Welcome to Smallpond Childcare's website!

Welcome to Smallpond Childcare's website!
We are a small childcare home that is fully licensed by the State of Alaska. We strive to provide a warm and gentle environment for small children to explore and play. We believe that the best kind of learning happens when children are involved in the rhythms of the day and are given plenty of opportunities for ownership of their activities. We look forward to days filled with laughter, singing, bread baking, dancing, outside exploration, painting, play-dough, dress up, and books...lots and lots of books!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Alder basket is complete!


The alder basket/play house/fort is finally complete in all its wonky glory! The kids have enjoyed pretending it's a jail, a fairy house, a giant spider, a campsite and who knows what else over the past week. I even overheard some older neighbor kids talking about how cool it was....


I'm totally inspired by this cool website Check it out!




The pond has been a lovely sunny space lately, here's a recent picture (without kids of course, notice how all the toys are on the shelves!) We've been busy baking, painting (fingerpainting is a new favorite), and growing our pea plants.

We're still looking to fill two full time spots for the summer, so if you hear of a need, pass them my way!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Meow!



Hooray for Hallie being back from Hawaii! Now I get to spend all my free time making lunches into kitties!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Outdoor playspace inspiration

I finally took the time to drive around back of Kachemak Kids to see their playspace and am now much inspired! I love the giant upside down alder basket and spent much of my Sunday chopping alder branches to start weaving my own. I'm also looking forward to building a sand/nature table for the yard and a small platform with slide (I'm completely ripping KK's playspace off, btw! Imitation is the best form of flattery, right?)

If you have any ideas or raw materials let me know....we'll be fencing the space once the ground thaws a bit more and I'm always on the lookout for small shovels, pails and balls!