favorite sounds? Bring along a tape recorder so the children can try to identify the sounds at a later time!
4. Bring the parachute or an old sheet outside and play parachute games (shaking it, circling with it, making waves with it, or bouncing foam balls on it).
5. Bring a portable boom box outdoors and let the children experience the joy of dancing in a natural environment!
6. Try "water painting," in which children paint the side of a building with a brush and a bucket of water. It exercises arms and upper torso while also teaching about wet and dry, light and dark, and evaporation.
7. Chasing bubbles gives children a chance to run!

The benefits of playing outside are easy to see - and like all things in life, it's about finding the right balance between the indoor classroom experience and nature's outdoor classroom!

Call us to find our more about our exceptional educational programs, including our award winning Nature Explore classroom. 705-733-2052 Visit our website to learn more..