Happy Feet Afterschool Club goes to the polls!
Showing and promoting kindness is something that we are very passionate across the whole of Happy Feet Childcare. Each term in our afterschool club all the staff recognise children who have shown kindness throughout each term. These children are awarded a certificate in recognition of their great work. Each term an afterschool student who has shown exemplary kindness was awarded an ‘Overall Kindness Award’ for each term. These 4 candidates went through to the final.
Over the last number of weeks, the children went to the polls to cast their secret ballot for who they wanted to win the much sought after award. Annalise Flannery was awarded ‘Overall Kindness Award Winner’ for 2025 and recieved our perpetual trophy. Congratulations Annalise.
Parental Involvement
Here in Happy Feet Childcare parental involvement is extremely important to us. Parents are the most important people in their children’s lives and we thought how better way to show that but by inviting them into our services in Knockroe and Tarmon to talk to us and all our friends. Our parents didn’t come empty handed and brought a variety of things with them to show us; from motorbikes to testscopes to tractors and lambs and everything in between. We are so greatful to each and everyone of our parents who came to visit us over the last number of weeks.
Easter in Happy Feet Childcare
A very small snippet of what we are getting up to for Easter.
From the very youngest to the very oldest in Happy Feet, we would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter.
Term 1 in Happy Feet
Butterfly Room – Butterfly Room enjoying planting flowers, yoga and a Spa day as part of their Wellness project this term.
Ladybird Room – The Ladybirds went ‘under the sea’ and explored all things related to under the sea. They enjoyed a variety of activities to make their learning more enjoyable.
Rainbow Room – The Rainbow Room were very busy in preparation for Valentines Day making cards and treats for those they love ♡ Baking with Tracey was a big hit and everyone loved making cookies and cupcakes to bring home.
Christmas in Happy Feet
Our favourite time of the year. We have had lots of fun over the last few weeks preparing for Christmas.
From our Happy Feet Childcare Family to yours – Happy Christmas and every good wish for 2025.
November in Happy Feet
Butterfly Room – Oh what a fun week in the Butterfly room where all the children turned into scientist. Every day involved thinking, exploring and experimenting. Some days our experiments worked and some days our experiments didn’t work. But that’s all part of the fun. All the children got involved and enjoyed different aspects of science including dancing raisins, sinking and floating, working in the Butterfly Room science lab and so much more. At the end of the week everyone was presented with a science week certificate! We look forward to National science week next year.
Rainbow Room – The rainbow room enjoyed a variety of activities during Storytelling Week. The boys and girls engaged in lots of dramatic play enacting The Three Little Pigs & Goldilocks & the Three Bears. We even made some delicious porridge, it wasn’t too hot nor cold – the children said it was juuust right!!
Ladybird Room – The Ladybirds have been busy learning all about different shapes. We created beautiful shape monsters using lots of different shapes, made scrumptious chocolate chip shape cookies, played shape toss and finished off the week with a shape scavenger hunt outside and we found lots of different shapes.
Halloween in Happy Feet
A very ‘Happy Halloween’ to everyone from all the children in The Ladybird Room, The Butterfly Room and The Rainbow Room. We had lots of fun and games preparing for Halloween and everyone made such a fantastic effort at dressing up – well done to all the staff who made a great effort at dressing up aswell – maybe we will consider new uniforms!!
Welcome Back – September 2024
A very warm welcome back to all our pre-school children who have been settling in to The Rainbow Room, The Ladybird Room and The Butterfly Room over the last number of weeks. They have been having fun meeting lots of new friends, getting to know their teachers and enjoying both the indoor and outdoor learning environments. We hope everyone has a brilliant pre-school year.
Pre-school Graduation – June 2024
We enjoyed two very special mornings with all our wonderful pre-school graduates and their families and they graduated from The Ladybird Room, The Butterfly Room and The Rainbow Room. It was a very special morning for everyone involved. The children performed songs and were interviewed on stage by their class teacher and they were all excellent. A massive thank you to everyone who joined us on both mornings. A special ‘thank you’ to all our wonderful staff for all the hard work and dedication in getting everything set up for the Graduation.
Afterschool Club awarded Amber Flag Status
After a very successful wellness week held earlier this year, our fabulous afterschool club have been awarded The Pieta House Amber Flag Status for promoting positive mental health during the year. The ‘Amber Flag’ is hanging with great pride in the senior afterschool room. Well done to all staff and students on this amazing achievement.
May in Happy Feet Childcare
The Ladybird Room
The Ladybirds thoroughly enjoyed learning all about space and all the planets during May. They launched their own rocket and took off to the moon. The head astronaut ensured that all astronauts on board had their name badge and boarding pass. We listed to lots of stories and songs about going to the moon. Perhaps we have a future astronaut in the making?
The Butterfly Room
The Butterfly room enjoyed a very busy space week. These busy astronauts took part in a number of space activities. They were busy in our space restaurant as well as working in our very own space station. They finished the week with a space mission landing on the moon! The children had a blast! What a fun week
The Rainbow Room
During the month of May the children enjoyed the good weather and spent lots of time participating in various activities outdoors. The egg and spoon race was a big hit during Sports Week and we ventured on a wonderful trip to the playground at Somers Park where the children enjoyed a picnic too. The boys and girls also prepared lots of lovely crafts for our summer board and window displays throughout the month
April in Happy Feet Childcare
The Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room welcomed many lovely visitors during Farm & Pet Week. Lenny and Ella Rae both brought their dogs Peggy and Millie in to visit; Tadgh and Thea brought their pet fish in for the day which all the boys and girls were fascinated by and Claire came to preschool with her pet hamster for the day which the children enjoyed feeding some delicious carrots. We also enjoyed the company of our many visitors from Anita’s farm throughout the week with a special thanks to Farmer Darragh.
The Butterfly Room
Farm week in the Butterfly room…..WOW what an amazing week! We had some amazing visitors this week. We would like to thank Marian and Alfie, Shane and Tilly, Heidi, Peter and Cleo, Denise and Margaret, Lucy and Luna for coming in to see us. The Children loved showing their friends their pet! Anita’s dogs, Sam and Abbie also arrived in their uniforms ready to play and learn. We had a wide range of animals in Happy Feet including lambs, dogs, a pony and calves. It was a fantastic experience for our children. A big thank you to Farmer Darragh for arriving every morning with a new exciting surprise it really made farm week special. We finished off the week with a tractor visit and a special experience of milking a cow! Fantastic future farmers in the making.
The Ladybird Room
The Ladybirds were fascinated with the story ‘The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza’. They wanted to listen to the story over and over again. They loved following the steps in making a pizza and thought that they would be well able to do the same as The Little Red Hen. They all enjoyed doing their own part in it, from putting on the sauce, grating the cheese and putting the cheese on the pizza. They waited patiently for the bell on the oven to ring for the pizza to be ready. We all enjoyed our very own pizza party in the playground followed by juice and biscuits. We definitely have some future ‘Pizzaiolo’ in our class.
Happy Feet Childcare Afterschool Club Goes Orange Our afterschool club has been extremely busy in the last number of weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed our very first ‘Wellness Week’. The Senior Afterschool Children have been working on a project to promote positive mental health and wellness and in the hope of obtaining an ‘Orange Flag for Mental Health’ through Pieta House. The children had to organise and carry out a variety of activities in which one would have to be a fundraiser for Pieta House. During this week, children swapped doing homework for a variety of activities including meditation with our own Ashling and Jenny from New Beginnings Healing. Jenny spoke to the children about the importance of silence and how it is so important to rest our minds as we all have extremely busy days. We also nourished our bodies with the sampling of some fruit and vegetables as it is important to nourish our bodies aswell as our minds. All children took part in mindfulness colouring and scratch art. Children also took part in a variety of physical activity including a sports day and a training session with Cian and Donie from Castlerea St.Kevins Intermediate team and current Connacht Champions. Cian and Donie spoke to all the children about the benefits of physical exercise for a positive mental health. All children also drew their handprint to join forces together as all our friendships blossom here. Senior afterschool children also made a positivity jar which children can take from if they need some positivity in their life. On Friday, all children dressed in Orange and participated in our very own ‘Darkness into Light’ walk around the track in Tarmon. We were joined by Gareth Scahill and Yvonne Ryan from Castlerea Darkness into Light along with some Transition Year Students who are currently organising this years Darkness into Light. All children were treated to ‘orange treats’ after the walk. We are very proud to announce that we raised a phenomenal €591.00 for Pieta House. All children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the wellness week and are already looking forward to next years activities.
March in Happy Feet We had a fantastic time during March celebrating Mothers Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Wishing all our families a very Happy Easter.
February in Happy Feet The Ladybird Room were fascinated with all things ‘Mini-Beasts’ this month after finding lots of them around the running track in Tarmon. We had great fun learning all about the variety of Mini-beasts and enjoyed reading stories with books that we got from Castlerea Library. They researched a variety of mini-beasts and went on a mini-beast hunt around the garden in Tarmon National School to see could we find any – we were very lucky and found lots of them. We tasted local Roscommon honey and found some magic chocolate Ladybirds aswell. The Rainbow Room Throughout the month of February the children in The Rainbow Room have been exploring all aspects of ‘Spring’. The lifecycle of a Butterfly sparked a lot of curiosity amongst the boys and girls. They also loved getting their hands dirty planting some seeds which we have been eagerly watching each day as they begin to sprout. The Butterfly Room were learning all about ‘Love’. The children were involved in a number of activities including baking, sensory play and much more. The children loved bringing home a cupcake and love box to their families for Valentine’s day. The children got messy in our ‘love is in the air’ sensory table where they had the opportunity to pour, stir and explore. The children made some amazing love potions. A very busy and fun February in Happy Feet.
Lizzie The Ladybird Our afterschool students have been extremely busy with their latest project – Lizzie The Ladybird. Lizzie is made from 100% recyclable lids from a variety of products. They, along with some local Castlerea businesses have collected lids over the last few months and our project was completed very recently. The children in our afterschool club from junior infants right up to our 6th class students played a part in completing this master piece. They decided to do a Ladybird as a nod to our wonderful Ladybird Class in Tarmon who will soon be in our afterschool club. The masterpiece is on display in the school hall in Tarmon National School.
January in Happy Feet The Rainbow room went ‘Under the Sea’ in January and had great fun exploring all the animals that live under the sea, had lots of sensory play and created lovey under the sea crafts. The Butterfly room were curious about ‘Wild Animals’ and enjoyed getting to know all about the different types of wild animals. They created some great crafts and even joined the wild animal party for the day. The Ladybird room went ‘Dino’ crazy and enjoyed exploring all the different types of dinosaurs. The particularly enjoyed creating a mess with their ‘Dino Swamp’
Christmas Giving Tree 2024 Our Afterschool Club collected unwanted Christmas gifts, chocolates, sweets etc to give back to our local community. All donations received were donated to St.Vincent De Paul and Castlerea Family Resource Center.
