Community Day Care

CDC House has been very nature-forward after receiving our Nature Explore grant!

The first thing we’ve been working on is the Garden Area in our Nature Explore Playground. CDC House preschoolers have been tending to this garden since May with the help of CDC families! Because of the grant and family contribution, children have been able to observe plants as they grow in real time, and we’ve even begun harvesting (and tasting!) our plants.

We have also purchased fabric for the Big Building Area in our Nature Explore Playground, which has been used for fort building, putting on puppet shows, and more!

Our Music and Movement Area has big plans as well, with a large instrument on its way to the preschool. None of this would’ve been possible without the help of the grant and the contributions of our wonderful CDC families.

We appreciate you all!

CDC Forest took a field trip to Serendipity Books today during week 6: “Once Upon a Camp Time.” Thank you to Shannon and Michelle from Serendipity for making our visit engaging, fun and smooth!

Did you know that Serendipity hosts story time every first Saturday of the month at 10:30? Check it out!

16 POUNDS! That’s how much juice box, applesauce, and GoGo SqueeZ pouches our amazing students and caregivers at CDC Forest saved from the landfill!

Our preschoolers have been hard at work recycling their pouches at lunch, and reminding their grown ups to drop off empty pouches from home.

Thanks to our partnership with TerraCycle, every single one of these is getting a second life instead of sitting in a trash can. We are so proud of our young students who are already dedicated to our planet’s good health.
TerraCycle US

This week at camp, we are focusing on our community heroes! CDC Forest Preschool and Summer Camps banded together for an exciting day of fire safety.

Our morning kicked off with a surprise fire drill, and all of our students did an amazing job following safety protocols. Afterward, Nick and Andrew from the Saline Fire Department visited to teach the kids what goes on behind the scenes during an emergency.

To wrap up the visit, campers got a fun, hands-on experience—cooling off with a spray from the fire hose!
We are incredibly grateful to our local heroes for everything they do to keep our community safe!

This weekend’s annual campout was one for the books!We had the absolute best time bringing our camp community together for a night of summer festivities.
Here are some of the highlights:

➡️Bellies full of hot dogs and gooey s’mores.
➡️Laughter and fierce competition during an epic round of Kids vs. Adults Capture the Flag.
➡️Roaring voices singing our favorite camp songs around the fire.
➡️ Cuddling up with loved ones in our tents for a classic night under the stars.
➡️ Closing out the weekend under the Saturday morning sun with fresh pancakes and hot coffee.

The “Community” in our name means the world to us. Thank you all for making our camp community feel so much like family! Now, let’s rock the second half of the summer! ⛺️☀️

That smile says it all! In our 4-year-old classroom, children are learning to weave. Over-under-over-under, all the way across the loom. It looks simple, but this hands-on work builds serious skills: patterning, sequencing, and mathematical thinking.

As they weave, children imagine what each color might look like in the real world, building representational thinking. They choose which color comes next, discovering their own preferences while creating something together as a group.

Once they master the ABAB pattern, some children start experimenting with new combinations—like over-over-under-under—pushing into open-ended creativity that’s both mathematical and imaginative.

This is choice-based, play-based learning in action: children directing their own exploration while building foundational skills for a lifetime of learning.

Have a safe weekend!

During week 3 of camp, we are celebrating nature...from inside!!! 🌷🌞

The blazing heat has not stopped us from our explorations with seeds, flowers, dirt, and bugs. We have been learning about the process of a plant growing from start to finish, how our bodies are affected by the sun, and how to gently care for the living critters we share the Earth with.

Bugs, Blooms, and Beyond! 🐜🌸🕸️

Muddy play is more about an extra load of laundry. Preschool aged children are engaging in scientific inquiry, sensory processing, and fine motor skills. Messy hands and muddy toes, that’s how their imagination grows!

Did you catch us painting the town today?! 🎨
Swipe to see our miniature artists at work painting the U of M rock. Week 2 of CDC Camp is underway!