Staying Inside

If your kids are missing regular visits with friends, it might be time to bring back an old-fashioned idea – pen pals! Writing letters to friends can help children keep in touch while practicing penmanship and grammar skills. To apply their artistic talents, kids can draw pictures in the letters or create personalized stationery with stickers, stamps or illustrations.

There is nothing wrong with being productive while having fun. When you make an activity of a home project you accomplish both. The key is setting milestones throughout the project that the kids need to achieve to win. With this approach, organizing, redecorating, or cleaning become a game with a goal.

We are certainly going through unprecedented times, and activities that will help us remember them can hold special significance in years to come. When you make a time capsule or keep a journal, you create a snapshot of the past to review later. Though these are stressful circumstances, try to include positive and humorous items and not just reflect on the negative aspects.

Outdoor activities

With the temperatures soaring, an activity that cools off the kids will be welcomed. A home water park will relive the heat and stimulate creativity as children plan the park and build it. And because the activity is outside, you could invite a few friends while maintaining social distancing.

If you can’t make it to a campground, pitch a tent and bring the sleeping bags into the backyard. Making smores, telling stories and sleeping under the stars as a family will create special memories even if it’s in your own yard.

Doing something for non-human visitors can be fun and have long-term benefits. Consider planting a garden to attract butterflies or hummingbirds. This backyard wildlife habitat will be fun to create with your family enjoying its beauty and visitors for many years.

Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Host Movie Time

Watching movies with friends is always fun for children, and it can still happen without going to a theater. Simply choose a fun kids’ movie and send out an invitation to friends that can comfortably watch the video while social distancing. You can use your Blu Ray or DVD player or use Netflix. With your Netflix subscription, kids can watch movies together with a free Google Chrome extension. The film can be synchronized with the group letting kids interact in a chatroom. It is a secure service that only allows invitees into the chatroom.

Create a Craft Exchange

Crafts are always a fun and creative activity for kids, and what better way to connect with friends than to share their art. Just reach out to your children’s friends to create a group that creates craft projects and exchanges them with each other. To add to the fun, you can develop themes such as wildlife, Star Wars, or a sport they all participate in.

Hold a neighborhood I Spy hunt

You have probably heard about areas that decorate their windows with rainbows, flowers, or whatever for kids to find on their walks with their parents. When you connect with neighbors to engage in an I Spy game, your kids feel more connected with friends and have the bonus of exercise and fresh air.

Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Be open to the discussion about coronavirus

Children can’t help but be aware of the virus with shutdowns, online news, and people in masks. Don’t try to avoid talking about the pandemic because not speaking about it can cause more stress. The purpose of the discussion is to pass on facts that reassure the child in an open and honest format. As the crisis continues, keep having discussions to keep them informed.

Consider the age of your children

Keep in mind the age of the child when answering questions. Be careful not to overwhelm them with too much information. Remember that you don’t need to have all the answers. What is important is to be there for your children. Also, consider how much screen time is appropriate for your child to limit access to disturbing information.

Let your child lead the conversation

By letting your kids tell you what they have heard and the questions they have, you convey a sense of control in an uncertain situation. Be ready to answer questions with the goal of not reinforcing frightening and untrue stories.

Focus on safety and routine

Let your kids know the safety precautions that you are taking for their well-being and everyone in the home. These guidelines will help them know what to do to keep themselves safe. With school shutdowns and restrictions in get-togethers with friends, a sense of some routine is essential.

Approach it as you would summer vacation. Maintain structure through scheduled activities, lessons, mealtimes and bedtimes. Also, remind them that this is a temporary situation and you will all be fine.

It is up to you to set the behavior
Now more than ever, your child relies on you for guidance and comfort. Therefore, your behavior needs to be the model for them to follow. Wash your hands, maintain social distancing, and present an attitude of calm and control. These actions will help them to understand what they need to do and how they should react to these unprecedented times.

Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Playing with Sand

You might hesitate to allow your kids to play with sand because of the mess, but there are significant benefits. Sand play is an excellent way to enhance self-confidence as well as cognitive and physical learning skills in children. From digging and scooping to sifting and pouring, different play movements help in building their muscles and improve coordination. Moreover, playing with friends in the sand can be a perfect opportunity to develop teamwork and social skills.

Play Dough

Play Dough offers an incredible learning experience for kids. In addition to developing dexterity for writing, it strengthens fine motor skills, improves hand-eye coordination, and boosts creativity. To make things more exciting, try giving your kids some threading beads to turn the play session into a fine motor exercise.

Role Play

Who doesn’t love dressing up with fun props and clothes? Buy your kids some dress-up kits and let their imagination run wild as they try the roles of doctors, astronauts, teachers, or whatever they imagine! Dressing up and role-play help children understand the concepts of the adult world. They’ll learn about the different roles and interests of people. Moreover, these activities will reinforce the aspects of self-care when it comes to appearance.

These interesting activities for children will encourage learning through play and help them grasp essential concepts fast and develop critical skills for the future. Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Trained Professionals to Discuss Bullying with Children

The first line of defense against childhood bullying is to make your children understand what bullying is and the different forms it takes. With this knowledge, they’ll stand a better chance to recognize and fight it. When trained daycare professionals speak about bullying, it lets every child know it isn’t something that should be done, and it won’t be tolerated. Also, discussing bullying with children may make them comfortable and encourage them to speak up if they’re a victim.

Promoting Empathy in Children

The quality of empathy makes children less likely to hurt someone because they can understand how others will feel. This practice helps to prevent bullying. Assistants at a qualified daycare facility will design activities that build empathy in children. Ultimately, your children learn to be more kind and helpful toward others.

Parent Involvement

Professional daycare centers always get parents involved. They conduct workshops and educational sessions to seek parents’ support and cooperation to prevent childhood bullying. Moreover, trained assistants can identify any bullying behaviors or victim signs and directly talk to the parents to put an end to it.

These are just a few ways a daycare center can prevent childhood bullying. The key is to do your homework to ensure that the facility you choose is capable of taking care of and nurturing your child.

Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Build Relationships

Attending daycare gives children a chance to interact with other kids and make new friends. While this interaction works for children with brothers and sisters, children with no siblings at home find it especially beneficial. Daycare offers an excellent opportunity to build essential social skills that will carry them through life. It allows them to learn the importance of empathy and sharing and teaches them how to be a part of a team. When they spend so much time with other children, they learn how to get along with each other, play together, and be tolerant of others.

Reduces Anxiety

Experiencing separation anxiety is common for children. This issue usually triggers when they turn one year old. Eventually, it can make it difficult for them to attend school. Children who attend daycare find it easy to handle this transition because they’ve already dealt with the separation from their parents. Spending time outside of their home setting makes them more adaptable, and therefore, they don’t find it challenging to be in new situations with new people.

Encourages Independence

Children who attend daycare are pushed to be on their own and away from their parents. This fosters a sense of independence and reduces the fear that comes naturally with trying new things and interacting with new people. This ultimately makes them more confident, which is key to achieving success as an adult.

The Heaven’s Elect staff is committed to helping the children in our care to build and strengthen social skills. Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Improves Your Child’s Behavior

Contrary to popular belief, a daycare center may actually make your child better-behaved than children who don’t go to one. Studies show, spending more time with other children under the supervision of a friendly adult improves the ability to interact with peers and develop their social skills. Moreover, exposure to a positive daycare environment during the early years helps in your child’s cognitive and emotional development. It can also prevent emotional difficulties later in life and encourage prosocial behavior in children.

Promotes Effective Communication

Daycare helps to make children effective communicators. By learning to adjust how they communicate with different people, the skill soon becomes intuitive. This skill is also enhanced because they are exposed to various social situations regularly.

Improves Overall Development

According to a seminal study conducted by the National Institute of Childhood Health and Human Development in 2006, the development of children attending daycare isn’t hampered compared to those who don’t. In fact, it was shown that language skills and cognitive development were better than other children. Not only does this happen during the first four or five years of their life, but it tends to last through to at least 15 years of age.

The next time you feel a tug at your heartstrings while sending your child off to a daycare center, remind yourself of these benefits. The Heaven’s Elect staff and program are focused on every child’s development. Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.

Fill a Box for a Food Bank or Homeless Shelter

The Christmas season is the perfect time to do something for the less fortunate. When you fill a box with food for charity, you teach a valuable lesson in giving while helping your community and remind them what the season celebrates.

Make a Festive Wreath

Who doesn’t love Christmas wreaths? This year, you can ask your kids to join in and display their creativity by decorating it with ribbons, bows, and other Christmas ornaments. Another option is to take a quick walk outside to gather pinecones and tree branches with your children. This option will give you exercise and add a natural element to the wreath. Once you have your decorations, take a wire ring, or simply bend a wire hanger to make a circle. Then ask your kids to decorate it with the items you’ve collected. Your children will feel a sense of accomplishment when you hang the wreath on the door for every guest to see!

The Holiday Tour

For kids, Christmas lights and outdoor displays are a particular delight of the season! They’ll love a light tour to see Christmas light displays in surrounding neighborhoods. While on the roads, don’t forget to enjoy your favorite Christmas tunes to keep the holiday spirit up. You can also turn the tour into a game by having the kids count the different items they spot, such as reindeer, snowmen, or nativities.

Candy Cane Hunt 

This is the Christmas spin on an Easter Egg Hunt. All you need is a box of candy canes and a group of kids to find them after you’ve hidden them. You can make the hunt more interesting by setting some rules. These guidelines could include excluding any canes that are hanging or setting a time limit to see who finds the most the fastest.

Have a Toy Drive

Donating toys to underprivileged children is a simple act of kindness that will brighten someone’s Christmas. Of course, you can always buy toys for the drive. If you don’t have the time to go to the toy store with your kids, you can ask them to pick a few new or rarely used toys from their collection and set them aside for charity. It will be a poignant lesson of selflessness that they’ll remember it for years to come.

Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center and Daycare is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland daycare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.