Here is one of our daycare children building with Lego blocks, a great tool for developing fine motor skills, task focus, and creativity. Created by a toy manufacturer in Denmark in the 1940s, Lego blocks were one of the first inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. There is no doubt about the popularity of Lego blocks worldwide, but did you know that The Space Shuttle Endeavor brought 13 Lego
Here at Apple Hill Academy, we recognize the importance of music as a part of the childcare experience. Even the youngest children benefit from hearing music and singing in their environments, but things really get interesting when the children themselves engage in supervised or spontaneous play with noisemakers and simple musical instruments. A toddler playing one of our xylophones is a good example. Many music educators use the xylophone as a classroom resource. And who
Story time could be a favorite time for many of our preschoolers at Apple Hill Academy. Most young children (even infants) love to be read to by parents, grandparents, librarians and teachers. Here we see a teacher reading aloud to our students the very popular book, “More Spaghetti I Say” by Rita Golden Gelman. With its rhyming narrative and its fun illustrations, the book tells the story of Minnie, who loves eating spaghetti so much that she doesn’t
Here at Apple Hill Academy we provide a safe and supervised environment where young children can learn the many fun ways that scissors can be used. Most children can do simple cutting at 3-4 years old. Using scissors involves good coordination of eyes and hands, and develops fine motor skills. Scissor projects are a good way to encourage creativity, too. Can’t you just feel the concentration of the daycare student in this picture? The ancestor
Our students love building structures on the light table. They use translucent blocks to add a new dimension to their creations. Translucent comes from a Latin word that means “to shine through.” It is an adjective meaning: “allowing light, but not detailed shapes, to pass through; semitransparent” or less than completely transparent, but clear enough that some light can pass through. However, in the English language we often use the term to describe a person’s character
