Mighty Munchkins Child Care

General information

Hi!
My name’s Ryan, and I’m a fully licensed Early Childhood Educator.
The quick version of how a teacher (my degree is in Education) found himself in Child Care, is that I volunteered one summer at a YMCA 3-5 program, fell in love with Early Childhood Education, and have decided to stay. I was quickly hired at the centre I volunteered at, and enjoyed two great years with the Y; currently, I’m completing an 8-month contract as a Special Needs ECE at Douglas College Daycare (in Coquitlam).

I’m also a new dad, and I’m absolutely thrilled to embark upon the incredible opportunity to escape full-size daycares for a few years and educate/look after three little Mighty Munchkins in the comfort of my own home… when we’re not at the Aquarium, Science World, the park, the library, scooting down a bike path on our balance bikes, etc.

As I set out on this new venture, a present driving force is the realization that kindergarten goodbyes come all too soon, and that there’s only a set amount of time to pack in as many awesome experiences as I can. As a father and an educator, I invite you and your child to share this time with us.

Of course we can’t go to the Aquarium every day, and a regular staple of our day will be playing and enjoying a variety of activities here at the house. It is my belief that playing is an absolutely critical component of a child’s development, and carries an intrinsic importance that cannot be overstated. Ideally, it is through play that children learn about themselves, others, and the world around them. Play creates fantastic opportunities for children to find themselves in situations where they need command of the ‘soft skills’ which are so important for a successful kindergartener to have: self-control, the ability to share, take turns, wait, calm themselves, etc. Play is also how children gain confidence, make friends, and laugh. They also cry, whine, hit, and whatnot, which is developmentally normal… but they do it a lot less, and thus leave it behind a lot sooner, when they’re enjoying themselves within - and adjusting to - a respectful, predictable, and nurturing environment (that both makes sense to them, and - at a minimum – meets basic health and safety standards).

Indeed there is a strong focus in this program on the social and emotional aspects of development. Children are often interacting with their very first teacher and classmates ever, and as we spend all day every weekday together, these are very important developments.

As for the more academic activities we’ll be doing, the acronym STEAM is a helpful mnemonic:

- Science: learning about animals, our bodies, trees, space, weather, insects, nutrition, the changing seasons, etc.
- Technology: educational videos, aquarium/zoo webcams, virtual museum tours, (family safe) Google Image Searches (for beluga whales, worms, lightning, Mars, superhero masks to trace out and decorate, etc.), Google Maps, etc.
- Engineering: block play, train tracks, construction play, assembling and disassembling things, etc.
- Art: painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, mixing colours, tinting, shading, taking photographs, etc.
- Math: counting, sequencing, adding, subtracting, simple fractions, discovering patterns, using a calendar, measuring, etc.
All of these obviously are loaded with opportunities for Literacy throughout, with many new words leading to new activities, to new words, to new activities, ad infinitum…

Finally, in terms of our general curriculum, an accurate description wouldn’t be complete without the word ‘Reggio-Inspired,’ as the educators of Reggio Emilia are a large part of why I’m here in Child Care to stay. My favourite thing about this approach (and if you’re not familiar with this please do not hesitate to ask,) is the unique and incredible amount of respect which children are the beneficial recipients of. This is certainly not to say that traditional programs do not respect children; this is to say that true Reggio centres follow children (as opposed to routines, schedules, or calendars). If two children are obsessed with dinosaurs, and another with ocean life, then here at Mighty Munchkins we’re watching a virtual tour of a dinosaur exhibit, playing with dinosaur figurines, digging up ‘dinosaur’ bones outside, and then heading to the Aquarium to see and learn about fish, octopuses, jellyfish, and whatever else we can find there. When we get back, we might draw/paint pictures of what we did and saw, read books, or go outside and play hockey if that’s what we want to do. And we’ll continue these interests the next day, interspersed with trains, soccer, cars on our huge mat, STEAM activities, etc., until we find a new topic to explore.

An overly structured schedule that tells us what we’ll be doing, where we’ll be doing it, and for how long, obviously gets in the way of doing awesome stuff for any length of time… and thus our days will not be ruled by a schedule, but rather by us. The benefit of this, is that by following children, they’re given the freedom and opportunity to develop (as opposed to simply adapting to having to put down their table toys at 10am, for example), both by learning from what works well, and also from mistakes. If we choose to keep playing trains and skip snack, then we might be hungry and maybe a little cranky later on. Short-term, this isn’t fun or convenient; long-term, we’re learning to make better and better decisions ourselves. Before too long, we’ll be asking to keep our trains and tracks where they are, while we go and eat snack, then keep playing when we’re done.

Finally, I have taught (English) and studied (Mandarin) on the island of Taiwan for ten years. I am comfortable speaking in Mandarin with children, but I won’t actively be teaching Mandarin as a part of our curriculum.