If you are looking for some fund raising ideas for your daycare here is a great opportunity from Discovery Toys.

Discovery Toys has a unique program for Daycares, Early Years Centres, Schools and Home Daycares called the “Helping Hands Toyraiser”. Utica Community Daycare is currently participating in this from now until May 10th, and will be raising approximately $4000, with 100% of the funds going towards brand new educational toys for the school.

The idea is parents get involved in the fundraising, entire families get involved, to help classrooms that would not otherwise have the funding or budgets to buy new toys. The program runs for approx 1.5-2 weeks, with one day designated for a display area for parents to browse & learn about the products. At the end, the school makes a ‘wish list’ for toys they really want and the funds raised from the parents & families involved in the school go towards that school or classroom receiving brand new toys. In addition, DT offers 100% warranty and will replace broken toys at no cost to the school.

DT Durham is able to do approximately 2-4 Toyraisers per month. For interested daycares, please refer them to us via the links below and we can absolutely work with their school one-on-one and make that BIG delivery of brand new toys happen for them!

For more info contact Kerie L McAfee
Discovery Toys Durham
Email: durhamtoymom@gmail.com
Tel: 905-409-1554

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Spring is finally here and the nice weather too! We have been spending as much time as we can outside and I’m always looking for fun things to do with the kids. Here’s a recipe to make your our chalk. Have fun!

Make it Yourself Chalk

1 cup Plaster of Paris
1/2 cup cold water
Candy or popsicle molds
Tempera Paint (powdered is best)
Combine Plaster of Paris, water and tempera paint. The amount
of tempera you add will determine how dark the colored chalk will be.
Pour the mixture into candy or popsicle molds and let dry. Take the chalk out of the molds and use for drawing on the sidewalk. This chalk will be most effective right after taking out of the molds.

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Do your kids like to bowl? We joined a FREE bowling program last summer and my kids really enjoyed it. They are offering it again this year. Your kids can bowl up to two games per day for FREE from June 28th to September 5th at participating bowling alleys. You just have to pay for your shoe rental. They even have a great deal for parents/guardians too. For more details check out Kids Bowl Free

One of the things I love about winter is using my crockpot to make yummy stews and pot roasts too. I am always looking for new easy crockpot recipes. Don’t even know if there is such a thing as a hard crockpot recipe LOL. I love the fact that you can just throw everything in the pot, plug it in, turn it on and voila you have dinner.

I’m putting you all to the test. I’m asking everyone to email me your favourite crockpot recipe and I will post one crockpot recipe each week. Come on people let’s see what we can stir up. Please email me your recipe to info@durhamregiondaycare.com

Happy Eating!

Tamara

My 2.5-year-old, Lucy, goes to a wonderful home daycare three days a week, spends one day with her Nana (my Mom), and one special Lucy-Mama-House-Day.

We try to either get out for some shopping or lunch or special snack (she loves “Hortons” for a muffin!) or do a craft together.

The Internet is a goldmine of arts and crafts sites, and I’ve shared our favourites on a new links page called Crafts & Blogs. Check them out!

MaryP’s recent craft post on making trees using all the beautiful falling leaves inspired Lucy and I’s creation yesterday. My tree trunk and sky aren’t as pretty as hers, but we love it just the same!

Oh, the excruciating process of interviewing childcare providers. In our search for home, or “family”, care for Lucy, I interviewed more than a dozen providers either in person or on the phone.

(I’ve been writing about Lucy and our family’s wonderful (and sometimes wacky and sad) childcare searches and experiences — with Daycare Debbie, Julia and Shelby — for years. Read it here.)

Although absolutely necessary when looking for the special person (or centre) to be, almost, your surrogate, it doesn’t make it any less stressful.

Just like interviewing for a job, one of the most helpful tips I read about before beginning the search was to be prepared and know exactly the questions to ask a potential provider.

There’s a wealth of information for parents online, often broken down by type of childcare, too. Here are our favourites:

• About Kids Health (from the Hospital for Sick Children): Questions to ask for infant/toddler care, preschool care, and school-age before-/after-school care
• Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services: Childcare choices and questions
• CBC news in-depth on daycare: Questions parents should ask
• BC Health Guide on choosing childcare: Questions, plus how to decide between a home and centre
• The search is on: A lengthy but worthwhile read from the Brantford Expositor

Any favourite sites or resources to share? Leave ‘em below!