Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

The weather has been absolutely amazing, I dare to say that today has been nothing short of perfect! We spent ALL morning outside, and we are going back out just as soon as we can. Our outdoor classroom has been in need of some touch ups after the winter,  and we are slowly making the necessary changes and repairs as time permits.  I have some great updates for you coming soon! This week, the children have been super active in creating forts and making traps.  The beauty of having so many loose parts and allowing children time to freely explore materials,   is the creativity and imagination that they express.....  I overheard one of the children saying "This is my house, so you can't live in it. But, if you like, you could sleep here tonight."  When the other child insisted on having a house... another pile of loose parts was constructed, and our yard magically transformed into a neighborhood.  Some of the houses even ...

(If you are looking for What Would You Do With It Wednesday, the post is ready and scheduled for this evening... So, stop back then! I was too excited about this fort fun we have been having to wait to post about it!) Earlier this week, I installed a hammock. I haven't looked into the regs to see if it can be used for the children during daycare hours yet, and I don't have any special material under it to create a proper "fall zone."  I really put the hammock up for Dane and I to use when the other children are not here.  However, when the children are here, I can pull the hammock as tight as possible, causing it to create a roof or umbrella shade for the children. I was really excited about having the hammock out- a sure sign of spring/summer, but he children had other ideas for it..... In not time at all, the "stage" (Our portable clothes rack with shower curtains) instantly became the door to a fort.  All of the sticks from the stick pile were brought ...

First off, if you know me well, you will know that the title of this post is not one of my own creation. The first clue for most of you would have been the quotes, and the second for those of you who know me would be the word "kids." After all, kids are baby goats.... "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" However, that is another post for another day! Today, we are going to look at an amazing thrift store find, at 56 cents this book rocks!!!  With all of the interest in building forts with our Fridays deemed as "Fun Fort Fridays" this was not an item to pass up! The book gives you a little bit of history on fort building and then goes into different types of forts and it even gives you practical tips on how to build them! It even gives you step by step instructions for lashing with photos.  The children have been studying the drawing illustrations carefully and making their own plans for spring/summer forts!  (The section on winter forts did not provide our friends w...

A couple of weeks ago, Dane decided that every Friday would be fort day. Lately, every day has been "Friday" The children have been highly engaged in building and creating forts of all kinds... This week's warm weather melted the snow enough to make it sticky and fun to form. It was perfect for using our "brick makers" to build a fort outside! The unusually warm weather allowed us to stay outside for quite sometime, but also prompted a fresh set of clothes when we did come in! Melting Snow = Water! Of course, we couldn't come inside until we were happy with the progress of our fort. I anticipate that the children will continue to work on this project as the weather permits. However today we are expecting "FLASH FREEZING" which could put a damper on building for some time, but at least we were able to form our structure in plenty of time for dropping temperatures to firm it up for us! When "fort day" was declared, we first opted to cover...