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Archive for the 'Educational Playing' Category
It’s become somewhat fashionable of late for people to shrug off their mathematical ineptitude during conversation. If they fail to add up a few numbers correctly or make some other minor mistake, they will chalk it up to “being an English major,” or some other typically weak excuse. These adults are struggling with addition and multiplication – skills that come naturally to many children – and they just don’t care.
With this in mind, it’s important for parents to encourage their children to embrace math as a concept that deserves to be studied but that can be fun as well. Arithmetic games help kids get a head start on their school studies, and they come as a welcome relief from rote memorization. With any luck, today’s kids will grow up to take pride in their math skills rather than reveling in their own ignorance.
When I was young, there was only one way you could keep me inside during the summer: a massive thunderstorm. I can still remember waking up early and preparing to grab my bike from the garage before noticing how little light was filtering in through the windows. Luckily I come from a large family, and we could always find something to do in doors. More often than not this meant sitting down and enjoying a board game.
At a very early age I stuck to Candy Land and other board games for kids. Eventually I graduated to checkers and my personal favorite, chess. Dad was the undisputed chess champion, and my siblings and I would take turns challenging him for the crown – with very little success. It’s a shame we didn’t get all that much practice, because the second the sun came out I was back to basking in the warm summer air.
It’s extremely common to hear people complain about the state of education in the United States. Unfortunately, in a lot of ways, that complaining is justified. Test numbers are down in many subjects, and the level of education our children receive is seriously in doubt. But rather than complaining about this issue, it is far more constructive to try to identify the root of the problem.
In many cases, the root of the problem is a lack of interest on the part of the child. Numerous children dismiss subjects such as reading or math as “boring” or “dumb.” As parents, we should stem this kind of talk from our kids. Let them know that these subjects can open up all kinds of opportunities, and that they truly can be interesting. One way to increase interest in the home is by purchasing any number of math board games. Play them with your child, and you will not only be bonding, but you’ll also help them see that math and other subjects like it can actually be fun!
When children learn, it’s more often through interaction than it is through memorization. When children play games that are educational, it’s common for them to learn a great deal of information through nothing more than the simple practice of play. Educational games have gained popularity in the last decades, especially with personal computers becoming common to most American households. When you interact with a child through play of an educational game, you are teaching them social skills and also helping them to learn. There’s no better activity for children than educational games to set them on the right path to real life success.
Parents of children of all ages should strive to take time out of their week to play games with their children. Whether it’s a simple shell memory game or something more advanced, you’re fostering your child’s future growth!
A child’s early learning is enhanced by early childhood activities that promote imagination, from independent play to interactive play. There are a wide variety of early childhood toys available to enhance their imaginative play.
On a daily basis, your child see you prepare and cook meals. There are many toys available for your child’s food play activities that will provide hours of educational play. Pretend play food is available
that ranges from fruits and vegetables to multicultural meals, such as, sushi from Japan, pasta pronto from Italy, and fiesta flavors from Mexico.
Have your child prepare you a pretend meal. They can prepare a picnic lunch basket, have a pizza party, or set the table with plastic play dishes and have a fine dining experience.
What is your favorite pretend food play experience?
During the day, children observe their surroundings and then role-play their observations during their pretend play. With the use of childrens educational toys, they can play out working in an office space, a supermarket, or an animal hospital. 
When your children engage in pretend play, they are also improving their problem solving skills, oral skills, and writing skills. Their self-esteem will increase as they discover that they can be anything, just by pretending.
It is amazing how much playing puppet show theater can increase your child’s ability to express himself.
If your child has difficultly expressing himself, you should try puppet theater. With the use of finger puppets, hand puppets, and hand-operated rod puppets, your child can learn to express himself through role-play. Through puppet play, your child can express his feelings through different puppet characters, from animal hand puppets to community helper puppets. He can be a surgeon, a fire fighter, a police officer, or even a construction worker.
Try puppet theater to help your child express his emotions; you’ll be impressed on how he will open up and share his feelings.
While having fun playing with a play parachutes, parachute games encourage cooperative play, noncompetitive play, and reinforces sharing and taking-turns. Play parachute games also helps with strengthening upper body muscles, primarily the muscles in the shoulders, arms, and hands, and gross motor skills. When playing together, parachute games develop perceptual motor skills and a sense of rhythm. Language activities can also be incorporated into most parachute games.
See-Saw Pull: From a sitting position, pull the parachute back and forth in a see-sawing motion.
Make Waves: While gripping the parachute, everyone moves their arms up and down to make small and large waves.
Wave: Where one person puts hands up and person next to her follows action. (like the wave at a baseball game)
The Ocean: Pretend the parachute is the ocean. Try to let everyone who wants to have a turn ‘in the ocean’. Everyone is standing and one or two children (shoes off) go toward the center and lie down – then all make waves – it’s a neat sensation.
Mushroom: From a standing position, ask all the children to bend down and take hold of the parachute. When the leader calls “up”, all the children raise their arms lifting the parachute up as high as they can, then everyone takes 3-4 giant steps toward the center – making a mushroom shape, pulling the chute behind them and then they sit on the edge of the chute.
Ball Roll: Try to roll balls into the hole in the center of the parachute.
Popcorn: Start with everyone holding the chute stretched out. Place a number of small plastic balls, beanbags, or small stuffed animals on the chute. Shake the chute to make them rise like popcorn. See how quickly you can bounce them off without letting go of the parachute.
Poison Snake: Place four to six pieces of yarn or rope on the chute. By shaking the chute, try to make them hit the players on the other side. Keep track of who gets bitten.
Do you want to provide your child with an educational toy that will increase eye-hand coordination along with shape and color recognition? If so, we would like to recommend a shape sorting pounder.
As your child hammers away on the pegs of this shape sorting pounder, he will increase his eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. While hammering, you can help increase his color and shape recognition by repeating the name of the color or shape of the peg that he is hammering. Take turns, ask him to tell you the color or shape that he wants you to hammer.
Parachute games encourage cooperative group play that reinforces turn-taking and sharing and helps to build muscle tone. Parachute activities are usually quite physical. To avoid injuries and to maximize the fun, explain the terms and rules to your children before approaching the parachute.
Playing with a parachute will also help develop perceptual, cognitive, motor, and academic skills, that can be used in many aspects of a child’s life.
Terms:
Directionality – Forward, Backward, up, down, clockwise, counter-clockwise, right hand, left hand, high, low, and sideways.
Locomotor Skills – Skipping, hopping, walking, running, jumping, galloping, and leaping.
Movement Skills – Fast, slow, accelerating, decelerating, light, and heavy.
Ways to grip the parachute:
Rules & Safety:
Parachute games are for all ages; however, you may need to change each game for the age group that is involved. The nature of parachute games means that children are actively running around, pulling the chute, crawling around, and possibly climbing on other children. Playing with a play parachute is generally very safe; however, from time to time, an accident will happen.
To avoid injuries, explain the following rules:
Have the children remove their shoes before approaching the parachute.
Encourage the children to space themselves around the parachute so that there are no large gaps. If there is a large gap, roll up the parachute – making a smaller parachute.
Have the children hold the parachute with both hands at all times. Don’t allow the children to remove their hands in order to hit balls.
The children should take care of others: they should not kick under the parachute and they should watch their elbows, either of these can cause injuries.
If the parachute is used for trust exercises, i.e. walking on air – parachute game, use play mats under the play area.
If the parachute has a hole in the middle, please ensure that the children know it is dangerous to place their head through the center.
If these precautions are taken, your children will have an entertaining and educational experience with the play parachute.