Inspirefly Child Care Center

You might call us over eager 😆 .... You'd be right but we wouldn't change it anyway!

Summer was bountiful, bright, blistering and, like most everything when you have young children, brief. When we weren't finding ways to make the most of it at daycare we were making the most of it with our families; which is why, only now that there's frost on the hilltops, have I had time to compile some of our adventures to showcase them here.

We've been talking a little about science lately in regards to our pumpkins decomposing. It's enough that the term "science" is starting to come up in the children's play. So today we did another example of a science experiment.

The children measured and felt a bar of soap in their hands, then we checked what would happen when we put it in the microwave. (Which we talked about makes things hot through the air).

"It's growing"
"Fluffy!! Bunny!!"
"It's kinda like snow"
"So big!"
"Yeah but this snow is warm. Snow is cold."
"Now we know the recipe to make warm snow on not snowy days!"
"Can we make more?"
"Can I touch it?"
"When will it be a little bar again?"

Watching their curiosity twinkle was the best reward.

Halloween worm sensory play today - dubbed "yucky snakes" by one of the kids! 👻

During morning play today, the children's pie shop was in full swing, serving all kinds of scrumptious sounding pies.
Since it's the last daycare day for two little friends who are going off to school we decided that today was a good day to stock the pie shop with real pies for all!
(Special thanks to our neighbours at Oyama Sun Blush and my husband for dropping us off a pie on his lunch break 😉.)
Wishing happy kindergarten and preschool days ahead for our friends. We are glad to have shared our days with you all season.❤️

Child 1: "I painted a teddy bear!"
Child 2: "but a teddy bear has ears, and a face and stuff."
Child 1: "yeah, I didn't know how to paint those so I painted a teddy bear inside this blue box!"
😉🙌

There is a tall, old fashioned rose bush growing on the outside of our playground fence. The falling petals are easily the most precious form of playground currency, the children are always finding ways to bring them into their play. So when I came across this beautiful and captivating idea online (if only I could remember where to quote the source) I knew it would be nothing short of magical. It did not disappoint 💝
My job is the best job ☺️

We're all feeling pretty good about the coming months of water play after our trial run of our new water wall this morning!

It's official, there is real grass in our dinosaur garden! Despite the odds, it has survived both my poor gardening skills and the children's enthusiastic play!
..just in case anyone other than myself was keeping tabs on that 🤪

Doing a little activity planning last night, I realized I wanted to do something new for a sensory experience but wouldn't be out for new supplies until the weekend.
On a whim, I ended up placing an assortment of toys in individual bins with some coloured water and freezing them. I'll admit, I did not have a plan as to how this would be interesting or fun in any way - and I felt like I was slacking off because of it.
But when I pulled the bins out this morning, the children were immediately intrigued.
"Why are there toys in your freezer?"
"What are we going to do with them?"
"Can I have that one?"
I showed the kids that the toys were trapped and admitted that I didn't know how we should get them out.
Lucky for me, my daycare kids are much smarter than I am.
So they came up with using cups of warm water and paint brushes "like paleontologists".
Soon the ideas evolved,
"Look, if I pour all my warm water onto the ice then I can brush it around and it works faster."
"Let's pour the melted part out now."
"Is your pilot free yet?"
"I can take my ice out of the bin now!"
"You can use the back of your paintbrush like this, like a hammer. I'll show you"
I was impressed with their enthusiasm, patience, teamwork, problem solving skills and determination as they worked on this, encouraging each other along the way.
What a great reminder to me as a care provider that they don't need me to show them how to play!! (I kinda feel a bit silly now!🤣)

The children like to play a chasing game of their own creation called "Monster". One child runs away and all the other children chase him/her shouting "I'm gonna get you monster!"
…
Not how you saw that going?
Me neither.
I guess monsters were scarier back in my day 😜

I'm continually delighted by the glimpses into their imaginations that they allow me through their play.

Now the real question is will peace reign in the land of fairies and dinosaurs? Or will the kingdom fall long before the grass seed has a chance to sprout?
Judging on reactions so far, I'd give the villagers 13.5 minutes to evacuate. 🤭🧚‍♀️🦕