Improve Language & Cognitive Abilities with Imaginary Play

When children use their imagination during playtime the benefits are enormous. Playing dress up, role playing and putting on plays are not just a ways for children to entertain themselves, it’s an exercise in language and cognitive skills. Here’s some ways you can promote play and learning.

Role-playing

Challenge your children to act out rolls.

· Boys and girls can play parents, doctors, nurses or a number of caregivers with some baby-dolls.

· Some books, a pretend blackboard, or just pencils and crayons can help your child spend hours role-playing a teacher.

· With a pair of boots and a raincoat they can turn into a firefighter to save the life of their favorite doll or action figure.

· Playing hotel is a favorite of many parents. Have your child make access cards with old rewards cards. Let them check you into your room and even have them straighten up and clean before their guest arrives (an added benefit).

A Theatre Production

Put on a little music and have your child show their best singing and dancing moves. Get all of the kids involved by letting them play the roles from their favorite movie or video. You may have to sit through some off-key singing or less-than talented dancing but your child will love the attention.

Dressing Up

Many parents are watching their budget closer than ever. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on character dress ups. You would be surprised at what kid’s can pretend to be with some old clothes. Look through your attic and maybe even grandmas. Old men’s and woman’s hats, dresses, and old sporting equipment can really help kids stretch their imagination.

Celebrating Snow Indoors

Here are some more tips on how to keep the kids entertained during these long snowy winter months:

Make an indoor Snowman

• Get some blue construction paper
• Have your child paint a snow man with glue
• Take table salt and sprinkle it on top of the glue
• Let is dry and create a snowman scene with crayons

Painting in the Snow

• Take an empty spray bottle
• Fill it with some water and add a few drops of food coloring
• Take the kids outside and let them spray the water on the snow

Snowflakes

• Get paper doilies
• Have your child doilies in half three times
• Using kid scissors cut small shapes along the folds.
• Open the doilies up and see the design you created


Mittens

• Trace your child’s hand on any color construction paper.
• Cut out their hand
• Next have your child decorate the mittens with glitter, crayons, left over fabric or what ever scrapes you have.
• Take a piece if yarn and connect your mittens together

Have fun and stay warm!

Learning to Write

It’s no secret that it talks children some time to learn how to write. Writing is a complex task that involves the development of motor skills and critical thinking. It’s also a skill that develops through building on skills one at a time.

The first stage involves young children scribbling on paper with crayon. This activity leads to the creation of pictures. The pictures are then used by your child to express emotions or events that occurred during their day. Writing takes further shape when your preschooler learns the alphabet and how to spell their name. Once your child reaches elementary school it’s like a whirlwind. Letters form words then sentences and then stories.

Here are a few tips to guide you through learning to write.

• Have paper and big easy-to-grasp crayons available to your child. Tell them to scribble and have fun writing as much as they want.

• Don’t be that concerned if when you child starts writing letters, they are all over the paper. Children learn individual letters first and it takes some time for them to grasp the concept of words.

• Don’t be that concerned if your child spells words without vowels. As kids enter school they are taught the concept of vowels, proper spelling and the difference between upper and lower case letters. The concepts really begin to develop as a child learns to read.

• Don’t expect handwriting to be neat initially. Motor skill need time to develop.

Of course if your child’s writing and reading skills seems to be lagging other children, consult your child’s teacher. If your child has a learning problem early intervention can really help.

Different children need different things

Parents with more than one child quickly find out what works on the first doesn’t always work on the second, third, etc. Your children are different ages, they are at different stages of development and they are different people with their own unique personalities.

It’s only natural that they might need different rules and different approaches when it comes to parenting.

Below are a few examples of how you may parent differently:

• When your planning activities and events remember to consider each child’s unique personality. Do you have one child who is easy going and one who needs a schedule? Make sure that activities are planned to accommodate the schedule but make it up to your easy going child by spending extra time with them. This way you can accommodate both personalities.

• Don’t assume that the way you discipline one child will work for the other. Kids who don’t like confrontation may respond well to a stern talking too. Other children may simply disregard being talked to altogether. Something more tangible may get the point across like removing their favorite toy or taking away TV time. Every child is different when it comes to discipline and you might just have to experiment to find out what encourages good behavior.

• When it comes to learning, children’s needs vary quite a bit. Some children seem to be able to pick up a book at a very young age and easily take to reading. Other children struggle and need to put in a lot of work just to keep up with the class. The same child might be a natural at math or art. Each child will have their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s important for parents to allow children to explore their strengths and give them the extra support in areas of weakness.

Don’t forget to appreciate the wonder of our children and the differences that make them the unique people that they are.

The difference between Tattling and Telling

In most cases kids don’t understand the difference between tattling and telling. And with all the bullying problems as of lately we want to make sure our kids know when to tell an adult.

Stopping unnecessary tattling might be as simple as helping your child understand the situations where it’s important to report about someone else’s behavior versus when it’s not necessary or when they can handle a situation on their own.

Rules are everything to a young child. Their life is so structured and rules-driven that the breaking of any rule no matter how minor is a big deal. To begin to determine the difference in severity of a break in rules they need examples. That is why it is important that the adults around them lead by example.

Here are a few tips you can use to reduce the occurrence of tattling:
• Start paying more attention to your child’s tattling. This will help you understand what your child feels is an important infraction of the rules. Plus you never know when they might be tattling about something important.
• Each time they tell you an unnecessary tattle explain to them why it’s not a critical infraction on the rules.
• Explain to your child how they might have been able to solve the issue for themselves rather than tattling.
• Then reinforce that it’s important for them to continue to bring important issues to your attention. You don’t want to discourage them from confiding in you.
• If tattling persists, try spending a little extra time with your child. Sometimes tattling is another way for your child to get attention.

Hopefully you’ll begin to see your child begin to make their own decisions on what’s important to bring to your attention and what’s not.

Keeping Kids Healthy During Cold and Flu Season

It’s cold and flu season. Runny noses, coughs, aches, late sleepless nights, crying, it’s all part of cold and flu season. You might not be able to avoid the cold or the flu, but here are a few tips to help you survive the season and maybe avoid a bug or two.

Establish a Germ Fighting Routine

Use the Vampire Cough – Teach your children to cough and sneeze into the crook of their arm. It’s easier to prevent the spread of germs if they are not contaminating their hands when they cough into them.

Wash Your Hands– You heard it from your mom and now you’re hearing it in public service announcements on TV, wash your hands. This is the best weapon in your germ fighting arsenal. You should teach children when to wash their hands:
• After using the bathroom
• Before they eat
• After play dates
• When they return to the house after being out

And how they wash their hands makes a difference. Teach the steps below for a proper hand washing:
• Always use warm water and soap
• Sing "Happy Birthday" twice – to make sure your washing for 15 to 20 seconds
• Use hand sanitizing gel if water isn’t available
• When using gel, scrub your hands for about 20 seconds

Lead by Example – Show your kids good habits by following the germ fighting routine above on your own. This way they are much more likely to pick up good habits instead of germs.

Bad Words

The walls have ears. This is particularly true when you have a toddler. Everything said around the house and outside of the house can be heard by your toddler. And, every once in a while, even though you try to shield their tiny ears from harsh words, they hear a curse or other not so nice word. So it’s not stretch that one day your toddler will say a curse not knowing the meaning behind it.

It’s really a factor of did they know the meaning behind the word or were they just trying out a new word. In most cases, children under three don’t understand if a word is a curse and thus not appropriate to say. The best way to deal with this situation might be to simply ignore it. Chances are they won’t say it again.

If your child is three or older, they might not know the meaning of the word but chances are that they know that it’s inappropriate to say. In this case, you should explain to your child that the language is not acceptable. It also might be tempting to laugh or make a joke out of the offensive language but, this could send the wrong message to your child and reinforce the bad habit.

Here are a few steps to help your child understand the consequences of bad words.

• Explain how harsh or bad words can make others feel and how others might perceive them.
• Ask your child if they understand the meaning behind the word. Ask them what they were feeling when they said the word. This will give you some context around what they meant and what the feeling they were trying to express.
• Show them that there are alternatives to expressing themselves with bad words and negativity.

Most young children grow out of it with a little help and guidance form their families.

Establishing a schedule

Start the New Year with a schedule. Schedules can literally transform your life. Children tend to thrive under schedules and it can really simplify your mornings and make life a lot easier.

But it’s important to understand why schedules work. It’s not the time on the clock that’s important to children. They don’t understand the concept of time. They measure their lives by events. Getting dressed, then having breakfast, followed by putting on their shoes and getting in the car to go to school, this is how a toddler thinks. Remember it’s the order you do things that makes the schedule. The next time you have a crazy day, immediately after picking your toddler up from preschool try moving right into your established dinner and bedtime schedule. You should notice that your child and your day will calm down and return to normal.

Here are some other benefits of establishing a schedule for your child:
• Schedules used in the classroom have been proven to help children feel more secure and comfortable.
• Studies have shown that routines have a positive effect on emotional, cognitive, and social development.
• Schedules have also been proven to reduce behavior problems and the occurrence of tantrums.

Keeping your child on their schedule also can help parents interpret their child’s feelings more easily. You have heard it said by parents before; my child is off their schedule so their not feeling or acting the way they would normally. It also works in reverse. If your child is on their schedule but they aren’t acting normally it can be a sign that they are getting a cold or other illness.

A schedule can be a very useful tool in the parenting arsenal. So make your New Year’s resolution to get on a schedule and keep with it.

Indoor Games

With the weather outside being downright frightful, you may be looking for some indoor activities to do with your little ones.

Toddlers

Whisper down the Lane is great indoor game. Not only does playing this game help keep their voices down and bring lots of laughter, it’s also a memory game. Trying to recall correctly what others are whispering helps to develop a child’s short-term memory and ability to follow directions.

Try some arts and crafts, make a Cheerio necklace. This will keep their little hands busy. Then the next time they tell you they are hungry let them snack on their necklace.

Preschoolers

Take a Trip
Tell your child you’re taking an imaginary trip. Ask them where in the world they would like to go. Look up facts on the Internet about the place they pick. Let them pack a small bag with clothes and maybe even pack some food that’s appropriate. Take it one step further and decorate your living room to resemble the vacation spot and play games.

A good game of Simon Say’s can take an hour off the clock. It also helps a child develop memory and listening skills. Preschoolers can learn a lot from simple games requiring them to follow basic directions, a skill that they will need to have to be successful at school.