Our daycare activities
At l’Academie des Petites Mains, our goal is to help children learn to form relationships with each other and learn how to express themselves and have a positive self image. It is our mission to help children learn and grow at their own developmental pace while encouraging them to reach their age appropriate milestones. We strive to have an open and friendly relationship with all our families and do so in a safe and loving environment. Our goal is to have children leave daycare at the end of the day happy and be excited to come in again the following day. We aim for the children to be prepared with the basic tools and social preparation for Kindergarten when they leave our establishment.
Extra outings, visits, and family day
Here at L’Academie des Petites Mains, we offer quite a few outings a year. In the spring, we go to Zig Zag Zoo, in the fall we go apple picking and to the Ecomuseum and the Pre-K class goes to SkyTag twice a year. Permission slips are handed out and must be returned to the office. Expenses for these outings include:
- Transportation
- Extra staff
- Admission fee
- Any other expense incurred for the activity
Parents are always welcome to join us on our field trips, and there will be an extra area for you to fill out if you would like to attend.
We also walk to the local splash pad in the summer, as well as our Gym & Swim sessions in the fall – winter – spring and swimming lessons in the summer. The first weekend of June since 2015, we have also put on our annual Family Fun Day for our community. It is a way for us to give back to the community and our daycare families. It is an event that is free to attend, there is only a cost for food and all the proceeds we make on this day go back into our daycare to pay for new toys and educational materials for the children. We also try to arrange extra visits throughout the year. We like to do Dog Safety Day, firefighters and police visits, SportBall, Saya Percussion and more. These events are usually organized around what our monthly theme is, such as animals, occupations, sports and music.
Special Occasions
At l’Academie des Petites Mains, we just love to host special events! Every year on the Friday before Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, mothers/grandmothers and fathers/grandfathers are invited to come for our afternoon snack for a special afternoon with their children. Mothers and fathers will be presented with a small gift from their child and we provide a special snack as well as coffee. The parents are invited to participate in an activity with their children or sometimes the older classes will have prepared a small show.
Another special visit we have once a year is our Santa Visit. Everyone is invited to this special event, parents, grandparents, etc. Come and see your child sit on Santa’s lap and receive a small gift (usually a book). Older classes often have an activity planned to do with Santa, such as reading a story, or singing songs. Again, there will be coffee and snacks available.
Our Menu
We are very fortunate to have a wonderful chef at L’Academie des Petites Mains. She prepares a hot lunch every day as well as a nutritious morning and afternoon snack. Our meals meet the Canadian Food Guide recommendations. We have fresh produce brought in regularly as well as dairy products.
You will find a weekly menu posted at the front of the daycare, in order for you to always be aware of what your child will be eating that week.
If a child has any dietary restrictions or allergies, please be sure to advise us upon registering so we can inform our chef as well as our staff. We do not permit peanuts in our facility to prevent any type of allergic reactions.
Sickness Policy
In daycare, it is standard procedure to send a child home if they are vomiting, have diarrhea or fever. If your child has any of these symptoms, they must be kept home. Your child can come back to daycare once they are symptom free for 24 hours. This policy is put in place to protect the other children as well as our staff. If your child develops any of these symptoms throughout the day, your child’s educator will contact you and you will have to come pick up your child within 3 hours.
If your child develops a fever, we are able to administer ACETAMINOPHEN if you have signed the consent form. We will ALWAYS call for verbal consent before giving this to the child. You are not required to consent the use of acetaminophen if you do not wish to. We are NOT authorized to administer ibuprofen.
If your child requires a prescription medication given (such as an inhaler), you will be asked to fill in a form in your child’s classroom. The government requires this medication to be in its original packaging and have a prescription in order for the educators to give it to your child.
If you are unsure if your child is fit for daycare, please call us in the morning and we can help.