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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!

Welcoming Fall

October 1, 2020 by Melanie

This year, the autumn equinox fell on September 20th, marking the first day of autumn. It’s a beautiful time of year, when the leaves start to change, we celebrate the harvest, and we start preparing for the colder days to come.

As a family or community, what are some ways we can celebrate and honour this time of year?

A time of balance…

Equinox literally means “equal night.” And during the equinox, most places on Earth will see approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. This time of year can be celebrated as a time of balance. Play with the themes of balancing opposites, especially the symbolic senses of light and darkness in balance. It’s a great time to purge and let go of things you no longer need, restoring balance and peace in the home.

Getting curious about the science of it…

On the autumnal equinox, the sun is at zenith (it appears to be highest in our sky) over the Earth’s equator. The Earth’s axis tilts neither toward nor away from our sun, and the sun’s center is directly over the equator. After the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox, the subsolar point—the point on our planet’s surface that’s directly underneath the sun—travels into the southern hemisphere, gradually casting us into shorter and cooler days.

Here are some fun activities to do with your child, to help them understand the meaning of the fall equinox: https://www.kidzworld.com/article/2526-autumn-equinox

Why do leaves change colour?

When days begin to grow shorter, deciduous (green leafy) trees begin to signal to their leaves to stop producing chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for the leaves’ color and photosynthesis. Because the color change is more dependent on light than temperature, it takes place at basically the same time year after year.

This fall, try making a game of watching the leaves turn in Parkdale. Gather them up for your nature table, or make some beautiful autumn art together. Check out these videos together, and have fun learning more about the mystery of changing leaves:

Why do leaves change color in the fall? from DNews
Why do autumn leaves change color? from Scientific American
Why do leaves change color in the fall? from Super Scienced

Celebrating the harvest…

Traditionally Autumn Equinox was a time of great celebration. The harvests were coming in and food was plentiful. Celebrations focused on gratitude and thanks for the bountiful harvests. In different traditions, the autumnal equinox takes on several names, including Mabon, Harvest Home, and Alban Elfed.

People give thanks for the sunlight and the fruits of the earth, recognize that we must share those fruits as we enter the harsher months, and prepare to turn inward in the winter darkness, to which they pay their respects. To celebrate, you could make a gratitude list, visit a local farm or farmers market, eat a fall harvest meal together, and decorate your home for the season!

Books to read together…

Here are a few great family books to read together for the autumnal equinox.

Grace Lin’s Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Deborah Heiligman’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, and many other excellent picture books explore different cultures’ autumn traditions.
We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season (Wendy Pfeffer) introduces the science, history, and cultural traditions surrounding the autumnal equinox. This book also includes projects and recipes to try at home.
Pat Zietlow Miller’s Sophie’s Squash and Dahlov Ipcar’s Hardscrabble Harvest playfully bring our attention to the bountiful fall harvest we get to enjoy.

The Benefits of Reading to Your Child

March 19, 2019 by Melanie

Did you know that the Literacy Area at Creating Together holds incredible opportunities for communication, language, literacy, and social skills? Reading aloud here not only improves expressive language and vocabulary, but also social skills such as imitation, turn taking, social interest, and the ability to maintain connection across space.

On March 11 & 15, Creating Together hosted “Benefits of Literacy” information sessions, to share with parents and caregivers why reading to your child is such an important part of childhood development. Read below to learn what reading aloud to your child for 15 minutes per day will bring, while preparing them for success in school.

10 Great Reasons to Read to Your Child (A Message From the Toronto Early Literacy Specialists)

Reading stimulates your child’s imagination.
Children learn lots of new words through reading.
Reading builds a child’s ability to concentrate.
Children learn about the world through books.
Reading builds a child’s listening skills.
children gain awareness of letters and words.
Children learn to appreciate the richness of language.
Reading together brings you and your child closer.
Children thrive on the positive attention at story time.
you will give your child a life long love of books by reading aloud regularly.

Join us each Monday for Literacy Mondays!

Every Monday at 9:30 and 1:30, Creating Together hosts “Literacy Mondays“, and we’d love to see you there. Come read and sing along with parents/caregivers and a staff member. This 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.

DIY Home Spa for Mothers and Caregivers

March 12, 2019 by Melanie

According to a U.K. study, women who work full-time and are raising two or more kids are 40 per cent more stressed than working women with no children. Even moms with a job and only one kid are under more pressure, as researchers found they had a 18 per cent higher level of stress.

It’s essential that parents and nannies care for themselves—for their own well-being—but also because any effort they put into self-care has huge payoffs for the children they are caring for. Filling up our own cups helps us have more patience, energy, and passion to spread to others.

This month we celebrated International Woman’s Day (IWD) at Creating Together with food and some fun DIY pampering activities for moms and caregivers. It was a great way for mothers and caregivers to receive some self-care and connect with eachother while the kids played.

Did you know that a homemade face mask of crushed ripe bananas can help keep the wrinkles at bay? And that a beaten egg white with 1/2 teaspoon of lime juice tightens the skin and cleanses pores? Try applying the raw yolk of an egg to your face and neck for 30 minutes and rinse with cool water. Egg yolks are high in vitamin A. This mask is very effective in healing blemishes.

Below are a couple more recipes for home-made masks to help you take a break at home with ingredients from your cupboard. Enjoy!

Recognizing Mazon Canada

March 4, 2019 by Melanie

Creating Together gratefully acknowledges Mazon Canada for their grant of $2,500 in 2018 to help support our food and nutrition programs. This funding was used to purchase food for our daily snack program and for healthy meals provided through community events and potlucks for families. In 2018, this program served 5,831 nutritious snacks to 393 children and approximately 480 meals to families.