Discovery Staff Attends Seeds of Empathy Training

We're off to weekend Seeds of Empathy training with Michelle H, Michelle D, and Jody. It's going to be a fun weekend of learning! Can't wait to bring this amazing program to the children of Discovery!

Seeds of Empathy is designed for Early Childhood settings to foster social and emotional competence and early literacy skills and attitudes in children three to five years of age while providing professional development for their educators.

Seeds of Empathy is unique in that it powerfully engages children experientially through a community family – an infant and parent, building on the attachment relationship demonstrated between the two.


Discovery Child Care offers interesting and educational before and after school programs. Call us for a tour. We'd love to meet with you and your child! 705-733-2052
 

Discovery Child Care Kids Play I Spy With Nature

The Kindergarten class at Harvie went on an “I Spy Scavenger Hunt” this week. They were given descriptive words, including “soft”, “green”, “bumpy” “long” and “edible” (which we learned means something we can eat) and they went off into the playground to find one thing each for each of the descriptive words. 

When the game was finished, we brought our collection into the classroom and created a giant chart where we categorized our nature items by description. 

We worked hard and discussed all of our items along the way and, when we were done, we noticed that some items could be described using many different words. 

For example, a purple bean can be long, soft, colourful and edible and a piece of bark can be brown, hard and bumpy! What a great way to incorporate nature, language, math and social skills into one super fun activity!




Discovery Child Care offers interesting and educational before and after school programs. Call us for a tour. We'd love to meet with you and your child! 705-733-2052

Children are Exercising More and Eating Better

Here is good news about lifestyle changes having a positive effect on children. Healthy food and lots of exercise!

We're pleased to offer our children a chance to grow their own food in our outdoor garden and pick berries and fruit. Learning about where food comes from and what is healthy can start at almost any age.

Discovery Child Care offers interesting and educational before and after school programs. Call us for a tour. We'd love to meet with you and your child! 705-733-2052

The Star | Children Exercising More and Eating Better

"New research shows we’re doing something right in the battle against childhood obesity.

In a study published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics, lead author Ronald Iannotti writes that kids aged 11 to 16 are exercising more often and eating more fruits and vegetables. They’re also watching less television and consuming fewer sweets and sugary drinks.

“It may be that current public health efforts are succeeding; the trends from 2001 to 2009 are encouraging,” the study says.

When it comes to obesity risk factors such as exercise and healthy eating, she adds that Canadian trends tend to mirror American ones, with Canadian numbers slightly better.
 

Warshawski argues the push to get kids to adopt healthy lifestyles needs to start while they’re in the womb, earlier than marketers begin to build brand loyalty for junk food among kids.
 

“There are a lot of societal forces which are driving behaviour the other way,” he says. “We’ve just got to keep the pressure up.”

Too Poor For Nature Report

A recent report published in the U.K. presented findings about childhood poverty. David Bond, HuffPost, commented..

"The revelation from the report, though, is that children growing up in poverty are nine times less likely to have access to green space. They have far fewer places to play and tend to live in environments with poor air quality. These three million children are not just growing up in material poverty, but in environmental poverty. They can not afford nature."

The following film examines child poverty.

'Greater Expectations' looks at how poverty and disadvantage still wreak havoc on children's lives, causing them to lag far behind their more affluent peers in almost all areas of their lives, from health to education, early development to housing.

All of us at Discovery Child Care, believe that all children need to spend time in green space and learn about nature. Our programs are based on integrated learning, taking the classroom to outdoors.




Discovery Child Care offers interesting and educational before and after school programs. Call us for a tour. We'd love to meet with you and your child! 705-733-2052

Overcoming First Day of School Jitters

Although I don't want to wish away the last few weeks of August, the start of elementary school is just around the corner for many young families. It should be a positive exciting time for everyone! Here are some tips to start off on the right foot.

1) Talk the Talk: Pick a time when your child is calm and well rested to sit down and have a conversation about the first day of school. Listen for any fears and talk about your own school experiences, or the first day memories from their siblings. Make sure you talk about the fun activities as well as explain some of the expectations around behaviour.

2) Visit the School: Take a field trip during August and visit the school playground. Have a look at the doors and look inside the windows. Point out things in the neighbourhood on the way.

3) Make it Easy: Plan the logistics for drop off and pick up so you don't have any unnecessary tense moments. Make sure your child is well aware of the plans and comfortable with the arrangements.

4) Assure Your Child: Give your child a strong sense of security by assuring them of the days schedule and how things works, such as lunches and play time. Children thrive on reassurances especially when starting something new.

5) Make it Special: If it makes starting school easier then splashing out on a new back-pack or pair of shoes can go along way. Having a special toy to return to after the big day could also be a pleasant event.

6) Security & Comfort: Think about including a special toy, picture, or book in your child's backpack to make them feel connected to home and secure. It might just make the difference between an okay experience and a great one.

7) Plan B: If your child is uncontrollably upset or stressed about the first day of school make sure you have a plan. Could you possibly stay with them for a short time in the classroom? Could you have a favourite toy at hand or a small gift for the teacher that your child can present to establish a connection? Is there a child in the classroom that you know and could be buddied up with yours?

Discovery Child Care offers interesting and educational before and after school programs. Call us for a tour. We'd love to meet with you and your child! 705-733-2052

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..

Our Summer Campers Visit Nicholyn Farms

Our Summer Campers took a trip recently to Nicholyn Farms to learn about where food comes from. The children saw plants growing, livestock such as sheep and chickens, and had a great packed lunch. Have a look at the slideshow below and you'll see what a perfect school trip it was!



Learn more about Nicholyn Farms:
"Since 1982 our family operated farm has been ever evolving to meet the changing needs of your family. Our pleasant store specializes with meeting the growing demands of health and environmentally conscious people. We take pride in offering a one-stop shopping experience for locally produced, certified organic and traditionally raised products. Your local farmers thank you! We are able to make available our own sustainably raised pork, beef and chicken products. Our animals are raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, eat an all vegetable diet with no animal by-products and are treated with dignity and respect.  Our beef cattle graze on pasture, the pigs enjoy fresh air and sunshine, and the chickens scratch in the earth!"

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..