Celebrating 16 Years of Inspiring and Empowering Child Care Business Owners

Fun Holiday Activity Ideas

11 20 12

Time for some holiday fun…

I love it when the holidays come! In fact, I look forward to taking photos of all the fun enriching holiday activities that my staff and I plan for the children during the months of November and December.

Moreover, I just love the spirit that is in the air during the holidays. Furthermore, every year for the last 14 years, I have planned many of the same events and activities that have now become a tradition in my childcare business.

Today I am going to share with you some of those  activities and events  with you!

Decorate the Christmas Tree Day

On this day, invite the parents to bring an ornament for their children to hang on the tree. Be sure to take photos to share with the parents

Christmas Caroling

Plan a field trip to a local nursing home or school, so that the children have an opportunity to do some Christmas caroling.

Bring a Toy to School Day

The day after Christmas, invite the children to bring a gift that they received for Christmas to share with their friends.

Christmas Decor ideas

Decorate your home or center with plastic poinsettias and garland. Don’t forget to play holiday music throughout the day!

Holiday Fun with the Staff

Hang a stocking for every staff member and encourage the staff to periodically bring small gifts for one another. This will create more unity amongst the staff.

Fun art Activities:

  • Painting with candy canes
  • Making gingerbread houses with graham crackers, white icing and gum drops
  • Make a Christmas paper collage with scraps of wrapping paper
  • Encourage the children to spray snow on your windows or even paint a snow man
  • Add peppermint extract to the paint. The kids will love that scent while painting.
  • Add Christmas related cookie cutters to the art Center to enhance play doh fun
  • Make ornaments for the tree. You will need a hole puncher, yarn and construction paper
  • Give the kids green yarn and encourage them to create a Christmas tree. You will also need glue and scissors for the children to cut the year.

I hope that you have enjoyed the holiday ideas! Do you have ideas? Feel free to share your holiday fun ideas below.

Happy Holiday,

Shiketa

Category:

Activities, Art, Holidays

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Creating An Inclement Weather Plan

11 15 12

Winter is will be arriving soon and this is a great time to develop or review your inclement weather plan. In fact, it seems that some winters we are better than others in terms of the amount of snow that we get,however, it is vital that parents know what to expect in the event there is inclement.

Here are  Nine things that you can do to plan for inclement weather, assure that parents & staff know what to do in the event of inclement weather and other helpful tips:

1. Connect with your local news channel to find out how you can list your snow or closing  schedule in the event of inclement weather.

2. Post a notice of your inclement weather procedures on your door and insert the notice in your parent handbook.

3. Have a list of your parents contact information at home with you; so that you can send out a group text about your planned snow or closing schedule.

4. If you plan to cancel transportation, notify parents at least 2-hours before school starts to allow parents enough time to locate back-up childcare.

5. Ahead of time, purchase ice melt or salt for your sidewalks to melt ice on your side walks.

6. Have a contract with a snow plow or landscaping company to clean your parking lot before your business opens in the event of inclement weather.

7. When conditions are too icy, you may want to consider planning a later opening time to allow staff and parents time to get to the center.

8. Post your plans to open later or close during inclement weather on your social media pages; at least 1 hour before your scheduled open time.

9. Be sure to provide updates to parents via voice mail, your website or your social media pages

I hope that you have found the tips in this blog post to be quite helpful to you. I look forward to hearing about how you plan to prepare in the event of inclement weather.

Shiketa

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Category:

Emergencies, parent communication, Policies

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