Creative Connections for December

Below are a few ideas with links to crafts and recipes you can create with your children this December!

Create with your children

12/8  National Brownie Day: Each year on December 8, brownie lovers across the nation enjoy one of their favorite baked goods on National Brownie Day.

12/12 Hanukkah  Which is called The Festival of lights, falls every year in late November or December on the secular calendar and lasts for eight days and nights

12/13 National Hot Cocoa Day: It’s national hot cocoa day! How do you like your hot cocoa? With little marshmallows, whipped cream or both???

12/15 National Ugly Sweater Day

12/17 Wright Brothers Day

12/21 Winter Solstice Winter Solstice Marks the start of winter and is also the shortest day of the year!

12/24 Christmas Eve: Do you have a Christmas Eve tradition with your family? What is it we’d love to hear about it!

12/25 Christmas: What does Christmas mean?

12/31 New Year’s Eve: Do you have any plans for New Year’s Eve?

December Snacks

Bring out the inner chef in your child. Try your hand at these recipes with your children!

Gluten Free Christmas Tree Brownies

Marshmallow Dreidels

Homemade Hot Cocoa

Reindeer Popcorn

New Years Eve Snacks for Kids

Please take pictures of your activities and share them with your classrooms! We would love to see what you create!!

This is a great website that details fun FREE things to do in New Jersey every month! Call ahead and make sure the activities are happening before you head out for your day!

http://www.njfamily.com/Free-Things-to-Do-in-NJ-in-December/

Santa’s Elves Busy at work at Kangaroo Kids

Kangaroo Kids was a sea of lights and festivities as families came together to celebrate the season at their Winter Wonderland, coordinated by Assistant Director Shaun Pidany.  Spirits were high as they enjoyed the Ginger Bread Displays and created holiday crafts.  

Special visitors, Santa and Frosty delighted the little ones.

A cookie exchange made everyone smile when they tasted the wide variety of cookies and shared their favorite recipes with each other.  After the crafts, games, and family portraits the evening ended with a fun rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas as all the families sang along! 

Holiday time is of caring and sharing at Kangaroo Kids.  Gifts surrounded Kangaroo Kids Giving Tree with presents for needy children in an Appalachian Community in West Virginia.  Muffins for Mom will be Kangaroo Kids upcoming event for January.  Call 908-231-7800 or Like Kangaroo Kids Child Care Facebook page for upcoming events and community service projects.

Wishing Happy Holidays and Peace throughout our world to all the families and friends of Kangaroo Kids. 

Creative Connections for November

Below are a few ideas with links to crafts and recipes you can create with your children this November!

November is American Indian Heritage Month. American Indian Heritage Month began in 1990 when then President George H.W. Bush approved a resolution designating November as a time to recognize our country’s native heritage. 

Create with your children

11/7  Election Day: Hold a stuffed animal election and see which stuffed animal receives the most votes

11/8 National Tongue Twister Day: Can you say these tongue twisters 3 times fast?

11/11 Veterans Day: Here are some Veterans Day activities you can do with your kids?

11/13 World Kindness Day: Do one thing for a better world!

11/14 National Young Readers Day: How can you celebrate literacy?

11/20 Universal Children’s Day: What responsibilities can you turn over to the kids on this day?

11/23 Thanksgiving: What are you thankful for?

11/25 Small Business Saturday: Holiday shopping already? Don’t forget to support your local small business!

November Snacks

Bring out the inner chef in your child. Try your hand at these recipes with your children!

Harvest Hash Cereal Mix

Apple Pie in a Cup

Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Cider

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

Turkey Vegetable Snack

Please take pictures of your activities and share them with your classrooms! We would love to see what you create!!

This is a great website that details fun FREE things to do in New Jersey every month! Call ahead and make sure the activities are happening before you head out for your day!

http://www.njfamily.com/Free-Things-to-Do-in-November/

Are You Prepared? Fire Safety

October is National Fire Safety Month. Throughout the month of October, you will hear about your local public service departments help spread the word about fire safety!

Families should not limit fire safety education to their schools or fire departments but take a proactive approach at home as well.

Create a fire escape route and run a family fire drill monthly. Remember to have a safe meeting spot away from the house for family members to meet.

Have working fire extinguishers in your home as well as smoke & carbon monoxide detectors.

Create a to go emergency bag and place it in an easily accessible place so you can grab it in the case of an emergency!

Make sure chemicals, matches and lighters are stored properly and away from children!

To learn more on fire safety for you and your children and how to create your own fire escape route, you can visit the websites below.

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/children.html

http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/safetymap.htm

http://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Safety-in-the-home

http://www.sparky.org/parents

Creative Connections for October

Children love creating! Whether it be arts and crafts, music, dramatic play or cooking, children LOVE creating things as well as showing them off!

Below are a few ideas with links to crafts and recipes you can create with your children this October!

Create with your children

10/11 Teddy Bear Day: Bring your Teddy bear to school or work day!!

10/16 Dictionary Day: It is National Dictionary Day! Teach your child how to look up their favorite word in a dictionary! Try and find the LONGEST word!

10/17 National Pasta Day: Whether it be plain pasta, pasta with sauce, pasta with butter, kids love pasta. Instead of eating the pasta, try creating with it. How about a rainbow pasta necklace?

10/31 Halloween : So many tricks and treats to make for Halloween. What kind of Halloween crafts can you make with a paper plate? https://craftsbyamanda.com/paper-plate-black-cat/  http://craftulate.com/6-super-easy-halloween-crafts-for-toddlers

October Snacks

Bring out the inner chef in your child. Try your hand at these recipes with your children!

Teddy Bear Biscuits

Cream Cheese Noodles

Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups

Ghost Fruit Kabobs

Tangerine Pumpkins

Please take pictures of your activities and share them with your classrooms! We would love to see what you create!!

This is a great website that details fun FREE things to do in New Jersey every month! Call ahead and make sure the activities are happening before you head out for your day!

http://www.njfamily.com/20-Free-Things-to-Do-in-October/

Creative Connections for September

Children love creating! Whether it be arts and crafts, music, dramatic play or cooking, children LOVE creating things as well as showing them off!

Below are a few ideas with links to crafts and recipes you can create with your children this September!

Create with your children

9/15 Make a Hat Day: What kind of hat would you like to make? A crown, a propeller hat, how about a pirate hat for Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19^th?

9/16 Collect Rocks Day: Let’s collect the rocks, paint them and hide them throughout your town

9/19 Talk like a Pirate Day: Aye Aye Captain! Did you make a Pirate Hat?

9/20 Rosh Hashanah : Happy New Year!

9/21 Miniature Golf Day : Click the link to receive a coupon to Tee-rific Golf Center on Rte 22 in Branchburg to play a round of miniature golf

9/22 First Day of Autumn : What can you create with those pretty autumn leaves?

9/29 Stanley Berenstain Day : What is your favorite Berenstain Bears book?

September Snacks

Bring out the inner chef in your child. Try your hand at these recipes with your children!

Pirate themed Recipes

Kid Friendly Apple Recipes for Rosh Hashanah

Quick and Easy Applesauce

S’mores Snack Mix

Please take pictures of your activities and share them with your classrooms! We would love to see what you create!!

Build Communication Skills Early

September brings the end of lazy days, relaxed routines, and spending countless hours outdoors! September brings forth set schedules, appointments, and the constant rush, rush, rush to fit everything into our kids waking hours.

It’s Back to School season and here is a great article with some tips to help us to get back into the season and keep the lines of communication open with your child.

  http://thehighlyeffectiveteacher.com/essential-back-to-school-tips-for-parents/

At the end of a long day, you want to know what your child has been doing! Asking your child “What did you do today” might be met with “Nothing” or “I don’t know”, no matter the age of the child.   It’s important to keep communication open so your child feels comfortable talking about all aspects of their day, whether they have been good or challenging. Here are some tips to help extract aspects of your child’s day and keeping the doors of communication open.

·       Ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer:  Instead of asking, “Did you have a good day?” try asking a question that requires more than a yes or a no like, “Who did you play with today?” “What was your favorite activity today?”. Be prepared to answer the same questions from your child too! After all, they wonder what it is you do when they aren’t around!

·       Know your child’s schedule: Know what activities are scheduled for what day. Which days are library days, music, art or gym. Knowing their schedule makes it easy to ask direct questions, “What book did you choose at the library?”, “Did you draw or paint in art today?”

When possible, ask your child’s teacher what activities or topics they will be discussing with their classroom. This gives you an opportunity to discuss what is going on in the classroom with your child while in the car or at the table during mealtime!

·       Use books as conversation starters: When reading books together, you can ask your child how they feel about different situations in the books. One book you could use to start a conversation is “First Day Jitters” by Julie Danneberg.  You can ask your child how they feel about their first day at school or first experience at an activity, and share how you felt on your first day of school or starting a new job!

At the end of the day, your children want to know you are there for them.  Listening to stories about their day complete with all its ups and downs is the first step in the keeping the door of communication open. When they know you are listening to the little things they will be comfortable coming to you with more important matters!

Kangaroo Kids Child Care and Learning Center donated $3,322.39 to Autism Speaks, “Julia’s Hope!”   Children enjoyed a special day with their families and friends supporting a very worthy cause. 

Kangaroo Kids celebrated 25 years of being leaders in education at their family carnival.   Community members, Kangaroo Kids families and teachers worked tirelessly to raise money through bake sales, Jean Days, and special events, culminating with a family carnival.  There were games, food and activities for the whole family complete with a special visit from Sparky and hugs from Kanga the Kangaroo! 

Families enjoyed a performance by the Robotics Team and Gifts from Dr. Oz and local sports teams.    And, what carnival would be complete without pony rides and cotton candy.

According to Autism Speaks, Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States, affecting 1 in 68 children and costing families an average of $60,000 a year.

The Grand finale of Kangaroo Kids Family Carnival was to create a human puzzle piece in support of Autism Speaks!

 If you would like to learn more about Kangaroo Kids or to participate in their upcoming community service events like “Tools for School” where school supplies are collected for needy families, the November food drive or the "Giving Tree" in December call 908-231-7800 or like Kangaroo Kids Child Care Facebook page.  Kangaroo Kids will also be hosting Open House tours daily through the month of August for visitors to see firsthand why Kangaroo Kids was awarded #1 Child Care in America by the National Association of Child Care Professionals. 

Summer Camp is so much fun!