Family Playtime Archives | Creating Together Parkdale

Creative Ways to Celebrate the Season

December 9, 2020 by Melanie

Torontonian favorites, such as Nuit Blanche, Calvaclade of Lights, and ice-skating at Ontario Place or Nathan Philips Square, have been cancelled due to the Toronto-wide lock-down, and families are looking for creative ways to celebrate the season.

Rethinking Traditions

Certainly, re-thinking your family traditions does not mean you will be without those sacred traditions this year – however you may need to think a bit differently about them. We all do. In fact, continuity of traditions are so important for children (and adults!). At the same time, those age-old traditions may just need to be approached from a different angle.

For example, if you normally see family, perhaps you could arrange a get-together on Zoom. If you normally go to the theatre, consider the drive-in. If you go carolling, watch some carollers online and sing from home.

How can you continue your family traditions with a slightly different spin?

Some Suggestions

We’ve pulled together a few ideas to help you out this year – and don’t forget, we are always here to offer programming online for you all until our own holidays begin!

At any rate, we do hope you enjoy the season and consider the challenges we all face an opportunity to continue embodying the values of gratitude, generosity, compassion, and love with your friends and families.

Circle Time Online

November 24, 2020 by Melanie

Circle time is an amazing opportunity for us to come together, have fun, and learn, regardless of age. Children of all ages express themselves through music. While the infants sway or bounce, many preschoolers make up songs and sing to themselves as they play.

Apart from being fun, circle time has so many benefits. Singing songs together exposes children to new songs, dances, and different materials. This improves their awareness of physical, sensory, and language experiences. Also, participating in songs helps to promote rhythm and coordination, which can help improve their fine and gross motor skills.

Locked In? No Problem!

Join Creating Together Early ON for the live circle time at 10:00 am! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we offer Circle Time on Zoom, and every Tuesday and Thursday on Facebook 🙂 The staff at Creating Together work hard to make sure each child gets the most out of the experience.

To access this live session, you will need a mobile or smart device – and joining is easy!

Zoom

For Zoom on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, all you have to do is open (click) on the zoom link, and follow the instructions that Zoom provides for downloading the app onto your device. Here’s the link to join us:

zoom.us/j/7391226799

Facebook

For Facebook circle time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, just sign onto our Facebook page here and watch the session live with us! Here’s the link to join us on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/CreatingTogetherParkdale

More Opportunities to

Join us Online:

Halloween Fun During COVID!

October 27, 2020 by Melanie

According to the government of Ontario, given the high transmission of COVID-19 in Ottawa, Peel, Toronto and York Region, traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating is not recommended. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have a tonne of fun, right?! Here are some trick-or-treat alternatives to get ready for this year, and make sure your family keeps the spirit of halloween alive!

1. Virtual Halloween Costume Party

The government of Ontario recommended it, and guess what – we are offering one! Creating Together Early ON Centre is excited to invite you to our Virtual Halloween Costume Party next Friday October 30th 🙂 We CAN’T WAIT to see everyone’s costumes and hopefully you all will enjoy our Halloween songs and craft activities!

On Friday October 30th at 10am, click this link to join: zoom.us/j/7391226799

Feel like hosting your own? Indy With Kids offers some great how-to tips here:

https://indywithkids.com/halloween-zoom-party/

2. Organize a candy hunt

It is recommended that this be with the people living within your household, due to COVID-19. So here’s some tips to do in advance, to make sure all goes smoothly ~

Get your costume ready! This would most certainly be better, of course, in costume 🙂
Treat contatiner – make sure every child has something to gather their treasures in.
Decide where to have the candy hunt. The sun sets around 6:15pm, so remember if it’s to be done outside, that the kiddos will need to have some flashlights / light sources 🙂
Plan an after-hunt Halloween activity to do while your children eat their treats (eg., one of the other activities here)

3. Carving Pumpkins

Looking for ideas? Spruce Crafts offers some awesome tips here: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/pumpkin-carving-ideas-for-kids-4153104

4. Share Scary Stories

KOA offers some awesome scary campfire stories which will do the trick, here: https://koa.com/blog/kid-friendly-spooky-campfire-stories/

5. Decorating Front Lawns, and Driving by the city’s best!

Trick-or-treat 2020 might be cancelled, but that hasn’t stopped enthusiasts from doing up their front yarns with some haunting delights! Once your done your own lawn, go and do a drive-by on some of the greates lawns in the city: The Brenyon Way houses, 1 Krisbury Avenue, and 27 Glenlake Avenue are just some of the usual spooky staples to check out!

Most importantly,

have fun, and stay safe!

Fun With Play Dough

October 13, 2020 by Melanie

Days are getting cooler, and it’s a perfect time to get cozy with some indoor activities and crafts – and one which we’ve noticed children just can’t get enough of, is homemade play dough! If you have a child who loves to bake and create, getting them involved in making it can also be a great activity in math, measuring, combining, mixing, and following instructions!

The Creating Together Play Dough Recipe:

You will need:

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp baking soda
½ cup salt
1 cup water
Food colouring
3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

Place the flour and baking soda in a bowl.
Combine salt, water and a few drops food colouring in another bowl and stir it well.
Pour the water and salt mixture in with the flour.
Knead with your hands until the desired texture is achieved. You might need to add a bit more salt or water.
Add vegetable oil and mix in well.

Tip: To keep the play dough from drying out, store it in an airtight container.

Once made, play dough can offer hours of fun and entertainment! In fact, in this blog by the artful parent, you’ll find 39 different fun activities that you can do with play dough: https://artfulparent.com/39-ideas-for-playing-with-playdough/

Enjoy!

Enjoying the Benefits of the Arts from Home

August 25, 2020 by Melanie

Toronto is known for being a mecca of art and culture, and many arts and culture buffs (young and old alike) can’t wait for the theatres and museums to open again! That said, you’d be happy to know that the City of Toronto website offers an extensive list of free arts activities for all ages to enjoy in the comfort of your home.

That’s right – even with COVID, you can absolutely get your art on. Check it out for yourself in the link below, for a full table of activities to choose from for ALL ages:

https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-protect-yourself-others/covid-19-reduce-virus-spread/covid-19-stay-play-learn-at-home/

From weekly virtual art classes and theatrical performances to interactive maps of street art from across the city, there are pages and pages to choose from!

Developmental Benefits of Arts and Culture

Apart from the apparent fun that’s ready to be had when exploring art and culture, there are so many developmental benefits of art for children as well:

Motor Skills: According to the National Institutes of Health, developmental milestones around age three should include drawing a circle and beginning to use safety scissors. Did you know that many preschool programs emphasize the use of scissors because it develops the dexterity children will need for writing?

Language Development: Making art gives children opportunities to learn words for colors, shapes and actions. As they get older, children use more and more descriptive words to discuss their creation or how they feel about them.

Decision Making: Over the process of creating art, children need to carry out a number of decisions and choices, and this skill can help them in other areas of life. The act of exploring, thinking, and experimenting can’t be underestimated!

Visual Learning: Children are very visual, taking in information and cues from pictures or objects and learning from what they see are the building blocks for reading, drawing, and sculpting!

“Parents need to be aware that children learn a lot more from graphic sources now than in the past. Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn through text and numbers. Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it.”
Dr. Kerry Freedman, Head of Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois University.

Cultural Awareness: Especially in cities like Toronto and neighbourhoods like Parkdale, we live in a very diverse community. When looking at a piece of art or cultural piece, try to have a conversation with them to help them see the choice or point of view an artist is portraying.

Academic Performance: In an article by the Art and Music Centre a student involved in the arts is:

4x more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.
4x more likely to participate in a math or science fair.
3x more likely to win an award for school attendance.
3x more likely to be elected to class office.

Did you know that lower income or socioeconomic students experience even greater benefits from the arts? It’s true: Low income students highly engaged in the arts are more than twice as likely to graduate compared to their peers with no arts education, and have a 5x lower dropout rate!

Arts and Crafts with Creating Together live on Facebook!

Don’t forget to join us on facebook for some great online arts and crafts activities with Creating Together staff!

https://www.facebook.com/CreatingTogetherParkdale/

So what are you waiting for? Get creating!