Winner of Best Creche 8 years in a row
Spring is here! It is a very exciting time of year– the weather is becoming slightly warmer and drier, spring flowers are beginning to peak through the soil and buds are popping back on the trees. There is a real sense of new life and growth and is a great time of year to be out and about in the back garden especially with young children.
There is also lots of fun garden activities and projects that you can do together. Getting children in touch with nature has huge value to their emotional wellbeing and also their social and developmental growth. Nature is a fantastic way to understand the world around us, it is a creative outlet for children and a safe space to express themselves. Gardening is a great way to teach children about nurturing and caring for their environment. Here are some tips for making gardening with children easier.
Keep it simple! As adults we begin our projects with an overall finished vision in mind. For young children this is not always easy. Our ideas can become very grand however, granduar can take a lot of time. For children their concentration and patience can be very limited. By keeping it simple it is easier to keep them invested. You can then build on this. Often an immediate result will give a young child easy gratification allowing you to do more.
Let them choose. When planning your garden project why not get your child involved in deciding what you could do. Perhaps a trip to the local garden centre to look at all the lovely flowers or is there some particular vegetables that they like to eat that you could grow at home.
Encourage Independence. Promoting independence with children is so important. It helps to build their self-confidence and encourages their development. If possible, try and provide them with their own tools such as a little fork and trowel.
Patience and mess! Whenever we are doing a project with children it is important to show patience! Children are so excitable it can be difficult for them to take instruction and listen. This is what makes them so special – this innocence comes with seeing the world through their eyes. Allow for mess – this is fine children exploring in garden dirt is great for their immunity. Make sure everyone is wearing old clothes and appropriate shoes.
It is not all about flowers! Gardening is not for everyone but there are lots of other little project you can do with your little ones such as creating your own little fairy world, bird house, building a bug hotel or if you are feeling a little more confident how about growing some vegetables!
A fun Fairy Garden: There are lots of great ideas out on the internet for this. You can let your imagination go and create a wonderful fairy world with homemade furniture, decorative stones and a little fairy garden. Fairy gardens are created using lots of creative arts and craft ideas such as lollipop sticks. Some craft shops will have little fairy village accessories available to buy if you are not feeling brave enough to make.
A Bug Hotel is a fantastic way to teach children about the different bugs that live in our garden and the role they must play in our overall eco system. There are lots of easy and trickier options available when building your bug hotel. Here is an easy one from the National Geographic for Kids
Growing Fruit and Vegetables with children: A vegetable patch or container garden is a really nice treat for children. It is a great way for them to understand where our food comes from. There are some really easy fruit and vegetables out there to grow. Sweet Peas and broad beans, carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries. The fun piece about this is they get to pick and eat what they have sown, nurtured and cared for. Most importantly they will be yummy to eat!
Having fun with your child no matter what the activity is simply really the most important part. No matter what the outcome of the project!
If you’re a parent, then you know it’s a constant challenge to balance keeping the kids both healthy and entertained at the same time! That’s why we at Giraffe Childcare have come up with a clever, informative and adorable infographic, titled The A-Z of Getting Fit with Your Children. From Football to Yoga, Playgrounds to […]
Christmas is a fun time of year for children and their families.
It is that wonderful time of year again where the witches and goblins are out on show and there are magnificent displays of pumpkins everywhere.
Mindfulness for children is about awareness of their thoughts, well-being and feelings.
While the seasons are slowly changing from winter to spring, and the days continue to get a little bit brighter, the children in Giraffe have enjoyed a wide range of spring time activities. Below are just some of the wonderful events that have taken place over the last few weeks in our centres: Pyjama Day […]
February has been an exciting month in Giraffe! With so many wonderful ‘early spring’ activities taking place over the past few weeks, we want to share some of the magical photos with you here. Fun in the Snow! Some of our centres enjoyed playing outside in the snow on a couple of occasions this month. The […]
A team Workshop focusing on the Preschool learning environment.
Keeping calm…
Halloween is just around the corner and it’s time to prepare! Whether you’re invited to a party, you’re planning on going trick or treating, or whether you’ll just be hanging out at home, kids just love to dress up for this special occasion. Here are some ideas for easy homemade costumes that won’t break the […]
Here are the highlights from our Summer Festivals in 2017!
Congratulations to the 2017 Preschool Graduates! Here are some photos that capture the excitement of the most recent celebrations.
Learning through play
The children are waiting patiently at the lunch table, while Chef Natalia presents them with one of their favourite dishes…. Pork & Apple Casserole! Natalia has been our chef at Giraffe Blanchardstown for 4 years, and creates exciting seasonal menu options for the children. Pork and Apple Casserole from our Spring Menu The ingredients in this […]
Peter’s story-time tradition started after our Leopardstown centre held their annual Grandparents Day in September & invited the children’s grannies and granddads to join them for games and activities.
The children were all very egg-cited when a special Easter visitor hopped into our creches last week!
Some helpful travel tips
Staying fit as a Family
Giraffe Training Academy – Toddler Staff Workshop Last Saturday, Giraffe Childcare’s Training Academy hosted a training day for 63 practitioners with Lillian and Carol from Early Childhood Ireland, delivering workshops on Facilitating Play Based Learning. Our senior crèche managers acted as our In-House workshop facilitators on the day, and covered a wide range of topics on Managing Children’s […]
The Affordable Childcare Scheme is currently available for ‘FIS’, Medical Card holders and One-Parent families. It is also available to Adult Learners enrolled in VTOS or ETB courses.
Tips for preventing cold and flus this winter
Celebrating Grandparents Day at Giraffe!
If you really want to break the cycle of rivalry and children clashing with one another, allow them to pick activities that they can do together.
The children and staff at Giraffe Leopardstown host a rugby day in honour and support of the Irish Rugby team. Our Giraffe Leopardstown pre-schoolers had so much fun showing their support by preparing rugby related artwork and learning ‘Irelands Call’ assisted by their teachers, Ciara O’Reilly and Ivonne Gonzalez. Our deputy manager, Roisin Byrne, accompanied […]
Planning for the potty is all about timing… it’s when your child is ready! You will know when the time is right when your child has developed enough physical skills to be able to walk and climb the stairs, to wash their own hands, and are showing an interest in what is happening in the […]
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Giraffe have 24 crèches across the greater Dublin area, Navan & Kildare, find which is closest to you....