hint: hold your little one's forarm to help THEM complete the actions!!

At Cuddles Academy Childcare we
Build Self-Help Skills while focusing on Social Emotional Development.
~*~ Children in care are encouraged to complete tasks as they're able. 
             

      Cuddles Academy Hand Washing Song!                    (to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

(talking) Water...Soap...And...

Scrub, scrub, scrub your hands
Every single day.
Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing,
Washing germs away.

Scrub, scrub, scrub your hands
Every single day.
Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing,
Washing germs away.

(talking) Rinse...Leave it in the sink. And...

Dry, dry, dry your hands
Every single day
Drying, drying, drying, drying,
All so we can play!

Here’s a sample list of self-help skills that we practice daily:

     ◦ Covering mouth when sneezing or coughing

     ◦ Pulling up pants after diapering

     ◦ Feeding self with hands and utensils

     ◦ Placing cup above plate (or as far as arms will reach)

     ◦ Putting on/taking off clothes and shoes

     ◦ Washing hands

     ◦ Putting toys away and cleaning up spills

     ◦ Serving the food onto their own plate, pouring into cup

     ◦ Communicating needs through speech or gestures

Every time a child is present in the moment and participating in a skill they are internalizing and making new connections to the world around them.

Some can be started earlier, all are appropriate by the time a child can walk. Remember to use their hands to do the action with you.

Cuddles Academy Childcare Curriculum

We provide everything a child needs to prepare for kindergarten. Every day we learn through play. We take advantage of learning opportunities such as sorting balls by color, blocks by size, making patters, or simple addition while serving our food. In addition to our play-based learning, each month we choose a topic to explore more thoroughly.

Different, Same and Patterns

Bugs & Insects

Animals in the Forest, Water, Farm, Zoo

Emotions and Helping Each Other

Flowers and Gardening

Body Parts (All about ME)

People in our Community

We also participate in the following Holiday projects:

Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.

What this means for Your Child:
This is Preschool!! ♥
Our goal is to help foster the development of a young child's creative thinking skills by giving them meaningful opportunities to experiment, explore, question, and discover.
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Promoting ongoing learning through everyday tasks builds knowledge and connections to the world. This is what early education is about. 
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For example, the simple act of a child serving there own food includes learning on multiple levels: problem solving, hand-eye coordination, grip strength, learning spacial correlation, building on communication and social skills, practicing counting and addition. The list goes on!
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As caregivers it's our job to look for the teachable moments...The child's job is to PLAY.

We have a PDF that is a more in-depth look at promoting new independent skills!! 

Click here --►Building Indepedence at Cuddles Academy

Make sure to check out the last page for consistency & mindset suggestions to help along the way! ♥

Our focus is hands-on learning through play...for the children.
But the adults are being mindful to "check off" all the boxes for Kindergarten Prep.

The most important Kindergarten Readiness Skills are being able to: 

Interact with peers

Regulate emotions

Dress self (put on own shoes/coat)

Engage & focus for short periods in group activities (art time or story time)

Children will learn through direct experiences engaging with their environment, peers, and adults.

Cuddles Academy Childcare's environment is rich with opportunities to explore and question.

These themes include activities such as:

Arts/Crafts, Worksheets, Books, Posters, Toys, Puzzles, Games, Music, and lots of creative child-lead exploration!

As children grow, their curiosities will spark a natural interest in

letters, numbers, writing, making patterns, and understanding the world around them.

(Learning happens when you're interested...not when you're told it's time.)

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Cuddles Academy Childcare's environment is set up to spark curiosity with materials on hand to inspire and build upon your child's interests.

(We promote teamwork and empathy. As we grow together, our group becomes a second family.)
        
 
(If a child has demonstrated that they are able to clean up toys we will assist, but will not do it for them.)
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~*~ These skills will then be built upon.
     
(If a child cleans up toys, then they are also able to clean up their messes after mealtime or get  items out for art.)
on our friends and the world around us.
~*~ Growing independence is balanced with learning to help each other and understanding the affect we have 

Shapes and Colors

Music

Dinosaurs 

Transportation 

Outer Space

Safety

Food and Nutrition 

Peer interaction is key in sparking iterest in previously unseen/unexplored areas ... incorperates

This page describes the structure of our Preschool Program.

Here are some extra notes to break down the points of focus:

Our learning includes:

Language: alphabet & letter recognition, phonics, name & word recognition, printing, beginning reading. Math: number recognition, number printing, addition, subtraction.

This is a sample list of topics that we explore:

Remember: Our focus is hands-on learning through play... For The Children.

But the adults are being mindful to "check off" all the boxes of Kindergarten Prep.

Ask about our Child Development Checklists during your Tour! 

   It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.         -Ann Landers

Cuddles Academy Childcare Self-Help Skills