Down on the Farm

The end of July and all of August, we are going to dive into the world of animals. First, we focused on animals you can find on a farm. We talked about some of the different reasons these animals live on a farm. I believe the children enjoyed doing the crafts the most... well, at least I did :) .


This fun project had several steps. First we used our footprint to make a tractor. Then the children colored the field where the farmer had planted some carrots, corn, and tomatoes. We also needed to add a barn with some animals you could find there. Pictured below you can see that Kyle added some chickens, cows, sheep, goats, and pigs. The children also added a silo in case the farmer had bulk grain after harvest season.

 In this project, the children used their hand print to turn into a cow. They used a pencil eraser dipped in white paint to add spots to their cow. Many of them decided to add some grass to their artwork so the cows would have something to eat.

The children made a rooster to wake everyone up on the farm! We practiced our rooster crowing a few times too!

We added some little piglets to our farm by using toilet paper rolls and other crafts materials.

 Here is what our fun-filled barnyard ended up looking like after all the crafts were complete.

 The craft that had most of the children a little unsure was the Muddy Pig. We mixed brown paint and dirt together to make some interesting mud. A few of the kids dived right in and got completely covered while others touched it then panicked. Overall, it was a success with lots of smiling faces!!

The Heat Won't Slow Us Down!

No matter if it's cold, hot, snowing, or raining, we are always having fun at Ramsies! This past week we still enjoyed Splash Day with some cold water shooting out from the sprinkler and playground time. Nothing beats some warm sunshine! 
The kiddos also had fun exploring in the Rose Garden. We needed some outside time Thursday afternoon, so we decided somewhere with shade was the best idea. The children squirt glue on large pieces of paper and sprinkled it with colored salt. Some of the children loved getting their hands full of salt, while others took 1 scoop and called it quits. They also walked around with paintbrushes to swat dirt around on the ground and clean the bark on the trees.
I just love their creativity! 

We LOVE our Mommies!

For Mother's Day this year, we made some extra special gifts for our Mommies. The children posed in front of the beautiful tulips blooming at the entrance of Holy Spirit Church. These gifts just turned out perfect. <3 

Thanks to YOU!

How can you not fall in love with these precious faces?! 
Most of the children who are enrolled in our ministry have been with us since we opened in August of 2011. We have watched them grow up to become adorable, respectful, and loving children. At Ramsies we treat all of our children with respect and use kind words of encouragement. We treat them as our own! We give lots of hugs, high fives, and smiles throughout each day and it never gets old.

Thank you to all of the families who have allowed us to care for their precious children!

Special Visitors

At Ramsies, we have been blessed to have such a supportive parish!
Here are just a few of the activities we did this year:
The older children at Ramsies attend Mass on occasion throughout the school year. The school aged students act as the perfect role models with respectful church behavior. The HS teachers allow us to sit among their students to help the Ramsies children learn the Catholic Mass routine.
We are recognized as a part of the Holy Spirit community and are always invited to their school functions. This past year we enjoyed a puppet show during Disability Awareness Week which taught us that everyone is unique in their own way, witnessed live Irish Dancing in the gymnasium the week of St. Patrick's Day, and watched the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Drill Team maneuver their motorcycles around the parking lot in an awesome performance for the Holy Spirit students!

Not only are we blessed enough to have whole school functions to attend, we also have special visitors who visit just us at Ramsies. 
Throughout the school year, we had a former teacher who now works for the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library read us stories and created activities for young children. She had group lessons that extended from the books she read to us. She also gave us activities to do after she left. The children fell in love with Miss Keithia! We have missed her this summer, but we hope that she will come again next school year.

This summer we have really enjoyed our visits from a parishioner and her children. She is a good friend of mine who also happens to be the craftiest woman I know! Jess along with her kiddos Max and Addi came on July 3 to create a fun 4th of July keepsake for our families! She first painted their hands to resemble the American flag, then pressed it onto fabric to create the hand print flag. Several families told me that they displayed the finished product during their family parties! 

Not missing a beat...

Wow, it's been way too long since I last posted. Well, better late than never to start blogging again! 

Things continue to be fantastic at Little Ramsies! We are splashing around now throughout the summer months with Splash Days in the sprinkler, explored an 'All about Me' theme throughout June, and just having plain 'ole fun with one another.

Splash Days are always a big hit. We go outside 2 days per week, weather permitting. The children bring their swimming suits, towels, and sunscreen for an early afternoon of FUN FUN FUN! We have been able to enjoy quite a few splash days already this year. The children also love to bring their play vehicles through the sprinkler as a make-shift carwash.

The All about Me themed June was interesting. We started off my tracing the children on a large sheet of butcher paper. The children were encouraged to decorate their paper with crayons, google eyes, yarn, pipe cleaners, and stickers. We also completed little questionnaires to find out a little more about each child. This was my favorite part! They were very creative with their answers. 
Finally, we asked each child to label their main body parts. We gave them small pieces of paper with words like arm, leg, head, shoulder, foot, and hand. We read the word to each child and asked them to glue it near that body part. 

Along with the All about Me unit, we also talked about the importance of tooth brushing and eating healthy. One favorite activity was painting a giant paper tooth with toothbrushes. We always have the children take their shirts off while painting. This makes clean up at school and home a little bit easier on everyone!