Christmas Family Fun

Christmas is a time of year when families can get together and have some fun! Check out these fun Christmas ideas for some family fun time this holiday season!

1. Go on a Holiday Light Tour-This can be driving to a drive thru light show or simply driving around neighborhoods looking at all of the decorations.

2. Wreath Making-Everybody loves a festive wreath! Take the kids outside for a quick winter walk to gather evergreen branches and pine cones, trim some from the bottom of your Christmas tree or just buy some at the store.

3. Christmas Movies-Spend an afternoon or evening watching Christmas movies or spread out your movie marathon over the course of a week. Let each family member choose a favorite holiday flick to watch with the family.

4. Hot Chocolate Bar-Make some yummy hot chocolate and buy various toppings like marshmallows, whip cream, and crushed candy canes.  Everyone can add what they like to make their own special hot chocolate.

5. Christmas Cookie Decorating-Make various shapes of sugar cookies and have everyone decorate cookies.  Have Christmas music playing in the background to bring in the holiday cheer! 

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

This week all of our little ones got to decorate our school Christmas tree with the ornaments they made in their classrooms.  We saw mittens, Christmas trees with faces on them, snowflakes, and bulbs filled with colorful pom poms and ribbon.  We topped it all off with a Santa hat on top!

Let's Play!

Dramatic play can be defined as a type of play where children accept and assign roles, and then act them out. It is a time when they break through the walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, and dramatize situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play. And while this type of play may be viewed as frivolous by some, it remains an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing children to develop skills in such areas as abstract thinking, literacy, math, and social studies, in a timely, natural manner.

We experience dramatic play everyday here at the Academy of Cool Springs! Check out how we play!

Comforting the baby at the store.

Little Construction Worker

Super cute!

Putting the fire out!

A day in the life of an infant

Here at The Academy of Cool Springs, we stay busy with growing, learning, and playing.  Check out some of our infants as they grow, learn, and play everyday!

Fine Motor is the Name of this Game

Fine motor skills are those that involve a refined use of the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb. With the development of these skills, a child is able to complete important tasks such as writing, feeding oneself, buttoning and zippering. These abilities gradually develop through experience and exposure to a variety of toys, materials and even foods.

Why is fine motor skill development important? Little hands need to develop dexterity and strength. We, as parents or caregivers, can help this process by encouraging children to play, explore and interact with a variety of items. Toys, clothing fasteners, safe scissors and play dough are all tactile examples of practices that facilitate fine motor development. Even doing age appropriate tasks in the kitchen are great ways to help build fine motor skills. These types of “play” activities and manipulation skills will actually help prepare a child to hold and use a crayon. The ability to do so is the first step in learning to color, draw and ultimately write.

Take a look at our Toddler Two class practicing their fine motor skills by sticking feathers into a colander. 

The red one goes right here!

I've got this!

This looks like the perfect spot!

Here we go!

Mixing It Up with Colors

Introducing toddlers and preschoolers to the concept of primary and secondary colors can be a lot of fun.  Simply showing them how, when mixed together, two colors create an entirely different color, often elicits a response similar to that of someone witnessing a magic trick and pairing a few easy activities with this color mixing printable is the perfect way to introduce your littlest learners to this little bit of early childhood magic.

Our Toddler Two class had a lot of fun mixing two separate colors to make one new color.  They squeezed different colors together in a bag and watched in amazement as the two became one new color.

Halloween 2018

We had such a fun Halloween here at The Academy of Cool Springs!  We all dressed up and had a fun trick or treat costume parade around the school.  We got a lot of yummy treats and then enjoyed some extra special treats in the afternoon for our parties!