Fun With Dinosaurs!

December Parent Resource Information

It's holiday time! It’s holiday time! A fun & easy holiday activity you can do with your child is a candy train craft. Here is what you will need: hot glue gun (adults only), a roll of hard candy (like Lifesavers), 4 wrapped peppermint candies, a wrapped caramel, & a wrapped chocolate kiss.
· Using the hot glue gun, glue four wrapped peppermint candies to a roll of candy; the peppermint candies are the wheels of the train.
· Glue a wrapped caramel to the top, at one end of the train. Glue a wrapped chocolate kiss on top of that.
· To use the train as a tree ornament, glue a small length of string to the top of the train.

Did you know a high percentage of serious poisonings in children occur in grandparents’ homes or when grandparents visit? Ingesting heart or diabetes medication-even one pill-can be life threatening to a child. Here are a few things you can do to guard against potential poisoning:
~Keep all medications up high, out of sight, out of reach & locked up.
~Make sure you put your medication away as soon as you use it.
~ Be sure there’s nothing poisonous in the trash that children can find and ingest.
~Guard against look-alike poisoning, which occurs when pills look like candy or liquid poisons look like drinks.
~Store poisons away from food or drinks.

November Parent Resource Information

The holidays are right around the corner. A time for getting together with loved ones for meals and fun. How are your child’s table manners? Do you want your child to exhibit social graces, charm and respect at the next holiday gathering or family dinner? Children who grow up without learning respect and tolerance, as well as how to act in social settings, are at greater risk of not being successful as adults in work settings and at social events. Parents, teachers and providers can team together to start teaching and reinforcing appropriate manners now and in time to impress even Great-Grandpa at the next family dinner.

Some tips for teaching manners to your child are:

Respect! Children must first be taught about respect for their parents, for their friends and family, and for themselves.

Appropriate mealtime child manners should be taught as soon as a child begins eating at the table.
Kids don’t automatically know what is expected or know what is considered right or wrong, and without adult guidance, some kids grow into adults who also don’t know basic rules at mealtimes.

Praise your children when they exhibit appropriate good child manners; remind them and reinforce positive behaviors when they don’t.

The time to teach value is now! Teach the children the importance of generosity, kindness and community involvement.

Set the example! Don’t expect your children to exhibit child manners if you don’t serve as a positive role model yourself.

All of the above information was taken from http://www.about.com/.

Here is a fun Thanksgiving/Fall snack recipe you could make with your children.

Turkey Tracks Snack Recipe
· Crackers
· Cheese spread or softened cream cheese
· Crunchy chow mein noodles
Spread the crackers with cheese, then arrange chow mein noodles atop each one to resemble a 3-toed turkey footprint.

October Parent Resource Information & Halloween Pictures

Did you know that Dakota County Libraries offer Baby Storytime (for infants to 24 mos.) every other Tuesday and Family Storytime (for children of all ages) every Wednesday? There is a Pajamarama Family Storytime and a Spanish Storytime offered also. Call your local library for days and times. On Monday, Nov. 9th at 7:00 P.M., Wentworth Library in West St. Paul (651-554-6800) will be hosting "Run, Yell & Tell". This is a program on stranger danger/child safety presented by Missing Children Minnesota. There is a lot of good ideas for teaching children what to do when they are approached by someone they do not know.


Save up to 50% on your monthly groceries with Fare For All Express! Purchase prepared bags of food containing fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. Check the following website for dates, times & for a location near you: http://www.fareforall.org/.


Here are a couple of fun Halloween/Fall recipes you can make with your children.

Yummy Pumpkin Dip
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened1 large 30-ounce can of pumpkin4 cups powdered sugar2 teaspoons cinnamon2 teaspoons ginger
Whip together and serve in hollowed out small pumpkin, a plate covered with black licorice "worms" or any Halloween candy such as candy corn. On the side place ginger snaps for dipping.

Green Ghoul Punch
1/2 gallon limeade1 liter ginger ale1/2 gallon lime sherbert
Mix together juice & ginger ale. Scoop sherbert and add to punch. Add marshmallows & maraschino cherries to float in punch.

PB & Jack O Lantern
Two slices of bread, cut out a pumpkin face from one using a large jack-o-lantern cookie cutter (or use a knife). On the other slice spread the peanut butter and the honey or jam.




PHOTOS OF OUR HALLOWEEN FUN!

Visit from the West St. Paul fire station

Child Care Openings

We now have openings in our child care program ages 6 weeks through 12 years old!

Savings!-Once you become a family at our center and you refer our program to others you may receive a $50.00 credit to your tuition account after the family you referred has had their child(ren) in our program for 30 days.

September Parent Resource Information

Need a few ideas for packing your child's lunch, so they will actually eat it! Here are a few suggestions.

• Learn what your child likes to eat.
• Try a larger variety of foods in the lunch, but smaller portions of them.
• Let them help! Let them help you pick out food at the grocery store, give you their ideas/favorites, and help you pack the lunch.
• Once in a while pack a lunchbox surprise, such as a note or a sticker. it will let your child know that you are thinking of them and put a smile on their face during their lunchtime.

Child Care Program-Fun in the Summer

We now have openings for our child care program for ages 6 weeks through 12 years. We have some special activities planned for the summer. Here is our 13 Weeks of Summer 2009 calendar.

• June 8-12/Pirates and Treasures (resource event: Pirate Jump, Fri. June 12th)




• June 15-19/Books, Music, and More (resource event: Reading Ranger, Tues. June 16th)

• June 22-26/Things to do in MN (field trip: MN Children's Museum by bus, Thurs. June 25th)




• June 29-July 2/The Red, White and Blue (ice cream social, Mon. June 29th 3:00-5:00 P.M.)

• July 6-10/Sea, Sand and Sandcastles (resource event: Under Water World "Oceans 101", Fri. July 10th)







• July 13-17/Going to the Carnival (carnival at Tiny Tots, Wed. July 15th)




• July 20-24/Under Construction (field trip: The Works Museum by bus, Thurs. July 23rd)



• July 27-31/From Farm to Market (resource event: Walton's Petting Zoo, Tues. July 28th)
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  

• August 3-7/Moon, Sun and Stars (making suncatchers at Tiny Tots)

• August 10-14/In the Garden (field trip: Caponi Art Park by bus, Fri. Aug. 14th)




• August 17-21/Busy Bees and Butterflies (walking field trip to Thompson Park, Tues. Aug. 18th)

• August 24-28/Let's Get Wet (sprinkler fun at Tiny Tots)

• August 31-September 4/Picnic in the Park (free lunch at Tiny Tots)

Check out the special school age activities for the summer in addition to the fun events listed above!

• Camp Smiles (arts & crafts, sports, science & engineering)-2 every week



• Thompson Park naturalist events-2 every month



• Computer & Music classes-every Monday



• Fun outings to: Wentworth library, movie theater, Dairy Queen, Museums, Chuck E. Cheese, local parks, and much more!

Parent Resource Information

Looking for something to do as a family this summer? Here are a few ideas.

• The Dakota County Fair in Farmington, MN is August 10th-16th. The admission is $5.00 for an adult, $2.00 for ages 6-12 years, and $2.00 for seniors. There are food vendors, barns with animals to pet, a free entertainment stage, information/safety vendors such as police officers, and much more! Check it out!
• The MN Children's Museum is free to all ages (adults & children) the third Sunday of every month. This is a very fun and educational place to visit.

Beaches aren't just for swimming! Try collecting some items and making an art project. Collect some sand and seashells. Take a plastic bottle (12 ounce size or smaller), pour the sand in, add seashells, and then add some water. You can add some other items such as glitter and food coloring. The bottle will look like an ocean when lying down sideways. You can also glue the top on to prevent spills.

In addition, you can collect seashells and paint them!

Summer often means going to the beach, a lake, or swimming in a pool. It is very important to discuss safety while in or around water with your children. Visit http://www.usa.safekids.org/ for information and tips on this topic.

Summer & Fall 2009 Preschool Program Openings

Join us for our summer preschool program. There are two sessions to choose from or join us for both! The first session is June 15th-July 16th (no school during June 29th week). The classes are Mondays & Wednesdays from 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($110.00 for a 4 week session) OR Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($110.00 for a 4 week session) OR all 4 days Monday through Thursday 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($175.00 for a 4 week session). The second session is July 27th-August 20th. The classes are Mondays & Wednesdays from 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($110.00 for a 4 week session) OR Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($110.00 for a 4 week session) OR all 4 days Monday through Thursday 9:00-11:30 A.M. ($175.00 for a 4 week session).

Our Fall preschool program will begin on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009. We will be having an open house on Monday, August 31st from 4:00-6:00 P.M. Please join us! Call us for more information at 651/457-0042.