Infant and Toddler

Infant and Toddler Early Learning Activities

Infant and Toddler, Kindergarten Readiness

Early Learning and Brain Development: Word-Smart Activities

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This month is Autism Awareness Month. Autism is not something we can see from the outside looking in and currently, there are far more questions than answers. The brain and how it works is mysterious and amazing. That raises another question: What are some ways to encourage brain development in all children? Here are some encore posts on young children, kindergarten readiness, and multiple intelligence.

Word-Smart:

Kindergarten readiness can be tricky to evaluate but it’s easy to pick out kids who are word-smart. These are the ones that have an unusual vocabulary, lots of words and enjoy talking to practically anybody. Some of this is due to their own personalities and talents but ALL children benefit by language stimulation. Hold onto your socks because the following will knock them off. Apparently, kids who have been exposed to a rich language environment at home have built a bank of about 45 million words in their brains before they go to school. word-smart-kidsFor kids with only minimal language it’s about 30 million less! (30 Million Word Gap)

Now, think of words as pennies. Each word your child hears is a penny going ka-ching in your child’s brain bank. You can make your child very rich in words. Hear (sorry, just couldn’t resist the play on words)…here are some ways to enrich your child’s language account and make your child word smart:

  • Read books. Think of a book as a language bath and give your child a good soak in words.
  • Tell stories. Any favorite family stories? My kids love to tell about the rushed morning when I filled the dishwasher soap dispenser with dry cat food. Or just make one up…”One day, Daddy wore the Dora boots to work because he couldn’t find his shoes and….” Or, “One day, Mommy took a school bus home instead of the city bus and….”
  • Use different voices to say the same thing. Robot voice — please. hang. this. up. Use a squeaky Elmo voice, a shaky voice, an opera voice. (Don’t forget the whiny voice that sounds just like your child.) And a slurpy voice — pleasssse hang thisssss up.
  • word-smart-activitySing songs. Play word games. Make up silly words. Hat, cat, rat, Zat, now what is a zat? Is it like a wat or a dat?
  • Have a conversation on the banana phone or the shoe phone. Ask the cookies in the oven if they are ready yet and then answer yourself.

Yes, some of this is quirky but do you want a smarter child? When it comes to the language part of multiple intelligences and kindergarten readiness, can you make your child a word-bank millionaire, a word-smart kid?

Holiday Activities, Infant and Toddler

Kindergarten Readiness: Easter Egg Hunt

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A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go; we’ll look for eggs to fill our pails, and then we’ll eat them all. The rhyme may not work, but the description is more accurate. An Easter egg hunt for kids includes all the senses and is more than fun. As a sensory activity, and Easter egg hunt also includes an element of early learning and development along with the fun.

Easter Egg Hunt The sense of sight is probably the most obvious. Whether eggs are hidden inside or outside, kids will need to use their sight as they look all around for eggs. While some may be easy to find, not all the eggs will be hidden in plain sight. Kids will need to use clues, such as shadows and differences in color.

The best smell is the eggs themselves, but outside there’s the smell of new grass, damp earth, and spring blossoms. No matter how hard kids listen, they can’t hear eggs calling, but there will be other sounds. Feet make different kinds of noises depending on what’s underfoot and the choice of footwear. Often, more than one child will be hunting, so there’s different voices. There’s lots of stimulation for the sense of touch, as hands and fingers pick up what eyes have located. The grass might feel tickly and the earth cool. If lucky, the whole body will feel the warmth of the sun.

The sense of taste gets the biggest reward. Easter eggs are yummy. But it’s probably not a good idea to eat them all at once. Especially before breakfast.

Besides those senses, there are some other ones that come into play at an Easter egg hunt. There’s a sense of family, a sense of belonging. Many places will have Easter egg hunts for the community. There’s certainly lots of stimulation for the senses. Happy Hunting and Easter!

Infant and Toddler, Play Activities

Why Do Children Love to Play Hide and Seek Games?

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why children love to play hide and seekAt your house, is there a day that goes by without the little ones playing hide and seek in some way, shape, or form? Hide and seek might look like a game but there are some serious reasons why kids love to play; it helps kids with early learning and especially kindergarten readiness.

One of the big challenges for many kids is to separate from parents and caregivers. For some children, this isn’t an issue at all, but for others it’s a very big deal. Did you know that playing hide and seek can help?

Hide and seek is really a game about relationships. When kids go off to hide, they are going off on their own. They pick the hiding place and sometimes initiate the game without any prompting by parents and other caregivers. Often, they will announce it though by calling out,”I’m hiding, come find me,” just in case we didn’t get the message. In order to do this, they need to trust that we will look for them and will indeed come find them. Kids will check this over and over. None of us ever tires of being found or discovered or reunited.

There is also an element of control or power. So much of their lives, kids have to follow along with the adult timetables. Meals come at certain time, hungry or not. Kids can’t even sleep when they want, sometimes we need them to get up and get ready to go. By hiding, kids are asserting their control of a situation for a little while, with the security of the knowledge that the grownups will find them. In a sense, hiding Easter eggs is the same thing on a community and tradition scale.

No wonder, kids love to play this game, and variations of it, like hiding one shoe, or worse, the keys. Do you have a hide and seek story to share?

Infant and Toddler, Reading and Writing

Lego Play and Children’s Stories for Early Learning

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One of the most powerful activities that we can do with young children to help them with early learning, kindergarten readiness, and important thinking skills, is to read and and talk with them. Did you know that when we talk and read to kids their brains develop 700 new neural connections every second? It would … Continue reading Lego Play and Children’s Stories for Early Learning →

Infant and Toddler, Play Activities

Build With Lego and Duplo and Build Knowledge

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Of the many early childhood connections I’ve made, one of my favorites is with Jeff A. Johnson at Explorations Early Learning. Often, Jeff finds quotes about early learning and play to inspire us all and turns them into posters. This is one of them, and it seems to link up wonderfully with Lego and Duplo. … Continue reading Build With Lego and Duplo and Build Knowledge →

Current Events, Infant and Toddler

Young Boy, Garbage Truck, and Heart-to-Heart Connection

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Every Monday morning, 5-year old Daniel Mulligan, waits on his family’s lawn for the garbage truck. Not surprisingly, he waves. But last Monday morning, instead of driving away, the driver put the truck in park and hopped out with a present for Daniel. In the bag, was a garbage truck for his very own. The … Continue reading Young Boy, Garbage Truck, and Heart-to-Heart Connection →