Family Resource Centre

Nature Play for Spring!

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Even though it may seem like Winter is hanging on, Spring is certainly here – and with that, comes some great opportunities to get outside, and enjoy the benefits that nature has to offer.

We wanted to share some great activities coming up, to celebrate the nature of the season with your children in Toronto.

  • Children’s Garden Revamp at Evergreen Brickworks: This month’s theme at Evergreen is “Earth Month”. Come enjoy play, art and stewardship in celebration of the earth and it’s creatures! Hop on a free shuttle bus from Broadview Station, and get involved with the Children’s Garden Revamp this month! https://www.evergreen.ca/get-involved/evergreen-brick-works/.
  • Riverdale Farm Field Trip: Explore the trails, visit the barns, and see the farm animals!
  • Sorauren Farmers Market: Open every Monday from 3-7pm, the Sorauren Farmers Market isn’t an outdoor affair until May – but the park and indoor vendors make for a great outing right here in Parkdale. Its also a great opportunity to teach your children the importance of shopping locally, and creating a healthy relationship with healthy food. It also has an incredible unobstructed view of the night sky for evening star gazers!
  • Signs of Spring Detective Quest: Spend a day in High Park looking for the signs of Spring. Become nature detectives and find buds, sprouts, mud, robins, while enjoying the trails, castle playground, and zoo!
  • Create a Nature Table: Bring some items from outside inside, and throw in some symbols of the season: eggs, seeds, flowers…create a tactile learning centre that brings your child’s senses in tune with the season. Take a look at these photos on Pinterest for some inspiration: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/45458277473802237/

More Nature Resources and Activities for Children:

January Calendar Announcements

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Staff are looking forward to bringing a fresh year of programming and support for Parkdale families. January promises an action-packed calendar for children and parents / caregivers alike. In addition to a great calendar of activities we are also happy to announce earlier opening hours (9am instead of 9:30).

Coming up this month, below is a visual calendar to accompany the link provided above, along with a small sampling of activities you won’t want to miss:

Science Activities

We will be continuing our monthly Science Activities, with this month’s creation featuring jars. On the 9th, we’ll be creating a rainstorm in a jar, and on the 31st, we’ll be creating musical jars.

Literacy Mondays

While every day involves opportunities to develop children’s literacy skills, at Creating Together we have a particular focus on literacy each Monday. Children can read and sing along with parents/caregivers and a staff member. The program is designed for one-on-one or small group storytelling, featuring developmentally appropriate books and CDs. Children also have a choice to listen to a story with headphones on their own. For more information on literacy, you may enjoy “For the Love of Reading” – a blog written last May providing some great tips on supporting your child in reading!

Information Sessions: Benefits of Dramatic Play

The benefits of dramatic play for children are incredible. It’s one of the reasons why Creating Together has such a large amount of space dedicated to its dramatic play area. On the 10th and 30th, come and learn more about our dramatic play station and how to support children in getting the most out of this station.

Busy Bodies Exercise Cards

Did you know that children who aren’t active enough are at a higher risk of developing chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular illnesses? Busy Bodies Create Healthier Communities – and “Busy Bodies exercise cards” use pictures to prompt kids to get moving! The exercises help to promote gross motor movements, improve posture, and promote concentration while enhancing language and vocabulary. Join us on the 16th and see for yourself!

Circle Time with Musical Instruments

Music ignites all areas of child development. It helps the body and mind work together, helps children learn the sounds and meaning of words, allows for self expression, helps memory skills, and improves mathematical learning. While circle time happens every day, we have feature circle time with musical instruments on Tuesdays from 11-11:30 and 2:30-3pm. For more information, check out this article on The Benefits of Music for Children

Happy Solstice from Creating Together!

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Our Holiday Party this year was only a couple of days before the Winter Solstice (Friday December 21st), also celebrated as the first day of Winter. It is the longest night of the year, and days following get longer and longer until the Summer Solstice in June.

For the families, children, and caregivers of Creating Together, we were celebrating at the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre in Parkdale, with our annual party featuring a feast, santa, and entertainment! Dozens came out to enjoy this magical time of year together, and we were all so grateful to come together before closing our doors for the winter break.

Closed between December 20th-January 6th, our doors will open again on Monday January 7th. The upcoming calendar will be posted shortly!

On behalf of all of the staff at Creating Together,
we wish you all a very wonderful holiday season and a
Happy New Year!

 

Benefits of Sand Play: Information Session Summary

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Over the last couple of months, Creating Together has been leading information sessions at different play stations, with a different play station featured each month.

To continue our last article regarding this months theme around Sand Play, we wanted to offer a summary of what was covered in the information session, so parents and caregivers can continue to use the blog as a helpful resource when playing with their children and encouraging their learning and development.

If you’d like further information about Sand Play, please visit us at Creating Together and let us know – we’d be happy to share some tips with you in person!

Summary

Sand Play is a great opportunity for Social, Emotional and Language development. While playing in the sand, children use communication skills as they talk about what they are doing and how to do things. They share equipment and learn to get along with each other. As they role play and work together this also provides an opportunity for story telling in the sand.

As you likely already are aware, toddlers love the sand and will spend hours digging, building, scooping, carrying, molding, and scraping. There are dozens of great sand pit toys you can introduce, all of which help your child develop gross and fine motor skills. Playing in the sand provides opportunities for the children to develop their muscles when they dig, shovel, lift, carry, tunnel and rake. These activities help develop the large muscles – gross motor. Pouring, sifting, moulding, drawing, patting, and decorating all help exercise the smaller muscles – fine motor.

Sand play develops an understanding of basic science and math concepts such as exploring, classifying, estimating, experimenting, comparing, counting, measuring and constructing. Before long, they will take their sandpit skills into the garden!

Sand Toys Include…

  • Buckets of different shapes and sizes
  • Small spades for scooping
  • Large spades for digging
  • Rakes
  • Watering cans
  • Plastic pipes which can be used for tunnels
  • Diggers and dump trucks
  • Old kitchen utensils such as potatoe mashers, spoons, sifters, strainers, scales, funnels
  • Different sized containers like drink bottles, containers, flower pots, natural materials like rocks, large shells, and water.

Child Can…

  • Learn basic concepts related to science, measurement, space and math
  • Enhance motor skills
  • Develop eye-hand coordination
  • Experience various textures
  • Enhance thinking skills
  • Develop concentration
  • Have fun!

Adults Can…

  • Build hills and mountains
  • Pretend to be at a construction site
  • Pretend to cook (measure, mix, etc)

For more information about our upcoming Information Sessions,

please visit our calendar!

Hope to see you at the next one!

Adult Activities at Creating Together

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Many of the parents and caregivers who come to Creating Together have shared with the staff and students how much they appreciate a place to go and be with other adults while also caring for the young ones.

It may not come as a surprise that social support plays an important role for all of us in managing stress. This is particularly true for mothers and caregivers, who are often isolated with their child/children and have less opportunities to build and maintain trusting, supportive relationships. While time and obligations of life tempt us to spend less time with friends and family, research has found that the more parents and caregivers surround themselves and their child/children with loving social support, the healthier and happier the child will grow up to be.

This is why Creating Together has begun to implement “Adult Activity” sessions a couple of times a month. The sessions are designed to get parents and caregivers out to meet one another, talk, and create together. These sessions create a natural bridge for staff and parents / caregivers to mingle as well, so those with questions or any need for additional support or information can easily and informally access it.

Last month’s activity was making a fabric quilt. Our next “Adult Activity” is coming up December 6th, and the focus will be on creating a Hanukkah Craft. So come on out and meet some other parents and caregivers, and enjoy some adult company while creating together! We hope you can make it!

Creating Together Parkdale Family Resource Centre

Our mission is to support the healthy social, cognitive, emotional and physical development of children 0 to 6 years and their families. We welcome children aged 0 to 6 years and their families/ caregivers to relax and connect with each other and with the greater communities through our many programs.
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Hours

MON 9:00am - 2:30pm
TUE 9:00am - 2:30pm
WED 9:00am - 2:30pm
THU 9:00am - 2:30pm
FRI 9:00am - 1:30pm
SAT 10am - 2:00pm (twice monthly)
SUN Closed

Please refer to our Calendar »

Contact Us

Creating Together
1342 Queen Street West
Phone: (416) 537-1004
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Charitable Registration Number:
12947 6248 RR0001
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