Tag: ChildDevelopment

Categories
Development Parenting and Childcare

Introducing your Child to the World of Writing

Writing is a skill. Parents are always looking for ways to help their kids learn to write. Though it takes time and patience to master the art of writing, it is never a difficult task to accomplish. Some children have it in their blood and for a few others need these skills to be incorporated in their daily routine.

There are a lot of methods starting from daily reading and writing sessions to fun-filled activities to improve a child’s writing skills. These will help a child build on his or her skills in no time. 

Create an alphabet book

This can be a fun way of getting your child’s alphabet learning started. Alphabet books can be created with one alphabet on a page along with the picture of an item starting with that letter for a child’s visual aid. Children will love drawing items and gradually become familiar with alphabets and letters.

Make children write their books

Encourage children to write their storybooks and get them compiled in the form of a book. Once completed, help them correct it and add them to your bookshelf. Finding a book written by them in the book-shelf will create in them a sense of pride.

Create writing worksheets

For small children just beginning to write, try creating a worksheet where they can trace out letters and words. You can also create a connect-the-dots game by engaging your child tracing along the dotted line and finally finding out the letter which comes up. 

Encourage reading

Regular reading helps expand a child’s vocabulary and shows them different ways of using a particular word. This would make it easier for them to use these words on their piece while writing. 

Encourage your child’s love for reading as they grow. This can be accomplished in smaller children by ensuring that you too read along with them daily. Start Reading early. Those children who devour books, grow up to become strong writers themselves.

Write to faraway friend and relatives

Writing to friends and relatives who they don’t get to see very often would increase your child’s love for writing. They will be enthusiastic to tell about what they have been up to and would love it, even more, when they get a response back.

Creativity can also be encouraged by assigning writing tasks like making pen pals or writing a letter to each other at home and hiding them around the house to find.

Encourage journaling

Creating a journal would be a great milestone in improving your child’s writing skills. This is a great way to express your thoughts and ideas on a particular topic. Encourage your child to write in as much as possible and make it a part of his or her daily routine. 

Create a writing space

Dedicate an area of your home solely for writing purposes. Space should be completely devoted to writing. This will help your child to stay away from all distractions and he can focus on practicing writing skills regularly. 

Connect your child’s interest

Think about your kid’s favorite book series or a comic character or whatever your child is fascinated about. Connect his or her area of interest to writing. If your child is interested in dinosaurs, encourage him to write a series on them, or to describe their features in an article. 

Create story prompts

Suppose your child is obsessed with Pokemon. Encourage your child to write a new short story about Pokemon or ask him to create an entire series of Pokemon. This will add on to his creative writing skills and imagination, prompting him to write more and more. 

Make apt use of Technology 

Use technology to your advantage by promoting your child to create a blog. Engaging in such online updates would help improve their writing skills by encouraging frequent writing habits and creative skills. 

Invest your time

Make yourself available to help your child in proofreading and spellings whenever your child requires it. This will make him confident in what he/she is writing to help him improve more.

Praise your child’s work

Appreciate your child when they show interest in writing any piece. This appreciation will be an inspiration for him to write more and develop their skills. 

As parents, encourage them to write at schools, participate in competitions and try bringing out the best in them by your constant guidance and support. Give these techniques a try and along with some fun, you can see your children sparkling with pens.

Categories
Activities

Spark Your Child’s Imagination by Promoting Creative Skills

A highly creative child is imaginative and thinks out of the box. So there is a strong connection between a child’s creative skills and imagination. But how to ignite a toddler’s imagination? Here are some cool ideas that will give you and your little one a lot of pleasure:

Imaginative Home Activities for your child

Children are naturally creative and it does not take much effort to ignite that little spark of imagination in them. 

Sparking your child’s imagination with stories

Bring out all your childhood fairy tales full of adventure and imaginary creatures. Describe them and their actions using different voices for the various characters. 

Children’s encyclopedia

Invest in a good children’s encyclopaedia. The ones for kids are normally full of beautiful pictures. As you point out animals, birds and insects from the book, imitate their sounds or movements. 

Books

While reading aloud from books, embellish your story with sounds, voices, and movements. These graphic descriptions will teach your toddler to image the existence of those creatures even if he has never seen them. 

Enacting the stories

Use soft toys, dolls, or other items in the house to represent characters in the stories. Enact these stories along with your toddler and turn it into the most enjoyable parent-child bonding activity. 

Developing your kid’s imagination with artwork

Colouring books

These books are the easiest way of igniting your child’s imagination and creative skills. Motivate your baby to use unusual colour combinations on every page of the colouring book. 

Doodling

Another fun-filled activity is doodling. Let your kid scribble with an ordinary pencil on a piece of paper. In the maze of scribbles, identify shapes like circles, triangles, squares, animals, faces, etc. and teach your kid to colour only those areas. 

Abstract art from waste

One of the most inexpensive ways of using creativity to spark your kid’s imagination is making art pieces from waste. Recycle cans, boxes, wrapping papers, grocery bags, plastic bottles, etc. and indulge in abstract art projects. The waste items can be painted, dried, and glued together to form different shapes. 

Other creative games that ignite a child’s imagination are stone art, sand art, puppet-making with waste, Origami (paper folding), paper cutting, and more. 

Outdoor Activities to Ignite your kid’s Imagination

When we go to parks or the zoo, we would normally just point out trees, flowers, birds, animals, and other objects. Even in the outdoors, there are immense possibilities to spark your toddler’s imagination with creativity. 

  • Nature’s tale – Carry a small bag to the park. Ask your toddler to pick up small pebbles, shells, buttons, string, flowers, seeds, or any other small items found on the ground. When you come home, ask your kid to arrange them on the floor and create a story around those items. 
  • Garden tent – Set up a tent in the backyard so that your kids can pretend they are camping. You can join in the fun and encourage them to think of something new every time they use it. The tent can be a cave, spacecraft, aeroplane, ship, or anything else. 

Have fun…

Categories
Potty Training

Tips on How to Make Potty Training for Your Little One Fun

As your baby grows into a toddler, there are several ways she becomes more and more self-sufficient. You will love seeing all of these thrilling development milestones come and go, but one, in particular, may necessitate a little bit of your attention. That is when your child goes from diapers to being completely potty trained.

Potty training is a complicated process, and it can be tricky to know what the best method is as every child studies differently, boys might learn diversely from girls, and there is no specific way to teach the essential skills.

To assist you in your little one’s potty training venture, here are some tips to assist your toddler get the hang of potty training:

Ensure your child is prepared

Try not to hurry the process and begin potty training too early, before your little one can achieve success. Search for the symptoms of willingness in your child before starting to potty train your little one.

Get your kid involved in choosing the potty chair

If possible, shop for the potty chair or potty seat together with your child. It will make him feel more included and more thrilled about using his brand-new potty chair.

Shop for kid underwear as a sign of encouragement

Buy fun underwear, like ones with a preferred superhero graphic or cartoon character. Clarify to your child that after he learns how to utilise the potty, he can sport this fun kid brief. You can also allow him to wear this brief as a treat while potty training, as well.

Place the potty chair in a convenient spot

The bathroom is the best location but you can also wish to think about putting the potty in the bedroom of your kid for easy reach after rests.

Prepare a potty schedule

After your little one begins potty training, put into practice a simple schedule. For instance, you can encourage going on the potty after nap time or after eating. This allows your child to understand that going potty is a routine thing.

Do not flush immediately

If you are using your toilet to train, do not flush right after your child has utilized the potty. The sound of the flush can be very frightening in the early stages of potty training. Set up the idea of flushing slowly, after your tot has been familiarized with using the potty chair, and make a cool pastime out of it — almost like allowing your little one to press an elevator button.

Do not punish errors

Even though potty training struggles can be annoying at times, resist the urge to get irritated or discipline your toddler. Rather, let her know that it is okay and she can try again later. Additional pressure will not assist her to learn any faster. It might also be that your little one is not prepared yet, so think about placing potty training on hold for a few days or weeks.

Remember that potty training does not typically come easily, so do not underrate the process. It is all about hanging on for symptoms of willingness in your kid, preparing the stage and plunging in. Although the viewpoint of ditching the diapers is thrilling, getting there can be challenging from the point of view of parents’ patience. But do not lose trust. Potty training your kid may seem never-ending, but soon your kid will get the hang of it and stop using diapers.

Categories
Development Health

Tips on How to Encourage Your Toddler’s Physical Development

Toddlers develop and grow fast in their first five years across the four primary areas of development. These areas are motor (physical), cognitive, communication and language, and emotional and social.  
Motor development indicates the strengthening and growth of a child’s ability, muscles, and bones to move and touch the surroundings. A kid’s motor development is classified into two categories: gross motor and fine motor.

Fine motor skills refer to small movements in the tongue, wrists, lips, feet, fingers, toes, and hands. Gross motor skills entail the development of muscles that allow babies to hold up their heads, crawl and sit, and eventually skip, walk, jump, and run.

Here are some of the ways to encourage your toddler’s physical development:

Climbing and balancing

One of the things toddlers love to do is take their new walking skills and up the stake just a bit. It might be climbing up and down a sofa or chair or balancing on the edge of a stair.

Drawing and scribbling

Applaud these early sketches, which offer assurance a whole raft of new capabilities. Drawing with a crayon includes fine motor skills such as holding and grasping.

Dressing and undressing

Placing things on and taking them off is a toddler delight. Undressing and dressing herself or a toy offers a host of prospects for her to practice her hand and finger coordination.

Filling and emptying

Your toddler will soon learn that vacating a container necessitates a lot less accurate than filling one. As infuriating as it might appear this dumping is an essential cognitive exercise, as well. Your toddler is beginning to understand that one object, like a bucket, can hold another object.

Running and jumping

Toddlers love to run, jump and climb but getting both feet to leave the ground at once, is difficult than most of us remember and exasperating for the child who wants to, but cannot.

Moulding and squishing

Toddlers love to touch, taste, and smell. If you offer your child lots of fun-to-feel materials to keep her little hands busy, she will have fun while developing the agility and strength of those little hands.

Stacking, stringing, and sorting

Balancing one block on top of another carefully or placing coloured rings on a pole or stacking and knocking down everything excites almost all toddlers. It is also an incredible way for your kid to use his fingers and to work on building and sorting skills.

Catching and throwing

Balls of several sizes to be rolled, caught or thrown develop hand-eye coordination as well as agility. This skill is a physical development: your child will begin with rolling, then go on to bouncing a ball and throwing underhanded before lastly learning to throw overhand.

Rolling and pedalling

After your toddler studies that his legs are vital to mobility, he will love using them to roam. Your child might start by utilising both feet at the same time and then start “walking” with feet.

Pushing and pulling

If he is still learning to pull, push and walk toys are ideal for your kid. They mix the skills that are developed already, such as pulling into a standing position and pushing up from the floor.

Swimming and splashing

Water play is an ideal way to construct coordination and assist your kid get at ease with his body, but it is essential to take your cues from your child when introducing him to the water.

These are some of the simple ways to encourage your toddlers’ physical development.

Categories
Fun Parenting and Childcare

Tips on How to Design Kids’ Rooms to Foster Creativity

Although most people believe that creativity is a natural talent and that their children either do or do not have: just as all kids are not evenly intelligent, all kids are not creative as well. But in reality, creativity is a skill rather than innate aptitude, and it is a skill that parents can assist their kids to develop.

Every child is born with the ability for imagination and creativity, but that capacity can be limited if, for instance, you do not give them the opportunity and space to use and develop their creative energy. That chiefly means offering your child the liberty to make something creative on their own. But, it is also about being able to test new ideas.

How to foster the creative process?

It is essential to emphasise the creative process. That means showing your appreciation and support for their efforts, not the result. You should offer the stimulation for creativity but do not attempt to control the play. Rather, it enables kids to develop their sense of liberty.

The tools you offer for this creative play should thus not be limited, but leave room for their thoughts to begin. You can change equipment often to keep it thrilling and provide the prospective for them to come up with new ideas, but also an enhanced challenge, so they do not start to become bored with this type of play.

Why make kids room a creative hub?

When we are talking about kids’ room ideas to motivate their imagination, what we mean is that you can create a little station or hub where they have a range of activities and tools on-hand to chase an interest. By setting up a creative station in a kid’s room, you are making it easily accessible, and thus, more likely to be used. You are also providing them ownership of it.

A creative space must welcome clutter and supplies must be put on a show. This motivates your kids to feel like there are no limitations on them. Your children must not inbuilt with any fears about using the space.

Best kids room ideas to support their creative pursuits
Kids room design Ideas for Arts And Crafts

Arts and crafts are favourite for kids and maybe the first area you think of when it comes to bringing out your kid’s creative side.

Craft corner

The craft table is possibly the most renowned creative space in family homes. But, instead of putting out supplies that seem to surpass your kitchen bench or dining table always, you can set up a chosen space in your child’s room and design it nicely.

Chalkboard

Chalkboard paint indicates you can turn the whole wall into a drawing space. On the other hand, you can paint an extensive stripe across the room or even in a corner if you like a more concentrated area for your kid to get creative.

Gallery wall

A gallery wall in the room is the most excellent way of displaying your kids’ latest artistic creations. This way, it also enhances as beautification for your kids’ room that can easily develop as they grow. You can simply utilise frames to exhibit the artwork or twine up a line with some hooks attached to make it simple to convert the art.

Reading corner

Reading can be entertaining for your kids with a cosy spot to enjoy their books. Your kid will love to have a tent at the corner with soft cushions and favourite stuffed animals.

These creative interior designing ideas can motivate and assist offer your kids the room of their wildest dreams.

Categories
Parenting and Childcare

What You Say Might Affect Your Child’s Temperament

Does your child defy the majority of your orders, as you continue to ruminate why he/she does it? You ought to revisit how your tone and language was when you talked to your child. Yes, this might seem like a petty thing, but fixing it might bore the fruits you were yearning for. According to multiple studies, even a slight error on the parents’ part while talking to their children affects the child psychologically, emotionally, mentally and physically to a large extent. Let us have a detailed look and delve deeper into this topic.

The Psychological Effect

Reminisce the yelling tone of yours while talking to your child? That affects him/her to a great extent. If you curb their freedom for petty reasons without understanding them properly, it will affect them psychologically both in the short and long run. If not dealt with properly, the child will have a timid response and often grow up as someone who either becomes an outrageous rebel or submissive. On the other hand, a softer tone while understanding the child’s behaviour will help them obey you while their freedom is preserved. They will share great camaraderie with you as well.

Emotional Effect

If you constantly yell at your child, whether it is necessary or not, you are in for some trouble when they grow up. Their emotional quotient might show it as well and outsiders might even take unprecedented advantage of them when they grow up to be adults. Also, such children will not respect you surely and if this continues in their teenage, they might suffer from anxiety and depression. All they want is their parents to understand them without any judgement. Try this – Talk to them in a softer tone and see them grow emotionally at an unprecedented rate. They will understand you and themselves better too.

Insecurity

If you as a parent continuously keep torturing your child, he/she will be bound to feel insecure around you. As they grow up, they will keep secrets from you and let themselves suffer from things that they normally should tell you. However, your behaviour and language make them think that you are of little help to them. This insecurity translates into rebellion, a lack of attachment, lack of respect and very little camaraderie with you. On the other hand, if you make them feel secure by the way you talk with them, they will consider you as a pal from school or college and speak their heart out to you. This will ensure that they share great chemistry with you and be the bulwark of your relationship.

Attitude

Children whose parents constantly yell at them or talk in a way that displeasures them often end up having a pessimistic outlook about life. They develop a rebellious attitude and want to defy all the curbs that people intend to put on them. They tend to undervalue qualities such as care and affection that people show for them. 

Physical Effect

Your bad behaviour towards your child while talking to them can translate to perilous physical effects on them such as constant headaches, body weakness, dizziness and a few others. There is no way that they can sustain physical strength and endurance if they are mentally ill in any way. This also affects their performance in academics and co-curricular activities that are a vital cog for their overall growth. The ball is in your court as a parent. 

A sense of fear

Children who have experienced constant mental torture from their parents tend to develop fear even for the simplest of situations. They fail to deal with it effectively and it results in long-lasting repercussions making their lives tougher.

Hence, it is important that parents learn how to talk to their children, lest it will have major harmful effects on them.