days of our play care

Some days, at the day care, I have more kids than other days.  Then there are the days when I have less.  And sometimes it's easier to do projects with less kids.  And sometimes it's more difficult when you are trying to do the same project with several different ages of kids.  Today, however, the simple project worked great and to my delight the kids I had today took part and went with it. We created simple journals from cereal boxes, paper and yarn.  I had cut up the boxes and paper a few weeks ago when a blog inspired me called growcreative.  The post for her cereal box journals is HERE.  I make it a point to not take credit for something I didn't come up with.  I'm not sure why I waited for the right day to make the journals with the kids but today as I was pasting pictures in my own journal outside when two of my kids got here I knew it was time to share the project.

We put the journals together and all went outside with our heads full of ideas for our pages.  One wanted a leaf taped on to a page, another found a caterpillar and drew a fantastic picture of it and another was busy making "letters" while the other was tracing blades of grass.  It is so much easier to feel an at-ease of control when little minds aren't focusing on being wild... which is ok sometimes too.  I like for the kids to be themselves here while also trying to help them find themselves creatively.   By nap time one of the boys wanted to sleep with his journal... awww... I didn't let him.  

I loved this little project and loved watching their minds wrap around the pages outside.  They are all growing up so fast and I have the pleasure of watching them do so.  

Little Journals

You are never too young or old to begin a journal, in my book anyway.  Whether it is something you write in everyday, an art journal with drawings or a style journal (which I am desperate to begin for myself) a journal is a great way of tracking... well... yourself.  In this case, we are at the day care.  I had the thought a couple of days ago that instead of throwing away old colorings or storing them in a box, wouldn't it be neater to let them begin a journal?  That way when the notebook is good and full of whatever we want to put in it we can see how far they've come with their drawings, colorings and even writing.

I am super excited about this idea.  These books will eventually go home with the kids so that their families can see how far they've come.  And the notebooks are cheap.  I actually bought these around back-to-school time for seventeen cents a piece. 

This morning, we broke out pictures, stickers and glue sticks and decorated the outside cover of the kid's journals.  I made sure to pick a color that each of them would like.  They do have their favorites.  For story time today we read a library book called "All Kinds of Families" by Mary Ann Hoberman.  We talked about what a family is and named people in each of our families.  Then we broke out our journals and filled up the first page with pictures of people in our families.  They did great. 

I am looking forward to filling up these books with the kids and seeing how far they've come by the end of the book.