Creating Together Blog

Nurturing Art in Childhood

November 27, 2019 by Creating Together

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Albert Einstein

Art is vital to the mental, emotional, and psychological development in children. Children benefit from discovering art by doing and exploring an array of art materials. They are naturally curious and love to experiment with colors, textures and art tools. Using, safe, non-toxic art materials, toddlers can get messy using their hands to feel and apply paint; scribbling with markers and crayons; painting with sponges, brushes and other tools; squeezing safe modeling materials; cutting all types of paper products with safety scissors; gluing materials to create something new; and playing with shapes. These types of activities help toddlers to develop fine motor skills and cognitive abilities while promoting creativity and building fine motor skills.

“Research indicates that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property—key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century.”
International Child Art Foundation

How Parents and Caregivers Can Encourage Artistic Play

*Stencil Art Table at Creating Together*

Set Aside Space

Having a specific area in the home that always has a variety of art materials available for children is a great way to interest and encourage children to experiment with art. Don’t put everything out at once, as it can be overwhelming and distracting for a young child. Supply paper plates, recycled paper, old magazines and such to encourage creative clipping and for making pictures and collages.

Practice Non-Judgement

Resist the urge to direct a child’s art creation or judge it. Creative expression and making choices builds independence in young children, as they naturally learn to do more and more by themselves each day. A child may experiment with colors and end up with something that looks muddy – yet this unintended outcome is a great opportunity for a child to learn by doing.

*Huge gratitude to our funders for this new art station we were able to bring in*
*for the children of Creating Together!*

Ask Questions

Parents can show interest by asking their child about the story behind the artwork. “How did you make it?” What is it all about?” “What do you really like about it?” Listen up! When a child asks a question, encourage the child to solve it by him/herself. “How do you think that might work?” “What can you try?” What would happen if….” Parents and caregivers can reinforce language by discussing colors, shapes, patterns and all aspects of the creative process.

Displaying Artwork

Displaying a child’s artwork is also a great way to encourage a child to create art because it shows how much a parent values the child’s very original creation!

Trouble Sleeping? What to do…

November 19, 2019 by Creating Together

It’s not uncommon for babies, toddlers, and young children to have trouble falling asleep. In fact, 1 in 3 children show an unwillingness to go to sleep. Children can also experience a number of other sleep-related challenges, such as night awakening, nightmares, night terrors, and sleepwalking.

While each child has a different sleep pattern, on average newborns sleep 16hrs / day up to about 6 months of age, and then an average of 14hrs / day between the ages of 6 months and 1 year. By the age of two, most children have spent more time asleep than awake and overall, a child will spend 40 percent of his or her childhood asleep. Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development. While this reduces as they age, toddlers and preschoolers still sleep between 10 and 13 hours / day.

When sleep patterns are disrupted, this can lead to irritation for the child and exhaustion for the parents.

Sound familiar?

This month’s information session at Creating Together focuses on various sleep issues, and gives parents and caregivers some tips and tools to address them.

Understanding common sleep issues and what to do about them

Night Awakening

Night awakening is common – this is when a child wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t seem to settle back to sleep. They may call out, get out of bed. Often they crawl into the parent’s bed and stay the night.

What to do: Allowing the child to stay in your bed can develop a dependency on the parent to resume sleep. The child should be reassured and brought back to their own bed. They will eventually learn self-soothing strategies.

Nightmares

Stressful things that happen during the day can turn dreams into nightmares. Nightmares may be a way to relieve the pressures of the day. Things they are dealing with at home, school, or a life transition, can cause nightmares. Another thing that may cause nightmares is watching scary movies or reading scary books, especially before you go to bed.

What to do: Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day can help, and it is suggested that you avoid scary books or movies, and avoid eating or taking part high activity just before bedtime. Comfort items such as a blanket, stuffed animal, or nightlights can also help.

Night terrors

Night terrors happen when a child wakes in horror – perhaps screaming in panic. Unlike nightmares, the child doesn’t remember what led to their feelings of intense fear. They can be caused by a traumatic life event, fever, sleep deprivation, or medication that affects the brain.

What to do: The National Sleep Foundation suggests doing calming things before bed, and having a consistent sleep schedule. During the episode, you can wait it out, or you can speak calmly and softly, using gentle reassuring gestures (e.g., hand squeeze, back rub). Do not attempt to wake your child with abrupt shaking, as this can actually make the problem worse.

Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking happens in about 15% of children, and most often in children between the age of 4-12years. They may walk aimlessly around the house, appearing uncoordinated or start going to the bathroom in an area of the house that isn’t the toilet. Sleepwalkers tend to go back to bed on their own and they won’t remember what happened in the morning.

What to do: A bell hung on the door can help offer some reassurance so you can hear your child sleepwalking. It’s important, of course, to keep a sleepwalker safe. Precautions should be taken so the person is less likely to fall down, run into something, or walk out the front door while sleepwalking (eg., gates, clearing furniture and toys from pathways). For kids who sleepwalk often, doctors may recommend a treatment called scheduled awakening. This means your parent will gently wake you up a little before your usual sleepwalking time, which can help stop sleepwalking.

Resources

Kids Health: Sleepwalking – https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/sleepwalking.html?WT.ac=k-ra

National Sleep Foundation – https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics

App – I See Animals Sleeping (a bedtime story) – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/i-see-animals-sleeping-bedtime/id698795330?ls=1

November Highlights

November 5, 2019 by Creating Together

The November Calendar is now out, and we have a lot of amazing things in store for the parents, caregivers, and children of Parkdale. Read below for some great highlights!

Fun With Nature

Join us on November 11th and November 22nd to enjoy the benefits of nature, at our local parks.

Researchers and natural environmentalists have been studying the effects of exposure to nature on children, and have found some interesting results: Engagement with nature has huge benefits for children physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

For instance, Adams & Savahl (2017) discovered it has a significant influence on children’s emotional and social well-being, while Pensini, Horn, & Caltabiano, (2016) discovered that early exposure to nature improves one’s mental health as an adult. Would you like to help improve your child’s short-term memory and ability to focus? Another study shows that being in nature for extended periods of time promotes the development of attention skills, while protecting against inattention-hyperactivity symptoms such as (Ulset, Vitaro, et al, 2017). There are also a number of physical benefits, such as improved vision, and reduced risk of obesity.

Keeping Active

Twice a month, we create healthier communities by bringing in the Busy Body Exercise Cards twice per month.

Did you know Adequate levels (60 minutes/day) of physical activity helps children:

develop cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, and bone density
maintain a healthy body weight
reduce the risk of chronic disease and health problems
lessen the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use
feel better every day, through improved mental health and well-being

Scarf Dancing is not only fun, but it’s incredibly good for children, and can be practiced at home as well. Here are some benefits:

Sparking imagination as we explore all kinds of ways to play with our scarves
Teaching directional tracking as we visually track our scarves’ movement
Improving eye-hand coordination as we play catch or peekaboo
Increasing vocabulary as we verbally describe what we are doing with our scarves
Sharpening listening skills as we move our scarves based on musical or verbal cues
Practicing inhibitory skills as we start and stop our movements with the scarves

Fun with Food

Join us at 9:30am on November 5th for some family baking, or the 28th at 9:30am to make oatmeal, raisin cookies. And don’t forget our monthly Toddler Food Preparation workshop with Marcella from FoodShare!

Supporting Literacy

Every Monday is Literacy Day at Creating Together. From 9:30am to 10:30am a staff member will read with a small group or one-on-one, and introduce songs and stories on CDs as well as a variety of stories.

Also, storytime takes place every day at 1pm. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to bring a special book from home that can be shared during this time.

Our Family Support Worker can share with you some strategies on how to read to small children. Every two months a professional literacy consultant provides educational workshops for families. In fact, this month we are very happy to have circle with the Parkdale Public Library Librarian on the 29th at 11am.

Did you know? Books with CDs and headphones are available for use with the children and a variety of children’s books can be borrowed for use at home through our Resource Lending Library.

Encouraging Inquiry

Children learn so much through science. So, each month we facilitate a fun learning science activity. This month’s science activities are the “underwater volcano” on November 8th and “the orange experiment” on November 25th. Curious? Come out and enjoy!

Early Childhood Fears

October 28, 2019 by Creating Together

Creating Together Staff are always listening to parents and caregivers, to hear what their concerns are and what areas they’d appreciate support and resources. This month’s information sessions is a response to a number of caregivers seeking information regarding the most common early childhood fears: Strangers; and being aware from parents.

Strangers

When a baby nears 7 months, they will begin to show a fear of strangers, particularly those who get too friendly too fast. While grandparents and dear friends can easily feel hurt and disappointed, it’s important that they understand that it is a common experience and not to take it personally. Here are some tips to help your little one get more comfortable with folks who are new to them:

Give your baby time to get to know the individual, and allow the baby to set the pace of that meeting.
Give the person a toy to pass to the baby, getting a smile and fast friendship.
Do not force the baby to go to the person.
Stay where they baby can see you.

Fear of being away from parents

Whether it’s for a few seconds or a few hours, many children get upset being away from their parents. Here are some tips to help your child feel better if you are away:

Create a framework – Tell your child when you’re leaving and when you will return.
Reassurance – If you’re in another room, speak to your child so they can hear you. Take them with you if you’re going to be longer than a few minutes.
Comfort routines – Create a consistent bedtime routine of stories, songs, and a tucking in, before you leave the room for the night. Also, make sure they have their favorite toy or blanket when they have a sitter / need to go to daycare.
Building trust – Give your child the opportunity to get to know the babysitter before leaving them alone together. Alternatively, take them to the daycare center before they are left there, and stay with them for a while.
No surprises – Have the babysitter come before the child goes to bed, and always say good by before you leave (don’t try to sneak out).

Ask for Help

Whatever the fear is, there are a number of resources out there to support parents and caregivers. No matter how trivial it may seem, remember we are here to help – don’t hesitate to ask staff at Creating Together any further questions or areas of support you might have.

Please stay tuned for more information about our upcoming information sessions in November.

Family Baking: Healthy Muffins

October 14, 2019 by Creating Together

This week, parents and caregivers came together at Creating Together to enjoy family-time baking together making “Healthy Muffins”. We shared a great basic muffin mix, that you can change up by adding whatever dried fruit your little ones prefer! Scroll down for the recipe, and mark your calendars for our upcoming Toddler Food Preparation Workshop on October 16th at 10am!

Did you know…

You can freeze any muffin! Bake, completely cool and freeze in any air tight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for 3-4 hours or overnight.
Have an egg allergy? Want to try a vegan option? Substitute eggs with mashed banana, pumpkin, or applesauce (one-fourth cup of the purée per egg). Another option is ground flax or chia seeds (whisk together 1 tablespoon of ground chia or flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of water until fully absorbed and thickened).

Try it at Home

If you couldn’t make it to family-time baking this week, enjoy the muffin recipe below and try it at home! Feel free to save and print this recipe card and add it to your cookbook 🙂