Curriculum

Tender Blossoms Daycare accepts children from 6 months of age. As a mother of five, Lori Beth has an experienced, natural way of helping your young one settle into a healthy routine. Infants and Toddlers have a cozy space in which to play, roll around, learn to walk, climb, jump, run, and develop their fine motor skills. They also have a quiet space in which to sleep, both in group setting or in their own room, if preferred. They can have multiple naps per day, or transition to just one long one. With a background in children’s nutrition, Lori Beth can also provide guidance and support in the introduction of solid, nutritious foods.

Food

As mother of five, certified nutrition consultant, and preschool teacher of 15 years, Lori Beth brings a mixture of love, nourishment, and creativity to every meal at Tender Blossoms. While families provide lunches from home, each morning and afternoon includes a mealtime where we share a feast fit just for young mouths and bodies.

Drawing from her own garden, local farms, and always organic ingredients, she prepares whole food snacks to match not just the mood of the day but the weather outside, the needs of our immune and nervous systems, and the still developing taste buds of our little ones.

Pancakes hide high protein whole grains. Warm soft bowls of brown rice are enriched with home made bone broths and topped with nutritional yeast. Hearty slightly sweetened oatmeal brings a flavor of cinnamon spice to warm the belly. There’s always something cooking in Lori’s kitchen, that’s for sure, and your little one’s health and happiness is first and foremost here at Tender Blossoms.

Preschool Curriculum

Children ages 2.5-5 have the opportunity to play in their own “big kids room,” where they have wooden blocks, trains, dress up clothes, a baby corner and play kitchen among other activities to keep them busy at work! Arts and crafts also are readily available, such as coloring with crayons or markers, watercolor painting, fingerknitting, and hand sculpting with beeswax or home made playdough.

In the kitchen, the older children also get to help with cooking and baking, either preparing vegetables for a soup or kneading bread for rolls. This is also a time the children get to participate in the life cycle of the garden, as we harvest fruits and vegetables of the season and incorporate them into muffins, soups, and other fun snacks!

With their very own classroom, preschoolers have lots time to be the “big kids” at Tender Blossoms and engage in age appropriate activities and creative opportunities. With nature based toys and supplies, children participate in building, painting, sculpting, baking, and of course, imaginative play. In the garden, they help to plant, water, prune, harvest, and prepare food. During circle time, they learn songs and movement, as well as yoga and meditation techniques developed specifically for Preschool age children.

Music Enrichment Mornings with Teacher Chelsea

At Tender Blossoms, we sing. We sing all day, whether it be a song for putting on shoes, washing hands, a blessing before our meal, a thank you song to close mealtime, a circle song to dance to…songs weave in and out of our daily rhythms to accompany transitions and accentuate our work and play.

In addition, we have the great fortune to be visited by Teacher Chelsea, who leads the children in a music curriculum she has devised from her years of experience both with music and with young children.

Chelsea brings together Mothersong and mindfulness for a beautiful blend of fun and music in a safe space. Our music will lead us through the seasons as well as our feelings. We will sing songs of many different cultures as well as some classics. The children will naturally learn rhythm and language through the songs we sing each week. Their energy and inspirations create each class to be a unique experience that highlights their daily adventures. By using the language of music theory intwined with preschool specific language, the children learn to notice their own natural rhythm in their everyday world and experiences. Chelsea has over two decades of teaching experience in early childhood. In addition to teaching music, Chelsea and her partner are raising three feisty and loving daughters.