What Do You Think Of These Ideas?
I recently posted a thread seeking advice for a 12-18 month group. Here are some activities I've come up with.
Fingerprinting Play dough (either purchased or homemade, opinions?) Outdoor play (when weather allows) Story time Music time (listening to music, playing instruments, etc) Prayer time (likely before lunch) Coloring Age appropriate puzzles Kitchen and food (I will have to see if the daycare would provide this or find one myself) Sensory bottles (any ideas for items to put in them?) And I think that's it, some of the other ideas were things they already have/do. Let me know if there's anything you think shouldn't be included. Here's some ideas I had for incorporating into the classroom. Weekly newsletter A sheet attached to the newsletter that asks if there's a favorite activity their child is currently enjoying, something they'd like to see their child doing at daycare, and I don't know what else (these would maybe be bi-weekly or monthly) A baby sign language of the week/bi-week or month (thoughts??) Maybe a color and or letter of the week/bi-week or month Personalized letters/reports once a month Also, how would you handle communicating with parents who don't speak yenta English? Specifically regarding written communication? Please let me know your thoughts, if there's anything I should add or get rid of. And when I say activities I mean they won't be required to participate. Also, their feeding, nap and diaper change schedule will all remain the same. Looking forward to everyone's thoughts! Please be honest! |
Fingerprinting - Do you mean fingerpainting? I do all kinds of art with my babies. They fingerpaint with washable tempera, but I often provide some sort of tool as well. Brushes, blocks, balls, string. Anything that they can use to manipulate the paint. We also "fingerpaint" with yogurt, cornstarch and water, and anything else safe I can think of.
Play dough (either purchased or homemade, opinions?) - I haven't done it yet, but I'm planning on homemade playdoh for my class. You could also use things like jello. There are a lot of other sensory experiences you could introduce. Oats, grits, cereal, water ... pretty much anything that would not be harmful if they put it in their mouth. I use a sensory table and a sensory bin. I also have a small pool for indoor ball pits and outdoor sensory. Outdoor play (when weather allows) Yes! Story time - Reading daily is great and also allowing them to look through the books themselves as well. I usually do ours right before lunch as that has always been a harder time for them as they are getting hungry and starting to feel tired. Music time (listening to music, playing instruments, etc) Yes! Prayer time (likely before lunch) Coloring - My kids love color wonder and do-a-dot Age appropriate puzzles Kitchen and food (I will have to see if the daycare would provide this or find one myself) Sensory bottles (any ideas for items to put in them?) - I have colored rice, many different types of beans (different types make different noises when shaken), baby oil and colored water, water and glitter ect. I used the aquapod bottles as their size and shape were easier for the little ones to manipulate. |
Sounds great so far!
For sensory bottles I have: pompoms feathers oil/water with different colours gel with glitter and sequins sink/float bottle stactic bottle tiny jingle bells dish saop & water for bubbles sand and tiny sea shells coloured rice If you do a search in pinterest or blogs I'm sure there are many ideas out there. I too use the small bottles that are great for little hands. |
Originally Posted by Liz90: My kids love blocks, sorting (large buttons, cotton balls, pom poms, rocks, gems) into buckets/ice trays, sensory (water, ice, goop, playdough, dirt/sand, corn, birdseed, shaving cream), bubbles, cars, animals... Good luck. |
These are great ideas! My kids love to do fingerprinting! You can buy washable stamp pads and use their fingers or stamps. Beware though, even though it is washable, some won't come off without lots of scrubbing, especially the red.
Homemade play doh is the best! It's cheap to make and kids that age like to put it in their mouths so it gets thrown away lots of times. Dancing is another big hit! Play food is great! I agree with other pp's, I would do monthly newsletters instead of daily and I used to do day sheets at the center I worked at and to be honest I think that only 1/2 of the parents would even read them. They took a lot of time to do too. |
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:38 AM. |