Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

  We have a number of young children who are going to become big brothers or sisters for the first or second time over the next couple of months.  We have been reading a number of books about new babies and we have been practicing holding and caring for our baby dolls. As a home based childcare professional- I work with a number of families and young children as they prepare for new little ones to come into their lives. One of the biggest things I have found to help children as they become siblings is to give them an opportunity to mimic and care for their own little one.  Through children's pretend play - they work to make sense of the world, and they have an opportunity to practice and to learn. Sometimes older siblings are still too young to be able to help with all of the tasks of taking care of a real baby, but giving them a baby doll to practice with helps them fell as though they are more of a part of what is going on. One of the easiest and simple sensory table experiences ...

This fall has brought with it major changes to the composition of our childcare home. This summer- we were quite busy with a number of school-aged children. When they went back to school - we enrolled a couple of new families and welcomed back some of our younger children who had taken the summer off.   All of our infants have also grown and reached the stage in development where they have become mobile and are ready for more exploration! We are all born ready to learn and explore! Here is a simple create I made to give the children HOURS of exploration fun! I took a cardboard box (this one had holes in it already, but you could put holes in any box) and a plastic basket and I taped them together to make a ramp.  The box is closed at the top of the ramp, but I opened it and taped the sides at the bottom.  The children have spent HOURS exploring this contraption. I filled the white basket with ball pit balls  ...

Babies need to beat the heat too!  Sometimes working with infants and toddlers can be challenging,  as they have trouble reaching up and into most sensory tables.  You also have to be careful and monitor them for more safety issues,  where you definitely don't want the water to be too deep.  Here is our favorite, tried and true infant (and toddler.... and preschool.... and school aged)  sponge water table to help beat the heat! We use an under the washing machine tub, I think we spent about $10 on ours at a local hardware store. Then, we fill it with 1" thick craft foam. Ours is in 4 pieces that are cut to fit perfectly in the tub. (You do not need to have individual pieces,  we just happened to have this foam already in smaller pieces. One large piece would work just as well). Then.... all you need to do is add cold water and a little bit of soap for bubbles (optional). The children seem to like the bubb...