Blossoming Niños

It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of our beloved friend and companion Doug
Doug has been a big part of our community, and the favourite visitor of the children at Blossoming Niños

We celebrated birthdays with him, took him on walks around the neighbourhood, read stories about fellow mud loving dogs, played fetch, or simply laid next to him for cuddles

Doug was so loved, that when it was time for him to go back home, we would occasionally face time to see how he was doing

He was an important member of our community, showing the children how to love and respect our more than human companions

Doggie heaven gained a new angel today
Rest in peace Doug

Can you believe this stunning new look??????
Our artificial grass has officially been installed, and it looks amazing!
No more having to worry about our grass dying every year or the children over grazing it. It’s durable, will last year round and ready for the kiddos to go absolutely ham on it!

The Blossoming Niños Educators were fortunate enough to attend a workshop titled “Introduction to Indigenous Cultural Safety & Humility” facilitated by the ever amazing Len Pierre!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us as we continue on our personal journeys as educators towards truth and reconciliation

We are so grateful for this amazing crew for working so hard at ensuring the children’s outdoor space is better than ever!
Fun fact! One of our dad’s helped us out by not only working on the concrete but by being kind enough to introduce us to Frank and his crew, planning times and dates and coordinating plans
The children now have an amazing new concrete slab, where we can play with chalk, watercolor, and where we will eventually be creating a bike riding area!
The completion to our yard is almost done, we are just waiting now for the aluminum gates to be put up and for the artificial grass and sandbox to go in
We cannot thank these guys enough, they are now officially part of the Blossoming Niños community!

This month’s Spill the Tea at the Water Pump while we wait for the completion of our backyard with inquiries from our amazing Internship student Ana Valle 💕

Creating community doesn’t have to be hard
It can be as simple as a child proudly bringing a ziplock bag full of golden plums from his Tio’s tree
Showing it off to his friends, asking what we can do with the plums. A teacher suggesting baking a plum cake; children happily prepping the plums and pouring ingredients into a stand mixer. All the children watching how ingredients create something delicious. Patiently waiting for it to bake, taking it out of the oven and waiting for it to cool down to enjoy after nap so we may all sit together and enjoy our delicious snack

We are so fortunate and grateful to have an amazing community!
Our Spill the Tea for the month of June was hosted in the forest where the children’s explorations have taken place
We decided to give our families the opportunity to experience the forest as their children have
Thanks to our wonderful educator Ilam and our Internship student Ana!

We had the amazing privilege of going on a group Field Trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery

The ability to have these experiences together, children, educator and parent is one that we do not take for granted
Hoping this isn’t the last big outing we do 💕

I remember when I worked in an centre years ago, I was damn near disciplined for “allowing children to play and sit in a puddle” during a very rainy day
The reasoning? Because then then the other teachers had to deal with the dirty children… instead of playing in the mud, exploding puddles and splashing around, the children were taken on what I can only describe as military walks around the neighbourhood to “tire them out” so they would nap
Behaviours were through the roof, and children were miserable and showing it by “acting out”
Personally, I never understood. What was the big deal about letting children splash around and play in the mud; at the end of the day, was anyone going to get hurt? Was the dirt somehow going to harm us? Didn’t we do cleanup anyways after lunch, including sweeping and mopping? And was anyone going to die if we didn’t stick to the strict regiment and schedule laid out by the center?
Words cannot begin to describe how wonderful it is to have the freedom to let children get as dirty as they want and play in the mud. Yes, I am testing the limit of my washing machine, but guess what? At the end of the day that can always be replaced; the absolute joy and experiences that these children get from splashing around and getting as filthy as possible is something that we cannot put a dollar value to
I am also equally grateful that the educators who I have the privilege of hiring and working with also value the importance of playing in the mud. If anything, I think we get just as dirty as they do!
Here’s to mud, thick, beautiful, glorious, dirty mud!

One of the biggest questions , I feel, we should ask ourselves as educators is “Am I open to change and am I able to adapt?”

We recently installed a sensory swing into our room as we felt it would be very beneficial for the children. A great way to be able to self regulate, seek the movement that our bodies clearly need, and maybe have a space to cocoon and feel like we are getting hugged without the need to be held by an educator if we do not want to be touched by another person

We also had a conversation with all the children and told them that the swing was not something to be silly on, but instead something to use if our bodies feel like we need to calm down

Hey everyone!
If you or someone who you know works or has access to any plumbing materials that they don’t need, please send them my way! We are hoping to build a water wall for the kiddos in the childcare
Ideally would love PVC pipes, not sure if plumbing companies or plumbers have leftover ones from jobs that they don’t need anymore
Thank you in advance! 

The rainfall from this past weekend left us with lots of water to turn into mud. We also delighted in discovering our reflections in the muddy pools. We are incredibly grateful for this beautiful rainforest we have the privilege to call home.