Daffodil Day at Buckle My Shoe
At Buckle My Shoe we are all about supporting good causes and helping our wider community. Last Friday, we had a special yellow themed Daffodil Day to raise money for the Cancer Society and all the cancer research they do! 😊
When our little ones arrived at the centre, their yellow outfits matched perfectly with their yellow surroundings. Balloons, lanterns and even a yellow tablecloth brightened the room to set the scene for this special day. Bringing a gold coin donation, each child was invited to add their coin to the daffodil coin trail and as each additional coin was added, our little ones began counting! Each child was given either a daffodil sticker or pin to wear which symbolised their contribution to this worthy cause. 👍
Some of our little ones had never seen daffodils before, so we set up a vase filled with them – ready for exploration. They were interested to see that some of the daffodils were fully yellow, whilst others had an orange center. We spoke about how daffodils are the symbol for the Cancer Society because they represent hope and symbolise new beginnings. “Can we make some daffodils?”, one child asked and soon the table had yellow and orange paint pots, as well as a variety of collage materials , ready for some busy hands!
A yellow playdough provocation was waiting on another table and our little ones were invited to create anything they wanted. The yellowness of the playdough sparked conversations about other yellow things that we knew of. “The sun!” one child said, whilst another little thinker made a comparison to our yellow climbing box outside!
Our mat time was filled with lots of laughter, music, movement – and of course yellow! We weren’t sure what it was – but it seemed like wearing yellow made all our little ones extra happy and cheerful! Musical chairs as well as a little yellow ukulele were a highlight and in no time our tummies were rumbling!
Outside, we heard one our tamariki say, “I love yellow day – yellow is my favourite colour”. 😄
During the week we had brainstormed some ways we could raise extra money for this special cause and came up with the idea of having a bake sale. Buckle My Shoe is filled with keen bakers, so cupcakes with yellow icing were on the agenda!
Working with a recipe and following the instructions, our keen bakers collaborated with Becky to make a delicious batch of cupcakes. After cooking, cooling and icing them, they were ready for the bake sale.
With the beautiful sunny weather on the day, we decided to have our afternoon tea outside, picnic-style! All the items from our bake sale were available on the deck and each of our little ones were invited to come choose one delicious item and donate any extra coins they had towards this good cause. Some of our older children spent time looking and counting their coins before placing them in the collection tin. This was a great way to explore numeracy and the concept of money. Perhaps we could create our very own store at Buckle My Shoe to extend on this?
Our Yellow Daffodil Dress-up Day was a great way for us - as the Buckle My Shoe Family - to support such a worthy cause and help our wider community; all while being able to teach our little ones the importance of helping others. 😊