The weather outside may be frightful, but it’s not healthy to stay indoors all winter and wait for spring. You can enjoy the beautiful winter wonderland with your entire family. By following a few precautions, you can keep your family safe, stay fit, and have a great time no matter how much snow piles up. When temperatures...
Children begin very early in life to acquire language skills. Language helps children gain independence, interact with others, and participate in the surrounding culture. Language skills allow children to express their emotions and learn by asking questions. Most children follow a sequence of language development: crying/cooing, babbling, first words, and first sentences. By the age of...
Adults have the opportunity to provide the time, space, materials, and atmosphere to create the wonderful works of art that only children can create. In valuing a child’s first artistic attempts, however, we should appreciate the beauty of the color and design rather than worry about the finished product. Real art for real children is: Personal:...
Children learn about writing by observing people who already know how and by participating with those people in simple writing experiences. Parents and older siblings serve as models for children, showing them what writers do. Children are more likely to want to communicate in writing if they grow up in a home where they often see...
Ready 2 Read is a free text messaging program for parents and caregivers to help prepare children for kindergarten. This program covers a wide range of early literacy skills and related parenting practices including: alphabet knowledge, letter sounds, beginning sound awareness, rhyme awareness, print concepts, name writing, story comprehension, listening skills, vocabulary development, nursery rhymes, singing songs, playing together, parent-child...
Children are born without biases about other people of any race, culture, gender, or disability. We sometimes wonder if we can raise children free of prejudice by just leaving well enough alone and making sure not to pass on negative attitudes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way; society’s messages are too pervasive. As parents and...
With the holiday’s right around the corner, it’s a good idea to prepare your child for what is coming. Here are 6 tips to prepare for upcoming celebrations: Prompt conversations that will spark interest in the upcoming events. Take a walk downtown and look at the holiday decorations and window displays. Look at pictures of...
Why do adults pursue hobbies such as golf, crochet, or gardening? We spend time in these activities because we find it enjoyable, we have some control over the activity, and we see it as offering some probability of success. We choose what we will crochet or plant; we describe where, when and with whom we...
Active learning takes advantage of children’s natural desire to move and touch. Young children love to manipulate items and explore new ideas. They enjoy the opportunities to see how things work and to test their own theories. Active learning takes advantage of children’s natural motivation, abilities, and interests. Kids need lots of opportunities to investigate what...
Have you ever heard someone remark about an early childhood program, “All the children do there is play”? At good early childhood programs there is a lot of play – and there should be! Years of research on children’s learning and development document the many benefits of play for children’s intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and language...