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This morning like many of you I received a big envelope in the post from Safe food, the food safety promotion board here in Ireland. It contained two massive full colour laminate posters teaching a hand washing game similar to the one I posted here some months back in my ‘cut out and keep’ section http://www.mumandminder.com/2010/04/wash-your-hands/ While I think that its great that the government are thinking in terms of educating young children on the importance of hygiene and hand washing and trying to instill such healthy habits, I do think that there are more cost effective and environmentally friendly ways to disseminate such information. If they made the information available online through the relevant websites for the different childcare sectors, teachers and childcare works could simply learn the game and teach it, along with actions. This would have a far better chance of hitting home with pre-school children who always enjoy a song with actions taught by an engaged teacher. They can’t read our lovely colorful signs anyway! I received two of these envelopes, so my name must be duplicated on their lists some how but can you just imagine the cost of printing and distribution alone…when they could have just come to my blog
I hope that you will look at the bags above and be impressed that they were made by a group of three to six year olds! They are actually quite simple and a lot of fun to make, especially if you like to get wet and bubbly! Continue reading Felt bag making with children 1. I spent the vast majority of my teenage summers camping in France with my family. I learned a lot those summers and it had a huge impact on certain aspects of my attitude to life. Continue reading My education Artfarm afternoons are starting again, these were hugely popular and ran during term time up to the birth of my last baby and now he’s old enough, we’re up and running again. These afternoons are suitable for children aged 3 to 10 years and they are offered from 3.30pm to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and on Saturday mornings from 10am to midday. Children can attend all sessions or come once a week, it is not ‘taught’ so they do not miss out on anything, projects can be picked up and left off as suits the child. Continue reading Artfarm afternoons @ An Feirm beag I don’t know where the summer has gone! With a new baby settling in, a little pre-schooler art camp in July and another coming up next week, the months have flown. I’m enjoying being so busy, each day is filled with so much action though, its hard to get time for ‘me’ things! Every day we take a walk,either here in the hills near my home, or we go to the beautiful lake beach and forest we are blessed to have only four miles away. We feed the ducks and swans and check out whats growing, my daughter is particularly interested in what is edible! I have started to get up every morning between 5 and 6 to fit in a bit of writing time before the children wake, this seems the best way to fit it in and the silence at that time makes a nice change of pace!
The art camps are fun, I do felt bag making, collage, painting, gardening and baking, its wonderful to see their excitement as a project unfolds. So this is how I end my days, exhausted but happy, loading the dishwasher before collapsing in the corner with a book, because it all begins again in a few hours! I have taken quiet a long break from posting to this blog. This was partly because I have recently welcomed a baby to my home for full time care, and as I’m sure you know if you are a childminder who cares for babies, I’ve been busy! It’s not that I didn’t have a moment to myself, it is more accurate to say that my head was (and still is to a lesser extent) in a different place to that needed for reflective writing. Continue reading my long post break and wild strawberry picking As I begin down the Siolta road, I find myself thinking a lot about the environments I provide for the children. In many ways I am blessed in this respect. I have a pretty big house in the countryside with a large garden which is so important to me as I really feel that children need to spend time outdoors every day. Continue reading ideal environments for children
As an art teacher I’m always being approached for art camps and classes for children. I ran art summer camps here at my home for a few years before baba no. 3 and they were quite popular. So this year I return to the madness and exciting chaos that is the world of summer camps. This year I am starting a little camp specially for pre-school children. I am running it in conjunction with the local music school, ‘Music in the Glen’ which is run by Diane Daly, a musician from the Irish chamber orchestra. (Click the image to see the flyer full screen.) The sun was splitting the rocks this past weekend and judging by the radio, the enitre country was in their garden engaging in the great Irish tradition of attempting to turn a nice shade of beetroot as soon as the sun comes out! Well, on Saturday I was not with them, but I was as happy as a clam to be just getting the odd glimpse of the lovely sunshine. Partly because us redheads are not really able for the heat, and partly because I was meeting up with fellow childminders to discuss our thoughts and ideas on childminding. I really enjoy the opportunity to meet with fellow childminders that I am afforded by being part of childminding Ireland, its great to meet up with others who are also racking their brains coming up with activities, menu’s and outings, makes me feel a little less crazy! After hearing from the other childminders on their ideas and what they do in services, I always return home refreshed and full of ideas to try! This evening the school age children here will be planting some herbs(donated by a friend in Dublin) and starting their nature diaries (idea came to me during Siolta training!) And of course…I’ll keep you ‘posted!’ |
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