I have been a childcare provider for a very long time and it has been my observation that children are becoming more and more reliant on toys and games that "tell" them or "direct" them in what to play or do while playing.
Looking back over my own childhood, my most vivid and wonderful memories of play with my siblings was when we "made up" games out of everyday items around our house. We used upside down bicycles with a sheet thrown over them as a covered wagon (dating myself, but this was in the Little House on the Prairie days!) and grass and pine cones in a dog water dish stirred with a stick. WOW! We were surviving the harsh prairie wilderness! Or when we used an old bookshelf for a Barbie apartment house. We spent all day finding things for that house. We used my mothers bible for the doll bed with a wash cloth for the bed spread. It was rudimentary but man, we had a fantastic time making those games up. Funny thing was, the Barbies were too tall to fit in it anyway! But what imagination....
Of course, I was older than the children I care for now when I was surviving the prairie, but it is a sad fact that children's time is spent with many things dictating their play. So many toys have buttons and beeping sounds with some mysterious person talking "inside" telling a kid what to do constantly. As a provider, its hard to find toys nowadays that spark curiosity and creative inspiration.
Screens are a big culprit. I have observed that children who consistently play with iPads or games on smart phones, are regularly having to be reminded that they need to "play with their friends" or "play with toys". Sometimes they will sit and stare at the other kids but not really engage in games they used to play happily, or I will see them always using other toys as iPad or phones while their tiny fingers move across the toy over and over. They will even try to encourage the others to play with the "game" they have in their hand trying to draw the other children into regular conversations about what they play and see in the game they have at home on their iPad or their parents smart phone.
IPads and smart phones are a fact of life, but it can be very hard to get them to play anything else until I finally say "No games with phones or pretend IPads". Having a lot of toys and games doesn't seem to ignite the imagination of these children in the same way as other children who do not get screen time at all. Television is not the problem in my opinion. TV is very detrimental in large blocks of time if it takes away children's free play. However, electronic games that only direct a child's fingers and dictate to the growing brain that it can only derive pleasure and satisfaction when it is engaged with images and games on the screen, has to be very detrimental.
It is my experience that this disturbing modern trend is stealing away something very valuable and leaving an emptiness in its place. Children have a God given natural ability to create something out of nothing when they play. In fact, you used to be able to give children an empty box or a paper sack and their imagination would just run wild with ideas of what to make and do. But spending many hours being told what to do (as if they were a machine themselves) by a small rectangular device that fits into your hand, may eventually collapse the creative abilities of our future generation. It's a sad thing to observe at the very front line of early childhood development
And let's get real, these phones and electronic pads are really useless, because "playing" with an IPad in the dog water is a big No No! 

Over my 30+ year career as a provider, I have cared for so many babies that I have almost lost count! When I became a certified provider over 10 years ago, I made the decision to only accept infants that were at least 12 months old and that were developmentally ready to be cared for in a mixed age group. It is widely thought that babies do not do well in a larger group, however contrary to this belief, it has been my experience that babies flourish in this environment. At my house, babies are allowed as much free movement as possible with access to the whole group. I know that they learn advanced skills such as verbal and large motor as well as being exposed to and learning advanced social skills from the group.
Babies are included in all free play indoor and out as well as in general routines such as eating and napping and also in the conversation, and they are cared for and loved by all. Babies do however present unique issues if they have never been in daycare before.
If you are the parent of an infant, I will address a few things that you may need to know before having your baby included in our daycare family.
 1. Napping can be an issue if baby is not prepared and able to adjust to naps at daycare successfully. Parents need to know that babies that need to nurse, need to be rocked, or need to be held and infants that cannot go to sleep alone without these rituals, can become difficult to care for in childcare. It is better for baby to have parents break any dependencies on these types of rituals and routines that may prevent baby from being able to fall asleep on their own. Babies who cannot self-soothe will sometimes cry and cannot be soothed without their familiar routines. Please work on trying to get baby to go to sleep on their own before starting daycare. Most providers do not have the ability or time to hold and rock individual babies to sleep. If you are considering daycare, it is best to try and allow baby to go to sleep on their own at home instead of expecting them to learn this new skill at daycare. It is traumatic for infants to start daycare as it is with a new caregiver, new environment, new kids, new rituals and a new bed, and it makes it that much more difficult for them if they cannot self-soothe and put themselves to sleep. And when they cry,  a provider wants to comfort them but baby has not yet learned to trust and just wants mommy and daddy. Crying each day at nap time creates a bad feeling for baby about sleeping at daycare and can make a new daycare situation very stressful for baby, other children in care, AND for the provider. Babies all have difficulty getting used to childcare and the new routines, but babies who can fall asleep on their own move through this transition much easier and more quickly than others who cannot .
Please take the time to help baby learn to go to sleep on their own at home before asking them to adjust well to sleeping at daycare.
 2. Eating can be an issue at my daycare if babies are still being hand fed by parents after 12 months. But if babies are eating finger foods and can handle cut up soft foods, it is usually fine. Babies will need to be weaned from bottles (or at least ready to be weened) and should only be given water in a bottle at nap time. I start sippy cups as soon as 12 months of age and graduate to small dixie-style at around 18 months old or when baby is developmentally able.
 3. Walking is not necessarily a requirement, however parents need to realize that at my house babies are not separated and are allowed free-range to co-mingle with the older and larger children. The older children are taught to be careful and respectful around all babies and to allow them to be included within the childcare environment. 
 Babies are always going to be a part of our family at Rugrats! My older children love it when babies start daycare and babies love to come to this big family with so many people to care for them.
We all want the best for these smallest of children and being a bit "daycare ready" can make a the transition into  a new daycare situation so much easier for baby, the daycare family and for mommy and daddy as well!
  

Even though my house is right in the middle of town, we get our share of wild life here at daycare! We get all kinds of little creatures coming to visit. Wild ducks fly in and stay for days, many different species of squirrels, chipmunks, and an occasional opossums may lumber through the yard once in a while looking for slugs to eat. Almost every different kind of bird has been at our bird feeder from chickadees to buntings, and some stay year round coming to eat every day as well as feeding their babies in front of our big windows. The children have seen and can identify many species of birds and butterflies and this past winter and spring, we even have the very rare western bluebird grace us with its beauty! My mother would have been green with envy about that:)
Just the other day, we caught a glimpse of a sweet little bunny out eating my newly planted flowers in the back yard! And now, each day since, this bunny has come to say "hi" and eat a zinnia breakfast, while the kids eat their breakfast and watch him/her out the back window. It's getting used to us and is now a fixture in my back yard! This was a surprising treat for all of us. So fun and exciting and maybe it will have some baby bunnies for us to see as well? There will be opportunities for more flowers, but having a real cottontail bunny come and stay is an honor. Someday, maybe I'll able to take its picture if it will hold still long enough! UPDATE: Got him!
​I am an avid bird watcher and I love insects, butterflies and flowers. I can't help but impart this love I have for  simple backyard nature to my childcare children, and maybe when they all will grow up, they will love the smallest of God's creatures as much as I do!

Over my long career as a provider I have helped to potty train countless children, and have many years of experience in this transitional stage of a child's growth. I am very relaxed about potty training as I know that all children will move from diapers to underwear eventually even if it takes a while. Sometimes it takes a few days, to a few months. I've even helped little ones who trained themselves!
If I could give parents some advice about potty training, it would be to just allow for accidents, be filled with praise, and not to get uptight about how long it takes. Children need to be able to connect their mind to the control of their bladder before they can be successful at the 'training' stage. Experts will say that this stage begins typically around 18 months when children begin to grab at their diaper etc. I disagree a little with the assumption that an 18 month old is ready to be really potty trained when, in reality they are just at the stage of discovering that something is coming out inside their diaper. They often will grab their diaper as they are going potty or poopy and will become excited that they have discovered something new is happening to them. However, this is the age when parents can and should introduce the big toilet (by having them sit on it and help them to hold on) and begin to use language about potty and poopy to their little ones.
The next stage will be too help them learn the difficult skill of bladder control which is the releasing and holding urine at will. During this stage, it is necessary for children to have many opportunities to be successful by being sat on the toilet especially when they really need to go or when they are showing signs of squatting or hiding. For urinating, I have found that the best way for me to train a child to learn to control their bladder (release) is to take them immediately after they wake up from a nap. If a child is ready to be potty trained, they will most likely still have a dry diaper/pull up when they first wake up and also at other times during the day. This is a sign of bladder control as well (holding) and if a child is dry after nap time, I can usually start the process of training at this stage of development. I will take them potty and they will usually go. Then comes a lot of praise!! 
I will continue this each day at daycare and if all goes well, the child will start to be able to release the muscles that have held their potty for a few hours and this is how they learn. Then we can move to trying out this new skill throughout the day.
Going poopy in the toilet is a bit different and sometimes children will not go in the toilet at all, while others will go only poop in the toilet and nothing else. Each child is different about this so I just try to read them individually to get them to be successful at going poopy in the big potty as well!
I have just finished helping to train 2 children and will begin the process with another 2 year old in the next month. By late summer, I will be helping to train 3 more little ones.
This is something I am very experienced with!
So if a child has developed the ability to control their bladder enough that they can "release" when put up on the big toilet and "hold" while playing, napping etc... then they can graduate to underwear at my house and they are potty trained! Depending on the child, this process can take a few days, or a few months.
But just  remember, lots and lots of praise, and keep in mind accidents are the tools for learning! 

We love summer! The bright sunshine, the garden of flowers buzzing with bees and butterflies flitting in and out, and so many cloudless days bring many opportunities for free play outside and that is what children do here at my house. PLAY! Whether it is play in the sand, water or just enjoying the green grass and hot sun, it is wonderful to be a child and play with joyful abandon in the summer time! Sharing bubbles and a Popsicle with your little friends or spending time concocting potions together during a water day, help to encourage camaraderie and laughter. Having a carnival filled with sweet fun and games or maybe just playing in a giant sandbox filled with hidden treasures will spark the imaginations and fantasies of children and allows for uninterrupted discussions like whether the ocean can really be heard inside that mysterious shell or maybe if pirates hid those pretty agates and "diamonds" down in the sand!
​Allowing ample time for free play creates an atmosphere of happiness and pleasure for children that makes the long days at childcare something to enjoy and look forward to instead of dread.
Watching the summer pass away is always sad for me, but the images of the children I have watched grow and play that year will always stay in my heart. And my hope is, that the memories that summers at Rugrats have created will stay with those children forever as well! 

At my house, daycare is about relaxing and playing all day. Most of our summer days are spent outside enjoying the flowers and beautiful sun. One of the ongoing summer activities is "butterfly watching" and the children are very good at identifying the many different butterflies that float in and visit us in our backyard, such as Cabbage Whites, Skippers, Gray Hairstreaks and Western Tiger Swallowtails.
Over the past 2 summers, we have added in a very special activity that (hopefully) will be part of my childcare for years to come. Last summer, I planted milkweed to try and lure in the elusive Monarch Butterfly and it sure did! Within just a short 2 weeks of planting it, there was a female butterfly laying eggs on the leaves! Last year we raised 7 Monarch caterpillars into adult butterflies. This was a very unique and wonderful experience for the kids as well as for me!
The Monarch Butterfly population in the Willamette Valley has dwindled down significantl due to the loss of its only food source, and it is now a rare and special gift to get to see a Monarch Butterfly in its wild and free state.
This year we helped raise 29 Monarchs to adulthood!! And on August 1st, we released 7 adult butterflies all at once into our backyard! This last generation of butterflies may even migrate to Mexico and overwinter there! Next summer we will see more Monarch females come and lay eggs at our house and we will be ready to feed and care for the cute hungry caterpillars that hatch out on our milkweed! We watch them get fatter and fatter and then, when they are all doe eating, they crawl to the top of the cage to form a "J" right before they turn into a beautiful green chrysalis with gold spots! Then they sleep inside for about 2 weeks  and we watch for the black of their wings to begin to show through. And then "POP" out they hatch!
At Rugrats, we now play a very proud role in helping to encourage the redistribution of the beautiful Monarchs around the Corvallis area, while we also get the rare treat of seeing and enjoying this "King of the Butterflies" as it comes to visit us during the warm and sunny months of summer!
Maybe our Monarchs will come and visit your yard next summer too:)

What could be more fun to a child than playing with robots?
During the warm summer month of July, we reserve one special week to pay tribute to all things "robot"!
All year long my childcare children wait excitedly for the month of July when I bring out my collection of Lava Lamps of every color, and also my big collection of Schylling Robots! These fun, and happy collections of mine have become such a fun part of my childcare that they have earned their own special week of celebration!
On this wonderful summer week, we have "robot" everything from stories, making robots out of recycled boxes and A LOT of tape, as well as walking and dancing like robots. And this year on Robot Day, I made them each a hot-lava lamp tee-shirt from their favorite color of Lava Lamp and then we had cupcakes with robots on top! But if you ask the kids, the very best thing of all on Robot Day is our now famous robot races! They get to chose a robot from my collection and then we watch the mysterious little machines as they race "robotic-ally" across the porch! The sparkle of excitement shines in their eyes as they watch in wonder at the robots racing each other. I wonder if they think they are really alive;)
Summer just wouldn't be the same now without Lava Lamps and Robot Day!

​ 

Just wearing a simple little mask can open up a world of imagination to a child.
In April, we had our very first "Mask-Arade Day" at Rugrats! I cannot tell you the many different games and scenarios that were conjured up by my group of kids when I brought out a box of little masks and new capes for them to enjoy that day. And it was a beautiful sunny day as well! They became superheros, animals in the zoo, pets, as well as all kinds of characters in their favorite TV shows. Some of the little ones were kinda scared of the older kids in their masks, but by the end of the day, even the littlest kids were trying to wear one! They wore their masks while they played, while they ate and while they napped! And for me it was pure enjoyment! I laughed and laughed as they looked at me with their eyes coming out of the wrong holes and with their masks upside down or around their necks! For a provider, this wonderful free play abandon and happiness is like heaven in a job that can sometimes be more than a little stressed;)
It was definitely an April day of foolish fun for all of us!

One of our many fun days at RUGRATS is our Chinese New Year Party.
And like the many years before, this one was such a hit!
I have been to Chinese New Year celebrations and my very favorite thing to see is the Lion Dogs! I love the way they look so real even if you see the man/woman inside!
This year, I was so happy to find some little Lion Dog marionette puppets. I also found a dragon and I practiced with them so that I could put on a great show for the kids. They are always very forgiving of my mistakes and this puppet show was no different. The kids were absolutely glued to the show! Even the smallest children were in awe of those little dogs! I made those doggies bounce around and made up a story of how the dragon came and tried to scare them. I made the dragon fly around and they clapped and giggled and got a little scared! They were so amazed and sat and watched with such patience as I fumbled through! They clapped for the puppets and even petted the dogs after the show as if they were real! I got a big kick out of watching them laughing and interacting with the puppets. And then they each tried to make the puppets move and walk by trying to be the puppeteer! 
Then lunch was a bit of a battle as they all tried very hard (with some success) to master the art of eating from bamboo sticks!
To end our day, the music of Chinese Drums filled the house as they danced around with their paper fans and ribbons and when it was time to go home, they each took some Chinese rice candy! 
What a great day. We will definitely keep our Chinese New Year party!

 We had so much fun celebrating the different holidays this past year! The 2015 fall and winter holiday season started off in November with our annual Thanksgiving Pow Wow and continued on with our unique Rugrats tradition of celebrating the 5 Days of Christmas.
Making Indian corn with pretty buttons was a fun project for little fingers and good practice for small motor development. A perfect little craft for the end of fall. And dancing to the loud drums of traditional Native American pow wow music and sporting handmade necklaces created out of colorful macaroni, topped off the happy day for our Thanksgiving Pow Wow at Rugrats. Enjoying a "friendly feast" and some pumpkin pie with our daycare family is also a must for this special day.
In December, the focus is on a week filled with Christmas fun with each day dedicated to an icon of Christmastime. For Snowman Day, we had a wild indoor snowball fight and made snow globes from little plastic water bottles! On Gingerbread Man Day, the focus was on creating a plate full of ginger-boys that tasted pretty good at lunch time! On Nutcracker Day, the floor was covered with the remains of all kinds of nuts cracked with all kinds of nutcrackers, and all over the place! The kids are still playing the Nutcracker story and dressing up to be Clara, The Nutcracker Prince and of course, The Mouse King!
During Santa Day, everyone became Santa, his elves or the reindeer. Sometimes all of the above at the same time! The toys were shoved into big red bags and given to each other as wonderful gifts on pretend Christmas morning! They played Santa with joy all afternoon and created one-of-a-kind Christmas cards to take home. Then on Jesus Day, they painted a special sparkly angel decoration because the angels sang a beautiful song on the day that Baby Jesus was born, and we all participate in His birthday with Christmas trees, beautiful decorations, giving gifts and singing. And a little gift in a Christmas lunchbox present made celebrating Jesus Day the best of all!
Each one of these special days brought its share of new and fun free-play ideas and the hours of unique play experiences are part of this happy time in the family of childcare.
At my house, celebrating the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas have always been a very important part of my life, and I hope that the memories that I am creating for my childcare children will give them warm, loving feelings about these holidays and stay in their hearts forever, long after I have gone.