Child Care: Finding a Licensed Provider

When you think of child care you may just think of the typical day care center, or maybe a day care run out of someone's home, but did you know that there are actually a few different types of child care providers that can be licensed in Utah?  There is family child care, family group child care, residential certified, child care centers, and school age only care.  Knowing what it all means can really help you in your search for a reliable child care situation for your little one!  Here is a description of each type to help you figure it all out!

Family Child Care-This is a provider that is licensed to do child care in their home. They must have an adult to child ratio of 1 adult to 8 children with no more than 2 children under the age of 2, or 1 adult to 6 children with no more than 3 children under the age of 2.  Any children that belong to caregivers (kids who already reside in the home) count in that ratio until they turn 4 years old.
 
Family Group Child Care-This is also a provider that is licensed to do child care in their home. The adult to child ratios are 2 adults to 9-16 children with no more than 4 children under the age of 2.  The family child care and family group child care providers must have written policies and procedures and an emergency & disaster plan. They also must have 20 hours of training a year, must have first aid supplies in the home and in any vehicle used to transport the children, and have specific play equipment guidelines.
 
Residential Certified (RC)-This is a provider that is certified to do child care in the home. Residential certification is considered a lower standard than licensed, because of different ratios, group sizes, care giver training, and outdoor equipment standards. The adult to child ratios required are 1 adult to 8 children with no more than 2 children under the age of 2, children belonging to the care givers count in the ratio until 3 years old.  An emergency and disaster plan is required, but can be verbal, first aid supplies must be in the home, and 10 hours of training are required annually.

Child Care Center-This is a provider that operates in a non-residential setting and on a regular schedule. The number of children allowed is determined by the size of the facility.
 
School Age Only-This type of child care is provided in a non-residential setting for school age children only (ages 5-12). However, many centers and family child care programs also take school age children.

For more information, check out CareAboutChildCare.Utah.Gov!

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Care About Child Care

Going back to work (or leaving your child for any reason) is one of the hardest things to do as a new mom, but finding a child care provider you trust can make it easier when you have to leave your baby.  Luckily for Utah families, there is a wonderful new resource for finding just that!

Care About Child Care is a great site that helps connect you with the resources you need to make sure your child is getting the best care possible when you are away.  To get started, head over to careaboutchildcare.utah.gov and click on the "parents" tab.

From here you can search for daycare providers or you can register with the site.  There's also a lot of good information on what to look for when you go to a day care provider, and information on help paying for child care.  If you choose to register, your child's information will be saved and each time you search you will get more customized search results!

The search feature is wonderful because it gives you so many options for things to search for!  You can just search for providers in your area (by city, area, or zip code), or you can narrow down your search for everything from providers that have availabilities for your child's age group, to type of care, to providers who have experience with special needs (such as allergies, ADHD, or autism).

Leaving your child isn't always the ideal situation, but with some help and planning, you can have the best experience possible.  This site is a wonderful tool and very easy to use, check it out!

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Los Pollitos (The Little Chicks)

Let's face it, there are really only so many times you can sing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" before mommy gets bored...  So today we're going to broaden your lullaby repertoire! This song is just so very cute; it's in Spanish, so it may be a little bit of a challenge at first, but I know you're up for it!!


This video has both the lyrics in Spanish and also the English translation too :)  Listen a few times and try singing along!

 

Los Pollitos

Los pollitos dicen "pío, pío, pío",

(The baby chicks say "peep, peep, peep")

cuando tienen hambre,

(when they are hungry)

cuando tienen frío.

(when they are cold)

La gallina busca

(The mother hen looks)

el maíz y el trigo,

(for wheat and corn,)

les da la comida,

(she gives them food,)

y les presta abrigo.

(and she gives them shelter)

Bajo sus dos alas

(Under her two wings)

acurrucaditos

(tucked in and snuggled tight)

hasta el otro día

(until the next day)

duermen los pollitos.

(they sleep all through the night.)

(These lyrics are slightly different from the version in the video, but this is the version that I like the best)

Try it out with your little one, you could even have your child make pictures or create your own hand motions to go with the song! 

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We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

Something y'all probably didn't know, July 10th is National Teddy Bear Picnic day!  A teddy bear picnic is exactly what it sounds like...a picnic with your teddy bears! We decided to do our own version of it, and actually go on a bear hunt. We read We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. 

To hunt for the bear, you have to travel through grass, a river, mud, forest, snowstorm, and then finally the CAVE!!! I thought it would be so fun for the children to actually find a "cave" that had a big bear in it.  I hid the cave in a darker hallway, and none of the kids seemed to notice it! That was my whole purpose, because I wanted it to be a surprise.  I made the cave out of a small side table and a large piece of black material that covered it.  I also happened to have some brown furry material that I used for the bottom of the cave, and I also taped large bear prints to the ground leading up to the cave.

Inside I hid a large "momma bear" and behind her, many little teddy bears that were generously hand-made and donated to United Way. The children actually got to keep them and take home.  They LOVED it! They were so excited to find them--its was like Christmas morning!

Next, our craft was making teddy bear puppets.  These are made with brown paper lunch sacks, coloring template for the bears' head and body,  which the kids then color, cut, and glue to the paper bag.
Here is what the teddy bears head looks like:

http://www.first-school.ws/t/bagbear1.html

And this is what the body looks like:

http://www.first-school.ws/t/bagbear2.html
The kids and parents thought this was such a fun activity.  It also inspired one of our moms to take her girls on a real teddy bear picnic after playgroup! This is just one of the many fun things you can do to alleviate some of the boredom that sometimes happens in the summertime. Trust me, kids would rather do something like this than watch their t.v. shows!

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Pioneer Taffy

Pioneer Day is tomorrow!! Here is a tasty pioneer treat that you can make with your little ones!

Pioneer Taffy  

www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com
Yield: 12 pieces
Time: 40 min. cooking + 10 min. cooling + 10 minutes pulling
Recipe from The Lion House Cookbook

2 C sugar
1 1/2 C water
1 C white corn syrup
1 t salt
2 t glycerin (found at the pharmacy)
1 t vanilla
2 T butter

1. Place all ingredients but the vanilla and butter into a heavy sauce pan. You can find glycerin at most pharmacies. It is a very important ingredient. The taffy will not turn out well with out it.
2. Bring your taffy to a boil over medium high heat. Let it keep on a boiling until your candy thermometer reaches 258 degrees. This should take about 35-40 minutes.
3. Check the temperature of the taffy by dipping a spoon into the pan and then running cold water from the tap over the top of it. See how the taffy is kind of stiff looking?  That means it is ready to go. If you cook it much past this stage you it will be really hard when you pull it. If you under cook it...you may have a sticky mess. This water trick really helps. However, you can rely on your candy thermometer as well.
4. When your taffy is cooked take it off the heat and pour in your vanilla.
5. Add your butter to the pot and give the bubbling beauty a good round of stirring. Stir until the butter is all melted.
6. Butter a large cookie sheet.
7. Pour the taffy onto the sheet.
8. Let the taffy cool for about 5 minutes, or until it is cool enough to handle. The edges will start to set up a bit faster than the middle.
9. Pinch the taffy into 12 separate pieces.
10. When the taffy is cool enough to pick up, hand out a piece to each lucky participant. Then you can start to pull the taffy. The trick is the stretch it out......
.....and then fold it back together. Stretch and fold, stretch and fold.....
......until your taffy turns a beautiful white color. Or if some of your pullers are 3 years old, until they get tired of pulling. It still tastes mighty good, even if you don't pull it long enough for it to turn white.
11. Stretch the taffy into a long rope shape and set on a piece of wax paper. You can break the taffy into pieces by holding it in the palm of your hand and tapping it with the handle of a butter knife.

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