Seedlings Early Learning Spanish Preschool
The best place for your child to grow and learn Spanish! The best place for your child to grow and learn Spanish!
Bienvenidos to Seedlings Spanish Preschool and Academic Daycare! For more than a decade we have welcomed children to a unique, wonderful preschool experience filled with joy, love and learning. We believe that the impact of the environment during the first years of life on a child lasts a lifetime, and that all children have an enormous potential which can only be developed in a loving, fun and ri
02/13/2023
Sweet ideas for celebrating Valentine's with your little ones...
Fun Ideas to Celebrate Valentine's Day at Home with Kids - Child's Life Who doesn’t need a little more love at this time of year? February feels like one of our longest months, (even though it can be one of the shortest)! Valentine’s … Fun Ideas to Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Home with Kids Read More »
01/03/2023
A beautiful thought for the New Year!
Something to keep in your heart during 2023 🙂 ❤️
Happy New Year! Our favourite New Year's activity: A Year in Review makes for a lovely tracking of little one's progression, year after year!
12/25/2022
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Seedlings! Passing on some wonderful advice for dealing with some VERY excited children!
The ‘had more fun playing with the cardboard box’ is a fairly common Christmas gag, but the harsher reality is that Christmas often means that; having crafted the most perfect day or most perfect moment for our kids; it can be crushing when they don’t engage in all things festive in the way we were hoping for.
There’s a lesson about little brains when they have ‘more fun playing with the box;’ children’s innate desire to play, imagine and create doesn’t go away just because it’s Christmas, or because of the story behind the present that was inside. Whether we are a grown-up or a child, the most basic functions in our brain don't change according to the holiday. And yet just the response to the gifts can so easily threaten to get this much-longed-for day off to a really bad start. So here are three perspectives that can help Christmas be, if not perfect, not so testing that you can’t wait for it to just all be over.
🎄Be Realistic About Gratitude and Appreciation
When our kids tear through one present after another, barely acknowledging the love, effort (or money!) involved, and then give you a version of ‘unsatisfied;’ it can feel very personal. And nothing brings the discontent about raising an ‘ungrateful child’ to the surface like an ungrateful child at Christmas. For the sake of not spending your day frustrated or hurt, hold in mind that it takes a fair bit of knowledge, a refined perspective and a maturity unusual in most children to reflect on how many kids in the world ‘get nothing at Christmas’, or have no home, or no parents to love them etc. While cultivating gratitude, and empathy for those less fortunate, is important, children are much more in-the-moment creatures than us; especially when they have had so little involvement in all the planning. Rather than setting unrealistic expectations for them to join you in your reality, try and join them in theirs. There are, after all, another 364 days to connect with the generosity and sit in appreciation before you do this again.
🎄Can Children Have Too Much Fun?
It’s not just emotions like stress, anger, or sadness that can be overwhelming, but joy and excitement too, especially for younger children who haven’t yet mastered the skills of self-regulation. This often shows up as our kids appearing obnoxious, which of course they sometimes are….
But snappiness, impatience and hostility are usually a sign that their brain’s ‘fight or flight’ response is over-aroused, in which case they have very little - if any, at all - awareness about how they’re coming across to others. Thus it doesn’t take much at all; especially an accusation of ‘being rude’ or being told to ‘stop being X,Y,Z’; to flip their lid. Nobody wins. A ‘bad attitude’ is rarely their intention, and it tends to be kinder all round to respond to them as a child needing help with a problem, more than being a problem.
Christmas can still be a day when our children have the most fun, but moderating it isn’t stingy. Little brains can only take so much excitation (especially because they’re not dampening it down with something boozy), so allow for some down time, quiet time, a bit of ‘just like every other day’ time.
It will help balance their brain chemistry and keep the Fight-Flight response in check. But if Fight-Flight does happen, it doesn’t have to hijack the day. Make time and space for adrenaline to drain away (ideally an hour), otherwise your child’s brain will just be waiting for the most trivial reason to blow again.
🎄Lead With intent, Not Expectation
Another curse of Christmas is the pressure we put upon ourselves, and everyone else; to have the most joyful day, for nobody to argue, to cook the most delicious meal anyone has EVER eaten etc. But everything I just told you about your child’s brain applies to yours too. Go back and read it again, through the lens of being a grown-up, not just your child. Because even if your children are having an amazing day, if you’re stressed, they’ll still pick up on your vibes. You’re prickly, they get prickly, and eventually it becomes an invitation for all of our hopes and dreams and careful planning to be sabotaged by misbehaving brains!
🎄What do you want you and your kids to remember? Intentionally stay in that space. Intent is where your power is. Intend to have a good day. Intend to be realistic. Intend to deal with any problems, if, as and when they arise, and to be present; then you can just move on if that happens.
And intend to just go with the moment occasionally; even if that means going off plan. Because that’s what the box says…
💥Brought to you by one of Neurochild's Brain Trust, Jo Stockdale with Well Within Reach https://wellwithinreach.co.uk/about-us-2/about-well-within-reach/
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[ID: two young toddlers are seen beside a decorated tree in fancy clothes. They are picking up sparkly balls in a pile. The words “Little brains can only take so much excitation, so allow for some down time, quiet time, a bit of ‘just like every other day’ time. It will help balance their brain chemistry and keep the Fight-Flight response in check.” –Jo Stockdale is written on top of the image.]
12/07/2022
Well done to our teachers for setting up such inviting stations to learn!!
10/31/2022
Happy Halloween!! 🎃 ❤️
Make sure your kids review these rules so they're ready for Halloween! 😄
(Any other "rules" you'd add?)
09/08/2022
https://ideas.ted.com/10-tips-for-cultivating-creativity-in-your-kids/?fbclid=IwAR3P8LjA9CD_rEGA_MCxkdP8yLB1oBzLneJZGMd0X-Ai281GPi4-qGOyCvc
What do you do to help spark creativity in your little ones?
10 tips for cultivating creativity in your kids Turns out, it’s less about “teaching” creativity to children — and more about creating a fertile environment in which their creativity will take root, grow and flourish. Res…
08/22/2022
https://www.readbrightly.com/why-reading-the-same-book-repeatedly-is-good-for-kids/?fbclid=IwAR1B7UQGK1vKyUIDLUnEgYpm_bJwJ8VqG_n7qwjn-BIUV7YSv4TFCQJjpb8
Anyone's kiddos have a favorite book they want to read over and over (and over!) again?
Why Reading the Same Book Repeatedly Is Good for Kids (Even If It Drives You Nuts) Despite its annoyances for parents, repetitive reading offers a surprising number of benefits for new readers.
The randomness of parenting 3-year olds...your Monday giggle!
https://ruinmyweek.com/parenting/yea-id-say-that-pretty-much-sums-up-parenting-a-3-year-old-23-tweets/?fbclid=IwAR1oG5y_zFVVpGKGId8fiS_Oy0vIg3FH5AJAfX2zJv3LFxc1E8jlpJY13Wg
06/09/2022
Seedlings Banff Trail location is growing!
Starting in September, we will be evolving to a full day academic daycare program. We will continue to offer high-quality preschool, with expanded daily hours, as well the option for schooling during the summer.
Contact us for more information.
05/17/2022
Too funny and completely explains why Seedlings uses a Reggio and project approach that takes its cues from the the children’s interests, rather than following a rigid learning schedule!
This quote brings everything I believe about teaching and learning into one nice little quote.
I could add: learning can only happen when a child is interested. If they aren’t interested, it's like throwing worksheets and pencils at them and calling it learning. Same.
Play in a supportive early childhood environment allows a child to choose what they are interested in and then dive in deep if they choose. That is where the magic happens and the learning becomes sticky.
Just say no to rote learning, worksheets, calendar time and circle times that exist only to teach children to sit still for 20 minutes. Say yes to play.
05/15/2022
Harvard's take on the cognitive benefits of bilingualism
Bilingualism as a Life Experience What do we know about bilingualism? Much of what we once thought we knew — that speaking two languages is confusing for children, that it poses cognitive challenges best avoided — is now known to be inaccurate. Today, bilingualism is often seen as a brain-sharpening benefit, a condition that can...
