arts and crafts – Tracie's Treasures

childminding, christmas activities, communication, conversations, family, Uncategorized, wanderers, wildlife

Christmas Party Week

Posted on 22nd Dec 2023 by Tracie Dowling

We have had such a fun few weeks getting ready for Christmas. The house has been well and truly glitter bombed!

Holly is looking forward to her first Christmas. She has grown so much this year and been such a good girl, Father Christmas will definitely be bringing her something nice.

Ben and Jack absolutely loved these star shaped doughnuts, who doesn’t love Christian treats!

We have made so many different crafts over the last few weeks for our parents and grandparents. We loved making our Snowmen, let’s hope it really snows so we can make a real one.

Below are some photos Tracie has taken over the last few weeks.

We looked at some old photos of Chloe, Poppy and Tracie. We could see how big they have grown! can you see who is who?

These are a few Photos sent to Tracie over the festive holidays. George looks super lucky standing with all his Presents, Father Christmas has left him! Tracie had a lovely meal out with her family and has enjoyed the festive time off to re charge her batteries for the New year’s activities.

Ben and his mum look super excited to open their presents.

Look at our Debbie, she scrubs up well. I bet Father Christmas leaves her something lovely for Christmas.

Elsie and Evie are very happy with their lovely gifts. I particularly love her Spider Girl outfit! Wonder if she can climb up the walls? Let’s hope she wears a bungie rope for safety.

We wish everyone an amazing Christening and a Happy Healthy New Year.

camping, childminder Drop In, childminder Network, childminding, communication, fire pit, forest school, Garden Classroom, outdoor play, Seedlings, stronger Practice Hun Everton

Christmas Festivities Week 1

Posted on 13th Dec 2023 by Tracie Dowling

We kicked off the festivities with Poppy putting up the Christmas Tree. Next was the decision of Fairy, Angel or Star, Poppy decided it was the star as she wanted ‘Bling’ this year.

Molly was excited when she saw all the decorations, I took this fabulous picture and sent it to her mum.

Our first trip out was to our Stronger Practice Hub at Everton to join in with the Forest school. We made a fire and had marshmallows, smores and lots of activities outdoors. Even Father Christened made a visit!

We started our crafts by making a Christmas wreath. All the children made green hand prints, except for Elliott, he doesn’t like getting his hands messy. Elliott painted a green picture instead and we cut out shapes to add to the plate.

Next we glued the prints onto a paper plate and added glitter, sparkly paper and various other pretty shapes. Tracie then hung them up to dry. We displayed them on the window for everyone to see.

When Molly was in she asked me what my favourite decoration was, i said the light up Robin. Mollys favourite was the glittery peacock and George’s said his was the owl twit twoo.

The children made some very pretty Stockings. painted some lovely cutouts of Father Christmas and all his Reindeer’s, Jack gave Rudolf a big red nose.

Garden Classroom, number games, Seedlings

Making Our Own Number Blocks.

Posted on 1st Apr 2023 by Tracie Dowling

We had fun making number blocks today. We printed off 1-10 sets of leaves and a sunflower head which we stuck onto our big duplo bricks.

We first played a match the number game, the children all helped each other to place them on the corresponding number.

George was able to count up to and recognise beyond the number 10! How amazing! Now we need to print off and make leaf bricks from 11-20 so George can learn to recognise them in sequence too! Grace found numbers 1-4 and place them on top of the correct leaf, sh was so pleased with herself.

Elsie found the yellow sunflower and enjoyed building the leaves which made the flower grow bigger and bigger!

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, Seedlings, Uncategorized

Daffodils in our Park and Garden

Posted on 7th Mar 2023 by Tracie Dowling

The children are loving the bright Daffodils in the park and our garden at the moment.

We have been reading the Poem by William Wordsworth about the lively dancing Daffodils, we decided to make beautiful pictures of them for a display to brighten up out playroom.

William Wordsworth Poem

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The poem is about being one who is close to nature and enjoys in its company and never feel sad or lonely. Nature is the greatest gift or blessing to mankind. It has the power to heal our miseries, learn and make us lively again.

childminding, Seedlings

Edible Play-Dough Play

Posted on 29th Sep 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Today we made some edible play-dough for the Little Seedlings to manipulate, use cutters and mould into shapes. It was fantastic for the babies to play with because it was completely edible.

Charlie and Alfie sat well together and used cutters to make some shapes. Unfortunately the dough got stuck in the moulds, we added extra cornflower to make it more malleable and easier to play with.

The babies started the activity having sprinkles and chocolate stars on their trays.

They were given the Play-dough and were encouraged to move it around their trays to collect up all the sprinkles to make it tastier.

Because we normally use Play-dough and our rules are not to put it in our mouths Alfie was apprehensive to try and taste it. He watched everyone else have a go first. He soon got stuck in and had a go, he didn’t like the taste but loved the sprinkles.

Charlie tried to convince Emma and Tracie he hadn’t eaten any! Think this picture tells a different story.

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 4

Posted on 10th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Week 4 already! Wow the summer holidays are going fast!

Izzy has had lots of fun with everyone and has settled into our setting really well. She is always so happy, bubbly and watches everyone playing. She lets us know when she wants something or not, and thrives on all the interactions with children, Emma and Myself.

We had fun at the play centre, Jack loved looking through the peep bubbles and trying to point out his friends.

Charlie and Martie both finished off their ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ paintings so next week we can all go out and hide them in all the parks we are visiting.

Tracie, Martha, Ivor, Jack, Sophie and Georgia all went to the Odeon to watch ‘The Croods 2’. It was very funny and everyone behaved so well they had popcorn and sweets for treats!

While we were all in the Odeon Gemma took Poppy around town. They had lots of fun, in and out of lots of different shops. Poppy said the sweet shop smelled so sweet and Lush, which sells bath bombs, smelled like fruit! They both loved looking at the display made out of colourful umbrellas and comics. What a sensory time they had!

At the ‘Liverpool Lighthouse’ this week we went for fun, games and dancing. We played musical statues, musical bumps, superheroes, dancing and tag. We also took part in ‘make your own’ lunch. We all got to make a healthy bag full of fruit, veg and sandwiches which we took to the park for a picnic.

The game of the week was ‘UNO’ everyone joined in so we ended up using two decks of cards. Chloe won the most games, Poppy the most tantrums and Jack the most ‘give aways’.

Poppy and Izzy loved playing together, Poppy read Izzy stories, sang songs and had sensory mat play.

The soft play was used the most this week. The children used them as a playground, hiding seek, building, sleeping, relaxing and role play! Well worth the spends!

Last full week before our week off, then back to school. I wonder what fun we will be having?…

Seedlings

St George’s Day

Posted on 23rd Apr 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Over the last few days Emma and the seedlings have been busy making St. George’s Day Shields.

First of all, Emma was careful and cut out shield shapes from an old cardboard box.

The Seedlings then painted their own shield white. (And the table top!)

The Seedlings had to wait overnight for the white paint to dry. They then painted a red cross on their shield to represent the English flag.

Next, they coloured in a dragon printable which Emma cut out and the seedlings stuck it onto the front of the shield.

Georgia told Tracie she was scared of dragons as they have fire coming out their mouth.

The seedlings were all proud showing their mummy’s and daddy’s the shields when they were picked up, they walked out holding them ready to slay the dragons on the way home.

rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Happy St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

Posted on 17th Mar 202111th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Today we all had a lovely sunny day for our St Patrick’s Celebrations. Sophie’s mum brought in some lovely decorations and fancy dress accessories, the Little Seedlings had fun taking turns wearing them. Even Tracie and Emma had a go!

Emma designed and created these lovely hats and the Little Seedlings enjoyed painting and sticking on some green glitter. We had glitter everywhere all over the tables, our clothes, in the hall, bathroom and all over Alfie!

At one point we thought Alfie was a glittery Leprechaun! Georgia thought he was a green smurf, from the Trolls movie!

The Little Seedlings loved colouring in the masks. Tracie asked the children to choose any pen to colour the face in, but not to colour the eyes as we are cutting them out.

What’s the first part they all coloured? Yes the eyes!