Hello to our wonderful Daisy Hill Early Learning Centre families!
The months are flying by, the centre has been a flurry of exciting activity and welcoming new families.
From the Office
We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all families for their support and understanding during the recent Covid-19 restrictions and challenging times we have all faced. It has been overwhelming to receive so much gratitude from our beautiful families.
Welcome to all of our new families that are commencing care in July/August and are beginning the orientation process. We are so happy that you are here and cannot wait to make memories with your children.
Please contact the office if your child/children will not be attending.
House Keeping
- Please ensure that your children’s belongings are clearly labelled.
- All children are to wear a hat in our outdoor environment, please enquire at the front office about a Daisy Hill ELC hat if you would like, otherwise a hat from home must come with your child everyday.
- Please remember at least one jumper for your child in this colder weather.
Have Your Say!
We need your feedback! Good, bad or ugly…we want to hear it. The only way we can make our service strong is to ensure that the needs of our children and families are met. Please arrange a time to see me if you have something you would like to discuss, our door is always open.
Sensory Play: Activities for your Child
Sensory play has been around since the beginning of time and often occurs naturally for young children, many parents voice confusion about what exactly sensory play is and how it can benefit their child.
What is sensory play?
Sensory play is a type of play that activates and stimulates a child’s senses. Often, sensory play focuses on stimulating touch, sight, and hearing as those senses are most accessible.
When children are very young, they interact with the world primarily through the five senses (touching, tasting, hearing, seeing and smelling). Of course, as your active toddler will help you see, they also engage in the world through movement and balance.
What are the benefits of sensory play?
The first 3 years of life are a time of rapid growth and development for a child. As children grow from infants to toddlers to preschoolers they are able to take in vast amounts of information and turn it into working knowledge about the world.
Sensory play ideas and activities
Sensory play can be loads of fun and is often fairly simple to set up, but it can be difficult for parents to think of ideas to help their child engage in sensory activities. Check out the list below for simple sensory play ideas that your toddler or preschooler will love!
Play dough
Recipes abound for making your own dough using household supplies and even adding colors and scents.
If you’re not interested in making your own sensory dough, consider heading to your local big box store and picking up some premade dough. Play dough’s soft and squishy texture ensures that your child will enjoy hours of rolling, slicing, and chopping as they play.
Balance beam
You can always head to the local park for some balance beam play, but you can work on the same skills at home with some painter’s or masking tape. Simply tape lines onto the floor and challenge your kiddo to walk the line.
Calming bottles
When the world feels out of control to a little one, it’s normal and natural for them to become overwhelmed and to act out their big feelings. If you’re looking for a way to help calm down your little one when those big feelings hit a calming bottle can help.
To create a calming bottle you’ll just need an old water bottle, water, clear glue, some food dye, and some glitter. To create, simply fill the bottle with water mixed with the clear glue and then add a few drops of food dye and a few shakes of glitter before gluing the lid shut.
Mud kitchen
If you love the idea of cooking with your child but would prefer to keep the mess outdoors, consider letting them set up a mud kitchen and create recipes from whatever they can find in nature.
Offer them a few pots and pans, some water and a mixing spoon and you’ll be surprised at how long they can happily bake mud cakes!
Painting through plastic
Another mess-free way to help kids get a sense of colors and to feel some squish between their fingers is to allow them to paint through plastic.
To create a mess-free painting, simply slip a piece of paper with a few blobs of paint on it into a gallon Ziploc bag and seal it up. After your little one has spent some time squishing the paint together through the plastic wall of the bag you’ll have both a masterpiece to hang up and a tired toddler to show for it.
Frozen toys
Teaching a child about hot and cold can be a tough lesson but, with a little bit of ice and some miniature toys your babe will have a blast exploring these sensations on their own.
To create a frozen toy activity simply freeze some miniature toys (like action figures) into ice and then let your baby manipulate the ice with their hands until the objects are free. You can also provide kid-friendly tools to chip the ice and warmer water to melt the ice.
