Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Posts tagged ‘play’

An Aha Moment…

A moment of clarity, the aha moment is a defining moment where you gain real wisdom- wisdom you can use to change your life…or Business

 

As I was conducting my weekly classroom observations, a three-year old began to roll a car down my leg and my back. I must say that  I began to feel very relaxed as she rolled the car against my leg and back.

Then I noticed another child sitting next to me  playing with some play-doh and she asked me to smell it. As I sniffed the playdoh, it brought back  childhood memories that I had about playdoh.  In fact, I shared the  Aha moment with  the teacher in the classroom and she was so excited to discover that smell can bring back a simple childhood memory.

After my Aha Moment,I was reminded that smell can trigger a memory and if smell triggers a memory, than sensory play has to be great for a child’s brain development!

Moreover, this is why I believe that  it is important to have materials in the classroom that children can smell and experiment with.

Normally, I would have told the three-year old to only roll the car in the block area, however, I was amazed and soothed by the feeling of the car rolling against my skin. Furthermore, I thought about how children should be encouraged to be creative with how they use the materials, such as rolling cars on their friends; it just may calm down an excessively hyper child.

I shared this Aha moment with you to encourage you to provide more sensory play in your childcare business, because it is a great way to stimulate a child’s brain.

Feel free to share an  Aha moment that you have experienced recently in your childcare business. I look forward to reading your thoughts about this post.

Online Resource:

Smell, Taste and Nutrition: Building Block for Early Learning

 

Shiketa

Category:

childcare, Classrooms, play, preschool

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Kids Love Dramatic Play!

One of the most popular centers at my facility is the Dramatic play area. In fact, the teachers normally have to remind the children to choose other centers until there is more room to play in the dramatic play area.

let’s think back to your childhood. Did you like to dress-up in your moms clothes or wear her make-up? Think about how that made you feel?

Kids love to role-play their parents and they love to pretend. Recently, my school-age teacher, thought it was a good idea to encourage the children to make their own store. Check out the picture below.

Source: Learning Days

The kids made the sign and the pretend money. We also added an old credit card machine and some change for the toy cash register.  The objective for the store is to teach the children how to count money, how to use a credit card, how to answer the store phone and how to greet customers.

In fact, there will be many skills gained from this center. One of the children wrote me a pretend check as they prepared the store. Check it out below.

I was so excited to receive that check. Too bad I could not take it to the bank to cash it, lol. When the school-age child gave me the check, I realized the importance of having dramatic play…it enhances a child’s creativity.

Have you ever thought about creating a Dramatic play wish list? Recently I was shopping in Sams Club and I spotted a playhouse that I would love to have on my playground. (see photo below)

On my Wish list!

I hope that you have been inspired to get creative with dramatic play and create a childcare business that kids love!

 If you need more ideas, check out the following sites below. I would love to hear about your dramatic play ideas. Feel free to share your comments below and  send a photo of your dramatic play area to childcarenews@aol.com.

Your photos may be featured on the Child Care Business Owner network!

Have a Great Week!

Shiketa

Resource Links

Dramatic Play Area ideas

Dramatic Play and Prop boxes

Kelly’s Kindergarten.com

Dramatic Play in Early Childhood

The importance of Dramatic Play

Category:

Child Care Center, daycare, Home Daycare, Program Planning

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