Page 14 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 15, 2022 How to Plan a Backyard Vacation Need to stay near home this summer? Enjoy a staycation in your yard! Y our backyard, always a great for your health and well-being, can do even more for families this summer by being a place to hold a staycation. With the pandemic keeping more people closer to home, a backyard vacation can be a fun way to spend time together and build new memories as a family while spending time in green space. How do you excite your family about a backyard vacay and plan a fun time? Here are a few tips to help from the TurfMutt environmental education and stewardship program. Make a backyard staycation plan. Put together a gentle schedule with a mixture of activities that your family will enjoy like dining, camping and games. Add a theme for the week, day or evening. A luau theme can be carried through with costumes, food and activities. A sports theme can have everyone in team jerseys and doing sports activities. Use creative EDUCATION | FROM PAGE 4 fy for a grant • Requires EEC to use an actual-cost-of-quality-care methodology for setting subsidy reimburseTidy overgrown areas. Add fl owering plants and rearrange planters for visual appeal. Put delicate fl owers in pots and out of the way of foot traffi c. Now may be the time to add a picnic table, a badminton net or croquet course, planters, patio, grill, fi re pit, or pergola to your backyard. Organize for fun. Identify names for meals and activities to spice things up. Even you don’t have a pool, children’s water play misters or sprinklers can help everyone cool off in the backyard (provided your area is not under drought conditions). Map where activities will occur in the yard. A lawn area may be the site of a soccer game, bocce ball or croquet, but it can also double as an overnight camping zone for the kids in a family tent. The fi re pit can be used for roasting hot dogs for lunch or s’mores at night. Time for crafts, potting ment rates and calculating operational grants. • Requires EEC to calculate subsidy rates based on quarterly enrollment rather than daily attenplants, and eating can happen at a picnic or dining table. Assess what you have and consider their creative uses. Lounge chairs, sports and play equipment can be used for their original purposes, but they can also become part of an amazing obstacle course. The wheelbarrow used for gardening and yard work can become part of a family fi eld day. The playset your children adore can become a breakfast spot or reading area. Spruce up your yard. Mow the lawn and trim the bushes. dance of children • Takes steps to strengthen the recruitment and pipeline of early educators • Early educators with bachelor’s zones for diff erent activities. Dining, lounging and reading may be best in shady spots. Sports, family yard games and tossing a ball to your dog may be better on a lawn that can handle rough and tumble play. Hammocks, lawn chairs, swings, picnic blankets and air mattresses can all provide a place for people to sit down and cool off . Include teachings about backyard wildlife and nature. Ask kids to take an inventory of the many birds, butterfl ies and other wildlife they see, looking up their species and background. Put up a bird feeder or plant a butterfl y garden, as well degrees earn far less than their counterparts who teach in public elementary schools, and one in six early educators lives in poverty. To improve compensation, benefi ts and professional development for the early educator workforce, this legislation includes the following provisions: • Requires EEC to develop a career ladder that links educational attainment and work experience to compensation and benefi ts and recommends compensation levels commensurate with public school teachers with similar credentials • Establishes educator scholarship and loan forgiveness programs to provide greater access to higher education and professional development opportunities • Enables subsidized providers to off er free or discounted seats for the children of their own staff Other provisions in this bill to improve and strengthen early education and child care in Massachusetts include: • Creates a commission to study and recommend to the legislature ways that employers could provide more support to their workers to help meet their early education and child care needs • Requires EEC to report to the legislature on ways to expand successful local partnerships, such as the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) • Requires EEC and the Children’s Investment Fund to report to the legislature on ways to improve and expand the impact of the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund for making improvements to earas potted flowering plants to support birds and pollinators. Add wind chimes, rain collectors, or backyard thermometers and wind gauges to help kids observe science in action. (Visit TurfMutt.com for a variety of backyard lesson plans that are free and STEM-aligned.) Design new games incorporating your green space. Hold a nature scavenger hunt that’s fun, educational and tests your family’s observational skills. Create a “drive-thru” movie theater by bringing laptops outside or a projector to show them on a sheet hung outside. Build anticipation. Talk about your backyard vacation in advance with your family and review your plans. Count down the days to build excitement about spending time together in your family yard. For more information and tips about living landscapes and backyard learning visit www. TurfMutt.com. ly education facilities • Requires EEC to create “a plan to pilot, scale and regularly evaluate shared services and quality licensed hubs for early education and care programs” • Creates a data advisory commission to work with EEC on expanded data collection and reporting, and the improved use of data to inform the cost and quality of care Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education Executive Director Tom Weber said, “Due to the Legislature’s extraordinary leadership, this session, already immensely productive, is poised to be truly historic for early care and education, an issue of vital importance to the success of Massachusetts children, families, communities, workers, and the economy. Acting with great urgency and vision, the Legislature is advancing key provisions of the EEC Economic Review Commission’s blueprint for early care and education, generated by the tremendous leadership of its chairpersons, Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Alice Peisch, through the state budget and legislation that would improve the lives of Massachusetts families now and for generations to come. The Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education is deeply grateful for the Legislature’s unprecedented action, which is driving progress toward a stronger and more equitable economy through the provision of affordable, accessible, high-quality early care and education.”
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