Lil' Dancing Owls Educational Daycare

✨ Our School Age Program! ✨

We’re so excited to share updated pictures of our thoughtfully designed school age space at Lil Dancing Owls Educational Daycare 🦉💛

Created with intention by Ms Candice, with inspiration from Ms Nana (who loves unicorns 🦄), this environment supports children ages 5–12 with a balance of creativity, independence, connection, and calm.

🌿 What your child will experience:
• Cozy reading and quiet spaces for rest and reset
• Hands-on learning areas (literacy, art, building & exploration)
• Open-ended play that encourages imagination and problem-solving
• Calm corner for emotional regulation and self-awareness
• Structured + free choice activities to support growing independence

📚 Programs Available:
✔ Afterschool Care
✔ Pro-D Days
✔ Spring Break Care
✔ Summer Break Care

Our goal is to create a space where school-aged children can unwind after a busy school day, build friendships, and feel truly seen and supported 💫

Full days allow us to dive deeper into creative projects, STEM activities, outdoor adventures, and collaborative play, giving children the time and space to fully engage, create, and build confidence.

Spots are limited to maintain quality care and meaningful connections.

📩 Email us to inquire or join our waitlist
[email protected]

Lil Dancing Owls is excited to share these updated pictures of our Multiage Classroom 🙂.

Our Multiage space (18 months to 5 years of age) offers a small group size with a maximum of 8 children.

Small group sizes help create calm environments where children feel secure, supported, and truly known by their educators.

Our Multiage space was lovingly designed by Ms. Candice, with inspiration from Ms. Nisha, whose dedication to the children has left a lasting impact on our learning environment.

Families interested in learning more about our program are encouraged to reach out to [email protected] to inquire about availability or join our waitlist.

Lil Dancing Owls Educational Daycare - A small, nurturing environment where curiosity grows, friendships flourish, and learning happens through play.

Lil Dancing Owls – A Message from Our Hearts

After many wonderful years, Lil’ Dancing Owls is closing a very special chapter in our story. This decision did not come easily, and it is filled with a mix of emotions — deep gratitude, sadness, reflection, and also hope for what lies ahead.

We want to sincerely thank every family who trusted us with their children, and every staff member who poured their hearts into this centre. The laughter, the milestones, the friendships, first words, first friendships, and everyday moments of care have meant more to us than words can truly express. Being part of your children’s early years has been an honour and a privilege that we will always carry with us.

Closing this chapter is bittersweet. Lil’ Dancing Owls has been more than just a daycare — it has been a community, a second home, and a place where so many beautiful memories were created. Saying goodbye to this chapter comes with genuine sadness, and we will forever be grateful for the families and educators who shaped it into what it became.

At the same time, with heavy hearts and hopeful spirits, we are also excited to share that this is not the end — but rather the beginning of a new chapter.

We are proud to announce that we will be broadening our horizons and reopening our doors as an After School Care program focused on preschool and school-age children. This new chapter allows us to continue doing what we love most: supporting children, families, and our community, just in a new and more focused way.

Our new offerings will include:
• Before and After School Care
• Drop-in care
• Part-time and half-day options
• Select weekend hours

Down the line, we also hope to reopen one of our rooms as a multi-age program, allowing us to once again support younger learners when the time is right.

We are also happy to share some exciting staff updates as part of this transition. Ms. Nana will be stepping into the role of On-Floor Manager and Lead Teacher, continuing her trusted presence with the children each day. Ms. Candice will be moving into the role of Director, while also supporting the program as a substitute teacher and providing ongoing guidance and support behind the scenes.

To all of our past and present families — thank you for being part of our journey. Thank you for your trust, your kindness, your patience, and for allowing us to be part of your children’s lives. Lil’ Dancing Owls will always hold a special place in our hearts.

If you are interested in spots, availability, or would like to be added to our waitlist, please reach out to [email protected]. Spots are limited.

Please continue to watch this space for updates, photos, and exciting news as we begin this new chapter together.

With love and gratitude,
The Lil’ Dancing Owls Team

We just got word we've been nominated in the Best Childcare Services category! Thank you to all our teachers dedication, and to our community support! 💖

CommunityVotes Kelowna 2024 Official 2024 Community Voting Awards Platform for Kelowna, BC. Where the community votes for their favourites every year.

Did you know a pediatric hospital did a study and found that 60% of popular candies given out at Halloween are potential choking hazards? When you consider every 5 days there is a choking-related death among children, we are extra vigilant in this festive time. Hard, chewy, round/spherical shaped candies are all things to watch out for, particularly if your child is under the age of 3 and their swallowing mechanism is not fully developed yet.

As we are a multiage centre, we are asking that all Halloween treats coming from home are safe for consumption by this under 3 age group. Treats that dissolve easily like chocolate, animal crackers, cupcakes; or that aren’t spherical/gummy like chips are more than welcome at daycare as an afternoon treat! Please keep other treats to closely supervise at home – we reserve the right to not serve a treat we deem unsafe to the classroom as a whole.

Of course, we are supervising during lunch times, however with a ratio of 1 teacher to 8
children, a rolling gummy is easy to miss and quick to be scooped up by a young child. This is also the reason we require all grapes sent to daycare to be cut length wise EVEN IF YOUR
CHILD is capable of safely eating them whole. Teachers do not have the time to sit and properly cut fruit for 8 kids while heating up/serving toddlers and needing to have eyes on the kids - please send food ready to eat!

Did you know choking can be SILENT?! Coughing is the first symptom, but is not always present. Appearing to cry/cough without sound is the first sign first aid assistance may be required, as such, a direct line of site to your child’s face is the only way to safely supervise particularly when more risky foods are present. This is a great time to refresh your skills in choking rescue maneuvers – noting different techniques for children under one year old.

Thank you for helping keep this festive season safe and enjoyable for all!

On Oct 31st (tomorrow) children are welcome to come with costumes over their regular clothing. Any child not wishing to continue wearing it can have the option of taking it off whenever they need. Capes or extra long articles will have to be removed before outside play time to ensure the continuity of safety while on slides/bikes (mentioning this to your child ahead of time may help us with this transition)!

**For the safety and comfort of
all children involved, we ask that weapons or handheld props that go with costumes be left to enjoy at home.

We would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather and learn is the unceded territory of the Syilx (Okanagan) Peoples. This means that First Nations people never ceded or legally signed away their lands to the Crown or to Canada. We recognize their self-determination keeping their culture alive despite being made to act, dress and speak "like everyone else".

Our teachers have made a continued commitment to expose our children to different cultures throughout the year, opening their eyes to differences and acknowledging that these differences are beautiful.

We spoke this week about how choices about what we wear, how long our hair is and what language we speak is not up to our teachers but a free choice between the child and their family. We highlight differences in the choices already in our classrooms - one child wears a braid, another has short hair. Both choices are wonderful and make that child feel good in their body! Our teacher's jobs in our schools now are to ensure the children are safe and feel respected, as well as teaching topics they're interested in.

Our orange shirts are BRIGHT! At the residential ("old") schools they were not allowed to wear the bright colors they loved ("They wanted us to look like everybody else" - When We Were Alone by David Robertson/Julie Flett), so we celebrate the freedom of choice our children get to have now and the ability for the indigenous cultures to be brilliantly proud of their culture by wearing this bright color!

We appreciate the attitudes of acceptance and inclusivity we've felt from our families here at Lil Dancing Owls and we are so thankful and proud that we can continue to foster this awareness/acceptance in the children of our centre for a better tomorrow!

We wish everyone a reflective Truth and Reconciliation day tomorrow!

Yesterday, during their outside play time, we had a blast giving the children an extra messy experience with their FEET! Armed with drop cloths and a supreme acceptance of the ultimate mess, the kids were so excited to be free to explore the materials in a whole new way! Some of our kids who are more avoidant of certain textures even surprised us by giving it a try after seeing their friends give it a go! So much joy and happy faces! Thanks to the parents for letting us add another bath time to your routine! 🤪

Did you know that there are thousands of nerve endings in your child’s feet, and they are just as sensitive to touch as their hands? This makes walking barefoot and exploring their feet’s reaction to different textures not only fun, but helps promote an awareness of their senses and surroundings and builds strength in muscles needed for the healthy development of proper body mechanics.

We get messy at daycare so you don’t have to!! But also for the MANY benefits we will never be able to fully list. Your child benefits in many different stages of development from one activity, some benefits listed below:

Creative development: preschoolers will often deviate from the initial activity and create their own fun/mess with the materials. This helps build their self esteem as well, not needing to “finish” a project.

Cognitive development: through exploring cause and effect and problem solving.

Language development: with fun words such as gooey or squishy, and prewriting skills can be explored as they grasp, pour and improve their hand eye coordination.

Physical development: through challenging their gross motor skills just by staying upright on slippery substances! Encouraging healthy development of feet/body mechanics (balance, coordination) being barefoot!

Social and Emotional development: through making their own choices, working out cooperation strategies with friends, sharing their space and resources, taking turns to be on the mat, and developing their observation skills too!

Today we had our first official visitor to the daycare since before Covid! We were so happy to welcome Alodene as a visiting author to our centre to read her book: "Zamar and the Big Box of Imagination". She is a local ECE in our community, and offered to come read her book to the children! We couldn't pass up an amazing opportunity such as that!
Thank you Alodene!

If you'd like your own copy of Alodene's book, you can find it locally at Tropical Isle Mart in Rutland, Mosiac Books Downtown or even Loadza Toyz in Orchard Park Mall!

"Come on an adventure with Zamar! He makes his own purple rocket ship and blasts off to visit planets in our Solar System. Let's join him and see what we can learn!" - Zamar and the Big Box of Imagination

We'd like to book some more official visits to the centre this summer - if you have a culture, vocation or special interest to share, Ms.Aimee would love to speak with you on how we could collaborate some experiences for the kids this summer!