Gentle Hands Little Minds Daycare

☀️ COME JOIN US FOR SUMMER FUN! ☀️

We currently have one full-time opening available for a toddler (approximately 18 months–3 years old).

📍 Ames, IA
⏰ Monday–Thursday | 7:00 AM–4:00 PM

Our days are filled with hands-on learning, outdoor adventures, and lots of summer fun!

Summer activities include:
🌈 Theme Days
👩‍🍳 Cooking Class
💦 Water Play
🎨 Sensory & Art Activities
🌳 Outdoor Play
📚 Learning Through Play

If you’re looking for a nurturing, home-based childcare program where your child can learn, explore, and have fun alongside some wonderful friends, I’d love to chat!

📩 Send me a message for more information

Our summer Cooking Skills Class has officially begun! 👩‍🍳🍓 Every Tuesday we’ll be building hands-on kitchen skills like scooping, pouring, stirring, mixing, cutting and spreading—all through fun, simple recipes.

As the summer goes on, we’ll slowly combine these skills to create more “real” snacks and easy meals the kids can be proud of making themselves. It’s all about confidence, independence, and lots of hands-on learning (and tasting too 😋).

Can’t wait to watch their skills grow week by week! 🤩

I shared the other day about our monthly story time with our local library, but another amazing resource they offer is their rotating book collection 📚

Once a month, they bring us a bag filled with books, puppets, puzzles, and other learning materials for us to borrow. The following month, they swap everything out for a fresh set of new items.

It’s such a gift to have these resources delivered right to our door, and the kids absolutely love exploring something new each month. I especially love using the books for our before-nap story time and the puzzles as a calm transition activity after rest time.

We are so thankful for community programs that support early learning in such meaningful ways. 💜

Simple activity. Big brain work. 🧠

I’m so grateful for our local library’s amazing program that brings story time right to us 📚💜

Today’s bug and insect theme was a huge hit — the kids absolutely loved it! 🐞🐛🐜

✨ Week 1 of Nursery Rhymes ✨

We have had SO much fun kicking off our Nursery Rhyme theme this week! I chose 4 of our favorite rhymes (8 total over the two weeks!) and dedicated one special day to each one.

Each day we:
🎶 Learned the song together
🙌 Practiced the actions and movements
🎨 Completed a hands-on activity inspired by the rhyme

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

🚌 Day 1 – Wheels on the Bus
The kids painted paper plates yellow, added windows and wheels, and created their very own buses. Then we took the fun outside and made a life-size “bus” using chairs and sang our song together. So much giggling and pretending!

🧁 Day 2 – Pat-a-Cake
We used taste-safe play dough and birthday-themed accessories to create cupcakes and cakes. There was lots of rolling, patting, decorating, and of course singing “Pat-a-cake” on repeat.

🕷️ Day 3 – Itsy Bitsy Spider
We re-enacted the rhyme with a water play activity using spiders and a “water spout.” The kids loved pouring the water and watching the spider climb again and again. Such a fun sensory experience!

🐒 Day 4 – 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
(With a twist!) We used different animals along with doctor kits to take care of our “injured” patients. The kids got to practice nurturing play and pretend to be doctors while we sang our rhyme.

I love how nursery rhymes build language, rhythm, memory, and imagination — all while feeling like pure fun to the kids. 🤍

Week 2 is looking just as exciting… stay tuned to see which rhymes we dive into next! 🎶✨ 👀

Behind the scenes of daycare life 🤍

While the kids are resting, I’m always thinking ahead.

Lesson planning isn’t just filling in boxes.. it’s thoughtfully choosing activities that build fine motor skills, early literacy and math, social-emotional growth, and independence.

Our days may look like “just play” to some, but every activity has a purpose.

So excited for the upcoming month!

We wrapped up Week of the Young Child 2026 and boy was it a FUN one! 💛 Here’s a little recap of how we celebrated our amazing little learners!

🎶 Music Monday
We explored a variety of musical instruments — drums, maracas, xylophones and more! We talked about the different sounds they make and danced A TON. We even brought the instruments outside and made our very own marching band! 🥁🎵

🍋 Tasty Tuesday
We explored a snack tray filled with a variety of textures and tastes — lemons (which were a HIT, may I add 😂), pepperoni, cheese, Ritz crackers, and more. I swear, kids eat sooo well when you turn it into a fun tray and give them the independence to choose what they want to try!

🤝 Work Together Wednesday
We’re always building teamwork skills around here, but this day we focused on it intentionally by building towers together and sitting in a circle rolling a ball back and forth. Practicing turn-taking and cooperation in simple ways makes such a big impact at this age.

🎨 Artsy Thursday
EDIBLE FINGER PAINT! We made paint using Greek yogurt and food coloring and explored it with all of our senses. Some friends loved feeling it on their fingers, while others preferred using a paintbrush. Process art at its finest!

I absolutely love this week as a way to celebrate the young children in my care. I am so thankful for the families who trust me with their little ones each day. 💛

Next up: 🌎 Earth Day + Flowers + Plants 🌸🌱

This week at Gentle Hands Little Minds we celebrated Read Across America Week with some of our favorite children’s books and hands-on activities that brought each story to life. Reading is such an important part of early childhood, and pairing books with play helps build language, creativity, and early learning skills in meaningful ways. ❤️

Monday – Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 🐻
We explored a colorful sensory bin inspired by the animals in the story. The children practiced color recognition, animal identification, and sensory exploration while retelling parts of the book together.

Tuesday – Dear Zoo 🦁🐒
The kids became animal rescuers in our “Rescue the Zoo Animals” fine motor activity! This playful challenge helped strengthen little hands while encouraging problem-solving and imaginative play.

Wednesday – That’s Not My… 👋🏻
Inspired by the touch-and-feel books, the children created textured art collages using a variety of materials. This activity supported sensory development, creativity, and descriptive language.

Thursday – Moo, Baa, La La La! 🐮🐑
We wrapped up the week with a farm animal lift-the-flap reveal activity and a cozy Pajama Day while reading more farm-themed stories together. The children loved guessing the animals and making all the silly sounds!

📖 Books + hands-on learning = the perfect combination for curious little minds.

Behind every hands-on activity is thoughtful preparation. 🤍

I plan and prep each week to align with our weekly (or monthly) focus and developmental goals. Intentional planning allows us to combine structure with play-based learning in a meaningful way!

This morning I have the help of my daughter and apparently my cat. 😆