Look at our Garden Grow

In an effort to give kids the chance to learn about how our food grows, we have started incorporating a children's garden in to our ongoing curriculum and experiences here in our YMCA Child Care Programs.

One of their first steps was to release some worms in the ground. Ms. Sara explained how the worms would help by making "air tunnels" in the dirt and also that their droppings would fertilize our young plants. The kids sure found that last bit entertaining...and talked about it at length for the rest of the day. The children had made pinecone bird feeders made of pinecones rolled in peanut butter and dipped in bird seed the week prior. They hung them with care to attract the birds to our garden area also. The finches flocked there for a couple of weeks until the bird seed was all eaten up. They were fun to watch from the playground.

These photos show of some of our Pre-K classes planting seedlings that they started indoors in the early spring. They were planted in early May and now surely look different! Stay tuned for photos upcoming of the current state of our wonderful Children's Garden.

Preschool Graduation and Open House

Once a year we like to take the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of even our littlest scholars. The Prescott YMCA Preschool holds an annual "Graduation" where parents and family members come and celebrate the growth in the children over the last academic year. This year, our School Age Director, Alicia and Group Leader, Josh learned to play Pomp and Circumstance to add some special bits of ceremony to our event. It was wonderful.

Following the Graduation event, we held and Open House for all of the soon-to-be Kindergarteners and their families in the School Age Building. All of the School Age kids and their families were also invited. Jessica, a group leader barbequed, we had a celebratory cake, and other snacks contributed by parents as well. The School Age children were awarded merit badges based on their improvements throughout the school year. The group leaders also provided fun with water baloon toss and other games to keep the kids smiling.

Although the Open House was an inaguaral event, we will surely include it in the future. The families seemed to really enjoy the festivities. Stay tuned for the date next year, in early May.