Nursery School and Prehistoric Play!

This week and last we have been exploring Dinosaurs at Nursery School. All of the children, including both boys and girls, have really been enjoying the topic. The topic also lends itself to great language, math, science, sensory and dramatic play opportunities. When planning any of the Nursery School themes the learning goals and objectives are planned out to ensure that each opportunity to play is serving a purpose. So if you have a dinosaur lover, take advantage of the many learning opportunities that can present themselves!

Contributing to the children's exposure to language and reading is always a priority. Some of the language activities that we have focused on have included the numerous books available on dinosaurs - from science books to stories with dinosaur characters. Two of my favourites are Patricks Dinosaurs and the Curious George dinosaur book. We have also been brainstorming the many synonyms for the word 'big' to emphasize how huge dinosaurs really were.

The dramatic play with dinosaurs has included a natural area with logs, sticks and rocks and dinosaur figures to go exploring. The children are also using mini dinosaurs in the block area to make caves and houses for the dinosaurs. The favourite dramatic game has definitely been pretending to be dinosaurs while running through the indoor playground of course!

Number concepts have worked their way into dinosaur themed number songs, matching games as well as comparing the size and weights of the dinosaurs to various things surrounding the children today - for example, did you know that a Brachiosaurus weighed as much as ten elephants or that a Stegosaurus measured as long as 5 cars?! Comparing the dinosaurs to things the children can picture helps to put their size into perspective.

You cannot bring up dinosaurs without including a myriad or science concepts. Discussions on where the dinosaurs lived, what they ate as well as their environment had many of the children eager to participate. The children also very much enjoyed being preschool Paleontologists and digging for dinosaur bones as well as brushing them off and spraying them down afterwards - all offering excellent science, sensory and fine motor opportunities.

The children have explored their artistic talents through painting giant dinosaur murals, ripping paper and gluing the bits as scales onto dinosaurs and today creating fossils with baking soda clay. The children really liked the sensory experience of kneading the clay and then using various shells and dinosaur to make prints. The baking soda clay was very easy to make and used items you probably have in your kitchen. It consisted of 2 cups of baking soda, 1 cup of corn starch and 1 1/4 cups of water. To begin, mix the ingredients in a pot and heat over medium heat while stirring continuously for about 5 minutes. When it begins to look like mashed potatoes remove it from the heat and let it cool. You can begin to mould the dough or store it in an airtight container. It will need overnight to dry and then can be painted the next day.

Dough looking like mashed potatoes.

Dough rolled into balls ready for the children to knead and flatten.

Fossils set out to dry.

Lastly, if you are able to squeeze in a trip to the Museum of Nature to visit the dinosaurs, which is our plan for this weekend, you have completed a very thorough exploration of a preschool dinosaur theme. Hopefully this has given you some new ideas to share with your little ones. What are your favourite dinosaur themed activities?

My babies are growing just too fast!

This weekend we celebrated Isla's first birthday! It is so hard to believe that one year has passed already since Isla made her dramatic entrance with an unexpected home birth! In such a short time, Isla has changed from a calm, relaxed and content infant into a loud, laughing, and very mobile toddler who loves to climb everything! She is a happy and smiley girl who has quite the sense of humour and loves to make everyone laugh by putting everything on her head! She also adores her big brother. No one can make Isla laugh like Ewan and as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning and after nap time she is calling for him.

We had a wonderful party on Saturday for Isla where she very much enjoyed her cake and balloons. Elizabeth Fulton once again worked her magic and we have some beautiful pictures to remember this adorable stage. A Piece of Cake Ottawa also did an amazing job with both Isla's smash cake and our party cake - they were stunning and delicious! Isla was  also a very lucky little girl and received some precious gifts, including a little carriage and cradle for her new doll, puzzles and pull toys, and a new pink chair (so the rocking chair that quickly became a safety hazard with a little climber could be removed!)

Just as I am coming to grips with my baby now being a toddler, I have to go out tomorrow and register my preschooler for Kindergarten tomorrow - this is going to be too much for me in one week! I have never so much identified with the quote "the day's are long, but the years are short" as I have this week.

Our ever-evolving sleep story

I have to start by saying that until recently I have loved having a family bed. I do not regret at all having the kids sleep with Alan and I - both he and I have enjoyed cuddling our babies all night long. We provided a safe environment and we were conscious of the risks. It was also the best way for us to all get a good night sleep, especially since I had gone back to work very quickly after having both kids.

However, recently there has been a growing realization that it simply was no longer working for our family to have all four of us in bed together. Maybe the first time around I had more time to nap during the day, but with two children and working, I am needing significantly more sleep than I have been getting for a long time.

New Year’s day was the day that I decided that I was going to make a solid attempt to have both Ewan and Isla sleep in their beds all night. I had been feeling that all four of us in bed was just too much for probably the last month. Isla was beginning to nurse constantly, Ewan was waking me up first thing and then waking Isla and I was getting up angry many mornings out of frustration. When a king size bed begins to feel too small there is a problem.

My inspiration arose from the RIE theory. I have been following a Resources for Infant Educarers blog for a little while and I am really liking the ideas, suggestions and reasoning in regards to interacting with both infants and children. The theory emphasizes listening and observing your baby/child and following their unique developmental pattern while speaking and acting with the same respect you would grant any other adult. Although many of the principles I had already worked into my parenting style and the programs at A Gym Tale, I am becoming more aware of the importance of these practices. For example, in the Gym and Music classes I emphasize following your child's lead - the goal of the program is to provide a safe environment for your baby / child to explore, test and build their gross motor and social skills along the way. I may provide suggestions and vary the set up of the gymnastics area, but it is up to the children how they will interact with the environment. I also emphasize getting down to the children's level and addressing them directly, asking permission to help them and maintaining a regular routine so that the children always know what to expect.

Three particular articles resonated with me in regards to the growing sleep issue - Reasons to Calm down about Babies Crying & The All Night Diner & No Cry Sleep is Exhausting. I found these articles really helped me to remain calm and to have the confidence that this is what we all truly needed. I also liked the fact that I was not leaving the kids upset and that is something that I personally am not able to do. But with this plan Alan and I worked with both kids.

With Isla, the entire time she was upset I was sitting beside her crib or standing and calmly telling her that I understand this is different and hard, but she can do hard things. I just kept reaffirming ‘sleepy time Isla’ which is the phrase I always used when it was bed time. The first night she cried – but no tears, just yelling – she was so, so angry. She woke up four times and the same thing kept happening – lots of yelling and frustration for about 30 minutes. I stayed calm and kept reassuring her – patting her back if she wanted it, most of the time she did not want me to touch her.  The second night she woke up twice and did not yell for as long. The third night was really tough and Ewan and Isla both kept waking each other up. The fourth night she fell asleep while nursing but she slept the entire night through without a single sound. Ever since I put her in her crib after nursing her while she is very drowsy and she flops around a little, first talking and then whining a little but within 2 minutes she has been sound asleep. She tends to wake up once around 5am, but it takes only a moment of reassurance and she is back asleep again until 6:30 - 11 hours of sleep! I never thought having a child sleep through the night was an actual possibility - I didn't really believe any of you that it actually happened!

With Ewan, Alan had been bringing him back to his bed and reassuring him that he is safe and that this is important for us to all get a better sleep. It had been getting easier for a few days but then quickly he was becoming very upset with anything to do with bedtime. Then one night we heard him crying in his room wanting to come and see us, but he didn't want to upset us by leaving his bed. So we decided that we would wait for Ewan. Neither Alan nor I ever want him to be afraid to come and see us. Ewan still makes his way to our room between 1-3am, but silently crawls in to our bed and falls asleep. In the morning he is also going quietly to his room and playing with quiet activities until we wake up. This arrangement is working for us and we are all feeling so much more refreshed in the morning.

The changes in 4 nights are absolutely mind boggling to me. If you are feeling desperate for more sleep or that your current sleeping arrangement is not working for you like it was, I hope maybe this will give you the energy you need to make a go of it and maybe a different perspective may inspire you. I realize that sleep is such a personal and unique situation for each and every family, but I wanted to share my story in the hopes that it may provide motivation for another family to alter their arrangement if it is no longer working. 

Good luck!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! The month of December was a very busy time for us - with the Nursery School concert, preparation for Christmas, a short trip to NYC with friends (picture is of us in Central Park) and a weekend in Toronto for a wedding - but it was a wonderful month and I think we managed to keep things relatively calm and relaxed, which was my ultimate goal.

The Holiday concert with the Nursery School children - both in the morning and afternoon, went fantastic! The children all sang their little hearts out and were dressed in their fanciest clothes, it was a wonderful celebration of the season and all that we had learned so far this year. And the teachers and I loved all of the holiday cards and kind words - thank you so very much, my fireplace mantle was full of beautiful wishes for the holidays.

A Gym Tale's Winter session of the Gym and Music classes also began before the holidays and it was great to have so many returning families as well as having the opportunity to meet many new families. Play classes will resume next week and I do still have spaces in each of the age groups if you are still looking for an activity to keep the kids active over the winter months. With the weather we are having it has been difficult keeping Ewan active outdoors with how cold it has been and the sheer amount of snow that we have had recently.

Winter camps were also a great success this year. We were very busy this week and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The hostesses really enjoy the opportunity to get to know many of the children that they briefly meet during the birthday parties. It is also nice to have a more relaxed pace of the camp program as opposed to the time constraints with the birthday parties. The camps provide the guests with the opportunity to use the indoor playground, the gymnastics area as well as snack time, art activities and group games. Registration for March Break programs will begin mid January.


Personally, our Christmas was really enjoyable. Last year Ewan was very overwhelmed and it became more stressful trying to encourage him to keep up with the number of gifts, visits and parties. This year we kept it simple - gifts were drastically reduced and all were open-ended imaginative items, my last post goes into detail of what we chose to give to the kids. We also worked around the kids schedules - visits were shorter so the kids could get in their naps and get to bed at night at a decent time. Alan and I were also more relaxed and we were happy to let the kids play at home and enjoy not having to leave the house every morning to rush somewhere. The holiday pictures below were taken by Elizabeth Fulton.

And our New Year's Eve was the ultimate in relaxation - some may call boring, but after six years of running the New Year's Eve Sleepover at A Gym Tale, that is what we needed. We simply rented a movie and enjoyed a glass of wine and it was amazing! The Sleepover was always a great event, and we may continue next year, but this was a well needed break.

 Alan and I have had the opportunity to look back over the successes of the past year, including the Reggio inspired updates to the Nursery School program and the many upgrades and renovations to A Gym Tale as well as think ahead to new programming that we would like to implement in the future. We are very excited for 2013 and we are sure this will be a great year for A Gym Tale!

The Holiday season has begun!

Now that we have had the first snowfall and the holiday's are officially less than one month away, I feel like I can now begin to prepare for the celebrations. I had planned to finish all of my Christmas shopping in November, however, it does not look like that is going to happen. Although, I have done the majority (well, maybe half), I have also decided that I am going to make most of Ewan and Isla's gifts this year, which is taking a little longer. The reason being is last year we had a wonderful Christmas but we went way overboard and Ewan decided that he did not want to open any gifts at all. 

So this year, and hopefully something we maintain over the years to come, is to have essentially 5 gifts for each of the kids. I really like the idea of 'something they want, something they need, and something to read'. I also would like to add something to wear and something I think they should have. I have also moved very much in the direction of open ended and simple toys for both my home and the nursery school program and I am really liking the way these items inspire and require the children to use their own creativity and imagination. A great article can be found here about the benefits of simple, open ended toys for young children.

Here are a few of the items that I am aspiring to make for the kids this year. 

Dying more play silks for both kids - larger ones for Ewan and smaller for Isla. I first did 5 this past spring and Ewan absolutely loves them, they are definitely one of his favourite activities. He uses them for dancing, as superhero capes, making birds nest - it really depends on the day!

Another idea for Ewan is a felt crown and two swords that I have sewn for him to go along with a wooden hobby horse that I purchased. He has begun to get into knights and dragons, so I think this will be big hit. Both were very simple projects and I really like the way they turned out. I found the crown pattern here and the sword pattern here.

I have also made a Fort Building kit for Ewan as he is all about using blankets to create his own little spaces. I found this idea here and I loved the simplicity of it. With a some suction hooks, a flash light and clothes pins from the dollar store, a bed sheet and some fabric scraps I was able to make this kit and I am sure he will be so excited to start building.

I also made both kids some Christmas pyjama's. I have just recently learned to sew and these were considerably harder projects and I kind of got bored of doing them by the end. Also, I messed up Isla's pj's and all of her penguins are standing on their heads, lol, I am not going for perfection with any of these items! I do like the idea of making them Christmas pj's each year though -  a tradition a may try to keep up.

I have also invested in a set of Schleich animals for Ewan, which I expect should last forever and can be brought to A Gym Tale after he is finished with them. To add to this set, I am making a play mat using felt with trees, water, mountains etc. as a dedicated space for him to use with the animals.

And yes, I realize I have gone over the five gifts. But not nearly as much as last year and I am really happy with the potential each of these items have to hopefully inspire his imagination.

As for Isla, in addition to the play silks, which I order online from Dharma Trading, I will be making her a set of bean bags - ideally the alphabet, but she may only get her name depending on time;) I found a great pattern for them here. For Isla's age I think the bean bags will be great for stacking, throwing, dumping or just eating.

I have also ordered a soft doll and a little wooden stroller for her from various shops on Etsy - a great site to check out for both ideas and to purchase the hand made items that you do not have time to do yourself! 

 So all of these projects are the reason that I have not blogged in quite some time! Hopefully some of these items will inspire your own creativity this year! I would also love to hear about how you decide what to get for your children for the holidays as well as any other open ended activities that your children absolutely love.

Helping Hands in time for the Holidays

I have been following a blog for some time and I really enjoy the authors sense of humour, her stories as well as the many initiatives she takes to help others. One of which is her 'Helping Hands' project currently underway in which she tries to match families with needs to those that have extra to give and encourages those that have 'just enough' to watch miracles take place. If you are interested in reading more about it or simply looking for a good read please visit Momastery for more information.

Although I very much like the Helping Hands project, I like the idea of helping someone a little closer to home. I would like to share a story that took place this weekend - not a 'look what I did' story, but a 'look what happened' story.

I began thinking about what "extra's" that I have to give and came up with a few ideas. I have had a set of winter tires for a car that I no longer own sitting in the garage. I decided to look online to see if anyone had posted a 'need' for winter tires. I found plenty. So I offered them to one of these individuals and they were over the moon with excitement and picked them up the next day. I also realized that I no longer needed an exersaucer or a playpen that just did not get enough use to warrant saving for any future babies. So again I looked online for someone who had posted a need. Once again, I found plenty. One individual caught my eye -  a single mother with a 4 month old son who had left an abusive relationship with only what she could fit in her car. So she essentially needed everything baby related from a place for him to sleep, clothes, toys etc. I emailed her and offered her my exersaucer and the playpen. I then posted on Facebook asking if anyone had any extra's to give someone in need. The response I received was overwhelming. With the extra's offered I was able to give her everything on her 'wish list' for her son all within 24 hours of posting on Facebook. I had families dropping things off at A Gym Tale, neighbours of those families wanting to help, I picked things up this afternoon and brought the entire car load (I could not actually fit another single item into my car) to her by 1pm. She was thrilled. She couldn't believe that within 2 days of finding the courage to ask for what she needed, she had received everything and more. Hopefully we have shown her that there are people in her community that care for her, even complete strangers.

Maybe this will inspire you to reach out to the community during this holiday season to offer someone in need a helping hand, or if you are in need maybe give you the strength to ask for what you need, or simply to watch for miracles around you.

If you know a family in need of help this holiday season please email me (info@agymtale.com) and maybe we can make another miracle happen in our very own community.

Can it be true? A Gym Tale's 7 year Anniversary!

I cannot believe that this past week was A Gym Tale's 7 year anniversary! It feels like so long ago Alan and I began our journey - our little small business in the green roofed building on Larkin Dr and Greenbank Rd. Then again it feels like it was just yesterday that we decided to begin our Nursery School program - I have been running into some of our 'original' families who began with us 7 years ago and the children are now 12 years old! That is crazy!

A Gym Tale originated from Alan's Entrepreneurship final project in University. I did not get into my Master's program of choice and decided to take a year off to help Alan open up his business. Little did I know that we would go on to create a dream career for myself and a life style that we would not trade for anything. It really has been wonderful being able to use our creativity to fill a niche within the very community that we grew up in.

In the above picture - taken from my scrapbook, Alan and I are sitting at our giant desk on the very first day that we opened - we were only 23 and look like kids!

Anyone remember our original logo with the little caped boy and all of the t-shirts with capes that my aunts and I made?

It still shocks me at how much our vision of what A Gym Tale would be has changed and grown over the years. We began with a vision of 'gymboree' type classes which encouraged children to develop their imaginations while at the same time promoting an active lifestyle. These classes have drastically changed in format - a big thank you to all of the families who gave us a chance as well as feedback to help us develop the program that we have today. We very quickly realized that filling 40 hours a week with Gym & Music classes was not realistic - and so the idea of beginning a Nursery School program came about. This really gave me an opportunity to use my skills and challenge my imagination to create a program that fosters the natural development of young children through play based learning. Once again this program has changed and grown over the past 6 years to become one of my projects that I am most proud of. It also provides the opportunity to really get to know so many children and their families within Barrhaven. Birthday parties have also changed drastically over the years. It absolutely shocked Alan and I that within two months we were consistently hosting 8 birthday parties a weekend every weekend. I will not get into how we used to offer personalized invitations and change the colour of streamers after every party to coordinate with the theme. Have I also mentioned that we more or less lived at A Gym Tale and did not sleep for the first 2 years?!

After two years in the green roofed building, we came to the realization that what we were getting out of A Gym Tale simply was not worth working 7 days a week, night and day, and all holidays (except Christmas day). We had to make a very difficult decision - either close A Gym Tale and walk away knowing that we tried our best or to take a leap of faith and create something bigger. We have always liked the saying 'go big or go home', and so Alan fulfilled his life long dream and we bought a pirate ship and a castle! Our move to the new location (our present location) was both the most stressful time in our lives as well as the most exciting time. This was a huge undertaking and we were so very fortunate that the client base that we had gained supported us and we were able to attract so many new families to give us a chance to become a part of their children's lives.

During the past five years in the new location we have continued to grow and change in order to try and meet the needs of our community and to challenge ourselves to create higher quality programming and active entertainment for children. We now also offer Kid's Night Out, Before & After School care, Camps, New Year's eve Sleepovers (we did anyway) and group visits.

It is also incredible the number of staff that have helped to shape A Gym Tale along our journey. In our first location we had 4 staff members at a time and now we have 14. Each and every individual who has worked with us has brought with them ideas that have helped to shape what we have become.

We are so very grateful to everyone who has helped A Gym Tale become what it is today and to all the families that have invited us to become a part of their lives. We love what we do and we will continue to strive to provide the best quality programming and children's entertainment.