Many parents are convinced that the road to academic success is paved with bedtime stories. That is to say, they believe that reading to their children every night will help increase their chance of success in school. While it’s a tricky thing to categorically prove whether books from an early age increase your GPA, it does seem to at least help create a lifelong love of books. After all, kids who read educational childrens books from an early age learn to appreciate what books can do.
They learn that books transport them to strange and adventurous places, and that’s a lesson that many take into adulthood. And while you might start by reading pop-up books to your children, you’ll be surprised how quickly they express a desire to move on to thicker, more complex books. You might even find yourself usurped at nighttime, as your kid starts enjoying the process of reading on their own. Whether it engenders an increased vocabulary or a general love of language, there’s no way to ensure that your child will be an intellectual success. But it does seem obvious that reading from an early age offers a serious leg up.
Conventional wisdom states that actions speak louder than words, and this is especially true when applied to children. Few kids have the patience or presence of mind to tolerate rote memorization and other forms of “traditional” phonics education. In order to be effective, the learning process needs to be interactive. Capturing a child’s interest isn’t easy, but once you’ve captivated him the process takes care of itself.
Phonics games keep the child from losing attention and interest. As a conscientious parent, you can complement these computer games with physical materials such as flash cards. Try implementing an element of humor into the phonics sessions, perhaps incorporating a child’s favorite nursery rhyme or bedtime story.
It’s possible to pick up a foreign language at any age, but children will always be ideal learners. Their minds have not yet conformed to English grammatical rules and conventions, which means they can pick up foreign pronunciations afresh. Even though kids have the ability to learn other languages with relative ease, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll show any interest.
To engage children in learning more effectively, try using vocabulary flashcards. Parents can create customized educational kids games, rewarding them for a successful study session. As soon as it begins to feel like work, kids become more likely to tune out, so be sure to revise the rules of the game to keep them enthralled.
Kids are incredibly creative, and parents should encourage that creativity as much as possible. The lifelong benefits of creativity include heightened self-knowledge and discovery, confidence in impulses, connecting with other creative people, and an energetic quality to life. Creative kids also seek out more information, learning more over time and becoming more intelligent. One of the most creative things kids can do is make up stories, plots and shows.
You can foster this creativity in your kids by helping them put on puppet shows. Kids can either make their own hand puppets or you can buy them; either way, kids will be encouraged to make up stories for the puppets to act out, come up with voices for each character, and learn about plot elements, like conflicts and resolutions. Make your kids feel special by setting up a puppet theater and making their puppet production into a big event. Invite friends and family members to eat snacks and watch the kids’ puppet show - make sure to applaud at the end and tell them what a good job they did!
small pieces, a few are bound to slip off the table, get stuck in the heat vent, or get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. While people are usually willing to forgive a few missing pieces, there’s little to do but throw away a puzzle that starts missing five, ten, or more pieces.
That’s why so many people are drawn to puzzle blocks. Typically much larger entities, if these pieces fall on the floor, they’re easy to spot. They also usually make a unique and beautiful 3-D piece of art when completed. In this way, they also make a great piece of room décor when completed. If your child has completed the puzzle several times and tires of actually putting it together, he or she can simply glue the pieces together, and the result will be an attractive and detailed wooden statue.
Math is an essential skill that often doesn’t receive as much attention as it should in our schools. There are millions of teenagers in the United States who can’t even do math on the most basic levels, and this is because of poor education in school. Though theoretical and high level math tends to have little practical application for the real world (except in science), it’s important that all people know basic math. It’s essential for all adults to have knowledge of basic math, algebra, and trigonometry, and these skills are not as well emphasized in school as they should be.
Introducing children to math at an early age is a great way to get them involved. Math becomes boring or tedious when you can’t find the solution to a given problem, and often when children develop a dislike of math it is because they don’t understand the problems. Arithmetic games, math flashcards, and more math in general can foster a better understanding of numbers, and an appreciation for the only universal language.
Experts in early childhood development believe that early and frequent play with educational toys is extremely beneficial to developmental skills in children. When choosing educational toys for your child, some things to keep in mind are:
~The child’s interests and skills, the toy’s durability
~Whether the toy teaches communication or motor skills
~How easy the toy is to use
~Whether the toy will stimulate creativity or cognitive thinking
~Whether the toy can be used without an adult present
~Whether the toy can help the child express emotions and interact with others.
Above all else, early childhood activities and toys should be fun. Read labels for appropriate age ranges and safety warnings, and keep track of toy recalls in the media. Choose a safe storage place for toys and check their level of functioning every few weeks, repairing or discarding damaged toys. If possible, toys should be cleaned every so often as well!
Do your kids sit on the couch all day playing video games or watching television? If they do, then it’s probably about time they tried a new after-school activity. Younger children can especially benefit from activities that incorporate learning with fun.
Buy a few wooden puzzles and see how your children react to them. Keep in mind that they may need some help putting them together. Remember that participating in activities with your children can strengthen your relationship and let you get to know your child better.
When people think of puppet show theater, they probably are thinking of television programs, like the Muppets and Sesame Street. It’s true that the characters in these programs are puppets, but they are far different than the puppets that came about hundreds of years ago in China.A puppet is a figure whose movements are controlled by someone through, strings, rods, or hand movements. Early puppets were thought to be used as tribal ritual masks, and had hinged jaws and jointed skulls. Somewhere along the line these puppet masks evolved into doll-like figures with moving appendages. Hand puppets were common during early times, because they were easy to transport and manipulate.
Many cultures used puppets for ritual and entertainment. Egyptians crafted jointed, terra cotta puppets while Native Americans used puppets during ceremonial dances and harvest festivals
Children, especially babies and toddlers, are still developing their gross motor skills as well as fine motor skills. Gross motor skills involve bigger movements like jumping, running, or going up and down the stairs. Fine motor skills, on the other hand, make use of finer movements particularly of the hands. These include writing, tying the shoelaces, or stringing beads together.
Some kids develop these skills faster than others do. The use of different educational toys, such as baby building blocks, can improve a child’s small motor skills. Wooden blocks are particularly encouraged, especially by educators. Children can create so many things with blocks; playing with these wooden toys also help children develop their imaginations.