Teaching Preschoolers about Time

Younger children can have difficulty understanding the concept of time. When children ask when they are going to the zoo and you say Friday, they might not completely comprehend that they have to wait 4 days until the trip to the zoo. Education.com offers tips on helping your preschooler understand time. Click here to read the article.

Travel With Kids

With the unofficial start of summer starting today, many families are planning summer trips. Your family may choose a long trip or a day trip. As parents we all dread the question "Are we there yet?" With a little preparing you can make traveling with your little ones enjoyable and stress-free by following these simple tips:

1. Travel at night or get a very early morning start to your trip and let the kids sleep.

2. When traveling during the day, it helps to plan several short stops.. Find kid-friendly places to stop such as parks with playgrounds, historic monuments to give the kids a short break to work off their energy.

3. 1,000 bottles of root beer on the wall or B-I-N-G-O can really help to pass the time, and create some happy or sad memories depending on how good of a singer you are.

4. Bring a goodie-bag. Toys, games, bubbles, coloring books can all help pass the time during a long trip. Bring footballs, frisbees or soccer balls, to help gd the energy out during short stops.

5. Have your children write a journal to document where you’re going or where you have been on your trip. They can also practice the lost art of letter writing to friends they miss at home.

6. Of course, if you need to, you can always fall back on the hand-held games, tablet, CD and portable DVD players with earphones.

Let each child pack their own box or backpack of activities that way you can make sure they will like what they brought and it will keep their things organized and accessible.

9 Ways to Maximize Family Time

Today, we are so busy with our schedules that it’s hard to find time to spend together with our family. Parents magazine has 9 great ideas on how to maximize quality family time. Click here to read the article.

Things to Look For in a Preschool Play Environment

Last week we discussed the importance of play to a child’s development. We also discussed the progression of how children develop important skills through play. Here are some things you should look for in a preschool setting that fosters learning through play.

* Do children seem engaged and happy?

* Do the children have choices for types of play?

* Is there an organizational system such as shelving, labeled containers, or cubbies?

* Are areas clearly distinguished for different interests like dressing up, art, etc.?

* Is there an outdoor play space, with barriers on all sides, kid-safe landscaping, and a soft surface under the play structure?

* Are toys clean, in good shape, and set up for play? They should be inviting to kids, but too many toys can be overwhelming?

Visit us today to see how we foster learning through our great indoor and outdoor play spaces, and bring a friend.

Benefits of play
1. Play fosters social development

Children ages 4 to 5 are unable to think beyond their needs. Play allows them to work with others, developing awareness of other children around them. The preschool setting provides a great environment for kids to learn about how to solve problems and communicate with others.

2. Play helps with physical and motor development.

Perceptual-motor ability, or the capacity to coordinate what you perceive with how you move, is an essential skill that preschoolers. A three-year-old who is playing in the sand box digging, scooping, and pouring sand into a container must learn how to match his or her perception of the space in front of them with actual hand movements, this type of activity is essential in developing strong motor skills.

3. Play facilitates cognitive learning.

Play is vital to developing real cognitive skills and concepts through enjoyable, real, concrete, and meaningful activities. For example, a child is able to comprehend that 3 + 2 = 5 means ‘putting together’ his toy blocks by stacking them. By keeping track of a score in a soccer game, the child is demonstrating a cognitive understanding of numbers.

4. Play enhances language development.
Children build language skills through cooperative play. Children often talk to themselves while playing alone. Soon other children playing nearby begin to repeat what they hear and eventually they start talking to each other. This develops into back-and-forth conversation during play that becomes increasingly sophisticated by age.

Should You Let Your Kids Play Video Games

Kiwi magazine wrote a great article about allowing kids to play video games.  They offer advice on ways to select age appropriate video games.

http://www.kiwimagonline.com/2012/01/are-video-games-okay-for-kids/

The Importance of Play at Preschool

Preschool is the time to prepare your child for elementary school. You may wonder how play fits into the preschool setting, but even though a preschool day is jammed packed, it’s important to make time for play.


Up until the age of 2, children tend to play by themselves with little interaction with others. But after age 2, right around preschool age, children’s play becomes more sophisticated and interactive.

Around 2½ to 3 years, preschoolers start to seek out other kids with similar interests and they begin to interact with them. And as language skills continue to develop you begin to see elements of cooperative play.

Between 4 and 5 years, preschoolers begin to actively seek out seek kids with similar interests and the level of play becomes even more elaborate. Children create creative play scenes, they take turns, and they begin to work together toward mutual goals.

For younger children 2 to 4 years old, you can begin to facilitate play at home by setting up a space for your child and a friend and helping them find the words to express their questions or needs. As children get older play becomes natural and they need less help to socialize.

Ask about play when choosing a preschool

When you tour potential preschools for your child ask for their philosophy about play. Preschoolers need opportunities to play, prepared spaces for them to explore and responsive teachers to support their learning. Such a setting prepares children not only to become students who will work with others cooperatively and approach learning with excitement.

10 Ways to Improve Reading Skills

The site, Family Education, offers 10 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Reading Skills. It’s important that parents find creative ways to encourage and improve their child’s reading skills. Family Education offers some great suggestions and some clues on what to look for when reading with your kids. Click here to read the article.

Teacher Appreciation Week

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 7th through the 11th, a week dedicated to the celebration of your favorite teachers. It is a week in which you can show your appreciation of the knowledge you have acquired over the years thanks to teachers who have impacted your life now and in the past.

History of National Teacher Day

National Teacher Day started around 1944 when a Arkansas teacher named Mattye Whyte Woodridge began corresponding with political and education leaders about the need for a national day of honor. Woodbridge wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, who in 1953 persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day.

The NEA (National Education Association) lobbied Congress to create a national day to celebrate teachers. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day for that year only. Then it was changed to the Tuesday of the first full week of May. The actual date, therefore, varies from year to year.

How to Celebrate

It’s great to recognize a teacher during National Teachers Appreciation Week but, another great way to celebrate is to learn more about teaching as a profession and its merits worldwide. There is always a shortage of teachers somewhere and the biggest gift you can give a former teacher is by becoming a teacher and passing on the knowledge they passed to you. Teaching is a wonderful, fulfilling, challenging and dynamic profession that you can continue to grow in.

Teacher appreciation week is the perfect time of the year to take a moment to show your appreciation for all the efforts they put in each day to teach and for the education that we receive thanks to them.

So when you see a teacher, give them a shout-out to let them know what they do matters.

Helping Kids Control Tattletale Behavior

Almost every kid tattletales, some do it more than others. As parents, it can make us a little crazy when our kids are tattling every 5 minutes. Scholastic Magazine offers some great advice on helping your child to control the tattle tailing. Click here to read the article.