Cucumbers & Zucchini

Cucumbers are technically a type of fruit but because they are more savory than sweet they tend to be referred to as vegetables.  They are definitely the most popular 'vegetable' around here - almost all the past/present children love them.  Even the really picky eaters will usually eat cucumbers.  Salad haters will often eat the bits of cucumber from a salad and leave the rest.  Cucumbers are soft compared to other raw 'veggies' so toddlers find them easier to eat.

Zucchini - also technically a fruit - has proved to be a difficult 'veggie' to get the children to eat raw.  Personally I much prefer raw zucchini over cucumbers mostly because they have a very mild flavour.  I've wondered if that is why the children don't like zucchini.  When served both zucchini and cucumber slices I've noticed that they eat all the cucumber but all the zucchini slices are discarded after just one bite.  Were they disappointed by the (lack of) flavour?  Did they think it was a 'bad' cucumber?

Of course all the children love it when I bake zucchini in a loaf, muffin or brownie yet cucumber cookies failed miserably.  I wonder if the cucumber's stronger flavour makes it less appealing in baked recipes than mild zucchini.  Some children will eat zucchini in a casserole or stir fry but many do not like any cooked veggies.  Raw is usually preferred and 'from our own garden' is the best :-)
In the past we have grown both cucumbers and zucchini in our garden but they use a lot of space.
 
Luckily we get plenty of both in our CSA share from Wild Earth Farms.  A few weeks ago when we were having a picnic lunch I included both zucchini and cucumber slices in the raw vegetable assortment that accompanied our turkey sandwiches.  The children raved about how great the 'yellow' vegetable was.  I told them it was zucchini - a yellow zucchini - and watched as they devoured it all and asked for more. 

I wondered if I finally had a group of children that liked zucchini or if it was just the thrill of having lunch outside that made it more appealing.  I have given them zucchini several times since then and they still love the yellow ones.  The green ones remain on the 'dislike' list - sometimes they get eaten reluctantly but most of the time they get discarded after the first nibble to determine if it is a cucumber or zucchini.  Apparently colour makes a difference when feeding zucchini to preschoolers.

Taco Pie

Today I want to highlight one of our lunch menu items.  A long time ago I used to have chili buns on the menu - they were popular but any meal items that need to be assembled on the individual plates I find are too time consuming.  I much prefer to prepare 'all-in-one' meals like Layered French Toast that can be prepared in advance and are easier to serve to a group.

Taco Pie is like that - essentially a chili bun casserole type meal - perfect.  In the morning I start by making chili;

• 1 796 ml can diced tomatoes
• 1 540 ml can of black beans
• 1 284 ml can of tomato soup
• 1 lb ground beef, scramble fried
• 1/4 cup taco seasoning (approximately - maybe more - I don't measure it, I just dump some in until it looks/smells right).
• salt, pepper, chili flakes, paprika, (to taste)
• Salsa (optional - sometimes I add some, sometimes I don't, never measure)

These all simmer for an hour or so while I grate cheese, prepare the crust and do any other necessary tasks before the children arrive.  This is the biscuit crust recipe - this I measure;

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 8 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Make a well in center and pour in milk and mayonnaise.  Mix to moisten and then press into bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle crust with grated cheese, pour chili over top, cover with crushed corn chips and some more grated cheese.

At this point I suppose you could just bake it a little longer to melt the cheese and then serve it but because I prepare it very early in the morning I cover it with foil and put it in a 175 degree oven until lunch - it is ready for us whenever we are done playing.

Indoor Space

My list of summer renovation projects was two pages long – more than 3/4 of the items have already been completed Revamping the outdoor space (see previous post) was the largest project.  Many of the indoor projects just involved sorting and reorganizing stuff but that takes time.

Of course there were some storage units that had to be re-built to fit in different locations but no ‘new’ pieces were necessary.  In fact, a horizontal storage unit became a vertical unit and the items in two other units were consolidated into one so we actually gained a fair amount of extra floor space – bonus!

Much of the work was done to areas that are off-limits to the children so they are completely unaware of the  changes but I am certainly pleased with the results.  When you’ve only got 1200 sq ft to work with and you want to make it usable for a dozen people every little bit helps.

I felt there were several issues with the arrangement of the playroom and I definitely wanted to address at least some of them.  First, this was the old storage space for the workshop tools and musical instruments;

The problem I had here is that the floor space allocated for constructive play and music activities was just 6o square feet. When most of the toys are stored on one shelf unit on the longest wall the play space becomes a very narrow rectangle.  I wanted to make two smaller storage spaces – one at each end of the long, narrow space which would result in a more usable almost square play space. So, the above corner now looks like this;

Just the tools, puzzles and stuffed animals are stored here now.  The musical instruments are stored separately on the other end of the play space;

There used to be a basket of old phones, remotes, and walkie talkies in the space under the cash register.  The children often dumped everything out of the basket when looking for a specific item but no one liked to pick up all the leftovers.  Now the items are stored like this instead;

This is my new view of the playroom from my desk if I was ever inclined to sit down to do any paperwork;

And this is as close as I can get to showing the entire playroom in one photo;

Housekeeping, dress-up, library and quiet corner on the left, entrance to nature area on far wall, blocks, tools and music on right side.

I’m not particularly fond of the way all the housekeeping toys are currently stored – some items are too high for the children to easily reach. I can’t complain if children climb when I’m the one who put things they are allowed to play with on a shelf that is too high.  Reorganizing that storage space is one of the not-yet-completed items on my list.  I am still not certain how to address all the issues there so until I’ve devised an acceptable plan it will have to stay as is.  Sigh.

Reuse, Recycle

Warning - I think this might be a long post but I don't want to try to break it up into two or three smaller posts.  Persevere through the rambling history - it will be worth it, I promise...

Often my husband complains people comment that I am always building/making something but really I am always moving/changing something.  Inside and outside my childcare home I create the furnishings, equipment, lofts, storage units etc to fit a specific space or purpose to suit the interests/needs of the group of children enrolled at that time. Sometimes there are items in stores or catalogues that I like but the dimensions or features are wrong for my application so I draw a plan and make one that will work.

Sometimes I feel my projects may seem incomplete/unfinished - maybe I didn't have enough time to complete my vision due to inclement weather or other delays.  Possibly the project has several phases or there was something I forgot to take in to consideration when I made the plan.  I've taken down shelf units and discovered that the wall behind them was a color that is no longer on any other wall in the house and I have had neither the time nor any extra paint to fix it.  That's OK because for me everything is really just temporary - it may not be long before I devise another plan that will require another change and that wall will be covered again.  The original project may even be abandoned entirely in favor of a better idea.

When I remove something from the play space I rarely discard any of the pieces - there may be another use for them at another time.  Sometimes I've even secretly dug a piece or two of scraps from the cut off bin that I felt were too valuable to have been put there.  It drives me crazy to watch those home renovation shows when they take a sledge hammer to the place and destroy perfectly usable parts. Go ahead, label me a 'hoarder' but I can't count the number of times I've said something like "You know what I need here... wait...  I've got something in the basement/shed/bin that just might work".  Occasionally I even 'attach' items that are not really needed at the time but it is easier than finding a place to store the extra pieces.  It is better for the environment if I can reuse something.  Besides, I find shopping for new stuff is so time consuming, often stressful and definitely more expensive.

This spring/summer I have changed at least a portion of every part of our indoor and outdoor play spaces.  In fact, I just looked at the slideshow on my homepage and realized that NONE of the spaces pictured there exist anymore!  Yet, for all my recent projects and changes I estimate the total cost of supplies to be less than $300 - that is a small price tag for a fairly major renovation.  Of course, that doesn't cover what labour costs might be if I didn't consider renovating to be an exciting recreational activity - I'd rather be in the midst of a construction project than traveling or laying on a beach any day!  That comment now leads perfectly to the real topic of this post;

'What I Did on My Vacation - 2016 Edition'.

This year the bulk of the work was done to the outdoor play space - hooray, plenty of outdoor time!  There were several preliminary projects that were done earlier in the spring.  The biggest of those involved moving the garden - this couldn't wait until vacation time because our seedlings needed to be planted earlier than mid-July so the garden phase was started in May.  For a while the old and new garden spaces were only partially finished and had to wait for other project phases to be done.  The most noticeable change took place during the first week of July - the removal of what was left of the shed.

Here is a little shed history.  The original 8 x 10 backyard shed was built a long time ago - I'm not even certain of the exact year but I'm going to estimate that it was about 1999.  My husband designed it and the entire space belonged to him - the children and I used only the 12'x30' ground level deck, the gravel area and a small storage shed beside the upper deck.  In 2009 when I wanted to plant a garden we disassembled the entire shed and then reassembled it on top of the deck adjacent to my little shed.  This enabled me to use the ground space where my husband's shed had been in exchange for a portion of the deck that we rarely used.

That worked for several years until 2013 when we moved half the big shed to the side yard.  The side yard shed contained the tools and allowed my husband to work in his separate side yard space at the same time as the children and I were playing in the back yard. There wasn't room for the whole shed in the side yard so we left half of it on the back deck.  Last summer we put windows in remaining section of the backyard shed thinking maybe it would make a good playhouse type space.  However, it was only used maybe three or four times in the past year and I felt the open deck space would be more beneficial so down it came.  Of course I've safely stored the windows and all the other usable parts too.

Throughout all these shed projects the only time we purchased new wood was when we didn't have old pieces that were long enough.  Consequently there was a lot of nostalgia as the shed was disassembled.  I found grey boards from the original shed, green and purple boards from the old wooden play structure, white boards from the old fence, black pieces from the old wooden wagon and even a couple dark brown stained pieces that may have even been from the shed at our old house!
So, I bet you are wondering what the 'new' back yard looks like.  You're probably getting tired of just words so how about a bunch of pictures with just a few words.  Here is the view of the gravel area from the 'new' entrance;

And a closer view of the tipi corner;

This is where the entrance to the gravel area used to be - I always had to trim the willow back so we could get by.  Now I can let it grow and it makes such a cozy seating area (you can hardly see the benches in the corner).  The cinder block 'chalk wall' was extended too;

Here's another view of that corner;

This is the new little 'bridge' entrance to the gravel area;

The entrance to the gravel area was moved to make way for the new garden space so all these projects were done in May.  This is what our new garden looked like in June - peas, beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes, wheat and flax;

And in July;

From the other side;

Here's the new seating/play area where the old garden had been.  The children call this the 'trampoline' because the thick layer of mulch is spongy to walk/run on.  Part of the old garden is still here - Milkweed and herbs.

Here is what you see if you sit on the benches and look toward the gravel area;

This is Frank - a friend I made when we first began the shed demo.  I kept moving him to safer places so he didn't accidentally get squished.

So beautiful and friendly.  Kept distracting me.  Almost forgot to take the 'before demo' picture.  Here's an 'already started but still mostly there' picture;

The new open, freshly painted deck space after shed demo - all this space was under the shed in 2009 and half in 2013;

Combination wooden bench/balance beam/toddler table/moveable space divider and also a fun little fold-up/down table (extra parts).  This is the same camera angle as the 'before demo' picture.

View of new space from the gravel area;

Wood, gravel, garden, mulch - texture everywhere :-)

Mud & More

June 29th is International Mud Day – something we celebrate every year.  This year the school-age children were thrilled that there was no school so they were able to join in the day’s activities.  I had the water table set up full of dirt – it was up to the children to add the water and make the mud;

I also put out another bin with plain water for hand washing but some of the children enjoyed making repeated trips from mud to hand washing and back so really there were TWO mud bins.  I cleaned the hand washing bin and added fresh water several times but it always looked like this;

Because of this;

We were outside all morning and the children took breaks from mud play to build bridges;

play tag, and capture things like this;

There was a five minute downpour which was very exciting after I reassured the children that we would NOT have to go back inside.  We do often play in the rain but because we didn’t have raincoats and boots some of the children were concerned that we were not properly dressed for the weather.  However, it was Mud Day and everyone had clean clothes waiting inside so  all that rain was just a bonus It created some muddy puddles and the tarp became a slip and slide;

and the mud table got soupier;

Then, one of the children notice that the first tomato has begun to grow.  Three of the children decided to ‘watch’ it for nearly 20 minutes ‘waiting for it to turn red’.

I think maybe it will be ready when they return in two weeks – after my vacation.  I wonder if they will remember to check, or will they be too interested in exploring all the other new things – my ‘vacation to-do list’ is two pages long.  I love vacation time but the return of the children is so exciting too!

Spiders

I think most young children are fascinated by insects, caterpillars, worms etc.  I recently had an Early Childhood Education student here to do her practicum. She was required to plan activities based on the children’s interests and she noted that insects were definitely popular with my little group – as they have been with all my groups.

Spring is always the peak insect love season – I assume because they are rarely seen over winter and  so they are ‘new and exciting’ when they emerge in abundance in the spring.  Of course I always encourage it further by bringing out the insect toys and puppets too.  One of the toddlers was repeatedly dropping this little stuffed spider through the tube – as they like to do with all small toys.

I didn’t think much about it until I heard him very quietly singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song too

Admittedly there are some creepy crawlies that I am not particularly fond of because of the damage they do to our garden  yet I am careful not to instill in the children any fear or hatred towards even the ‘bad’ bugs.  It is simply another learning opportunity –  we may not want them in our garden but we can find appropriate ways to coexist.  We also include bugs in our many discussions about ‘bullies’ – great big humans picking on little bitty bugs usually because they don’t understand their purpose.

Many children are fearful of spiders – I believe this is a learned fear – one that I spend a lot of time discussing with the children.  With every fear, like or dislike I always ask the children ‘why’.  I’ll admit that I have often been startled by spiders – they are speedy little critters, but startled by and afraid of are two entirely different things.  Spiders are good – they are very welcome in my garden and even in my house.

I noticed that the youngest of the toddlers seemed to be afraid of my very favourite spider puppet – never touching it and always giving it a wide berth if someone else left it on the floor.

What was even more interesting was how quickly the other two toddlers – who had previously liked this toy – now picked up on this ‘fear’.  Upon arrival each of them would timidly survey the playroom to ensure they knew the spider’s location so they didn’t come across it unexpectedly.
So, for several days I carried and played with the spider puppet.  I talked about how cute I thought he was – how much I liked his little beady eyes and his fluffy hair.  Then even the timid children took turns talking to and petting the spider puppet.  Soon the spider’s fan club got bigger and several of the children ‘begged’ to have the spider walk up their arm and tickle their neck.

Loving or hating things that are ‘different’ begins with something as small as a spider.  It is important to understand why we don’t like something or someone – is it the color, texture, or something else?  What are some appropriate ways to address those fears or dislikes? Should you build walls and avoid contact or spend some time learning to understand and accept the differences and the benefits.  You don’t have to love them but what can you do before the fear becomes hate.

Hope this year we are lucky enough to find some more cat faced spiders in the yard – they are my favourite ‘real’ spiders.   I don’t enjoy the sensation of having any insect crawl on me but that is not their fault and I can still enjoy the benefits of having them around.

Professional Development

The 2016 Manitoba Child Care conference was held May 26th - 28th and as usual I attended all three days.  Three full days of workshops always leaves me with information overload so I give myself a little break before I go review my notes to remind myself of all the points I found noteworthy.   This year's theme was 'Be Inspired, Be Incredible' and the workshops I attended were truly inspiring especially Teacher Tom!

I've attended various workshops and conferences annually throughout my childcare career.  I've written about some of them here, here, here and here.  Occasionally I have met ECE's who appear to be there against their will - completely apathetic and unwilling to participate.  It always makes me wonder why they chose childcare as a career if they have no desire to learn - how can they expect to inspire the children they care for?

I can't imagine not being interested in expanding your interests - to have no curiosity - to be stagnant.  I've attended some workshops that turned out to be much different than I had anticipated/hoped yet I have still found at least some tidbit of useful information.  If it turns out that the workshop presenter and I have completely different views/goals I would still consider it a learning opportunity - even if it is only to reinforce my own beliefs.

I am disappointed that there are rarely more than a few family childcare providers in attendance at conferences.  I've heard the excuses 'It is too expensive' (It's a write-off), 'I can't afford to close for two days' (Attend an evening or Saturday workshop),  'There is nothing that interests me' (really?!?!), 'I already know all that stuff' (so go lead a workshop - be the expert of your group - mentor others!),'I don't know anyone else who is going' (Great! Make some new friends).  In fact, I think that last one is really important - possibly the most important reason you should be going. Family childcare providers work in isolation and it is really easy to get stuck in an old, outdated routine and never grow.

Certainly we can develop wonderful relationships with the families we have enrolled but that can't provide the type of benefit we get from interacting with peers. Besides - we get food at conferences - food we don't need to cook ourselves!  I love food that someone else cooks - except fishy things, I don't like seafood.  One of the reasons I joined a gym is so I never have to turn down food when someone offers it to me.  Ooops, sorry, I got a little off topic for a moment...

The Province of Manitoba Best Practices Licensing Manual for Family and Group Childcare Homes recommends:

Networking with colleagues is extremely important whether through conferences, committees, courses or some other type of training.  Although useful at times I don't think looking for new ideas on Pinterest or interacting with peers on social media sites counts as professional development. Personally I believe professional development should be a regulation, a requirement for licensing not just a best practice.

So, here are a few points from my notes from this year's MCCA conference;

• Attitude matters, 100 positive people + 1 negative person = 101 negative people.
• Quality is only as strong as your most marginal performer.
• Cooperation is hardwired, competition is taught.
• Formal instruction prepares people to work in factories.
• Education is not the filling of an empty vessel - it is the ignition of the flame.
• If it is not interesting to you it is not interesting to them either.
• Play is what children do when adults stop telling them what they should do.
• Young children are the most creative problem solvers in the world.
• The role of the teacher is to prepare the environment for the children to play.

To be honest most of these points are not new knowledge for me but the conversations I was involved in surrounding these points were extremely enlightening and that is why I go to conferences. Counting down the days until my next conference - The Manitoba Nature Summit is just three months away - so excited!