Over the past month, as part of our Help us Grow Mother’s Day Campaign, we have featured all five of our rooms in the Child Development Program. This post introduces you to the final room, The Snapdragons!
In these blog posts you have met the “Room Ambassadors”, learned what the infants or toddlers in that room do each day, and learned about some of the developmental skills they have been working on.
We hope you have enjoyed these blog posts!
Please share with friends and on social media with the hashtag #HelpYouvilleGrow
Watch our Snapdragons Bloom!
The children in the Snapdragon room range in age from 23 months to 3 years of age. As you can imagine, the Snapdragon room is quite busy and the children enjoy an exciting, active schedule. In the morning the children eat a nutritious snack in their room and enjoy some free play. Many of the Snapdragons are toilet training and during this time we practice our self help skills as well. Our Snapdragons are very interested in imaginative and dramatic play, and we incorporate stories and literacy into many of their adventures. Mid-morning they have art and/or sensory activities that are planned based on their current interests. If the weather is agreeable we often take these activities outdoors so we can maximize our use of the outdoor playground and fresh air. Outside we do a lot of gross motor activities including: running, climbing, racing, jumping, crouching, throwing, and catching to name a few.
After the children play outside, they eat lunch together in the children’s dining room and then they head back down to their room for a rest. Each child has a small cot to sleep on and the room stays dark and quiet with soft music that plays to help them relax. In the afternoon our Snapdragons enjoy more free play and another snack before they get picked up.
Some of the skills the Snapdragons are currently focused on are:
- Self-help — toileting routines, tidying their toys, putting on their shoes
- Attending to a task for a longer period of time — sitting at circle time in their own space, stopping at the waiting bench on their way in and out of the playground and dining room, looking for their photo on their chair when sitting at lunch, and staying in their seats until all of their friends are finished eating
- Communication — using words to communicate their feelings, talking about facial expressions and what emotions they might be conveying
- Literacy — recognizing what a word is in print, connecting words to stories, connecting their names to words
And so much more!
Meet the “Room Ambassadors”!
Chase
Chase is an active curious investigator, he loves to figure out how things work. He loves cars, planes, trains, bikes and pretty much anything with wheels that move. A favorite time for Chase is when we do art and sensory activities, he is always one of the first to want a turn, and can stay focused on a task for a long period of time; he particularly loves to create!
Liam
Liam is an active boy on the go, he loves to play outside and join in running games with his friends. He loves to push the stroller and pretend he is running to the bus stop, sometimes he says he is running because it is raining and he needs to get the baby there fast. He also loves to take care of the dolls and feed them; it’s not hard to tell he is a very involved big brother! Liam has lots of language and always has a fun story to share with his teachers, he shows a lot of empathy and if you so much as sneeze he will be sure to ask ‘Are you okay?’ Liam has been at Youville Centre since he was a Daffodil.
Help us Grow Mother’s Day Campaign:
(Click image to enlarge)
Our Help us Grow Mother’s Day Campaign has almost come to an end! Next week we will share our fundraising results, so if you’d like to be a part of this campaign, please consider giving online this week or this weekend, and we will include your donation in our final tally.
Thank you to our generous partners in this campaign!
Stay tuned to our blog as we’re not finished yet! We will be posting campaign results and showing pictures from some of the events and initiatives that have happened throughout the course of the campaign.
You can donate directly to Youville Centre by clicking here.
Thank you!
Up next…Campaign Results!