Sproutlings Newsletter – Weeks of August 3rd & August 10th

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more updates!

www.facebook.com/sproutlingschildcare www.instagram.com/sproutlingschildcare

Please make sure you have your keycard to enter the building. For security purposes the keycard registers who is entering the building. If you have mislaid your card, please let us know so that we can deactivate it and issue you a new one. There will be a $15 charge for new keycards. If you do not have your keycard at pick up or drop off, please expect a wait. Please do not hold the door open for anyone that you do not know.

Our 2026 Holiday Closing Dates can be found on our website. https://sproutlingschildcare.com/calendar

We want to kick off this month by giving a warm welcome to our three new friends joining the Peapods room! We’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know each other through lots of cozy cuddles, singing songs, blowing bubbles, and enjoying tummy time together. Our family wall has been a huge hit! It’s incredible to watch the babies recognize and proudly point to their family pictures. We also have so many exciting milestones to celebrate! Some of our friends are becoming pros at pulling themselves up to stand, while our newest crawlers are busy exploring every corner of the classroom. There is so much to see and learn, and we’re having a blast watching them grow!

Happy August! It’s hard to believe we’re in the last month of summer but we’ve been making sure to take full advantage of these warm sunny days! We’re still in our water play season and we’ve been enjoying going outside to splash around. We went to welcome two new friends and their families into Peapods 2! We’re so lucky to have you and we’re looking forward to learning and growing together. Our class has really taken a liking to the dramatic play toys and dressing up as community helpers as well as taking care of baby dolls. We love seeing everyone’s imagination come into play. We’re looking forward to the remainder of the month together and finishing out our water play season!

Wow! These last two weeks have been so exciting! We want to give a warm welcome to Ms. Lindsey in the Seedlings room. She has been wonderful, and the children already love having her with us! We have been learning all about dinosaurs, pirates, and mermaids. We colored two classroom murals: one featuring a Stegosaurus and the other a pirate ship. We couldn’t get enough of it! We also made handprint dinosaurs and pirate ships, as well as dot art with our anchors. A special treat came to our school… DINOSAURS! Most of us were fascinated by the dinosaurs, while others were a little more cautious. It was so thrilling to see them up close, and some of us were very brave and even touched one! During circle time, we read The Magic of Mermaids. We loved watching the mermaid’s tail light up! We also sang and marched to “We Are the Dinosaurs!” We had a blast doing it, and some of us got our knees so high!

The past two weeks in our classroom have been filled with fun as we explored the themes of Pirates and Mermaids! We started each day with circle time and enjoyed a variety of fun, themed activities. The children had a great time making handprint pirates, sorting treasure into a treasure chest, creating handprint mermaids and watercolor mermaid tails, and playing mermaid matching! The children also enjoyed reading How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and How to Catch a Mermaid by Alice Walstead.

What a fin-tastic few weeks of learning, exploring, and adventure we’ve had! From diving into the ocean to camping under the stars, our little explorers have been busy discovering, creating, and having lots of fun along the way! We wrapped up our Ocean Unit with an exciting Shark Week, and our classroom even had a very special class pet… a shark! Each day, the children took turns “feeding” our hungry shark something different. First, they fed him colors, then their names, shapes, letters, and finally numbers! We also became shark experts, as they learned about different types of sharks, where they live, what they eat, and some of the amazing things that make these ocean animals so special. With our binoculars in hand, we set off on a shark hunt around the classroom! The children searched carefully and worked together as a team to spot the sharks hiding around us. Then came the BIG adventure… Walking the Plank! The children had to make their way across a shark-infested ocean using different balance beams. The beams became progressively more challenging, giving everyone a chance to practice their balance, coordination, and gross-motor skills. Our creativity was swimming all week long! The children created beautiful shark-themed artwork, including a giant classroom shark, adorable stamped sharks, and sparkling ocean-inspired suncatchers that shimmered in the light like sunlight dancing across the water. After our ocean adventures, the class headed off on a brand-new adventure — camping! The children learned all about what it is like to sleep outside, what we need to bring on a camping trip, and some of the fun things we can do while enjoying the great outdoors. We talked about camping supplies and even learned about one of everyone’s favorite camping treats… s’mores! Our little campers also had the chance to strengthen their fine-motor skills by stamping adorable lightning bugs. Then we rolled up our sleeves and built our very own campfire! The children used sticks they cut, paint they stamped, and a fluffy “marshmallow” they created to make their own camping-inspired masterpieces. From sharks in the ocean to campfires in the great outdoors, our classroom has been filled with imagination, discovery, and hands-on learning! Our little explorers also had so much fun with books and music throughout our adventures! The children especially loved listening to 10 Friendly Fish and Biscuit Goes Camping. These stories gave us even more opportunities to dive into our ocean and camping themes. And of course, no adventure is complete without a little singing and dancing! The children had a blast singing “Baby Shark” and “Going on a Shark Hunt,” as well as “A Camping We Will Go.” Their favorite part was when we made the songs extra special by adding each child’s name! Hearing their own names in the songs brought so many smiles, giggles, and enthusiastic participation.

We have been having a blast here in Saplings over the past two weeks! Our first topic was camping! We learned all about what it means to go camping and the essentials we need for a successful camping adventure. We explored the woods and forests, learned about campfires, and talked about all the fun things we can do while camping. After camping we began to learn all about Dinosaurs! We started our camping exploration by spelling our names using trees while learning about the woods and forests! We also practiced size sorting by putting tents in order from smallest to biggest. We learned about campfires by counting flames and pasting them onto logs and sticks. We even worked on our fine motor skills by using scissors to cut the logs and sticks! Another fun activity was matching letters on marshmallows. Our favorite part of the week was building a tent and enjoying a story inside! Then, we moved on to exploring the awesome world of dinosaurs! We practiced number recognition and counting by counting dinosaur eggs, and we even worked on recognizing the letters in our names on the dinosaur eggs! We learned about different types of dinosaurs, what they ate, and the world they lived in. One of our favorite activities was learning what dinosaurs ate by feeding them! We also enjoyed reading some pretty cool books, including Biscuit Goes Camping, C Is for Camping, and Daniel’s Dinosaurs. We can’t wait to continue exploring, learning, and discovering new things together next week!

Pre K 3 has been stomping around, roaring and learning about dinosaurs the past two weeks. The children sorted dinosaur eggs by color and size, painted with dinosaur feet, and worked on dinosaur patterns. Pre K 3 clipped clothespin spikes onto the back of a stegosaurus to match the number on his belly. The children searched for fossils in the sand. They worked on their fine motor skills by using tweezers to place pom poms on the back of a dinosaur and practiced using scissors. We had fun tossing rings around the triceratops’ horns, too! Some of our favorite books were Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner, Dinosaur Train by John Steven Guney, Three Little Dinosaurs by Charles Fuge and I Wish I Had A Dinosaur by Ian Anggabrata.

Pre-K 4 has loved learning about dinosaurs and cowboys over the last 2 weeks! While discussing cowboys and western, we learned about animals in the desert, facts about the desert, and different jobs cowboys may do. This week we are learning about dinosaurs. We have discussed types of dinosaurs, what paleontologists do, and the difference between carnivores and herbivores. We also had a special visit from Dinosaur Arise! Everyone had so much fun seeing the different dinosaurs. Throughout both weeks we have practiced writing with our journal prompts, matching and identifying letters, and one to one correspondence by counting and building numbers.

What a fantastic few weeks we’ve had at camp! Our campers have been busy exploring, learning, laughing, and making wonderful memories together. From museums to baseball games and exciting dinosaur adventures, every trip brought something new to discover. Our field trips have consisted of going to the Morris Museum, watching a Somerset Patriots baseball game, using our creative minds at Imagine That!, and learning all about dinosaurs from Dinosaurs Arise. At the Morris Museum we split into two groups. Each group learned about different types of dinosaur teeth and learned what each set of teeth is for. Some dinosaurs are herbivores, some are carnivores, and some can be both! We also made chompers in the art room. Watching the Somerset Patriots baseball game was so fun – we sat right behind home plate! It was amazing to see each player from both teams up at bat. We cheered, ate lunch in our seats, and even did the wave with the other camps in the crowd! This experience was new for some of the campers, and we sure had a ball! At Imagine That! we were able to explore different centers. There was a jungle gym, a pirate ship, a grocery store, and a fire truck! We even saw a puppet show that taught us about how to make friends by being kind to others. We definitely enjoyed our time there. This week we had Dinosaurs Arise come to our main building. We learned about dinosaurs, danced the Dino dance, fed Triceratops, and dug for dinosaur bones just like a paleontologist. Our favorite dinosaur was Terry the T-Rex. We invited Summit Speech School’s campers to come join us during this special event. They had a terrific time and loved every part of it! We spent a lot of time outside at the field or Jaycees Park in the mornings and in the courtyard playground or multipurpose room in the afternoons. We all love going to Jersey Aquatic Center for open swim and swim lessons. During open swim we play some fun games and play with pool noodles. During swim lessons we have been learning the arm and leg movements to help us swim more effectively. We can’t believe there are only a few more weeks left of camp! The summer has gone by so fast. We are looking forward to seeing what other adventures we will have over the next few weeks!