Tips on teaching children, encouraging them to learn and how to learn
As much as we love our children, the early years can be quite challenging. Our infants, babies and young toddlers can’t communicate as easily as older children and entertaining them or engaging with them can feel a bit like being a one woman (or man) stand up show. It can be quite challenging to think of activities to do with infants but something that always … Continue reading Fun with Bubbles
I am always amazed by the absolute love children exhibit when playing with anything involving water. It doesn’t matter if the game is calm or chaotic, adding water to any activity seems to increase it’s success level tenfold. With younger children, we tend to be more nervous about allowing them near too much water due to safety concerns. So here are 3 simply and safe … Continue reading Three Easy Water Activities for Toddlers
Children are constantly absorbing information and learning from the world around them. The best teacher for young children is play and interaction with their environment. Little ones also love to mimic their parents. There are many day to day chores we take for granted that our children absolutely love. These are things like washing our cars (or going to the car wash), preparing meals, vacuuming, … Continue reading Shopping Trolley Game
I am fortunate enough to have a husband who is a very involved father. Like most mothers, I tend to be the one who worries about meals, bed times, laundry, discipline, structure and routines. My husband is the one who is more likely to fool around with our children being silly and creating laughs. This is probably why he came up with a fantastic way … Continue reading The Body Bath Time Song
What is skip counting? Skip counting is counting by the same number, other than 1. You can start counting at any number and then add the same number to get to the next number. Skip counting by 2 when you starting at 0 looks like this…..0,2,4,6,8,10……. all it is is adding the same number over and over. Benefits? Learning to skip count help kids count … Continue reading Play Time: Skip Counting
I heard someone once say… “only the brave teach”, it can be daunting to many. More and more parents are choosing to home-school, taking on the role of teacher too! As a mother and teacher assisting families with homeschooling, I thought I’d share some tips and advice for getting started and organised. First and foremost, in order maintain sanity, I recommend that you have a … Continue reading Home-Schooling Tips
The ability to read is a vital skill for everyone. Those who cannot read are at a distinct disadvantage. Reading is critical for achieving well in school and tertiary education. Developing a child’s love of books will open up new worlds and allow their imaginations to be unleashed without limitations. Reading is essential for most forms of learning, follow instructions and many ordinary day to … Continue reading It’s Never Too Early For Books
Tummy time is a vital part of your baby’s development. Babies need time on their tummies to develop strong neck, back and shoulder muscles. It also helps them learn to push up, roll over, sit up and crawl. But what if you have a baby who doesn’t like tummy time? How do you make tummy time interesting and stimulating for your baby to encourage all … Continue reading Seven Tummy Time Ideas
Fine motor skill development is a big focus for children age around 2 years old and older and surprisingly there are a tonne of fun games for helping children learn these skills. For this game you will need large (A4)cards with shapes drawn on them with colourful pens. A good starting set would include a circle, a square, a triangle, a straight horizontal line and … Continue reading Play Time: Fine Motor Magic
We have spoken about the importance of manners in previous posts, especially for older children, but at what point can we really start teaching our little ones the intricacies of manner culture? Of course we lead by example and aim to show courtesy in our behavior in front of children, which of course does ingrain in their young minds, but what and when can we … Continue reading Play Time: Manners Managed
Silly soup is a fun game which will help children from 2 years and older to enhance their verbal memory. For this game you will need a large soup pot with a lid, a large wooden spoon and a small basket of items. To start this game, tell the child you are going to make some soup and you’d like their help. Ask the child … Continue reading Play Time: Silly Soup
Toddlers love searching games and this one, suitable for children as young as 18 months old also teaches them the names of colors, objects and counting. To start the game, say to the child, ‘Shall we go on a treasure hunt?’. Give the child a bag in which to collect things in. Where the child is still quite small show the child an object that … Continue reading Play Time: Rainbow Treasure
Its a well known fact that routines help children to feel secure and children also love to mimic and most have a very caring nature about them. This wonderful game allows your little one to act out some of the routines day to day, mimic and practice the art of caring for others, while teaching them how they are cared for, simultaneously building language and … Continue reading Play Time: Routine Ramble
A while ago we posted a delicious article on the benefits of letting children dress themselves. We highlighted how dressing oneself encourages self confidence and a sense of achievement, but did you know that making ‘dressing up’ a game can also enhance and boost their language skills? Try this fancy dress game as a learning tool to play with children from the age of around … Continue reading Play Time: Fancy Dress for Toddlers
By how do you make it fun to learn to count? Continue reading Counting in Day to Day Life
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