Year: 2017 — Province: Saskatchewan
Certificate of Achievement Recipient
Dee's Playhouse
63 O'Neil Crescent
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 1W7
Telephone: 306-249-2952
Email: deesplayhouse@shaw.ca
Type of setting: Family child care, children aged 12 months to 12 years
International Mud Day or camping excursions to the river bank, some parents have even called Denise Skuce a "little crazy" for the things that she would do to get outdoors and having fun with the children in her care. She happily lets children be children as they discover, question and wonder about the world around them.
Philosophy of care
How Skuce creates a play-based and engaging environment is evident from the moment a child enters her home. Each space is carefully thought out with children in mind, and full of loose parts that can engage and stimulate creativity, play and imagination.
Support of child development
- Easily adapts for children with behavior challenges by creating techniques, steps and spaces that they can rely on as they learn to control their impulses.
- Takes children on field trips to natural environments, where they are free to explore and learn about plants, creatures and ecosystems.
- Denise's creation of "International Mud Day" allows for children to use hands on play and get dirty, through innovative activities such as a mud kitchen, mud slide, mud pit, mud art, mud science, and a mud spa.
Involvement with parents, families and the community
- Builds relationships with community organizations in order to enhance the learning of the children in her childcare home
- On International Mud Day, Skuce encourages families to participate in the mud-related activities together. This becomes a fun day for children to make their parents mud pies, or relax together in the mud spa!
Rave reviews
"The best quality I see in Denise is that she has a sense of childlike wonder and curiosity about her. She can see the world as if seeing it through a child's eyes. She is optimistic and looks for the good in everything."
"I am a mother of four children and I have had Denise as my daycare provider off and on for 10 years. I feel that she has gone above and beyond the scope of a child care provider. Personally we as a family would be lost without her."