Some Fun Holiday Ideas

It's that time of year when adults are busy making preparations, and children are excited about the upcoming holidays.  Here are a few cute, fun, and educational ideas we found that would be great to do in the next couple of days with the children in your care.

One of our accreditation facilitation programs was making these ornaments as gifts for families this month.  Instructions are also available at All Free Crafts.  This dough is non-toxic, and it smells wonderful!

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Supplies
cinnamon
apple sauce
craft glue
cookie cutters (or cut by hand using plastic knives if you like)
ribbon or yarn
plastic drinking straw
Additional materials for decorations such as glue, paint, pipe cleaners, buttons, beads, etc...

Instructions
Mix equal amounts of apple sauce and cinnamon and add 1 teaspoon of craft glue for every cup of applesauce.  Nutmeg or ground cloves can also be added if desired.  Let the children take turns measuring and stirring the ingredients.  Note that the dough may be too sticky, and you may need to add more cinnamon until the dough is easy to work with by hand.

Give each child a lump of dough to work with.  Roll or press dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut shapes with cookie cutters or shape freehand. Use the straw to poke a hole at the top of each ornament. (Adult may have to help with this.)  Place ornaments on a cooling rack or tray to dry completely. Depending on how large your ornaments are, drying could take a couple of days.  You can also put the ornaments on a cookie sheet and place in a 200 degree oven until dry.
Once your ornaments are dry, tie a ribbon or yarn through the hole and, if you like, you can paint these ornaments or add other decorations.


These fun and educational snowmen are from Teach Preschool.  Check out the site for lots of great photos and details about how they did the project.

Five Senses Snowmen

Materials
construction paper
sandpaper
wiggle eyes
small candy canes
jingle bells
cinnamon
scissors
glue

Instructions
During group time, discuss the five senses, sharing materials as examples of things that use each sense.  We can see the paper and wiggle eyes.  We can taste the candy canes (though these aren't for eating!  Consider having some the children may eat on hand.)  We can smell the cinnamon, hear the bells, and feel the sandpaper.  Share some photos of snowmen as well, and place the materials in the art center, encouraging children to create a snowman using the materials.  Let them be creative!  The idea is to use the materials as they wish and to stimulate the five senses.  The goal is not to have a classroom full of identical snowmen.


For a tasty, healthy snack the children can help prepare, this cute idea from Little Wonders Days is fabulous.

Christmas Tree Fruit Salad

Ingredients
green grapes
other small fruits such as red grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, mandarin oranges, star fruit, or cut up kiwi.

Directions
This program used a tree-shaped tray, filled it with grapes, then used the other fruits to "decorate" the tree, placing a slice of star fruit at the top.  Look at this great photo!  Other ideas, in case you don't have such a tray, include using icing or cream cheese to stick fruits in a tree shape on a cookie sheet or plate, or simply allowing kids to enjoy the festive holiday colors as they create and eat their fruit salad.

Reducing Stress in Child Care Providers

It is that time of year when teachers, children and families all experience an increase in stress levels. Whether it is from holidays, traveling or extra guests, or just because the weather is frigid and the outside time is shortened, this stress can cause some increased behavior issues in your classroom. The following are some simple strategies to reduce children’s stress, and as a happy consequence, reduce your stress levels and the families’ also!


1. Make changes or add materials to your program gradually. Children are sometimes stressed by novelty and change. Add items a few at a time or make slight changes over a period of several days or even weeks. Be sure to talk about the changes or additions ahead of time. You could add envelopes and “junk” mail to your writing area on one day; wait a few days to add stickers, and few more days to add the mailbox.

2. Set up several or related new activities at the same time, especially if the new area is likely to draw a lot of interest. For example, you can cut down on the competition and stress for the new workbench that only has space for two children, by adding Styrofoam and golf tees to the art area, and by putting tape measures and books about building in the block area.

3. Give children enough time to thoroughly explore materials and work at their own pace. Challenging behavior can be caused by the stress of expectations to finish or leave a project based on someone else’s timetable.

4. Arrange for children to move to a new activity in small clusters. For example, tell them “if you have shoes that tie . . . “ Avoid having everyone change activities at the same time. This promotes running and competition for favorite areas. Also, avoid sending children to a new activity one at a time. This only increases “wait” time and the possibility of challenging behavior.

The bottom line: what is peaceful for the children, is also peaceful for you!

Written by: Barb Vigil, Early Childhood Specialist
Adapted from Child Care Plus+ Newsletter , Spring 2006

Healthy Holiday Snack Ideas

You can provide holiday themed snacks without overloading preschool children on sugar.  These ideas even allow the children the learning experience of helping to cook the recipes!

Crescent Roll Ornaments

Ingredients:
1 can crescent roll dough
1 small container spreadable cream cheese
1 small container sour cream
Small pieces of chopped vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and red (or green or yellow) pepper

Instructions:
Unroll the crescent roll dough and use cookie cutters to cut ornament shapes. Or use the pre-cut triangles as "trees."  Bake the dough at the temperature on the package until light brown.  In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and sour cream.  Once ornaments/trees cool, allow the children to spread the "icing" on their shapes, then top with the vegetables.

Idea borrowed from Perpetual Preschool.

Holiday Snack Mix

Ingredients:
A variety of healthy, bite size snack items.  Try whole wheat cereal, whole wheat pretzels or snack crackers, air popped popcorn, nuts, or dried fruit.
A small amount of holiday themed snacks, such as red and green candies, chocolate dipped pretzels, or caramel popcorn.

Instructions:
Let the kids make their own snack mixes as desired, but limit the amount of sugary snacks allowed.  Try providing larger bowls of healthier items and larger scoops in those bowls.  Or tell children they get 5 scoops of these items and one scoop of these items, separating healthy options from the candy.

Idea borrowed from Little Wonders' Days.

Healthy Gingerbread Men

Ingredients:
Slices of whole wheat bread
Peanut butter (or spreadable cream cheese)
Raisins or other dried fruit

Directions:
Give each child a slice of bread, and have children use cookie cutters to make gingerbread man shapes.  Allow children to spread the topping with a plastic knife, then have children decorate their "gingerbread men" using the dried fruit.

Are You Ready? Preparing to Fight the Flu

Early childhood settings present unique challenges for infection control due to the highly vulnerable population, close interpersonal contact, shared toys, and limited ability of young children to understand or practice good respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene.

Parents, early childhood providers, and public health officials should be aware that, even under the best of circumstances, transmission of infectious diseases such as flu cannot be completely prevented in early childhood or other settings. No policy can keep everyone who is potentially infectious out of these settings.

Children younger than 5 years of age are at increased risk of complications from influenza (flu); the risk is greater among children younger than 2 years old. Importantly, infants younger than 6 months of age represent a particularly vulnerable group because they are too young to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine. As a result, individuals responsible for caring for these children constitute a high-priority group for early vaccination.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has provided some of the following recommendations:

Get vaccinated for the seasonal flu; contact your local health department for more information.

Stay home when you're sick. If a child or staff member develops symptoms while at the program, s/he should promptly be separated from others and sent home.

Conduct daily health checks.

Have children and staff wash their hands with soap and water when they arrive and frequently throughout the day.

Clean and disinfect all the time! And then clean and disinfect some more.

For more good, useful information you can visit the following websites:

http://www.naccrra.org/policy/background_issues/swine-flu-related-information.php

http://www.flu.gov/

Helping Children Line Up

We are often asked for tips on how to help children learn how to behave during daily routines.  One of these routines that can be challenging for preschool age children is standing and walking in a line.  If you work in a child care center where you have to take children outside, to lunch, or to other parts of the building, this can be a daily struggle if you haven't taught children how to walk in a line.

One important thing to remember is that we cannot assume children already have this skill.  It's something they must be taught!  Even if they are used to being in child care, they may not have learned how you want them to stand or walk in a line.  This is a skill that should be taught in detail early in the year, and it's something you may need to re-teach any time you get new children.

Using songs and rhymes is a great way to teach and reinforce daily routines in a preschool setting.  If you make a large poster with the words to the song you choose, it can also be a great way to build literacy skills.

This song is song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" and was taken from Bright Hub.

My hands are at my side.
I'm standing straight and tall.
Eyes ahead, mouth is closed;
I'm ready for the hall.

This song came from Preschool Education, and it's sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know it":

If you're ready and you know it, face the door.
If you're ready and you know it, face the door.
If you're ready and you know it, then it's time for you to show it.
If you're ready and you know it, face the door.

This line up poem is easy to memorize and recite.  It was taken from Mrs. Jones.

My hands are resting by my sides,
I'm standing straight and tall.
My eyes are front; my lips are zipped,
I'm ready for the hall.

Whatever strategy you use, make sure you help the children practice, practice, and practice some more! 

Computers in the Early Childhood Program

Our agency recently offered a Creative Curriculum training to programs enrolled in our Accreditation Facilitation Project.  We were able to provide copies of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool to each participant, and they have all found the books to be an invaluable resource.  Volume 2:  Interest Areas has a great chapter on using computers in preschool programs.

Did you know that children can learn many valuable skills through using the computer?

Social-Emotional--Children can learn self-direction and problem solving.
Physical--Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination are enhanced by using a mouse and keyboard.
Language and Literacy--New vocabulary words are learned, and children can practice the alphabet using the keyboard.
Cognitive--Cause and effect, pattterns, and abstract thinking are all enhanced through using a computer.

If you'd like some guidance in choosing appropriate software for your preschoolers, try these websites:

Children's Technology Review

Tech Learning:  The Resource for Education Technology Leaders

SuperKids Educational Software Review

As during any free play activity, teachers should be actively involved in guiding children's play on computers.  Your role during computer time is to observe and respond to individual children.  For example:

Teach the child how to use the mouse to move the cursor, how to insert a CD into the computer, and how to navigate individual programs.

Encourage children's efforts by making comments such as, "Look, you used the mouse to move all the letters into the correct places!  You must feel so proud of yourself!"

Praise children for working well together, taking turns, or calmly switching activities when their time is up.

Ask questions of children, preferably with open-ended answers.  Try, "What else could you draw?"  Or, "What do you think will happen if you click on that picture?"

Computers can be valuable resources in quality early childhood programs when teachers consciously choose appropriate software and engage with individual children as they work.

We are Here for You!

Maya is in the corner of the room kicking at a shelf and singing loudly. The rest of the children are at circle time, but are restless and laughing at Maya. It is becoming more and more difficult to ignore her behavior.

The new toddler in your program has bitten three children in the last two days. He is lightning quick and you can’t seem to intervene in time to stop the behavior.

James, a four year old in your classroom can’t seem to settle down and complete an activity. Instead, he seems to delight in knocking over the block tower, grabbing paint brushes, or throwing sand on the playground.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Are you struggling with burn-out and looking for some support or new resources for dealing with everyday behavior issues?

We are here for you!

We can offer a sympathetic ear to listen, provide educational materials, give you tips for that parent conference or provide information about community resources. We can also come to your program to observe as an objective pair of eyes and then work with you to brainstorm a variety of classroom strategies. And best of all -- our help with challenging behaviors is free!

Contact us today at 800-243-9685, and ask to speak with an Inclusion Specialist.