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.

childminding, communication, conversations, healthy body and mind, language, number games, outdoor play, Seedlings, Speach and Language , flowers, language, communication, speech, Uncategorized

Posted on 24th Nov 202313th Dec 2023 by Tracie Dowling

bug hunt, childminding, family, frogs, Garden Classroom, greenhouse, Honey Bees, Bees, Great British Bees, outdoor play, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers, yoga

Half Term Fun

Posted on 1st Jun 20231st Jun 2023 by Tracie Dowling

It was lovely having Emma come and help Tracie care for us, we miss her so much during term time. It was also lovely to catch up with leo and Martie who came and spent the day with us, they have grown up so much!

The weather has been so kind for us, We have spent lots of time in the garden playing, planting, hiding and relaxing.

Our Jack took advantage of the lovely summer day to play out in the front garden, he loved this hot poker flower, he pretended it was a microphone and kept us all entertained with funny rap songs.

The long flowers were an amazing yellow colour which went with his t-shirt.

Jack practiced his ball skills, we tried to have a game but the table was to small. Next time we go to the park we will take our rackets and balls as they have a tennis table there!

Jack Showing off his Ball Skills

Lottie had a lovely time playing at Sector8 in the bouncy little ones play area. The big kids Georgia, Leo, Jack and Chloe played for a whopping 2 hours in the ‘big kids’ area.

We went for numerous walks around Stanly park. We took picnics, balls and got to play in the playground as it was very quiet.

Georgia loved playing with the Ello bricks and shapes. She made a lovely flower garden. She also made lots of crafts, this one was a pre printed princess dress, hair, shoes and gloves. Georgia then had to draw the princess’s face and join the arms and legs. It was so good she wanted to display it on the wall and make another one to take home. Georgia was so clever writing her full name on the top of the picture all by herself.

While walking around the park we kept an eye out for ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ we were just about to give up when Tracie found one! She screamed and had to jump high to reach it.

We finished the week off starting our ‘30 Days Wild’ campaign by putting up bee and insects houses .we made sure the wild birds have enough clean water and seeds.

childminding, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Halloween Fun

Posted on 3rd Nov 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Everyone had fun for Halloween this year, Emma and her family looked amazing. They were very scary and got up to lots of mischief.

Poppy chose not to be scary but join in by wearing her favourite Anime costume. Her jacket stands out on a dark night, which keeps her safe when out and about trick or treating.

Alfie from the seedlings was such a cute bat. He even tried to sleep upside down on the soft play!

The Rangers all helped each other to carve the pumpkins. They were very careful while using the vegetable knives. I am so glad they carved them outside, the mess was phenomenal!

The Rangers and Wanderers enjoyed the carving and apple bobbing the best. The Seedlings enjoyed the hunting for buried spiders, Tracie put a few treats in the sand for them to find for a surprise.

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, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Harry And The Dinosaurs Story Sack

Posted on 27th Jul 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

The children all enjoyed our ‘Harry and The Dinosaurs’ themed story sack today.

Alfie asked Tracie to read the story, which made Martha want to draw a dinosaur.

Everyone ended up wanting to join in the activity so Tracie got out the story sack with all the card dinosaur printables in so everyone could choose which one they wanted to do. Our story sack with activities is available to buy on our Etsy Shop along with lots of other story sacks for your children to learn and grow.

Poppy asked if Tracie could read the story while they coloured the fabulous pictures.

At the back of the book it showed the different types of dinosaurs and how to say all the tricky names. Do-you-think-he-saw-us made everyone laugh except Poppy who thought Tracie was silly 😝

After the activity Martha and Poppy decided to go online to find out more information about dinosaurs.

You can buy this story sack and other similar story sacks for your children to play with and grow by clicking this link to our Etsy Shop.

family, Seedlings

National Nurses Day

Posted on 12th May 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Today the seedlings have celebrated National Nurses Day. Within our setting, we have seven Medical staff parents and we want to make them feel special for all the hard work they do everyday.

The children made their parents some lovely cards to thank them.

Between the Seedlings we have two doctors, three nurses, a Mental Health Worker and a Maternity Nurse so whatever happens, we’ve got it covered!

Emma used bandages and plasters to show the children the kind of work our nurses do. The children had the experience of role play using the bandages and Doctor’s bag.

The children were all so caring Emma and Tracie think we are educating a new generation of medical staff! So worth our efforts! You never know, they may be looking after us one day! Is that a good thing? Haha.

Georgia was off yesterday so we celebrated again today as her mummy works for the NHS.

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.

Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Earth Day with the Seedlings

Posted on 22nd Apr 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

We had a lovely celebration today for Earth Day. The children started the activities by wanting to sing ‘Happy Birthday World!’

The first activity we did was to walk around the front garden. We saw lots and lots of ladybirds, beetles, ants and chaffinches singing in the tree next door.

Emma and the children finished their ‘World’ project. When Tracie asked Georgia what her work was all about she said “I’m wishing, I’m wishing for a country because I want to go for an adventure!” Sophie shouted she liked “the happy world” and Fearne joined in saying “rubbish makes the world sad.”

We asked what makes us enjoy our world? Georgia said “When we recycle, it makes our world happy.” Fearne said she puts her rubbish in the bin and she loves the flowers that grow in our garden.

Tracie asked Alfie what makes the world happy? “Biscuit” shouted Alfie. Tracie said that would make Alfie happy! We finished the session singing “Happy Birthday World” and If You’re Happy And You Know It.