Wheels Day

Wheels day at KCC is a day full of controlled chaos in the carpark. Children zooming on their bike here, there, left, right and everywhere.

Here are some pictures and videos of the day!

Jess

Poi making and the poi dancers.

In connection of our focus on culture the babies enjoyed helping me in making our poi and using it for dancing too.

Spa Pool Time

With all the hot weather recently and the babies love for playing with water I thought I would set up a  "spa pool" for the babies. We had a crab tub that we use for water play while outside. I filled it up with some water from the hose and a bucket of hot water so that it would take the chill off the water. 

the water ended up feeling very warm that I almost wanted to hop in. We usually set up a "spa pool" once a week for the babies.

Check out some photos below of some of the babies relaxing in our "spa pool."

Tara all relaxed

Tyler wasn't quite sure to begin with but ended up loving the water and splashing everyone

Ashley looking all relaxed and chilled out

OOOO Warm

Jess

Valentines Day

Hi everyone, this week we celebrated valentines day and made cards for our family members. I cut out some hearts and poured some pink paint out to decorate our cards. 

Tyler and Mikayla were the first to join in and started to paint their cards. Tyler really enjoyed painting his card. Once he had finished his card I taped down a piece of white paper for him to paint. I left him to his painting and he giggled away as he painted his paper. When he had finished he had paint all over his face and the table.

Mikayla enjoyed painting and wanted to continue painting once she had finished her painting. I also grabbed her a piece paper to continue painting.

We have noticed that the babies in the Fantail house all have a real love for painting and will often paint multiple pieces of paper when we do painting.

Ben also joined in painting and really enjoyed making his card.  He concentrated really hard on what he was painting.

Painting is a great way for babies to have creative freedom. For some of our babies is a great way to enjoy messy play. They all enjoy feeling the paint, in their hands and painting all over themselves rather than the paper.

Tyler and Ashley are a great example of children who enjoy the messy side of painting. While I was at the table both Ashley and Tyler painted their face rather than the paper.

Painting is a great way for Children to express how they feel and see the word. Although it may look like scribbles to us, try asking your child what they have drawn and they will usually have an answer.

When I do any type of art activity with the children I try to ask open-ended questions as they are painting or drawing. I am continuously surprised by their answers.

Recently when I was doing an art activity with the children most of them were able to identify the different colours they were using. A few were even able to say what they were drawing.

Jess

Ice Blocks

Last week with the weather being really hot I thought we could make some ice blocks so we could have a nice ice cold break.

I ordered some frozen fruit, yogurt, and milk in the shopping and asked Rachel to bring in her blender.

I called everyone over when it was time to make the ice blocks. You all gathered around the table, fascinated by the blender and wondering what we could be using it for. I had all the ingredients ready on the tables and invited you all to watch.

First, I grabbed the frozen berries and Ashley tipped them in the blender. Next, it was Cameron's turn and he poured the berries into the blender. Everyone got a taste test of the berries. Ashley told me they were "cold."

After adding the fruit it was time to add some milk to the mixture. Layla asked "my turn, my turn" and I gave her the cup of milk to poor in. It was now time to turn the blender on. I asked Mikayla if she wanted to have a turn. She moved forward and I showed her how to turn it on. Both Layla and Mikayla jumped back when it turned on. You both weren't sure about it.

Tara added more milk to the mixture as it wasn't quite ready yet. Tara helped turn on the blender so we could mix the milk in.

Now that our milk was all blended in, it was time to add some yogurt. Ben poured in the yogurt. We turned the blender on for the final mix and then it was time for a taste test.

Mikayla and Ben were both lining up, waiting to have a taste. I offered some to Layla, but she wasn't sure if she wanted any. Next was Ashley who was really keen to have a taste test.

I poured the mixture into the ice block molds and put them in the freezer. We had a little bit left over so everyone
got to have a taste test again.

On Wednesday we finally got to eat our ice blocks. As soon a Mikayla saw me coming through the gate she ran as fast as her little legs could go and yelled "jesssss." I think she was very excited about the ice blocks.

I sat everyone outside and handed them an ice block each one by one. We sat in the nice warm sun nibbling on our ice blocks.

Making and eating ice blocks is a great way to continue our focus on summer fun as who doesn't love an ice block on a hot day.

What do you do with your child on a hot summers day?

Jess