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| Wee Watch Newsletter
July / August 2009 |
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DATES WEE WATCH
Canada Day
July 1
Wee Are Special Olympics
July 20 - 24
Civic Holiday
August 3
Mystery Fitness Fun
August 4 - 31
Ramadan Begins
August 22 |
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Greetings!
Summertime is a perfect time to invite children to stretch and strengthen large muscles, breathe fresh air, take in the sunshine and explore the natural world around them.
Give them opportunities to develop their large muscle skills by crawling through obstacle courses, rolling down hills, jumping over puddles. Let them use their observational skills to collect treasures of pinecones or leaves.
Plan many opportunities for them to use their senses in smelling flowers, feeling the grass beneath their feet and the cool breeze under a shady tree. The outdoors also provides many opportunities to learn about all the other little creatures amongst us, squirrels racing up trees and bugs hiding under rocks.
Enjoy and share the joy and the excitement of new experiences that this time of year brings while ensuring school age children continue their learning all summer long.
May was a very busy time for our Wee Watch homes. Partnering with Safe Kids Canada, Wee Watch Providers and children participated in numerous hands on safety activities between May 25 and 29. Discussions, songs and crafts promoted safety measures that children should take each and every day, indoors and out.
Once again, Wee Watch showed our true colours! On June 23, all of our Wee Watch Providers and children participated in our Together Wee Can Celebrate Canada activities. What a patriotic group they are! Everyone enjoyed making noisemakers for the celebration, planning parades, picnics at the park and learning about what makes our country so great.
Sincerely,
Leslie Wilson
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 TOGETHER WEE CAN
Wee Watch has a wonderful opportunity to bring all of our homes across Ontario together to participate in activities on certain days, weeks and months. These "Together Wee Can" events are exclusive to Wee Watch. All activities are carefully chosen for their importance to children and their families. These events provide a great learning opportunity that meets the needs of children of all ages and ultimately strengthens our Wee Watch community.
July 2009
TOGETHER WEE CAN
WEE ARE SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Summer Active is Canada's annual community initiative designed to help Canadians of all ages improve their health and quality of life through healthy living.
To promote this program, we have planned a summer full of gross motor fun. In July, Providers and children will enjoy competing in our own Together Wee Can - Wee Are Special Olympics. Children will have an opportunity to learn about the ceremonial events of the Olympics and to take part each day in activities that promote gross motor skills, provide opportunities to set goals for themselves and to promote team spirit with their friends. Don't forget to look for your child's Olympic torch, flag and medal at the end of the week.
August 2009
TOGETHER WEE CAN
MYSTERY FITNESS FUN
For the entire month of August, Providers and children will be participating in the Together Wee Can - Mystery Fitness Fun. Each day will be a surprise! Children will be picking exercises and activities out of a jar to participate in that day. Bring on the jumping jacks and sits ups!
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Our exclusive "Wee Learn Program" is designed to meet the specific learning needs of each of our children enrolled. The Wee Learn Program provides the flexibility for each child to participate at his own pace and is designed to allow each child from the youngest Wee Beginner to the oldest Wee Mentor to learn as they play. As there is a mix of individual and group activities in the homes, the children are also given lots of opportunities to develop their social skills as well.
Your Provider is given resources that include age appropriate activities addressing areas of language, cognitive, math/science, fine motor and gross motor development. These resources include a Calendar of theme related activities, an Activity Handbook full of easy homemade activities for each age group, website activity pages to further build on fine motor, math and language skills they have already been working on in their Play and Learn booklets.
Each month, take a look at the progress your child is making in his Play and Learn booklet. These booklets are a great keepsake and give you an opportunity to see the skills such as cognitive, math, fine motor skills your child is working on each and every day.
Please click on the link below to find ways to use the outdoors for learning opportunities for all ages:
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WEE BEGINNERS - EXPLORING NATURE WITH BABIES
How can we help children investigate nature, both indoors and outdoors, in ways that will encourage learning and appreciation? For young children, it is as simple as a walk and stopping to observe a squirmy worm or a pretty bird. Why not be detectives together and search for the bird that is singing or the squirrel that ran up the tree? Here are some ideas:
Walk and talk
Go out for little excursions with your child in her stroller or baby carrier and take the time to introduce her to your world as you go - this will help build her language and communication skills.
Discuss the Weather
Talk about what's happening outdoors each day. Lure the little ones to come to a window and notice light raindrops, driving rain, the sounds of thunder. Provide opportunities for young children to feel cool water, a patio stone warmed by the heat of the sun, listen to the leaves rustle in the wind. If there is a rainbow, drop your plans and take the toddlers outside to see this awesome view in the sky.
Point Out the Beauty of Nature
The plantings around your home provide opportunities for talking about rough bark and delicate flowers. Even very young infants absorb the sights and sounds of the outdoors - clouds passing overhead, and the sight and smell of flowers in the garden. Point out small things: a smooth rock, a beautiful shell, a perfect leaf-and share in her amazement.
Fill a Feeder
Temporary food shortage can occur at almost anytime of the year, and if this happens during breeding season, extra food in a bird feeder can make a big difference to the survival of young chicks. Be sure to stay clear of loose peanuts, dry hard foods and large chunks of bread or fats during the summer months (Royal Society of the Protection of Birds). Set up bird feeders in your play yard. Each day, you can watch the birds enjoy the birdseed. Don't forget to count the number of birds at the feeder. Do encourage looking at, examining, and learning about little creatures but be sensitive to the different temperaments of babies. Some babies will fearlessly pick up a squirmy earthworm. Others are more cautious and may be frightened if you touch a live insect.
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| WEE EXPLORERS - MAKING THE MOST OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Bring indoor activities outside for a new experience. For those of you that worry about messy play indoors, now is the time to let your toddler go creatively wild!
Easel Painting: Bring your painting easel and supplies outside. After children have painted, hang the results on a fence or tree branches.
Fence Painting: Use a fence as an outdoor easel. Clip paper to the fence. Tip: put your paint in muffin tins so they don't tip over.
Painting on Concrete: Use fingerpaint paper and different colours of fingerpaint on concrete; asking children 'how does it feel to paint on the ground instead of a table? Is it bumpy or smooth? You can then just hose down the concrete to begin a fresh new work of art.
Fence Weaving: Cut coloured paper or fabric into 3'x2" strips. Clip the strips to a chainlink fence with clothespins or tape. Let the children practice weaving the cut strips into the fence openings.
Outside Pretend Play: Bring dolls and stuffed animals outside. Let toddlers put their babies in the shade for a picnic and then take their babies for a walk with toy strollers. Make a pretend beach using various 'beach props' such as a tub of water to float boats, make a 'lifeguard' chair, life preservers, picnic supplies, sun visors, beach towel etc. Water the trees, flowers and plants in the yard and garden.
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WEE BUILDERS - LEARNING THROUGH WATER PLAY
Nice weather brings many opportunities for fun and learning through water play. Puddles, spray bottles, garden sprinklers, water tables, and wading pools naturally fascinate young children, and water is one of the basic raw materials for learning mathematics and science, developing language, and fostering social skills. Following are some ideas for safe, fun and educational water play:
Math Activities: Assorted containers and funnels can help children develop concepts such as empty/full, more/less, heavy/light, shallow/deep. Children can learn about measurement by using measuring cups or discovering the best way to squirt long and short distances using squeeze bottles or plant misters filled with water.
Fine Motor Activities: Eye-hand coordination can be practiced by retrieving objects with tongs, aquarium nets, scoops, and fingers. Hand whisks, basting bulbs, and egg beaters require coordination and are fun to use.
Language Activities: A child's vocabulary is enriched as she uses words such as funnel, surface, float, and strain. Use number and letter sponges in the water and ask the children to retrieve specific letters or numbers, find the highest number, the lowest number, the letters to their name. Give them small fish nets to retrieve them.
Cognitive Activities: Provide a water tub for sinking and floating experiments, using some of the items listed below. Keep a basket full of objects handy for other experiments:
soup ladle, bulb baster, slotted spoon, strainer, funnels, margarine tubs, film cans, popsicle sticks, cooking whisk, measuring cups, spoons, feathers, small pitchers, thread spools, cooking tongs, sponges, squeeze bottles, corks, scoops, animal figures, aquarium nets, wood scraps, lids, tennis balls, milk cartons, golf tees, ping-pong balls, plastic people, bar soap samples, egg beaters, food colouring, buttons, foil balls, leaves, salt shakers, golf balls
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WEE LEARNERS - 1, 2, 3 COME OUTDOORS WITH ME
Math skills are important to a child's success - both at school and in everyday life.
Knowing how to do math makes our day-to-day lives easier! How do children learn math? Children learn math best through activities that encourage them to explore, think about what they are exploring, and solve problems using information they have gathered themselves. If your child isn't very fond of math or math activities, you can introduce math using outdoor treasures that peak their  interest. With trees in full bloom, and a wide variety of plants and bugs to observe, the natural environment provides a great resource for planning many math and cognitive activities, including measuring, sorting, counting and classification.
Start by giving the children paper bags or baskets. Go for a walk and collect a number of different leaves from trees that you pass along the way. Let them collect sticks, twigs, and rocks. On your return home, place a blanket down under a shady tree and place all the found treasures on the blanket. Make sure you have a measuring tape, ruler, paper, pencils, crayons available.
Sticks, stones: use sticks and stones to create and compare geometric shapes.
Rocks, leaves: measure which is the longest stick/shortest? Widest/narrowest?
Leaves, stones, sticks: count the number of objects collected.
Leaves, stones, sticks: sort them by colour, size. For rocks sort by stones that sparkle, stones that are smooth/rough. For leaves sort by pointy edged, smooth edged.
Leaves, stones, sticks: make patterns using all the objects together
Leaves: trace the shape of the leaves on a piece of paper. Place the appropriate leaf over the tracing.
Leaves, stones: place a number of leaves or stones in a jar. Ask the children to estimate how many are in the jar. Then count them. Change the amount each day.
Leaves, stones, sticks: make piles of each object. Ask children to divide the objects in half, in quarters.
Leaves, stones, sticks: use 10 of each object. Use objects to make math problems (5 stones + 2 stones), etc.
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| WEE EXPERTS - SUMMER SCIENCE
Science is all around you. Your backyard, your kitchen, and other areas around your home provide natural "laboratories" for children. Children are curious; exploring with science can be lots of fun while also teaching them a great deal about themselves and their world. Experiments can be as simple as melting ice cubes in the sun and shade, or can be an experiment that is done over a period of a few  days or weeks such as planting seeds. Plan a mixture of short term activities and long term projects that children can observe each day.
Colouring Flowers
Materials needed: white flowers like carnations, food colouring, water, plastic container
1. Fill a container with water and add a few drops of food colouring.
2. Cut a small piece of the stem off the flower.
3. Put the flower in the container of food colouring and water.
4. Check it every few hours to see how the petals are changing colour.
Me and My Shadow
Invite children to look at the shapes of shadows cast by trees and other objects. Show them how to make chalk outlines of shadows. Half an hour later, suggest that they revisit their outlines. They can make new outlines in a different colour. After 30 more minutes, check again. Talk about the changes.
Invisible Painting
Provide buckets of water and large paintbrushes or rollers. Invite children to "paint" sidewalks, bricks, trees, etc. After a few minutes, ask them to notice which of the places they painted have begun to dry. They will probably see that sunny areas dry faster than shaded areas.
Crystal Rock Garden
Materials needed:
1/2 cup water
2 oz alum (sold in the canning or spice sections of supermarkets)
Clear glass bowl
Clean rocks and pebbles
Mixing spoon
Your child should go outside and gather as many rocks and pebbles as she likes. Rinse the rocks clean in the sink or tub. On the stove, boil 1/2 cup of water. Add 2 oz alum to the hot water and stir until the alum is dissolved. Pour the solution into a clear glass bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with the clean rocks and pebbles. Now watch in amazement as crystals form like magic!
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| WEE MENTORS - SNEAKY LEARNING FUN
We know that sneaking veggies into muffins and cookies will give the nutrition children need without them knowing. You can use the same strategy for summer. Sneak learning opportunities into everyday life and your child will be more than ready when school starts in September. Here are some of great ideas:
Plan a field trip. Go to a park, zoo, or museum. Talk about everything they see on the trip. Follow  up with a book or have the children create a book that incorporates photos and illustrations of things they remember about the trip. Get them to list items that they saw on the trip and have them put them in alphabetical order.
Plan a party. Give children a budget and plan a picnic and play date. They can send out the invitations, make the decorations, and prepare some or all of the food. Take a walk to the local grocery store and let them find food and drinks that fit within the budget. Children will learn to work together, and they'll use math skills to stick to the budget.
Travel the World. Look at maps and books about other places in the world. Learn about the weather, culture, animals and geography of different places around the world. Make a list of the different countries and cities. Put them in alphabetical order. Go to the dollar store and purchase a few postcards. Let the children write a postcard to a friend or loved one.
Enjoy the great outdoors. Plan a backyard camping day. List all the things that they need to bring along on a camping trip.
Give your child a tape recorder. She can record herself reading a story, telling about an adventure she had, or take the tape recorder on a walk to tape the sounds she hears on the walk, at the park, in the field.
Make a scrapbook. Gather photos, mementos, and notes and compile them into a summer memory book. Each child can make his own scrapbook, and each will reflect a different point of view.
Follow Directions. Learn how to read different types of maps and how to use a compass to find directions. As you and your child step out the front door, flip a coin. If its tails turn left. If its heads turn right. Continue this at every corner. You never know where you'll end up!
Discover Recipes for Fun. List all the ice cream flavours you can think of. Put them in alphabetical order. On a recipe card, write a recipe for a cool summer drink. Let the children read the instructions and help you make the drink to serve at lunch time. Look at a cookbook to see if they can find a recipe they would like you to try.
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| PLAY IT SAFE! SUN SAFETY ACTIVITIES
Slathering the sunscreen on children provides opportunities to talk to the children about the importance of protecting their skin from the sun. Try the activities below to further promote sun safety.
Hats for our Health
Gather a collection of hats, including play hats such as construction hats, fireman hats and have the children sort the hats into winter hats and summer hats, etc. Discuss how some hats protect better than others (cover ears, etc.) Read a children's story about hats such as Old Hat, New Hat by Stan Berenstain
Sunglasses Galore
Collect a number of sunglasses from the dollar store. Have the children sort them by colour, size, etc. Look for pictures in magazines, catalogues and flyers of people wearing sunglasses. Let them cut the pictures and glue on paper to make a collage.
Play in the Shade
Take children to an outside area where there is both sun and shade. Walk from one area to another and talk about the differences in how the space looks (darker or lighter) and feels (warmer or cooler). Play a game where you call out "shade" or "sun" and have the children stand in the sun or shade.
Sun Safety Song
(sung to Old MacDonald Had a Farm)
I am sun safe all day long, ee ii ee ii oo
I wear sunscreen on my body, ee ii ee ii oo
With sunscreen here (touch your leg), and sunscreen there (touch your arm)
Here is sunscreen, there is sunscreen, everywhere is sunscreen
I am sun safe all day long, ee ii ee ii oo
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WEE WATCH
105 Main Stree
Unionville, Ontario L3R 2G1
905-479-4274 ; 1-800-663-6072
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