Welcome to Happy Hooligans, where we’re all about easy and affordable crafts and activities for kids!
I’m Jackie, and the Hooligans are the awesomely silly, creative, fun-loving bunch of little people in my home day-care.
We like to keep things simple here. I’m a big fan of play-based learning! Free, unstructured play fosters creativity, imagination and self-confidence.
Remember how we used to play when we were kids? I want the Hooligans to experience that same level of good, old-fashioned play.
We spend our days in the yard, hanging out by the pond, make-believing in the playhouse, and exploring in the neighbourhood and the nearby ravine.
When winter forces us inside, we craft and bake and sing and story-tell our days away, and there are plenty of creative, indoor activities to keep us busy.
I’ve been blessed to find so many inspiring bloggers out there like Teacher Tom and Deborah from Teach Preschool who dedicate their lives to their little people, making the time to share their ideas, experiences and philosophies with their followers.
That’s why I’m starting this blog.
I’m new to the whole blog-thing, but I’ll figure it all out because I want to pay it back in some small way, and hopefully inspire others out there who also embrace the philosophy that children learn best through play.
Thanks for dropping by!
Please be patient while I get my site up and running, and please feel free to drop me a line here in the comments or at jackie@happyhooligans.ca
You can also follow Happy Hooligans on Facebook .
Yours in Play,
Jackie & The Hooligans!
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
2girlsandapoodle (joanne)
Love this, Jackie! I know from experience that the littles have so much good, real fun with you, I can’t wait to read along with all your adventures!
Maranda
Congrats on the new blog! I’m a big fan of creative play and natural learning opportunities too. Looks like you and your friends have a lot of fun; I look forward to reading about it.
Jennifer Kable
Jackie, the blog looks amazing! I look forward to reading your posts – will share your link on the facebook page and hopefully send some readers your way.
happyhooligans
Thanks so much, Jenny! Glad you liked it. I’m having so much fun with it. 🙂
Cheryl
I really enjoy yur blog. I also do home child care in Ontario. So I look forward to yur ideas often. I wanted to ask about your play house. How high is it? I want to make one over the sand box but I am not sure of a height. Also is the any thing specific you love and also something you wish you had included in the play house? I don’t want plastic prefab play house. Or the small super expensive walmart type wooden ones. I am hoping this is the summer to make it
happyhooligans
Hi, Cheryl. Ours is about 4 feet off the ground. My husband is a builder, so he just “winged” it, so I don’t really know what standard specifications would be. Here’s a link that will show you what’s inside the playhouse:https://happyhooligans.ca/playhouse-makeover-2/ I’m really happy with all that I’ve packed in there. I think it would be neat to have a system of tubing from upstairs to the sandbox that they could speak to each other through, and a pulley system would be neat so they could hoist things up from the sandbox.
Beth
Thank you for so many wonderful ideas. I work full time from home in the summer. Since this is my last week before that starts, I implemented your water table, water wall, sandbox, and tightrope ideas, and picked up everything I needed for a tarp water slide. My 2-1/2 year old is having a blast in the backyard. Friends who visited this morning didn’t want to leave! Thanks for making our house the fun house, and for giving plenty of activity ideas for a fun, busy summer!
happyhooligans
Oh, I am so glad you’ve been inspired by our activities, Beth! Isn’t it wonderful to create a magical place to play on a shoe-string budget? You have no idea how happy it makes me to know that our ideas are being used, and bringing so much fun and enjoyment to others! Thank you for taking the time to let me know you’ve implemented some of them, and that they’re going over so well at your house!