Enjoying Meals Together

Enjoying Meals Together

May 6th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Eating a meal together has a number of benefits for your family. While sitting down to a meal together can be a challenge with busy schedules, it’s worth the effort to get your family to the table at the same time for at least one meal a day.

Teaching Good Habits

Sitting down to a meal together helps your children to form good habits that will last a lifetime. This includes both healthy eating habits and table manners. When you sit down to eat with your family, you have an opportunity to teach them how to behave at the table. If they learn good manners at home, you won’t have to worry about how they will behave at a restaurant, or if they are invited to a meal at a friend’s house.

Eating meals together also encourages healthy eating habits. Seeing you eating the same healthy foods you have been encouraging your kids to eat will make them more likely to give it a try. They will also learn to slow down, and enjoy their food, rather than rushing through a meal which can cause indigestion.

Seeing you prepare a meal every day will give your child a better appreciation for what goes into the food you serve. Making everyone a part of the meal preparation and clean up process will also teach your children responsibility. And when everyone has a share of the responsibility for making a great family meal, they will enjoy the food more and dinner time battles will start to disappear.

Time to Talk

Family meal time might be the only time you are all in the same room and not focused on something else. Make it a time to talk, catch up with each other, and get to know what is going on in everyone’s busy life. Even for the youngest child, it’s a great time to see mom and dad interacting and chatting about something other than the bills or who is driving carpool this week.

This daily opportunity to reconnect will foster a sense of closeness and security in the family. Your children will start to open up to you more when it becomes normal to spend this time talking. You might hear about things going on in their lives you would otherwise never have known about. Once you have get in to the habit, you will find everyone looks forward to meal time as a chance to spend time together, not just a necessary break for food.

Starting this habit early in life has ramifications for your children as they grow older as well. Research shows that kids who eat meals with the family regularly have better grades and are less likely to get in trouble with drugs and alcohol down the road.

Better meals, Better Budget

Eating at home has many benefits, but the two most important are better meals and saving money too! Eating out can be very costly, and it usually means a less nutritious meal.

When you prepare your own food at home, you know what goes into it. You can use fresh produce, choose organic ingredients if you prefer, and watch the salt and fat content. You can also control your portion sizes, which is difficult to do at a restaurant. Making an effort to eat meals at home will save your family money, which can be spent instead on something everyone can enjoy, like a family vacation.

3 Months Old: Brain Boosting Play

3 Months Old: Brain Boosting Play

April 28th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

At three months old, your baby is really beginning to interact with the world around her. She is starting to be able to grasp toys and respond to you with smiles, laughter and coos. Her eyesight is improving and she can see her surroundings much better, allowing her to respond.

Talk to Me!

Language skills are just starting to develop at this time, and the more you speak, sing and read to your baby the more she will learn about sounds and words. If you haven’t yet, this is a great time introduce books. She can hold her head up relatively well, and will be able to sit in your lap while you read and look at the pictures. Point things out to her and talk about what is on the page.

Singing will not only entertain baby, but will further advance her introduction to sounds. Try songs with entertaining hand gestures such as “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Take baby’s hands and help her to perform the motions as well. This will help to develop her awareness of her body and learn what she can do.

When baby starts to vocalize, be sure to respond to her as much as possible. Hold a conversation with her as she talks by asking her questions like “And then what happened?” and “Are you sure?” She won’t know what you are saying, but she will begin to pick up the rhythm of conversation from these exchanges.

Body Language

Your three month old is just starting to be aware of his body and how he can use it to get what he wants and interact with the world. Part of this learning involves his developing understanding of cause and effect, object permanence, as well as hand-eye coordination and motor skills. Remember that physical development requires brain development! Every time your baby practices a new physical skill, his brain is forming new connections that will keep moving him forward.

Help baby’s brain figure it out with physical games. Hold a toy out to him and encourage him to reach for it. Pull it away, and then bring it back, making sure he catches it regularly so that he will remain entertained and not become frustrated. At this age tummy time becomes very important. Get down on the floor with your baby and play too! Hold a toy in front of his face, and lift it slowly into the air. As he tries to follow it with his eyes, he will lift his head and shoulders off the ground, strengthening important muscles. These skills will lead to baby’s ability to roll over, push himself up and eventually crawl.

Touch and Learn

Now that baby can hold and examine objects, he will begin to learn more about his world through touch. Offer him objects with varying textures and sizes to touch and hold. Let him touch your face, hair and clothing. Every new thing that your baby gets his hands on will help his brain to categorize and understand the things he encounters. Books that offer textured pages for baby to feel will make him a more active participant in reading and learning.

This age opens many new doors for baby, and every minute that he is awake he is learning something new. You are baby’s first teacher, and building his brain is as easy as being aware of the ways in which he learns from you every day, even at play!

Help your Baby Learn Through Games

Help your Baby Learn Through Games

April 26th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Playtime with your baby is more than just entertainment; through fun and games your baby is learning about how the world around him works, as well as developing his motor skills. Making time for play every day is not only a great way to spend time with your baby, it’s also vital to his development. So give these simple learning games a try and watch him discover his world!

Little One, Big One

Teach your baby all about opposites by gathering common items and toys together from around the house in contrasting pairs. Try items like a small teddy bear and a large one, a baby spoon and a soup spoon and a washcloth and bath towel. Hold the smaller one up first and say “Small!”, and then the larger one, saying “Big!”

Size isn’t the only comparison you can start to teach! Show him the concepts of in and out by placing toys in a bin and then removing them. Lift him up into the air saying “up!” and back to the floor with “down!” Let him touch opposite textures, such as soft and hard, smooth and rough. It will be a while before he learns all the words, but before you know it, when you ask him which one is soft, or which is bigger, he will surprise you by choosing correctly!

Where Did It Go?

Babies aren’t born with an understanding of object permanence. They have to learn that when something (or someone) disappears, it doesn’t cease to exist. Simple games to help your baby grasp this concept include various versions of peek-a-boo and hide and seek. Hide behind the couch and pop up at different angles, sometimes on the side, other times at the top. Once baby is on the move, you can call out to him saying “Where’s mommy? Can you find mommy?” and let him follow the sound of your voice to discover your location.

Hiding a toy behind your back and then bringing it out, or throwing a blanket over something and then removing it are basic playtime ways to teach object permanence. At first, baby will wait for you to reveal the object, but soon he will begin to crane his neck to see behind you or lift the blanket himself as he starts to understand that the object is still there, just hiding!

Did I Do That?

One of the major concepts your baby will develop through play is an understanding of cause and effect. As she starts to interact more with the world around her, she will slowly start to realize that she can make things happen! Take baby around the house and find fun things she can try out. Put her hand on a light switch and help her to flip it, or help her to turn on the faucet. Musical toys are great for teaching cause and effect, as she will learn how to make new and interesting noises. Let her bang on pots and pans with a wooden spoon, or fill an empty plastic bottle with a tight-fitting lid with beans to create a home made maraca.

Bath time offers opportunities to teach cause and effect as well. Give baby a sponge and show her how to wet it and then squeeze the water out. Let her fill a cup with water and dump it out. Even simply splashing in the tub is helping her to learn!

Simple games like these turn playtime into learning time and will keep baby stimulated and happy too!

What Children Learn Through Play

What Children Learn Through Play

April 23rd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Playtime isn’t just fun and games. It is the most important tool children have for learning. From the infant years where babies learn simple concepts like cause and effect, through childhood, where play encourages learning of social skills and more, a child at play is a child developing.

Infants: Learning about the World

The earliest forms of play in infancy are the ways in which a baby discovers what is in his world, how it works, and how he fits into it. Through play a baby learns about cause and effect; how he can have an impact on objects and people, and how to elicit responses in different ways. He learns how to move his body, improve his motor skills, and make his way through the world. Play encourages an understanding of spatial awareness, object permanence, differences between objects and more.

Through play, an infant is also learning how to use his voice, how to communicate his needs and desires, and creating the building blocks of language. Games involving a lot of interaction with mom and dad are vital to this learning process.

Toddlers: Independence and Personality

Entering the toddler years, play is an avenue for a child to develop a sense of who he is as a person, and what his role is in the family. Play encourages your toddler to test his independence while learning – and then pushing past – his limitations. Toddlers begin to build a foundation for social skills and also develop imagination, both of which are important to future endeavors. As independence blossoms, your toddler will learn to play by himself and to solve his own problems

Your toddler is also swiftly adding to a wider knowledge base about the world, as he learns colors, numbers, sizes and even more abstract concepts like feelings. Vocabulary is expanding at an incredible rate as he learns the labels for more and more things and can relate experiences to each other. All of these things are learned through play, which becomes more imaginative and involving during these years.

Preschoolers: Social Skills and Problem Solving

As your preschooler begins to interact more and more with her peers, the play they engage in together will teach her vital social skills. Your preschooler is learning to share, and to think about other people’s needs. She is learning how to cooperate with other children, through negotiation, compromise and exploring options. She is learning patience, taking turns, and how to deal with delayed gratification. Play with others also teaches preschoolers about empathy; she is learning to consider other people’s feelings, and to understand how others might feel in various situations.

Although problem solving skills begin at a very young age, in preschool they go to a whole new level. Your preschooler is working with more abstract concepts and solving problems that are not always right in front of her. In addition to teaching cooperation, working out the issues encountered while playing with others teaches problem solving. At this age, she is also practicing these skills through role-playing games which allows her to see things from a different perspective.

Throughout childhood, the most important task at hand is learning, and the number one way children do this is through play. From infancy through into school, the skills learned at playtime build upon each other to help children to make sense of their world and prepare to be citizens within it.

Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

April 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Waking up to a rainy day can really put a damper on your plans, and the thought of the hours ahead stuck in the house with your preschooler might make you want to head back to bed! But with a little creativity, you can turn a rainy day into a fun day and keep your preschooler so busy he won’t even notice he’s stuck inside.

Start the Day Off Right

Since you’re stuck inside, there’s no point in rushing through breakfast. Pull out all the stops for a delicious meal and let your preschooler in on the fun. Make pancakes and create fun faces for him using toppings like fruit, whipped cream and chocolate chips. After breakfast get everyone involved in the clean up.

Classic Rainy Day Games

When breakfast is over, there are still a lot of hours in the day to fill. A few classic games will pass the day away with fun and imagination!

An indoor scavenger hunt will keep any kid occupied and entertained. Make a list of items for him to locate throughout the house and send him off on the hunt. Since preschoolers won’t be able to read the list, you can either send him in search of one thing at a time, or try this trick; make a color coded list. Draw circles of various colors on a sheet of paper and instruct him to find an item that matches each of the colors. You’ll be amazed at the creative items he will find to complete the list!

Rainy days were made for building indoor forts. Raid the linen closet, and help to create a fortress by draping sheets over furniture. Hide inside your living room palace with some good books and a snack. Inspire imagination by dreaming up all the different places your little fort could be; a boat on the ocean, an igloo in the frozen north, or perhaps a tree house in the jungle. Make up stories about who you are and why you are in such a remote location.

Crafty Kid Pleasers

If a surprise rainy day catches you without any craft supplies in the house, never fear. These simple crafts use only common items you likely have in the house anyway.

Gather up all your broken crayons, and heat up the oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and press various metal cookie cutters into the foil. Remove all the paper from the crayons, and fill the cookie cutters with bits and pieces of crayon in different colors, then pop them in the oven until melted. Let them cool and then pop them out of the cookie cutters. Your little one won’t be able to wait to try out her new crayons in fun shapes! You can also melt the broken pieces into muffin tins lined with foil cups for chunky new crayons that work great for little hands.

Grab that box of photos you have been meaning to go through, and some construction paper and glue. Let your little one pull out pictures of her favorite people, glue them to a piece of construction paper, and decorate the new frame however she likes (perhaps with her cool new crayons!). You can also add the person’s name and perhaps some words that describe that person – let you preschooler help decide what words she thinks are perfect.

Get creative, and before you know it, your rainy day will be at an end, with an exhausted kid who is ready to crawl into bed for a good night’s sleep!

What is your Preschooler’s Favorite Type of Play?

What is your Preschooler’s Favorite Type of Play?

April 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

In the preschool years, play becomes more sophisticated, and so does the learning process behind it. What your preschooler enjoys most at playtime can tell you a lot about what is going with his development and learning. Children at this age engage in several different types of play, and each provides a different method for a preschooler to learn about his world and how to become a part of it.

Symbolic Play

Does your little one like to pretend his building blocks are a birthday cake, or his teddy bear is a baby? He’s engaging in symbolic play. This important stage in cognitive development is allowing your preschooler to place a symbolic value on an object, which is important for his understanding of how the world works. By pretending his teddy bear is a baby and imitating the same behaviors he has seen in you and other mothers, he developing an understanding of his place in the world, and the roles of others around him.

Parallel Play

You may notice that when you get your young preschooler together with other kids, he doesn’t really play with them so much as next to them. This doesn’t mean he isn’t aware of the presence of his friends, or that he doesn’t want to play with them. This type of side-by-side play is just the beginning of social play for children. While two children may sit next to each other playing with different toys, they are learning to share space with others and also the very first rules of interaction, which they will build upon later in the preschool years.

Watch for things like imitative play, verbal communications that may seem unrelated to the play at hand (but make perfect sense in your little one’s mind) and the important first steps towards sharing. When the little girl next to him suddenly develops an interest in the toy he is playing with, he will likely be defensive of it. But this reaction is an important starting point for learning about cooperation and sharing, so as much as you can, let the kids work it out amongst themselves. You might just catch the kid who took away your son’s truck offering him another toy in return!

Imaginary Play

Is the bathtub an ocean or the couch a space ship? Does your preschooler present you with invisible cookies to eat, or talk to someone who isn’t there? She is developing her imagination, an important tool for her social development. The ability to imagine herself in the shoes of another person is the beginning of developing empathy. Imagination will also help her to begin anticipating events and guessing (correctly!) at the outcome of her behaviors.

If your child has an imaginary friend, don’t worry about it at all. This natural phase of development is a mark of a very active imagination, which research shows is a positive sign for future social interaction.

Collaborative Play

As your child head further into her preschool years, you will start to see more direct interaction with other kids during play. As she plays more with other children, she will learn all about the rules of society. This play is crucial to helping your child learn how to have successful work and personal relationships.

She is learning things such as sharing, taking turns, how to work out differences through negotiation and compromise, and how to follow social norms and rules. Collaborative play will help her to learn to keep her impulses in check and delay gratification, all things which are difficult for children, who are naturally self-centered.

Every type of play is important to preschoolers, but if your child enjoys one type more than another, don’t worry. Remember that personality plays a role as well, and your little one might be focused on one area of learning right now, but will move on soon.

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

How Green Things Grow: Helping Your Preschooler to Learn

April 18th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teach your preschooler to love and respect the natural world while introducing him to basics of science by spending some time learning how trees and plants grow. A great springtime activity and learning opportunity that you can pursue both indoors and out!

The Parts of a Plant

Start by sitting down with some paper and crayons and drawing pictures of plants. Ask your little one what types of plants there are, and point out some he may have missed. Explain how plants and trees are similar, no matter what their size, by pointing out the characteristics they have in common. Draw a diagram of a plant, showing all of the parts; the roots, the stem or trunk, branches, leaves and flowers.

Next break down the parts of the plant for your child, and explain what each does to help the whole to thrive.

  • Roots: draw water and nutrients up from the ground to help the plant to grow. Help children to understand this concept by comparing roots to straws through which the plant can suck up water and food.
  • Stem or trunk and branches: carry the water and food from the roots to the rest of the plant.
  • Leaves: Absorb sunlight and make food for the plant
  • Flowers: Make seeds or fruits so that new plants can grow

How Plants Grow from Seeds

When you reach the point of explaining how new seeds are created, it’s a great time to check out some seeds with your little one and plant a few together. A sunflower is a great choice because the seeds are large, they grow easily, and they will eventually produce new seeds that your little one can easily recognize, completing the cycle.

Explain how the seed needs the soil and water you pour over it to sprout those roots you discussed in your diagram, and that it will grow all of the plant parts if just given enough food, water and sunshine. Let him help you choose a sunny place to set your new plants, and give them time to grow. Every day, let him water the plant and watch for new growth.

When your little plant starts to get bigger, you can transplant it carefully to an outside garden or larger pot. This process will allow your child to see the roots and connect the plant before him with the pictures you drew. Ask him to point out all the parts of the plant from the diagram before you set your little sprout up in a new and bigger home.

How Plants Become Food

A visit to a farm or orchard is a great learning opportunity to help your preschooler understand how plants create food that we can consume. Examine various plants and see what sorts of fruits and vegetables grow from them. Pick some samples and cut them open to locate the seeds. This will help your child to connect the produce she eats with the same life cycle as the sunflower she grew.

Plant a small garden at home and let your child help to grow food for your table. Not only will she be learning about how things grow, but you’ll also find it easier to get her to eat vegetables she helped bring to life!

With simplified explanations and some hands-on learning, you can teach your preschooler all about how plants and trees grow, and have some fun along the way!

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

Connect to Your Heritage with a Family Tree

April 17th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Teaching your children about their family history helps them to understand who they are, where they came from and where they belong. A family tree is a great tool to bring family connections to life and encourage understanding of history, heritage and relations between family members.

What Is a Family Tree?

A family tree is another word for a family history chart, and it is a graphic representation of a person’s lineage. There are many types of family trees, but the most common is known as a pedigree. This type of family chart starts with one person, and traces back their lineage from parents to grandparents and on back as far as you are able to or wish to go. A pedigree traces only direct lineage – this means that it does not include aunts, uncles, siblings or anyone else who is not in the direct line of descent. This is the simplest type of family tree, and the easiest to create with a child.

If you want to go beyond direct lineage, a second type of chart you might want to consider is a family lineage chart, which includes siblings of those on the pedigree chart. This means your chart will include aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles and so on. This makes for a larger and more detailed family tree.

Gathering Information

Before you begin your family tree, you will need to gather all of the information on the family members you would like to include. Start with the names you already know, and then ask relatives to help with the rest. To help your children connect the names with the actual people, search family photo albums for pictures of the relatives you’re adding to the tree.

As you gather up the names of the people to be included in your tree, take the opportunity to talk with your children about the history of the family. You can discuss where ancestors came from, and learn a little bit about the countries of origin. Bringing family history to life with anecdotes about the relatives as well as a little bit about who they were and what they did for a living. All of this information goes beyond a name and makes the people in your family history more real to a child’s mind.

Putting the Family Tree Together

You can create your family tree in a number of ways, but the simplest method is to use a large piece of white paper. Start by drawing boxes for all of the names you will be adding. For a basic pedigree chart start with one box, then branch off to two boxes for the parents. From each of these boxes, branch off another two, and continue with this method until you have a box for each name on your list. You can connect the boxes with plain straight lines, or get creative. Draw fancier lines or even actual branches to make the chart look like a true family “tree”.

Next fill in the boxes with the names, and add basic information about the person including date of birth, date of death in applicable, and any other relevant information you would like to add. You can add photos as well, next to the names and also around the borders of the page to add life and color to your family tree.

Hanging a family tree on the wall will keep the names and faces of your ancestors in your minds as well as your hearts. Your children will learn more about their family history and the people who might otherwise have been forgotten. Display it in a prominent position to enjoy your work, and your heritage.