days of our day care

Another blissful day at the creek with three of my kiddos from the day care and one furry kiddo of mine... Katie Bug.  I am so thankful that Kate is so very good with people and kids.  She wants to play all the time and fits right in.  This morning I was still on an energy buzz from the Kacey Musgraves concert last night that I just quietly started packing lunches for the kids while they played and at about 9:30 we headed to the back of the farm.  We had a blast... one caught a craw daddy, I traded marshmallows for found treasures, we ate sandwiches, threw the stick for Kate, listened to good music, and the boys threw logs into the water making big splashes.  During lunch I turned the music off and we just listened.  I asked each one to tell me what they were hearing.  We heard birds talking, crickets chirping, an airplane flying over and even Kate panting waiting for another Cheetoh.  I always wish we could stay longer but the creek wears them out and naptime is a must for some.  I wish it were for me... I just can't sleep when the sun is out. 

 



days of our play care

I get a little cranky at masking tape that won't hold.  I come in to work with things lying on the floor where they've fallen off the wall over night from tons of tape that won't stick.  I seriously don't know what kind to buy anymore.  I have three rolls of not-so-good masking tape right now and here is what one of my friends and I decided to do with some of it to use it up. 

I think it's quite arty don't you?  He made a house and mine was just abstract lines.   

Hey... it kept us busy and quiet until the rest of the kids woke up from their naps.  

days of our play care

Honestly... I don't know what we'd do without the dirt pile that's out behind the day care.  It is a little walk down our driveway but just far enough away that we've gone somewhere.  The kids and I climb, jump, hunt, run, fall, throw, yell, and imagine.  The pile they are on here is our space ship.  I am on the ground looking for imaginary food.  We get dirty and sometimes a little hot but in the mean time we are all learning a lot.  This day we discovered bird prints and hundreds of tadpoles around the edge of the water.  Fascinating.  We are so lucky to have a big dirt pile in our world.  

By the way, here's a book we read on pond life.

Indoor Hopscotch

I am all about playing outside!  But, as we all know, weather just does not permit at times.  So to keeps kids entertained and physically active I have to get creative. 

Last week I had the thought to make a hopscotch board out of masking tape on the floor.  We have industrial carpet here at the DC so it is pretty flat.  You could also do this on tile or non-carpeted areas.  I bought a new roll of masking tape for seventy seven cents at WalMart and used a square library book as my template.  For the numbers I had to improvise and get creative with the tape.  They don't have to be perfect, they just have to resemble the numbers. 

We are using a bean bag that I made for another game and we toss it to a number.  Whatever number it lands on I ask the player to say what number it is.  The three year olds are beginning to recognize the numbers and will call them out if they know.  The younger ones get to listen to counting and will begin to mimic what they hear.  This is really fun.  Sometimes I think I have more fun at this than they do!