Author: seasonsfamilycentre

ABC’s

It’s that time of year….back to school and therefore our Tiny Tots are back to learning their letters! Our tots are wee guys, but that’s the perfect time to start with an introduction to letters! We pick one letter a week and focus on it, we expose the tots to the letter in our morning circle and then base our fine motor activity on the letter as well. For some of our little guys, it’s their first time being exposed to the alphabet and others are grasping letter concepts. It is believed that children who can quickly recognize letters have an easier time learning their letter sounds. For other great resources on how to teach letter recognition, check out http://www.proudtobeprimary.com Here are a few examples of some of the art we’ve made for A, B and C 🙂

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The tiny tots whipped these chewy, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies in about 20 minutes. Baking with kids is a great way for them to learn about counting and numbers. To avoid big messes we have them sit at the table in their booster seats and bring all the ingredients to the table. Then they each get a turn and thus we are also working on our waiting our turn. All great skills for the tots to learn about. I got the recipe from here, I have also pasted it below. We added 3/4 cup of raisins too! Happy baking! Ingredients: 1/2C unsalted butter, softened 1/2C granulated sugar 1/2C light brown sugar 1 large egg 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 3/4C all purpose flour 1 1/2C old fashioned oats 3/4C chocolate chips, plus extra for topping Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together …

Easy Craft for Toddlers!

  Learning through artistic play is a great way to teach toddlers about a variety of topics. This rainbow craft is a super, easy craft to do with kids. All you need to do for prep is cut a variety of colours of construction paper and print out an outline of a rainbow. We used gluesticks as it’s less messy and we’re working with lots of little hands at one time. If you’re doing this craft one on one, white glue and a popsicle stick is also a great way to work on fine motor skills and learn about colours. As research has proven children learn best through play and that definitely includes artistic play. In our tiny tot program we do a lot of our teaching through artistic forms, art is a fantastic medium for teaching about colours, numbers, shapes and letter recognition. Visit our post on how toddlers can learn through artistic play for more information.  

How To Make a Popcorn Bar!

This past weekend we hosted a pizza/movie night birthday at Seasons Family Centre in the Annex, which was a very low key and super easy birthday (if you’re looking for ideas). The kids almost made it through the whole movie (which was close to 2 hours) and therefore made for an easy, calm and almost quiet birthday! We made a little popcorn bar, which didn’t take much set-up and the kids loved it. All you need is a bin for the popcorn and some smaller ones for candies. Visit your trusty dollar store for most of the supplies, we also purchased the popcorn boxes there. Print out some fancy looking labels and voila you’ve got yourself a Popcorn bar. If you’re not into the mess and the work, just visit our Birthday Page and give us a call, we’ll host your next Popcorn Ball

Unicorns!

Not sure when these fantastic, mythical creatures made such a roaring comeback, maybe they never left in the first place! We’ve been asked to do several unicorn themed birthdays and events lately and I thought would share some of the pics for inspiration. All our cupcakes and cookies were made on site at Seasons Family Centre in the Annex. If you’re not up for baking or hosting your own birthday – visit our Birthday Page for more information on how we can help you!  

Woodland Fairy Party

Seasons Family Centre hosted an adorable Woodland Fairy Party for a special little girl this past Sunday. The children made Fairy crowns and decorated cupcakes. The crowns were a big hit, we had two different versions, one with flowers and one with leaves, to appeal to everyone! Check out our pictures below for inspiration or maybe you prefer to call have us host your next party! Feel free to visit our Birthday Page for more information on having your next party with us!

Vegan Lasagna

Soooo since I’m on a roll with the vegan recipes, I thought I would try out another one. Honest truth about this one, it takes a looooonnnnng time to make, like I’m talking from start to finish about 3 hours. I did it in stages which I actually think it made it feel longer because I was constantly in the kitchen. However, it was completely worth it, it was absolutely delicious and even tasted like cheese, so much so that my 4 year old said “I really like the cheese” (haha – little did he know it was tofu). If you’ve got the time, check out the recipe here – it’s well worth it, I promise. I added a layer of eggplant to give it that meaty texture. I sliced the eggplant and lightly cooked it in olive oil before putting it in the lasagna.