All My Children

Toni always attaches herself to an adult by holding their hand when she is outside and will attempt to stay with that person for the entire session. When other children approach her and ask her to join them she becomes even more attached to the adult, holding on to their hand more tightly. All suggestions and encouragements from staff fail to engage Toni in the activities on offer. Continue Reading »

Children need to develop a range of skills in order to utilise play experiences to the full. These can be considered in six areas and generally, there needs to be a fairly balanced development in each one. The six areas are:

Social — where the child shows an interest in other people and begins to develop empathy

Communication — where the child wants to communicate through verbal and non-verbal communication

Fine motor skills — where the child develops fine motor co-ordination and dexterity

Gross motor skills — which are related to mobility and body posture Imagination and thinking skills — needed for pretend play

Attention — where the child develops concentration and focused attention

It can be very useful to use the following tables as a checklist to consider children’s strengths and the areas in which they may need support at different ages and stages. Continue Reading »

Most adults find it easier to involve themselves directly in complex and adult games, like chess or baseball, than in play on simpler levels, such as stacking blocks or riding a hobbyhorse or toy car. Although the terms “play” and “game” are often used interchangeably, they are not identical in meaning. Rather, they refer to broadly distinguishable stages of development, with “play” relating to an earlier stage, “game” to a more mature one. Generally speaking, “play” refers to the young child’s activities characterized by freedom from all but personally imposed rules (which, unless the child is compulsive, can be changed at will); by freewheeling fantasy involvement; and by the absence of any goals outside the activity itself. Continue Reading »

Top tips for managing staff

Make sure that all staff are enthusiastic and are encouraged to work outside

Staff need to be briefed and be clear about the reason for carrying out activities (is the aim of the task counting/caring for the environment etc.?) Staff require very specific teaching aims and objectives and need to share these with the children

Staff should be role models for language/behaviours/interaction skills

Children should be expected to do their own work (how many Mother’s Day cards are made by the adults?) Continue Reading »

This sets out in brief format some ideas you might like to think about when planning a challenging play and learning environment. The way in which you organise this is key to children’s learning and development. Some questions you may ask are as follows.

How can I:

• support and extend learning though planning play activities?
• help children to be spontaneous?
• extend children’s language and communication through play?
• help children make sense of the world around them?
• make children aware of the risks and challenges that (especially the outside) world presents?
• make sure that children experience things in a safe situation?

Continue Reading »

Few other types of play can quite compare with doll play for eliciting deep parental involvement. Still, there are many other aspects of children’s play which can affect a parent deeply, through recollections and other feelings it activates, particularly when a child’s play reminds the parent of having played with the same toy, or having played in similar fashion. Also, the older the child gets, the more easily do play activities echo not only the parent’s own childhood experiences, but also his present hobbies or recreations. For example, the teenager who can play a serious game of chess has an experience very similar to his parent’s in doing so. Continue Reading »

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

Certainly parents are happy to see their children absorbed in play. But are they equally happy to become engrossed in the playing themselves? If a child’s play is pleasurable to a parent chiefly because he can then pursue his adult activities without feeling bad about neglecting his child, it does not take the child long to realize this. He soon learns that to his parents play itself is not very important, but his being out of their way is; this lesson simultaneously diminishes him and his enjoyment of play, and reduces the capacity of play to develop his intelligence and personality. Continue Reading »

Helping Your Child to Learn Science

Science at its most basic is about finding out and understanding about everything. It is also about how things work and change in our environment. What better place to start learning about these than in and around the home.

From about three years onwards your young child will start asking ‘why’ all the time and by the time he is six you will not know some of the answers yourself.

The stages of scientific development have already been described at the beginning of this section but the spectrum of experiences will include learning about the variety of life, the processes involved in life itself, human influences on earth, types and uses of materials — to mention just a few. Continue Reading »

Enriching language

Before attempting to encourage your child to learn to read, be sure that you are giving him lots of enriching language experiences. Talk to him as much as possible, involve him in conversation, teach him new words, and tell and read stories to him. Show him that reading is an enjoyable experience so that he learns to love books. While sitting on your lap looking at the pictures of a story he will eventually begin to notice the words and may recognize some of them. Involve him in the story by encouraging him to ask questions and tell you what is coming next. Children like the same story repeated over and over again.

Action songs, finger-play stories and rhymes

By being actively involved children understand the meaning of words, and sentence constructions are enhanced. Songs, too, often introduce children to new words and help them to hear the sounds in words more easily. Continue Reading »

Between the fifth and twelfth birthdays, many children begin to play musical instruments, start dance lessons, or join scouting or other programs that offer a variety of valuable experiences. As with athletic programs, your child will take to some of these more fervently than to others, and the benefits and costs of each should be evaluated on a regular basis. Pay particular attention to your child’s level of interest, enjoyment, progress, and commitment as well as to any signs of stress or distress.

In general, this should be a time for a child to sample a variety of activities and interests. What does he do well? Where does she fit in? He may not be a whiz with a ball and glove but have a knack with a trombone or a special touch with animals. Finding her niche(s) in life will require trying a number of activities on for size. Some will fit better than others, and she needs to be able to see what works for her without the threat of rebuke or humiliation—although some activities that you consider central to your family’s identity, such as attending church, will not be open for negotiation. Continue Reading »