Let's root, root, root for the home team!

Our Explorers at 2: Cool for School were unable to attend the pep rally that Mayor Bloomberg held for the Yankees on Wednesday morning, but that meant that they were also lucky enough to stay out of the rain!
After Tommy, Lena and Jackson were spent of playing with Tommy's new toy train, Isabella, and everyone had sung through Lena's "Wheels on the Bus" book, Amy gathered the group into a cozy corner to enjoy her personal favorite rainy day activity: curling up with a good book! At two years old, these Explorers may be too young to enjoy a chapter book on their own, but with the help of Amy's expressive voice and a very few sketches throughout the book, Lena and the boys sat with rapt attention to hear Roald Dahl's story of "The Boy who Talked with Animals" from the book The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar. Even Carolyn, the manager of the very deliciously sugary Blue Marble, stuck around for a few minutes to enjoy the magical tale, set in the West Indies amidst giant turtles, coconuts, and a warm breeze. While New Yorkers in October can only dream of a warm breeze and refreshing ocean, Carolyn's former co-worker, Jen, began her journey as a new resident of Hawaii several weeks ago: we sure hope she's enjoying herself, and that she finds happiness and relaxation wherever her travels take her!
The Explorers weren't relaxing with turtles, but they were charming their teachers with snakes! A celebration of the letter S culminated in the fashioning of snake bracelets, colored in red, yellow and green. Tommy, who recently told his friends that as dear as they are to him, his dad is his best friend, gifted Lyouba his brand new snake bracelet! Lyouba barely had enough time to thank Tommy before Vino arrived to ferry everyone away to another warm locale: Spain! After helping Mr. Bull find his nose ring, the tykes had just enough time to take in the warm clime before jetting back to Brooklyn in time for 12:30 pick-up. Although Thelonius was home with a cold, we hope he feels well enough for trick-or-treating today. Happy Halloween, Explorers!

2: Cool for School got the royal treatment...

...on Friday, as Thelonius, Lena and Tommy made queen's crowns to celebrate letter Q. Armed with sequins, felt, crayons and glue, a very messy bunch of tots made headpieces fit for, well, a Queen! Jackson stayed home with a bit of a bug, but from what we hear he doesn't have room for anymore headgear: his mom told us she still has a hard time getting him to take off the leopard hat he made weeks ago when he was introduced to the letter L! We wish Jackson a speedy recovery; Tommy especially misses Jackson and the great toys he brings to share with the rest of the group.
While fair-weather autumn Saturday mornings can sometimes feel quiet compared to the bustle of little feed and voices that fill the space during the week, last Saturday saw out Underhill play space filled with children celebrating the very first birthday of Anjeli, the niece of Keyanna's friend Hebert. Every party that Keyanna facilitates is packed with fun, but this one had an especially amazing set list: After watching Keyanna lead the group of mostly school-aged children in rounds of freeze dance, Jenga, bowling and even limbo, one has to wonder whether she's been missing the days of summer camp, when entertaining little ones was a 9 to 5 task for the co-owner of City Explorers. If Keyanna has been missing the satisfaction of days spent with little ones, then it's been a lucky few days for her. Amy's absence from 2: Cool for School today meant that Keyanna had a chance to take the reins, and with Yamileth's help, the day was an amazing success!
While Keyanna took Amy's place at 2: Cool for School this morning, Edwin stepped in for her at Explorers Club this afternoon. After a week's vacation in Miami, Lili, Hana, Cole and the gang welcomed Edwin back with open arms. Always a favorite with the tykes due to his willingness to play with the kids, like a kid, Edwin's arrival today was especially well-received since the Explorers haven't seen as much of him as they are used to since moving from the old Atlantic Avenue location. Luckily for everyone, that's about to change; in addition to all of the other amazing benefits of moving into our upcoming space in November, the children will be able to see more of all of the familiar faces they love so much!
We may be moving into a new, more permanent home, but the Explorers Club is going to enjoy its temporary space at 399 Atlantic Avenue 'till the very last minute. On Friday, Gayla, Brittany, Lev, Shayna and all of the other Explorers will celebrate the unofficial beginning of the holiday season, Halloween, with tricks, treats and crafts during a day-long Halloween celebration! We can't wait to see what cute costumes the Explorers come up with!
The best early Halloween treat so far: The arrival of Cole's brand new baby sister, Adelaide! At 6 lbs,. 13 oz., this healthy baby girl is a wonderful blessing for Cole and her parents, and just in time for the holidays! Congratulations to Bailey, Mercedes and Cole on their new addition!

It was a zoo...

... in 2: Cool for School when Tommy returned after his trip to San Diego on Wednesday morning, brimming with impersonations of the animals he saw when he visited the city's famed zoo over the weekend. Although he didn't see any of his two favorite animals, dinosaurs and pumas, Tommy's excitement was contagious nonetheless, leaving Amy and Yamileth eager for the morning's Kid Fitness class, during which they hoped Vino would be able to channell some of the kids' animal frenzy into a healthy group workout!
Tommy didn't get a chance to see Thelonius in full knight regalia on Monday morning, but luckily for him Lyouba did what she does best and took myriad photos of Thelonius in battle with the mighty giant Edwin! While Tommy and Thelonius were delighted when Amy showed them Thelonius' picture on this very blog, no one was more pleased by the photographic evidence of Thelonius' cardboard sword fight than his dad, who expressed gratitude toward Lyouba for not only capturing the precious moment, but for sending him the photos as well. We're sure Edwin will be delighted to see himself on film too when he returns from a well-deserved vacation in Miami next week. Edwin expends more energy horsing around with our Explorers than most men have to expend, so we hope he's having a blast and getting some rest on his trip so that he'll be renewed for his return on Monday.
While the royal role play took place on Monday, the Explorers waited to celebrate the color of royalty, purple, until Wednesday morning, when P was the letter of the day and fun was the name of the game! After singing purple-themed songs during circle time (http://stepbystepcc.com/colors/purple.html), the alliterative craft of the day was to make purple play dough! After learning about primary colors and that red and blue mix to create the royal color, Lena, Jackson and the rest of the Explorers helped Yamileth mix blue and red food coloring into water to color the homemade dough. The fun with colors continued when Vino finally arrived, as a make-believe search for peacocks ended with a fun feather collage!
The Explorers Club tots also enjoyed fun making colorful collages this week, designing buildings out of colorful basic shapes cut out of construction paper and felt. After a morning song circle that gave one-year-old Reza an instant mood lift, the glue, paper and shapes were set out on the tables and the creativity began! As usual Simone took extra care crafting her project; as her father is a talented painter, there's no question where Simone gets her creative flair!
A busy morning of activities continued for the Explorers at Atlantic Avenue, with Haven, Liliana and Cole getting into an animated discussion about bedtime routines during a reading of Bedtime for Bun-Bun. Lili talked about the importance of brushing her teeth, and Haven said that she doesn't like to go to bed without a kiss from her mom and a hug from her dad. Bun-Bun wasn't the only rabbit to make his way into the classroom today; the letter of the week at Explorers Club is R, and to complete the rabbit theme Brittany, Amy and Ka Yiu led the tykes in a most delicious bunny-themed craft, creating the cuddly creatures out of marshmallows and cotton balls. It may have been a time for Arts and Crafts, but for some of our toddlers, it turned into eats and crafts as well!

Global Warming may be a sure thing...

...but Local Warming sure isn't! A Saturday plagued by cold rain meant that Brooklyn's kids stayed out of the playgrounds, but that didn't stop them from playing anyway! Our Underhill location was the place to be all afternoon with moms and dads nursing cups of coffee and hot chocolate as the neighborhood tots played dress-up, built railroads and read books. In our multicultural Brooklyn neighborhood, New York City Explorers provides a place for our diverse group of neighbors to enjoy both their families and each other, and the chatter of Hebrew, Arabic, English and even Mandarin throughout the space on Saturday was a true testament to the ethos of Brooklyn.
Lunchtime saw the arrival of our neighborhood Explorers, but for a few hours in the morning our space welcomed a Mandarin language playgroup hosted by Sharon of Lango, the company that makes learning a second language (or 2!) more fun than work for children of all ages. Our very own Explorers Club students and junior campers have enjoyed Lango's Mandarin classes throughout the summer, and the Explorers Club continues to welcome Cosmo the dog puppet into their classroom once a week. http://www.langokids.com/
A very special birthday was celebrated last weekend; one of our favorite Explorers, William, who, along with his older brother Henri, is one of our favorite frequent babysitting charges, turned 3 on Sunday. While every birthday is magical, the gift of a remote control Thomas the Tank Engine made this year's celebration the best yet for William. Another birth day is coming up soon: 2-year-old Explorer Coley is expecting her new baby sister any day now! Best wishes to Coley and her parents Bailey and Mercedes for the upcoming arrival!

Sir Cutie Pie...

...held court Friday morning at 2: Cool for School! While Thelonius arrived earlier in the week dressed in super cool cowboy boots, he took a trip further back in time to retrieve Friday morning's knight costume, complete with a shield and faux chainmail headgear! While his costume was already top notch, the homemade cardboard sword Edwin gifted Thelonius as he was leaving for the day took his imaginative outfit to the next level! The smile on our cute Explorer's face upon receiving his new treasure lit up the room; Thelonius sure would love our pirate or knight-themed birthday parties, complete with a sword-making craft and customized decorations.

Tommy was too distracted all morning to take notice of Thelonius' costume; he was too busy prepping for his upcoming trip to California's Sea World by looking at a pack of animal-themed trading cards that he had brought with him from home. Amy was delighted to help the Explorers learn the names of the unfamiliar animals on Tommy's cards; the by-request morning rendition of Old MacDonald that Tommy, Lena and the others sing usually involves a farm that houses a puma, a dinosaur and a lizard, so here's hoping that the trading cards inspire some diversity on the farm during the next sing-along!

The cuties at Atlantic Avenue for Explorers Club didn't have animals on the brain, but they didn't need to: our tots were wild enough all on their own! Lili and Simone's mom seems to think that Halloween sets of several weeks of kooky behavior in kids before it even arrives, and after witnessing the amount of energy that the Explorers were filled with on Friday, we tend to agree! Luckily, Amy, Gayla and Natalie had plenty of fun fall-themed crafts planned to help Max, Emmett, Laudan, Lev and the others use up some of that extra energy. After spending the afternoon making Halloween-night-themed collages with glittery stars and spooky jack-o-lanterns, it was time to craft orange and black bookmarks to take home. The perfect way to end the day on a calm note? Putting those bookmarks to use reading our three new Elmo books! Max and Emmett were particularly happy to end the week reading about their favorite Sesame Street character!

Our brightest stars...

made beautiful night skies to bring home with them on Wednesday morning. The crew from 2: Cool for School, minus Tommy, who was home sleeping in after his flu shot the day before, continues its quest to master the alphabet. The letter N may the word night, but it was still late in the morning when Thelonius, Lena and Jackson painted beautiful black skies and then covered them with a smattering of glitter-covered card stock stars. It is hard to say whether those tykes get more excited about the prospect of paint or of glue, but luckily for them Amy did not make them choose this time around! After a very thorough hand washing, the Explorers were ready to celebrate the word of the day, night, further, as Amy read them Mama's Little Star, the story of a mama fox and her baby who try to imagine just where it is that the night sky ends!

The sky might not have a conceivable end, but these comfortable Autumn temperatures certainly will, and with that in mind, Yamileth, Amy and the cutest twos in Brooklyn made the most of the waning moderate weather and headed to Underhill Playground for the second half of the morning. Yamileth and Amy assumed that the children would recognize some friends among the jungle gym and toy trucks, but the girls did not count on running into an old friend of their own: former Explorer's Club member and forever friend of New York City Explorers, the unbelievably adorable Christopher was visiting the playground with some friends. While Christopher did not seem to know Thelonius, Lena or Jackson, he greeted the two teachers with a huge smile!

Extreme Makeover: Explorers Club Home Edition?

Determined to beautify the new home of Explorers Club, Brittany has been hanging crafts and decorations around the Atlantic Avenue space all week. From number lines to tissue paper leaves, the artwork of our growing group of Explorers is bringing new warmth and color to our cozy space! The colorful hula hoops that have graced the walls since we moved in sure are fun, but nothing beats the proud looks on our tykes' faces when they see their own creations displayed around them. With Vino's help, Brittany was able to reach for the stars ---or at least the tiled ceiling---as she hung miniature pinatas in the likenesses of a witch, a ghost and a bat!

With Gayla away for a long weekend, we are without our resident visual artist, but Cole, Philip and the rest of the Explorers made her proud as they spent the morning creating their own works of art. With some help from Ka Yiu, Brittany and Amy, the group made pumpkin head bands using construction paper, glue, some googly eyes and a lot of imagination! They may not be the most cunning of costumes, but our pumpkin patch of toddlers was certainly the cutest disguise we've ever seen! Add to the mix the plastic pumpkin musical shakers that Haven, Simone and the rest of the gang made and the only ingredient missing from this pumpkin party was a delicious pumpkin pie! (We'd have settled for sweet potato as well!) The crafting continued well into the afternoon, completing with a celebration of the letter of the week (P!) and the color of the week (pink!) With glue, cloth, ribbon and paper bags in hand, our Explorers made pink puppets so wonderful Jim Henson would've come a-knockin' for this talent!

It seems that our weekend is already getting off to a grand start! Reza, Lili and Simone will each be enjoying some grandma time soon. Reza's grandma is in town for the next week, and is spending every second she can with him! We'll miss him while he's being doted over, but we have to admit, we understand! Nothing beats the hugs, love and yummy cooking of a grammy! When Liliana and Simone left the space today, they too had visions of Grandma dancing in front of them. After an early start in the car tomorrow morning, the twins and their parents will be off to spend a long weekend in Massachusetts, visiting their Grandma and enjoying the beauty of the turning leaves. We'll be thinking of them tomorrow while the Explorers Club makes fall collages in part using the leaves that Lili and Simone collected on this afternoon's walk with one of our favorite interns, Natalie.

Before the sweetest twin girls in Brooklyn left for the weekend, they gave Amy an early birthday present that's right up her alley: a gorgeous cookbook with photographs that left the Explorers Club teacher's mouth watering! Amy was especially touched as next week marks not only her birthday, but also the one-year anniversary of Explorers Club, and the day that she met her very first students in the Atlantic Avenue play space: Lili and Simone themselves! Happy Birthday Explorers Club!

With wheat allergies abound in Brooklyn and beyond, including for our very own Kish and Amy, it was an important lesson to learn today that no wheat doesn't mean no treats! Haven brought in delicious wheat-free choclate chip cookies that she made with her daddy, Kisha's husband Chris. Mmmm! Homemade isn't the only option for wheat-free snacks: Pamela's Products, which donated treats to our booth at Atlantic Antic, makes amazing wheat-free chocolate chip and ginger cookies. A special thanks to Pamela's Products http://www.pamelasproducts.com/ and Robert's Gourmet http://www.piratesbooty.com/ for their edible contributions to our Atlantic Antic booth last Sunday!

Explorers Fall into a Fun Leaf Craft!

2: Cool for School's head teacher, Sarah Crow, recently started an exciting new venture as a graduate student! While Sarah's foray into professional publishing is wonderful news for her future, her Explorers will surely miss her, and wish her the best of luck! It looks like Tommy, Lena, Thelonius and Jackson had a turn of good luck as well, because rather than start anew with a teacher, we've plucked one from our very own New York City Explorers family: Amy, one of the teachers of Atlantic Avenue's Explorers Club has taken on the fun task of making Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at Underhill the most fun they can be! While adjustments can be difficult for little ones, Amy has spent time babysitting some of her new Explorers over the past few weeks, helping to make the transition as smooth as possible!

Lyouba took a break from working her marketing magic this morning to join Thelonius as he built an architectural wonder out of blocks this morning. As an artist herself, Lyouba always appreciates promising young talent, and Thelonius' decision to build a block house with four roofs and slanted walls showed his ability to think outside of the box with the best of Brooklyn's grown-up artists! Amy had her work cut out for her leading the Explorers away from morning play and to the craft table, but with Vino headed over soon to teach Kid Fitness, she knew she had a very short window of opportunity for a quiet lesson before the running and jumping would begin anew! After learning about the letter L and making leopard-spotted headbands to celebrate one of the 26 starts of the alphabet, Tommy and crew were ready to fly to Germany with Vino and learn about the animals that live there. Who knew that two-year-olds could make pretending to be hedgehogs look so cute?!

While the tots at Underhill made leopard headbands, Lili, Shayna, Luca and the rest of the kids in the Explorers Club enjoyed crafting something that begins with the letter L as well: Leaves! Brittany's craft helped bring some seasonal decor to our home on Atlantic Avenue, as the tykes decoupaged foam leaves with Autumn-colored tissue paper to hang on the walls. The children are all so proud of the leaves as well as the number line that they decorated the class room with yesterday! Haven had to leave early to head to the doctor, but we're sure he made it worth her while with an Autumn-colored lollipop after her visit was over.

It's still only mid-week for most of us, but Gayla begins a long weekend this evening to head home to Massachusettes for the weddings of her good friend and her brother! Two weddings in one weekend: What a "love"ly thought!

It's Party Time!

There was a forecast for clouds in the sky all day on Saturday, but the weather held up just long enough for two neighborhood Explorers to celebrate birthdays New York City Explorers' style: with fun, food, family and friends!

It can be difficult to fit in a party for a one-year-old amongst naps and feeding schedules, but Sammy's parents and older sister Evie found the perfect solution: a morning party with coffee, bagels and cream cheese catered by Blue Marble! With Brooklyn's most popular ice cream cafe' housed in the same store front as our Underhill Ave play space location, why go anywhere else to satisfy morning munchies?!

While Sammy's high energy level and young age prevented him from getting too involved at craft time, the song circle led by his party facilitator, Amy, was right up his alley! After singing Kisha's own Hip Hop Hello song, the group enjoyed shaking instruments while singing rounds of Five Little Ducks, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Sally the Camel, and other children's favorites before the older party guests played jumbo Jenga. With its giant blocks, the game was perfect for little hands to get involved in! The only thing better than games and songs? CAKE! Sammy's grandma and grandpa made the party full of sweeties a little bit sweeter with a sheet of custom-made cupcakes printed with a picture of the adorable tot himself!

After the party wound down and Sammy had headed home for his nap, Amy got to welcome beautiful five-year-old Lola, along with her parents and adorable little sister. While Amy had crafts and games aplenty prepared and at the ready for Lola and her guests, the children were most excited to get outside and enjoy our fenced-in back yard at the Underhill play space! The weather was so beautiful that after making birthday cards for Lola, her friends stayed in the sunshine as long as possible to have their faces painted by a creative friend of Lola's parents! We are lucky enough to live in a borough filled with artists, and the intricate and colorful designs that the children at the party sported home held testament to that fact.

Although the rain had begun to fall by the time Lola and her parents were making their way home, everyone was grateful for the amazing fall afternoon that they had the opportunity to enjoy before the sky opened up, and Amy and Edwin were especially grateful for the delicious slices of cake that Lola's mom handed them on her way out!