A Place to Grow Childcare
West Front Street K0K 3E0 Stirling, ON, Canada

Why play or read in the playroom when you can read on your tummy in the middle of the kitchen?! #gowiththeflow #encouragingliteracy #toddlersareweird

Why play or read in the playroom when you can read on your tummy in the middle of the kitchen?! #gowiththeflow #encouragingliteracy #toddlersareweird

Engaged, exploring, and learning #thisishomechildcare #littlelambshomedaycare

Today’s Invitation to Play! Brought to you by coloured rice discovered on Pinterest, mini dinosaurs from our current obsession this week, and a quick raid of my play kitchen bin and craft tubs! COVID protocols don’t allow fo group sensory activities right now but they don’t stop the fun and exploration! What will we create today?! #licensedchildcare #thisishomechildcare #playbasedlearning #toddleractivities #sensorybins #invitationtoplay #letthemplay #littlelambshomedaycare #stirlingchildcare #daycare #openendedplay #childledlearning

I am emailing tax receipts out now. Thank you for your patience! I will have hard copies available with my signature that you can pick up or have mailed to you, just let me know. If you notice any discrepancies please message me ASAP; I’ve double-checked them but sometimes the coffee doesn’t quite cut it!

The boys wanted a picture of their matching paw patrol shirts with Henry the honorary paw patrol pup We tried

Teaching them young to share! L is only 20 months old and sharing so sweetly with 14 month old J, showing her how to make the toys fit down the slide. It’s lovely to see such young friendships start to develop

It’s a Fort-building kind of morning!

Leaves and puddles and chili oh my! Loving the first days of fall!

Update: Despite schools apparently changing their policies (again!) we are still not accepting children with ANY symptoms. Children must be symptom-free for 24 hours with no meds given before they can come back to daycare, regardless of a negative test. Toddlers are not required to wear masks and they can’t be expected to distance from others. If my own family gets sick I need to shut down completely until we are all 24 hours symptom-free. Yes, it sucks. Trust me, I know..., and I’m certainly feeling the financial pinch of empty spaces. BUT if we continue to exclude until symptom-free we will all miss less days overall than passing germs back and forth between sick kids, on top of me having to close completely for colds to run their course through my guys. I’m sorry I don’t have better news. Please keep me posted on your kids’ health and be honest in your electronic screening every morning. I will be sending sick kids home if necessary. I hope we can all make it through this as best we can! See more

Schedule Change! Thanks to my amazing flexible clients! I am now OPEN next Friday Sept 25 CLOSED Friday Oct 2!

IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATES: Over the weekend, Public Health has updated the protocols for students and staff presenting with signs of COVID-19, at home or at school. The frameworks and flowcharts below will replace those previously shared. Updated: September 14, 2020

Hi everybody! Well, September has hit and with it the first colds of the season! This is new, uncharted territory for all of us and there are no easy answers. Public Health guidelines are also changing constantly as cases start to rise again across Ontario. SO. As of right now, if your child has a minor cold ONLY (clear runny nose, sneezing, cough from nasal drip) they must stay home until 24 hours symptom free. BUT if it’s a minor cold only, they can avoid a COVID test. ... IF their symptoms get worse (cough, fever, coloured snot, sore throat, vomiting or diarrhea, etc) then they do need a test and can’t return to care until a negative result AND 24 hours symptom free. IF their symptoms require a test but you would rather they don’t receive one, they must stay home for 14 days and symptom free. Little Lambs is allowing providers to set their own sick policies. This is something I’ve struggled with a lot. I want to be fair but I also need to keep my doors open. There is no right answer. Going forward, I’ve decided to ask for 50% of fees for sick time and time spent at home waiting for test results. However, should you choose to forgo a test and isolate for 14 days, full fees will apply. I feel that this is fair and hopefully you will too. If there are any concerns at all, please feel free to reach out and discuss with me on an individual basis. I will attempt to fill any sick days with other children to avoid charging at all, but that isn’t always possible. Stay healthy!

It’s a beautiful morning for some backyard fun! Then inside for homemade chilli for lunch to warm us up for naptime!

Set-up started for this week! The small world area has mountains, hills, small safari animals and dinosaurs! The favourite parking garage has stayed out, but I’ve added wooden branch blocks and pattern blocks to construct with. These can also be added to the sensory table, which has lots of open-ended construction fun! #homechildcare #licensedhomechildcare #openendedplay #childledplay #childcareduringcovid

Important dates coming up! Monday Sept 7-closed for stat holiday Friday Sept 25-closed for PA day (no pay due) Monday Oct 12-closed for stat holiday... As of now, I don’t have any other dats booked off until Christmas. If that needs to change, I will let everyone know ASAP. Please send me what availability you would like to see over Christmas so I can take it into account when finalizing my holiday schedule.

All set up for my younger crew tomorrow as the big kids go off to school and younger siblings start care! Gears, animals, a new (easily sanitized) dollhouse, cars and their parking garage, baby dolls and our favourite play kitchen.

We have some kiddos leaving daycare for school, so we celebrated with a special ice cream treat! We have some pretty thrilled kiddos over here!

A message to all my clients! After going around in circles for weeks, Jon and I have decided to send our 4 older kids back to school in-person. I understand this could bring up a few concerns. I will have 4 kids at 3 different schools, and 2 taking a bus. Only my older 2 are required to wear masks. This could increase your family’s risk of coming into contact with germs and sicknesses. However, if I were to remote school them, I still have 9 daycare children from 8 different...Continue reading

I love starting siblings of my kiddos! Welcome to baby L on her very first day; she’s doing great!

Oh, boys what do 6 little boys decide to do as soon as I tell them the playroom is cleaned up enough?? Organize an elaborate game of floor is lava of course!

Reminder that Jon is in charge for me tomorrow morning while I take Josephine back to the paediatrician! Thanks to my clients for being flexible! (And I’m sure they’ll have more fun with him anyways!)

We had a wonderful morning going on a walk, exploring under the tree canopies at the old school, finding some prickly plants and being very careful not to touch them, and enjoying a delicious curry lunch!

We celebrated my son’s birthday today with a backyard bbq and special cupcakes! He loves having his friends to play everyday

Today at work, a child fell and scraped his knee. He came to me instantly- scared and upset- wrapping his arms around me while crying. We snuggled while we talk...ed about what happened, and then i saw his bloody knee that had been pressed against my leg as we hugged. When he lifted his head off my shoulder, my arm was covered in his drool and his tears. This is Childcare, even during a pandemic. When people call us the frontline it’s because we are working on the floor directly with kids 3 years old and under. Kids who can’t control their emotions or their bodily fluid. We wipe their tears and their blood before we consider the risk because they need us. We haven’t been able to social distance since we opened, we just have a mask which is really just protecting them. I haven’t heard many ECE’s complain since we’ve been back on the frontline back in April. We just keep moving forward with our work because the kids need us and this is our role. Earlier before the blood, drool and tears covered my body, I was applying sunscreen to 5 different children. Their hands touch my skin while i apply their sunscreen, they talk to me while I’m helping them and often times they spit while they talk. Then one child actually sneezed on me and another child. We’re not protected from that type of hazard either because we work face to face with kids who can’t control these types of scenarios. Sure it’s gross, sure we worry about where they’ve been or where their families have been when hundreds of their droplets cover my arm, but my coworkers and i still go to work and do what we can to protect ourselves and others. We change diapers and wipe bums all day long, sanitize and wipe down toilets between uses, clean up after their lunch and snacks, rub their backs to help them fall asleep, wipe their faces, clean their scrapes and ouchies, and read to them while they sit across our body. Schools obviously may have many more children to worry about, but the kids in childcare are young and dependent on us for almost everything. They sit on us and directly in front of us, we’re touched all day long and sometimes see 4 different types of bodily fluid in a day. Just today, I had blood, drool, and tears on me before 10am. While everyone is worried about schools opening and being safe, I’d like to recognize my coworkers and fellow Early Childhood Educators who have also been putting themselves at risk every day doing their jobs all throughout this global pandemic. A lot of my coworkers are scared, stressed, and unsure what to do some days, but they show up anyways and face these hazards head on so parents can go to work and their child can have a safe and nurturing place to thrive in This post is written & owned by Kristen Nixon

If they don't try a bite or eat this food, I'm failing... are you? No, I don't think you are. In fact, I think you are doing a great job if you let them choose ...- the problem comes in the second slide (swipe) where we get up and make kids a second meal. No, they don't have to eat it, but also no, we don't have to be short order cooks. If you need more help with feeding your child, I have a free 14 page feeding guide in my link. Do you find this rings true for you? #kidseatincolor

Ok! Sept-December schedules are sorted out! If I haven’t texted you to confirm days please let me know! I am completely FULL and trying to juggle a lot of schedules so please remember the following: -if you are scheduled for school hours I am fine to do pickup/drop off at the school but the space is school hours ONLY, I can not accommodate earlier or later days -if you are scheduled for B/A school, I cannot accommodate full days. If you bring your child on a snow day (with ca...ncelled buses) your child will be walked to/from school by my older kids, as the stroller won’t be able to make it. -I am closed for all PA days (whenever we get one, as most have been moved to the beginning of the school year) -if you know your child will not be in care on a scheduled day in advance, please let me know as soon as possible. I can probably fill the day and then won’t need to charge you -if you would like to change your schedule, please let me know as soon as you do! I will do my best to accommodate but again, I am compelling full every day so I can’t guarantee any switches! -my sick policies will change/be updated as public health dictates, please stay tuned for info on that! As of now, sick days that I can’t fill need to be paid for, but that will depend on what symptoms I need to exclude for. Please be patient while I wait to see if public health will change the current policy (which states that any COVID symptom, including a runny nose, means the child must not attend care). When I know more, I will pass that on. Any questions, send me a message! See more

Ready for the week! My 5yo son has kindly agreed to share his coveted Octonauts toys this week. I’ve set up multiple areas for open-ended building and construction, the favourite Octonauts and Paw Patrol, the staple play kitchen for imaginative play, and the doll centre for some of my older kiddos who have been all about creating elaborate stories and adventures recently. No, we can’t have a lot of our favourite wooden, cloth, or handmade toys, and yes, there’s more commercial plastic toys in here than I’ve ever allowed, but the kiddos are happy and engaged and lots of creativity and imagination is definitely being used! #licensedchildcare #homechildcare #covidsafe #letthemplay #earlyyears #openendedplay #littlelambshomedaycare

Yes, it’s true that Kindergarten has transformed into First Grade. Yes, children will need to learn academics, listen and sit still. But that certainly doesn’t ...mean that these lessons should be straight-jacketed onto them in the toddler and preschool years. In fact, the funneling down of structured learning is all the more reason to let children play while they can. We must fiercely protect this precious, ever shrinking window of time for our children. More in Don't Let Your Preschoolers Forget How to Play: https://www.janetlansbury.com//dont-let-your-preschoolers/ Play is enough. Play is enough. Play is enough. This should be our educational mantra for the first 5 years.