Emmanuel at Brighton Child Care Centre

INTERNATIONAL MUD DAY!
International Mud Day, June 29th, encourages all to celebrate unstructured outdoor play, celebrate connecting to Nature through squishy, squelchy, glorious Mud! Take your shoes off, ground yourself and enjoy the freedom and creativity of messy play!

June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day, an important celebration of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Cultures, the amazing contributions of Indigenous Nations to the Global Community, and the wonderful diversity of Indigenous Nations across Turtle Island and Canada.

We Celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day today, Friday, June 19 with our community and our Metis Legacy Learning mentor Angie Lee Coture.

We have been wearing orange shirts today; the orange shirt symbolizes solidarity with Indigenous communities and honours the legacy of residential school survivors. The orange shirt symbolizes our commitment to listen, learn and take meaningful actions each day towards a better tomorrow.

We raised the flag of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy celebrating their long history of Peace and Unity. We celebrate the rich history and present mentorship of Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Chonnonton Nations each day. We walk in Peace on Turtle Island aspiring to the rich history of living in harmony with the Land and Mother Nature.

Parents and caregivers, we need to hear from you!
The Region of Waterloo Children’s Services is currently developing the Early Years and Child Care System Plan (2027–2031), which will shape how licensed child care and early years programs are delivered in the years ahead.
Your voice will help build a more accessible, equitable and high-quality system. Please take 15 minutes to complete the survey and share your experiences. At the end of the survey, you can choose to be entered into a draw for a chance to win 1 of 5 $100 e-gift cards!
Survey Link:

2026 Waterloo Region Parent Survey Children’s Services at the Region of Waterloo is inviting you to participate in a survey about child care and early years services. We need your help to identify what is important to families. Your input is highly valued.

June is Pride Month and together we celebrated Pride as we raised the Pride Flag. At Emmanuel all children, families and educators are welcome. We celebrate diversity and honour and respect the uniqueness of each family and individual in a community where everyone belongs. 

It was a wonderful day at Woodside National Historic Site, Parks Canada filled with sunshine and a cool breeze that filled the air with the fragrant scent of lilac. We worked in our garden pulling the weeds and planted our Three Sister’s Garden. This type of garden is an Indigenous companion planting method that grows corn, beans and squash. The corn supports the beans, the beans bring nitrogen to the soil, and the squash acts as a mulch with its big leaves keeping the weeds down. The Three Sister’s Garden teaches us that if we work together, focusing on our strengths, we can accomplish great things. We also enjoyed an early spring harvest from the garden as we stewed some rhubarb on the fire. In order for our garden to provide us with more gifts, we provided the garden with water in order for it to grow. We look forward to caring for our garden and observing the changes that will happen each week over the summer. Thank-you Angie for continuing to share your culture with us.

We recommend checking your children for ticks every day. This is a severe year for ticks in Ontario.

Happy Earth Day! Remember to reflect on each action you take and think about the future of our Earth and the wellbeing of the Next Generation.

Our Annual Professional Learning Day on April 6 was a magical day of learning and team building for the Emmanuel Early Learning and Care team.

Our educators and leadership team explored so many inspiring and impactful learning experiences — from learning about early years mental health, to an incredible workshop with Katie Kay (thewitchdoctor.ca) on understanding stress and regulation, as well as taking steps towards ReconciliACTION with Clarence Cachagee from Crow Shield Lodge.
Being together gave us the chance to share ideas, spend time learning outdoors, and reflect on our work with children. These kinds of days help us grow our understanding of child development, strengthen how we respond to and support children, and create more inclusive, caring environments. They also remind us how important it is to keep learning and leaning on each other as a team.

A heartfelt thank you to the YMCA Outdoor Centre for welcoming us into such a beautiful space and for an amazing meal.