Little Leaders Dayhome

Welcome June!

June is always one of my favorite months of the year. The longer days, warmer weather, and excitement of summer just around the corner bring so much energy and joy to our days at Little Leaders Dayhome. We look forward to spending more time outdoors, exploring our community, enjoying water play, and making wonderful summer memories.

At the same time, June is always a little bittersweet for me. As the school year comes to an end, I find myself reflecting on how much the children have grown, learned and accomplished over the past year. Watching them gain confidence, build friendships, and reach new milestones is one of the greatest privileges of running a dayhome.

June is also a very special month in our family because my daughter celebrates her birthday! Watching her grow alongside all of the amazing children in my care is such a gift and I always look forward to celebrating this special time of year with her.

Here’s to a month filled with sunshine, laughter, learning, and lots of outdoor fun!🌼

Dandelions are more than just weeds they are an amazing open ended learning tool for children! In our mud kitchen, dandelions spark creativity, sensory play, and hands on learning. Children can use the flowers to make soups, tea, pretend cupcakes, nature potions, or decorate mud pies. Pulling apart the petals also helps strengthen fine motor skills and hand coordination while encouraging imagination and problem solving through play.

Nature play like this supports so many areas of development. Children learn through exploring textures, smells, colors, and mixing different natural materials together. Dandelions can also become part of counting activities, sorting, pretend store play, or even science discussions about how plants grow and change. Simple outdoor experiences often create the biggest learning opportunities!

Mud kitchens encourage children to slow down, explore freely, and connect with nature in meaningful ways. A handful of dandelions can turn into hours of creative play, teamwork, storytelling, and discovery all while building confidence, independence, and curiosity about the world around them.

Welcome to Little Leaders Dayhome! With our recent move, I wanted to share a little update on our new space and what we offer.

Our new setup has been such a wonderful change, allowing me to fully separate the dayhome from our home space. The dayhome is located in the basement and includes a dedicated room for meals, crafts, and rest time, along with a playroom right next door. We also have plenty of storage for rotating toys, craft supplies, and extra indoor activities like tunnels and tents—perfect for those days when the weather keeps us inside. We’re also so excited to now have a backyard that’s three times the size of our previous space giving the kids so much more room to run, explore, and enjoy outdoor playtime together!

My hours remain the same: 6:00 AM – 4:30 PM.

For those who are new here, I’ve been running my licensed dayhome since November 2022. I hold my Level 1 certification, along with up-to-date First Aid & CPR, criminal record check, and child intervention clearance. I also take part in monthly workshops to continue growing my knowledge in areas like child development, behavior, transitions, and healthy habits. I provide breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack each day.

Little Leaders Dayhome currently has one full-time spot available for a child aged 3+ to start right away. I’m also offering a discounted rate from May through August.

Feel free to message me with any questions or to set up a tour, I’d love to connect with you! 🤍

Our Little Leaders spent time exploring, pretending, and getting creative outdoors! Two kiddos had a blast in the mud kitchen, mixing up all kinds of “recipes” and using teamwork to move water from bucket to bucket. They took turns serving each other “meals” and practiced sharing and communication through their imaginative play. We love finding creative and sustainable ways to support play and learning. We reuse empty laundry detergent containers for water play — they have easy-pour spouts that allow the children to control how much water they use.

This simple setup encourages independence, fine motor development, and problem-solving skills, all while promoting environmental responsibility through reusing materials. As well as these kinds of unstructured, imaginative play moments are where so much learning happens — building creativity, problem-solving skills, and social connections while having tons of fun!

As I reflect on how far Little Leaders Dayhome has come over the last three years, I just want to take a moment to say a huge thank you to all the incredible parents, friends, and family who continue to support my small business. Your trust, encouragement, and kind words mean more than I can ever express!

To the parents — thank you for sharing your amazing little ones with me every day. Watching them grow, learn, and laugh is the greatest joy, and it’s an honor to be part of their early years. Your continued belief in what I do keeps this dream alive🫶🏻

To my friends and family — thank you for cheering me on through every step, from setting up new activities to helping with open houses, and for always reminding me why I started this journey in the first place. Your love, support, and patience behind the scenes make all the difference.

Running a dayhome isn’t just a business — it’s a passion, a community, and a second family. Knowing I have such a strong circle surrounding me makes every long day and busy moment completely worth it.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping Little Leaders grow into what it is today — a place filled with learning, laughter, and love! Thank you for 3 amazing years🫶🏻

Today my older kiddo’s had their own pumpkin with the letters of their name on it! They carefully cut along the lines to practice those fine motor skills, then glued their pumpkins back together in the right order to spell their names

This activity was a great way for the kids to work on several important skills all at once! They practiced recognizing the letters in their names, identifying them in the correct order, and strengthening their hand–eye coordination while cutting and gluing. It’s such a fun and hands-on way to build confidence in early literacy, fine motor development, and a festive way to combine learning with a little Halloween creativity!

Today our Little Leaders turned an ordinary cardboard box into their very own TV! With a little creativity (and a lot of giggles) the kids worked together to design and decorate their “television,” complete with paper towel roll antennas on top.

Once the stage was set, the fun really began! One by one, they took turns “performing” behind the box — acting out silly shows, pretending to report the weather, and even putting on mini dance performances. It was amazing to see their confidence and imagination shine as they made up their own stories and entertained their friends!

This simple play activity encouraged:
Creativity & Imagination – turning everyday materials into something brand new
Language Development – storytelling, expression, and using descriptive words
Social Skills – taking turns, listening, and encouraging one another
Cognitive Thinking – planning, problem-solving, and role play

Who knew a cardboard box could create such a fun “broadcast” of laughter and learning?

Our Little Leaders went for a beautiful fall walk! We collected colorful leaves, practiced teamwork, and worked together to check for traffic before crossing the road — safety first!

Along the way, we spotted so many fun Halloween decorations. The kiddos loved pointing out pumpkins, ghosts, and even a giant skeleton we just had to take a picture with! 💀

Walks like these are such a great way for children to explore their community, build safety awareness, and strengthen those observation and cooperation skills — all while having fun outdoors!