Some Tips for Educational Toys That Will Stimulate and Also Teach Your Young Preschooler

When a child is very young, their minds are very impressionable, they learn by what they see and touch. This is why children must be taught correctly at a very young age in order to give them the advantage they will need when they arrive at school age.

From the time your child is born, their minds are like clay and must be molded and taught correctly and you can do this with educational toys for an infant to six months old. These types of toys are made with an infant in mind. They are made of bright colors so that they will catch their eyes and gain their interest. They also sport large buttons and handles so that an infant can easily grasp and push them. These types of toys generally teach simple things like animal sounds, counting, and simple spelling. They are made of child safe materials because we all know how infants like to put things in their mouths!

From six to eighteen months the educational toys start to get a little more complicated and are not only geared towards teaching your child sounds and spelling but they are also geared towards getting your child's motor functions established like walking, talking, pushing, and riding. The toys at this stage are still very colorful and large to grab the child's interest while making them easy to handle and safe.

At eighteen to thirty six months, educational toys now start to get a little more compact as the child's motor skills should now be improving. While yet still colorful, the toys get a bit more complicated with more gadgets and smaller buttons. Electronic and video learning games are available at this stage. These games are geared towards teaching the child how to spell simple words and to do easy math, getting your child ready for preschool. Toys at this stage start to mimic gadgets that are used in everyday life.

At three to five years of age and older, these toys are now mostly electronic and are geared towards making sure your child is ready for school. Most of them are designed around cartoon and action characters to keep the child's interest. At this stage as the child should be speaking, the toys are now geared towards having the child spell simple words and put together simple sentences, these could be simple toys that just spell words or a reading book that teaches the child to spell and read at the same time. There are also toys that teach the child simple adding and subtracting using objects. There are also toys that will spur the creative side of your child like children's digital cameras that will allow your child to explore their creative side by taking pictures and movies that they can upload to the computer and web to share with friends and family.

It is essential that educational toys are made available to young children. While they teach them, they also allow them to grow and establish their own personality and explore their own worlds. These types of toys are what starts an infant off and enables them to become self-starters and well rounded adults. A child who is deprived of these types of toys is only destined for a life of hardship because their minds have not been developed, as they should have been. So give your child the head start that they deserve so very much. Purchase them some educational toys from vtech toys and get them started on their way!

Teaching Sight Words - Quick Tips for Parents Helping Their Children Learn to Read

Reading is one of the critical development skills that children are expected to learn as they grow. In many schools, children are expected to be able to read with basic competency by the end of the second grade. For this reason, many parents are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to the topic of how to teach a child to read. Parents are reading to their children, playing rhyming and word games, teaching the alphabet and even the basics of phonetics.

That is a fantastic start, but one more thing you can do as a parent is try to familiarize your child with a group of words called sight words. What are they? They are a group of basic, common English words that children are expected to recognize "by sight" (hence the name) even if they do not yet know the meaning. These words actually comprise 50-70% of written and spoken language. They are words such as "the," "and", and "it." Sight words also include the pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and certain nouns, adverbs, adjectives and verbs.

Children are encouraged to recognize sight words without use of phonetics, but matters become tricky when you think of how to teach a child to read these words. A lot of these words cannot be deciphered phonetically. Another problem is that you cannot draw a picture for most of them to describe the meaning. Thus, memorization appears to be the most efficient way to learn these words.

Start by giving your child just a few sight words to learn each week. Make memorization fun by turning it into a game like Memory or Word Search. Have your child circle each sight word they recognize in magazines and books- luckily, there's a plethora to be found on each page. Say and repeat sight words with your child. Even better, say or write sentences to make the words memorable. Lots of sight words are in song phrases, so if it helps, sing that line of song to your child; it certainly makes it easier to remember.

Lastly, to help ensure your child learns the essential sight words, look to proven teaching programs. A good program to try is the Fat Brain Phonics system. This was developed by a parent who has a young child who was having trouble learning to read. It has many proven methods of teaching sight words, and a list of 101 of the highest frequency ones. In addition, there are effective phonetic lessons that you can go through with your child.

Learning sight words is essential to a child's reading and learning development. Luckily, as a concerned parent there are many ways for you to become involved in ensuring your child learns these critical words. Rather than telling a stranger to "help my child read," you can take matters in your own hands. With creative word play games and a supplemental learning program such as Fat Brain Phonics, your child can learn to read in a fun, productive way.

This article is copyright © Jasmine Newhart

Parenting Curriculum

A curriculum relies on specific goals and objectives that should be achieved within a certain timeline. When it comes to parenting I find the results of this stilted and mundane. Our children are not products; they are autonomous beings who need to be in connection with their parents. When I threw out the curriculum and simply created a safe place for collaboration, wonderful changes occurred within my family. Having expectations for a child to achieve certain goals and objectives by a certain time is just setting them (and us) up for failure. I needed a way to reframe the curriculum that I had started out with and this is the best way I can put it into words.

I started to look at it like a musician entering a jam session. I am one person who has learned how to play my instrument who is in collaboration with the other people in my family all bringing their gifts and talents to our jam session. Together we share ideas on how we want our song to sound and then we just start playing. What flows in that moment is what matters, not the preconceived notions about what we thought the song should sound like. The art of this jam session is that we meet on common ground, which is the wellbeing of the family, then we improvise and see what we can come up with. The tune often sounds nothing like the original preconceived idea...that is the art of living without a curriculum.

I use the word art purposefully, no two families are exactly alike, just like a painting or sculpture. In a family jam session standard activities like meal time, watching TV, personal hygiene or deciding what to do that day, provide the setting for this type of improv. The skills and knowledge we have at our fingertips are not employed according to plan, we (parents) are not the boss or even the lead player, and we let things unfold naturally using our "expertise" only when we are asked. We are like the drummer who supports the other artists and keeps the rhythm going. The magic happens during the interactions, in the space between the participants, no one member can take the credit.

Parenting without a curriculum means looking at life with our family as a philosophy of experiential learning, one that downplays the intellectual tendency to predict and control. Integrating spiritual principles like "leads by following", "finding perfection in things as they are and not as we think they should be", these are principles a conscious parent will live by. It is an experience, NOT a script or a bundle of dogma! The idea is to live moment by moment, being true to you.

Christian Childcare: Spiritually Good Child Care Centres

One of the greatest concerns parents have in bringing their child into a child care centre is safety. Would their kids be in safe hands? Would the childcare centres really promote the good of their kid? What would their kids learn from their playmates and teacher? Let's admit it. Parents tend to be very protective and conservative about their child. That is why, as much as possible, some parents keep their kids in the comforts of their home. Providing all the toys and educational materials a pre-school age kid in his or her strong formative years needs. However, parents can't lock up their kids at home forever. Every kid needs to mingle with his or her peers. Putting kids into a daycare is also necessary to prepare them to a more challenging and crucial world of a formal school. For parents who really can't let go of their concerns then a Christian preschool should be the fitting option.

Christian childcare is like any other preschool or kindergarten around offering child rearing and child development services. What makes it unique is that a Christian Church or group and charitable institutions run most of these day care centres. Thus, child rearing and child development goals are geared towards spirituality and good moral values. Nuns or passionate Christian group members, who would surely not harm your kid, usually staff a Christian child care centre. Since good Christian values would be taught or inculcated to the young kids from respecting God to being kind and loving to other people, your child will surely be mingling with good playmates as well. So a Christian child care centre would surely erase all those worries away.

What makes Christian day care great is most of these charge almost no fees! Most of these child care centres operate on donations. So if you're a parent who can't afford costly and expensive day care centre, a Christian daycare would surely be a blessing to you. Facilities at a Christian childcare are also at par with regular childcare centres that charge exorbitant fees. There you can also find valuable toys and recreational equipment, educational materials, and highly trained staff or teachers to look after your child.

One can find hundreds of Christian childcare centres on the Internet. There are privately and publicly run Christian centres that cater to different kinds of market segment. So to put your mind to a rest whether your kid would be in safe and good hands in a daycare, choose Christian child care centres that would help you raise an intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually smart kid.

Lessons From the Playground

One of the more enjoyable activities I was assigned when I taught was that of supervising pre-kindergarteners and kindergarteners on the play ground. Now some people might find that strange. After all who wants to be out there on cold windy days or on hot stifling days with all those kids?

I found that I learned a lot about children and their development on the playground. This unstructured time was a golden opportunity to observe how well children could problem solve, be imaginative, be accepting of children who were different than they and how well they could handle the social emotional demands of being in a group of children.

To me, social emotional development is a key component to a child's ability to succeed in the early years of school and beyond. While some people might believe it is their ability to learn to read or do math problem solving, I would strongly disagree.

Social emotional development is a strong indicator of a child's ability to sustain attention and compete with his peers. A child should to be growing adequately in this area so they can succeed. Now what does social emotional development have to do with a child's success? Plenty.

Social emotional development is the ability of a child to relate with his peers and the adults in his life. While this area is looked at as one domain of development, it is actually divided into two key parts - social and emotional development. A child who is able to express himself in an appropriate manner emotionally will be able to get his needs more fully met. Basic emotions of happiness, sadness, anger and fear and learning to express and regulate these emotions can determine how well a child is accepted by his peers and teachers. When children are not able to express themselves in an appropriate manner the consequences can be dire. If a child is working on a group project and someone does not let him have is way, the child might react adversely - sometimes with anger. Or the child who is not able to regulate emotions of excitement and happiness may have problems transitioning from the playground to classroom. When this happens, he is at risk for not being able to absorb key information the teacher may be presenting right after recess. This puts him behind his peers. So regulation of emotions, which develops with age, becomes a problem.

Socially, a child who is developing normally will be able to establish relationships with peers and teachers. These relationships will enable him to grow and learn. A child who can successfully interact with peers and adults feels comfortable asking questions, expressing opinions and getting information he needs to understand what is being taught. When observing children in kindergarten classrooms, the level of inquisitiveness is so exciting! But the child who is not socially able to keep up with his peers begins to lag behind in getting his needs met and learning important information.

Children of kindergarten age can be so open to others, showing empathy for companions and even strangers. When children are able to comprehend empathy and relationships, they are able to learn better in the classroom. Children who have developed these skills can relate to characters in books, to others during play time and characters in story problems with ease. After all, relating to a character's emotions in a story helps us to understand what that character may be feeling or even how he will solve a problem.

The skills in the area of social emotional development are interdependent. Children who have difficulty with these, especially in the early years, are put at a disadvantage when competing with their peers. If they are not at the same level in this development, they run the threat of being isolated and developing behaviors that put them at risk in later years.

What can parents to do to help in this area of development? It is important for parents to recognize that this area is as critical as the academic areas. Too often the emphasis is placed on academics rather than looking at the child as a whole. Research has indicated that children develop in this area very rapidly through the preschool years. These social emotional skills are learned in good quality group programs such as preschool and pre-kindergarten programs. Observe your child in play situations. Look to see if he is ready to compete with others his age in this key area of development.

Preschool Teacher Care - Teachers UNPLUG!

Summer is coming! Really, it is! Many teachers work in programs which close for the summer months. Many of you work in a center that runs year long. Regardless of the program, summer is the time for you to unplug and recharge, both in your classroom (if you teach during the summer) and, especially, at home.

The school year can be pretty intense with all the programs for family days, Christmas programming, Art Shows, Open Houses, Field Trips, etc.

If you teach during the summer, you will still need to write curriculum and plans but, for most, this is a time to investigate and explore those themes and activities that can only happen in the summer! You will still need to have a consistent schedule for your preschoolers but, for the most part, your room will have a more laid back, camp type feel.

What about at home---for YOU? As one who cares for children with passion and concern, you most likely forget to care for yourself! This can be the main reason many early childhood professionals burn out. Don't let that happen to you!

This summer, commit to planning some events that are just for you! Are there hobbies or activities that you enjoy but put aside during the school year? Make it a point to focus on one or several of them! For example, when is the last time you read a book or magazine that was not focused on children, early childhood or curriculum planning?

Perhaps you enjoy crocheting, knitting, jewelry making, bowling, gardening, just hanging out with friends and family, etc. For me, I love walking and especially taking my dog for walks. However, I get so caught up in the administrative piece of the preschool when I get home that I'm still on preschool mode and my dog's walk with me happens after dinner rather than late afternoon.

I now use that walk as a way to leave preschool mode! And Cammy, our adorable Corgi, KNOWS that it is walk time. He's waiting at the door when I get home, very excited to go on his daily jaunt! It is a great way for me to leave that "preschool mode" and be Cheryl again instead of Miss Cheryl!

So, what's your thing? You decide what it is that you have not done enough of that you enjoy this past school year. The motto of Preschool Plan-It's website can be your steps to personal planning as well. Search it, Find it, Plan it! Here's how:

1. Search it!

Choose the hobby or activity you want to do more of.

2. Find it!

Find out when that event or activity can happen. For example, is there a book club that meets on specific days or evenings? A summer bowling league that is just forming? A How-To class starting on something you want to learn how to do?

3. Plan it!

Make the phone call and plan it! Sign up for that class or book club! Book a weekly night with friends or bi-monthly cookout.

Follow through is key. Do not let "writing those lesson plans" become the reason you do not do something for yourself. You need to find a balance!

The scientist-Versus-Play Debate

Children are active, concrete, experiential education students to acquire information and knowledge with all your senses. Studies have shown that:

* The movement is the child's preferred mode of learning.

* Classes that are physically experienced, have more immediate and more lasting effect.

* The integration of body systems provides optimal learning can take place.

* The senses most used in the learning process, the more information stored.

* Play is offlineto be more creative and problem solving skills, improving reading skills and higher IQ scores.

* There is a strong correlation between the time the children are the most playful and the time when the brain is the most connections.

Given all this, it seems pretty clear that there is no debate: the game is much more suited for a child's first experience of formal academic school. Yet, despite this information, the educational efforts of groups like the NationalAssociation for the education of children, and the fact that for years educators have stressed the importance of educating the "whole child", children of preschool age are now required to do their homework more and more. This includes producing worksheets that purport to demonstrate their learning and the curriculum originally designed for kindergarten and first graders too.

Why are schools dedicated to making children simply sit quietly and learn? Part of the explanation comesanchored by the company has long been convinced that the functions of the brain are the most important functions of the body. In addition, we have worked for years under the mistaken idea that mind and body are separate entities. So schools have insisted on the minds of formation on the eyes and ears only.

In the past, based on what they knew of and observed in young children, early childhood teachers develop their programs to meet their development needs of students. Play and activeLearning were considered important tools to meet those needs and facilitate the education of children. Typical activities include:

* Sorting and stacking blocks and other devices (mathematics).
* Singing and dancing, or acting out a story (emergent literacy).
* Growing plants from seed, air, and the study of sand and water tables (science).
* Trying on different roles and interact with each other in home economics and otherdramatic play centers (social studies).

Today, this kind of lessons are constantly disappearing as the "first-is-better" syndrome attacks affecting the critical early experiences with formal education. Today, the curriculum is appropriate for a time, as the first and second grades, children are taught in kindergarten, nursery school and the curriculum is in children who are not pushed under the age of five.

Even through the nurserythird grade students should be doing less work and more active learning class, seen as evolutionary, they are more like pre-school children of upper elementary as their counterparts. But instead of actively experiencing a higher proportion of primary-quality classrooms, but we make the early training of less developmentally appropriate for each, starting in preschool.

Recent brain research confirms what many educators have always believed: the mind andBody are not separate entities. Eric Jensen, author of Brain-Based Learning: The Science of Teaching and Training, confirms not only that children learn by doing, but also that physical activity activates the brain is much more to do than work in silence. During the session, increases fatigue and reduces the concentration, movement, oxygen, water and glucose to the brain, optimizing performance. Moreover, learning by doing creates more neural networks in the brain and throughout the body, so thatthe whole body is a tool for learning. Active learning is more fun for kids.

Parents should not worry about being left behind if the child in a nursery school, play and discovery stressed members. Studies have found that children who are enrolled in kindergartens oriented game are not disadvantaged compared to those who are enrolled in nursery schools with a focus on academics early. A study has shown, in fact, that it benefits neither short nor long term of the firstAcademics and play, and that there is no discernable difference from the first grade. The only difference was that children who experienced early scholars more anxious and less creative than their peers who were in traditional games based on nursery - a distinct disadvantage. In another study, fourth graders, play-oriented kindergartens, where children often start their activities have taken part, had better performance than those who had attended universityacademically oriented kindergartens.

Turning Off the TV to Refocus My Family

When my two boys both dropped their naps, a moderate amount of television became part of their rest-time routine. As a stay-at-home mom, I also relished the break and the quiet time to make dinner and return some phone calls. I was always careful to keep their viewing time within the recommended guidelines of no more than two hours of screen time and my children still had ample outside playtime, activities outside of the home, rainy day cooking and art projects, and playtime with their toys. I did not feel that television interfered with their lives in any way.

My two boys, spaced just 22 months apart, argued with each other. This peaked at the ages of 4 and 6. Their fighting rarely escalated into any real violence that would cause any injury. Their fighting was also not constant-only over certain, favorite toys. Everyone, including my husband, told me it was all within the normal range of sibling rivalry. As an only child, I had no frame of reference for this and found it extremely difficult to tolerate. I read the books, read the articles, and tried numerous strategies, but the fighting would break out regardless of my efforts.

Part of the issue lay in their different personalities, or so I thought. My oldest son was very imaginative and would create endless stories with his toys where my younger son was more physical and wanted to instead move everything around. My youngest son did not have the attention span to focus on entertaining himself and relied on my oldest to lead the way during playtime. He would follow the oldest around and do exactly what he did and this really could be quite annoying.

I decided that I needed to maximize the amount of time they spent playing together if they were to ever figure out a way to work things out. My oldest son is in full-day kindergarten and that left little time for play once we went to the playground, ate dinner, bathed, did homework and made it to bed at an age-appropriate, early hour. Something had to go and that something was that one show I allowed them to watch while I made dinner and the one show they watched in the morning if they got dressed quickly.

I went cold turkey with the weekday television viewing. They asked for a show each day and each day I would tell them no for some reason or another. Playtime at home was extended and so was the fighting. I told myself that things had to get worse before they got better. There were moments that I just wanted to turn on the TV and be able to make dinner in peace, but I held my ground. I decided I would do this experiment for a few weeks and then if there were no improvements in their fighting, I would go back to my usual routine.

Within just two short weeks, things got better. They did not get better by a small amount. Our entire lives got better by leaps and bounds. My youngest son who I was convinced lacked the ability to self-entertain and lacked creativity made an entire village for his Disney Seven Dwarfs collection out of bowls, tissue, paper, tape, the dried beans he found in the cabinet, and an egg carton. He then played with it the next day for over an hour while I cleaned the kitchen and packed lunches.

My oldest son was doing wonderfully in school both socially and academically, but was at times moody at home and prone to getting easily angry. He was always quick to loose his temper with his brother. Within a week of reduced television time and increased quiet playtime with toys, he slowly figured out a way to work things out with his brother. His moodiness eased and his patience for his brother grew. Their bickering was reduced and I heard them talking over ways to play together and coming up with compromises and solutions.

The television remained off limits during the week and only given as a break in the day on the weekends and then kept to no more than an hour. After awhile, they stopped asking. They knew that if it was not a weekend, there was no TV. Within two months, I had two happy, creative children who could entertain themselves and get along for longer and longer periods of time.

What about time to get things done as a stay-at-home mom? Yes, it takes me longer to get them settled into an activity before I can slip away. Yes, it takes more effort to think of more projects or suggest different playthings or toys when they are having trouble finding something to do. However, the time almost always comes when they are content, playing, and I can do the things that I need to around the house. The sound of them laughing and not the theme song to a children's TV show has my spirits lifted enormously.

My sons have friends with video games. They enjoy playing with them when they are at these friend's houses and even ask if they can have one. However, these same kids come over to our house where the TV does not get turned on and there are no high-tech video games and do not want to leave. They rediscover their love of train tables, play with musical instruments, and happily use the toys we have in our small basement and never once ask for the television to be turned on.

Perhaps even what is now considered moderate television viewing and the Academy of Pediatrics two-hour television limit is too much. Perhaps entire days or weeks at a time should be set aside where it is not turned on. Yes, television can teach our children how their ABC's and counting at earlier ages, but is this really necessary? Isn't kindergarten early enough for that? Is even educational, non-violent television taking away from these formative years when so much social development is based on play? A simple experiment in giving my kids more time together answered all these questions for me. The television went off in my house and my kids became kids again, their imaginations turned on, and the family I always wanted came into focus.

Everything You Need to Know About Marketing, You Learned in Kindergarten

Studies show that we do 90% of our learning in the first 5 years of life. That means we spend the rest of our lives trying to learn that last 10%...and marketing professionals step into the field already knowing 90% of what they need to know to hit a home run right out of the gate!

How do they know? They learned it in Kindergarten.

What Kindergarten Teaches Us About Marketing, Business and Success

The number of self-made business success stories is growing by the day. Now, I ask you, how is that possible when everyone knows you have to have a degree in business to know how to run a business?

We're back to that 90/10 rule again. By the time you become an adult you already know 90% of the techniques and information you need to grow your business and kick off an amazing marketing campaign. And you learned it all before you started the first grade.

Here's a look at what Kindergarten teaches us about business, marketing and success:

If you don't get excited, no one else will either.
To catch someone's interest, show them your toys. To make a friend for life, let them play too.
Don't be afraid to ask "why?" as often as possible.
People will like you better if you're not afraid to get dirty.
Bright colors are always more fun.
Don't hesitate to make mistakes.
If you don't know how to do something, find someone that does.
If you do know how to do something, teach everyone else.
It's always more interesting when you work as a group.
Leave plenty of time to play.
Be the first to say hello.
You can never have too many friends.
Any picture worth drawing is worth drawing right.
If you have something cool in your pocket, tell everyone. As often as possible.
Don't be serious all the time. That makes you boring.
Always use your good manners.
Smile. Other people will smile back.
If you were wrong, say you're sorry.
Stand up for what you believe in.
Put all of your effort into everything you do.

How to Survive the First 8 Months - Living With Your Teething Puppy!

The first thing you should know is, your puppy is in serious and constant discomfort. He is not gnawing on your arm because it's fun...well it is, but that's not the primary reason. They do it because they are in pain! It helps release the pressure of their teeth tearing though their gums!

What they are experiencing is nothing different than a baby when they are teething. We don't get angry with the baby...we sympathize. We shouldn't get angry at the puppy. It's nature taking its course. They call it growing pains.

As everyone who has ever known or loved a puppy will attest, those "baby teeth" are like razor blades! Just imagine what your puppy must be going through.

Here's how teething works.
· At birth your puppy has no teeth.
· At 3-4 weeks, the long teeth in the front, commonly known as canine, pop through.
· At 4-6 weeks the incisors (teeth in the front) and pre-molars (teeth on the sides) push their way out.
· At 8 weeks, your puppy now has 28 razor sharp teeth in his or her mouth.
· At 4-5 months your puppy starts shedding their "baby" teeth.
· By 8 months, most puppies have shed all their "baby" teeth. They now have the 42 adult teeth they will use for the rest of their life.

So what happens to all the "baby" teeth? Sometimes you may get lucky and find one on the floor, in their bedding or stuck in a chew toy. Some may get swallowed and passed without any problems. Others fall out in the yard...lost to the ages!

Why your puppy gnaws on anything and everything is because chewing:
· Chewing relieves the discomfort.
· Gums are swollen, sore and or bleeding.
· Relieves boredom.
· It's a way to explore...remember puppies have only their mouths and noses to explore their new world.
· Is how they played with their littermates...that had thicker skin, and a lot more hair than we do!

If your puppy is using you or your clothes as a chew toy, here is what you need to do:
· Give a high-pitched "YELP!" That is exactly what a littermate being used as a chew toy would do!
· Tuck your hands under your armpits,
· Turn your back to your puppy,
· Walk away from him or her,
· Ignore your puppy for a minute or two - they HATE being invisible!
· Then, give them an appropriate chew toy.
· DO NOT GET ANGRY! They are not doing this to hurt you. They are doing it because it feels good to them; it relieves their discomfort.

If your puppy is going to be left unsupervised and you don't want to find everything in the house gnawed on:
· Crate them with appropriate safe items to chew or
· Limit their access to only a small-designated area, with safe, appropriate items, to chew.

Suggestions to help you and your puppy survive the blood letting associated with teething
· Ice...lots of ice...big ones, little ones.
· Frozen fruit or freeze fruit in ice cubes.
· Frozen ice cubes with their favorite treat "locked" inside.
· Frozen ice cubes flavored with cream cheese, Gatorade, broth, or peanut butter
· Frozen ice cubes of yogurt.
· Large, hard, dog biscuits.
· Frozen toys - wet, squeeze out and then freeze their favorite toys. Gnawing on cold toys helps relieve the discomfort.
· Quality chewable toys...lots of them! Do not give them anything that will break off or shred. Rotate the toys daily; it will keep your puppy interested.
· Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!-Tire your puppy out! A pooped pooch is too exhausted to gnaw on anything. A trip to a dog park will keep them busy, they can gnaw on their new friends, and they will sleep for an hour or two when they get home.
· Teach them to control their chew urge, by praising and rewarding them when they are calm.
· Puppy Kindergarten, where they will learn to associate what "NO!", "ENOUGH!"
and "LEAVE IT!" mean. It's also a great way to tire them out!

Never give your teething pup a sock or old shoe to gnaw on. They won't know the difference between your old running shoe and the one you just spent a couple hundred dollars on last week.

Bottom line: Be patient. Be consistent. You and your puppy will survive this trying period of their young life. In the blink of an eye, he or she will be an adult dog. This will all be history.

Remember, it's stressful and painful time for your puppy. You know why...they don't.

My Preschooler Cries About Everything!

Today's advice-for-parents.com question comes from Lisa, who asked, "What should I do with my preschooler who cries about everything?"

Some preschoolers are a bit more tender than others. They have a harder time with transitions, take social interactions very personally, and seem to need a lot more attention. They are easily overwhelmed by changes in routine, and once they are overwhelmed, they have a very hard time calming themselves down. Often they will continue spiraling emotionally out of control until they receive the help of a calm and caring adult.

This is where it gets tricky! We adults often find ourselves becoming impatient and exasperated when the crying and whining goes on and on. The more upset our child is, the more strain we feel on our own nervous systems. The more we want them to stop crying, the harder it is to provide the calm and caring presence that could help bring it to an end.

So here's what to do. When your child is crying, and you feel the tension building in yourself, take a deep, slow breath. Calm yourself down first.

Then, get down to your child's level, look at her, and ask her if she wants you to hold her. If she nods, go ahead and bring her into your lap and comfort her.

If she doesn't want to be held, just sit yourself nearby and be with her. While you are holding her or not, speak some guesses as to what might be going on for her. "Oh, you weren't quite ready to leave yet." "You wanted more." "You wanted that toy." This is not an endorsement, it's simply an acknowledgement of her feelings. Kids start to calm down very quickly after they feel understood.

You might be thinking, "Yeah, right, that's sounds nice and everything, but I have things to do!!" Which of course is true, but let's think about that for a second. Which takes longer and costs more of our energy - trying to move on ahead with our schedules while dragging around a crying child, or investing a moment now to have a cooperative and willing helper for the rest of the errand?

Until she has calmed down, her emotional state will prohibit any kind of reasonable conversation. A crying child needs to be comforted before any learning will take place. Current brain research tells us that learning is simply not occurring while a child is in a state of emotional distress. Period.

So job one is to comfort the child. When she feels understood, you'll see her start to relax a bit, and the storm will start to subside. Sometimes, just this release of energy will be enough to allow you to continue with your activity - stimulation just builds up in the nervous system and needs to vent through crying in order to return to manageable levels.

Other times, after your child calms down, you can talk a little bit about what might have triggered the blow up, and troubleshoot ways to avoid it. For example, you may decide your child needs more warning before a transition, or that it works better to run errands after naptime, or that an earlier lunch might head off a blood sugar crash.

In any case, you'll be able to think much more clearly about all this after the crying has stopped, so don't put pressure on yourself to figure it out on the spot. Simply take a deep breath, soothe your child by holding her (or sitting nearby) and see if you can understand where she's coming from. Later, when things are calm, you can make some changes to her routine if necessary.

copyright 2007 Karen Alonge

Preschool Activity - Toy Book

If your child is constantly crabby and misbehaving, consider your household environment. Too much choice can sometimes overwhelm a child, as can too much noise. Consider "retiring" some of the noisiest toys you have for a week or two and see if there is any change in your child's behavior. By doing this you will have reduced both the number of choices available to your child for a play thing as well as the amount of noise made while playing. If your child seems more calm, make noise level a factor future toy purchases. You can also have a special box that toys get rotated into and out of. This will keep the same-old playthings more exciting, while cutting down on the overwhelming pile of toys that tend to gather in the living room.

FUN PRESCHOOL ACTIVITY: MY TOY BOOK

TEACHING OBJECTIVE/BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

Making My Toy Book is a fun way to help your child begin to recognize words as you help him prepare for a more formal reading program. Making his own books with your help makes learning to recognize sight words easy. Of course, the more frequently he reads his books the better his word recognition will be. A word of caution; listen to him read his book often to be sure he is reading the word that is written on the page.

You can use these "one word to a page" books to help him learn the sounds of letters, also. Once he knows the names of the letters in a word, demonstrate the sound the first letter makes and ask him to repeat it to you. Soon he'll be able to sound out many words after practicing with his own book. If you encourage him to make many such books he'll gradually develop his own library of books that interest him. Here are a few suggestions of books he might like to make with your help.

A book about his house could contain pictures of doors, windows, curtains, furniture, etc. You might use photographs of family members for a book about his family or pictures you took of friends for his Book of Friends. Food I Like might be another good book to make. Talk with your child about what he would like to make his books about. You may be surprised at his creativity as well at how many sight words he masters through making and reading his own books.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Newspaper or magazine ads depicting various toys
Scissors
Glue
81/2"x11" sheets of paper
One piece of construction paper
Stapler
A marking pen

ACTIVITY STEPS:

1. Cut out a number of familiar pictures of toys such as a ball, a car, a doll, etc.
2. Glue each picture on a separate piece of paper.
3. Print the name of each toy under its picture.
4. Fold the piece of construction paper in half to make covers for your book.
5. Put all the pages inside the covers.
6. Staple the book together.
7. Print MY TOY BOOK BY (YOUR CHILD'S NAME) on the cover.
8. Read the new book together.

Teaching Spanish for Kids

Spanish for Kids has become a popular second language that parents want to teach their children. It is one of the biggest languages in the world and many employees are expecting their employees to have at least a basic understanding of the language. If you can't afford to send your child to a private school to learn Spanish, don't be dismayed. You will have other opportunities to teach your children Spanish. We will discuss a couple of simple ways Spanish for kids can be taught.

1. Employ a DVD

Baby companies that are experts in teaching children second languages are creating DVDs that focus specifically on teaching your children the basic words and phrases from a specific language. Make sure that you find a DVD company that has experience and a lot of positive reviews. Most companies will charge fourteen to fifteen pounds depending on the DVD. The DVD should be geared towards children from the age of one to five. It is at those times that children pick up a second language much easier.

2. Use music and movies

Start looking around for free Spanish music and movies online. If you can't find them for free, make a budget so that you can slowly start purchasing them. You need to expose your child to the Spanish language much more often then just sitting them occasionally with an educational DVD. Immerse your child in the sounds, words of Spanish and they will more likely catch onto the language. Once they get older, start using Spanish subtitles in English movies, so that they are constantly exposed to the second language.

3. Start learning basic Spanish yourself

Even if you're not bilingual this is the perfect opportunity to start teaching yourself and your child Spanish. If you're able to speak a bit of Spanish and understand and respond to what your child is saying, they will more likely catch onto a second language much quicker. If you have the time available, spend an hour or two a day studying more advanced Spanish.

4. Use Spanish Games

You can either buy Spanish games or find free Spanish games online. Instead of just letting your child play English games, purchase a mixture of the two. This can be an exciting and fun way for them to learn more Spanish.

Teaching Sight Words - Quick Tips for parents to help their children learn to read,

Reading is a critical development of skills that children should learn as they grow. In many schools, children are required to read the situation, basic skills at the end of the second class. For this reason, many parents take matters into their own hands when it comes to the issue of how a child is to teach reading. Parents are their children reading, word games and rhymes, teaching the alphabet and the basics of phonetics.

This is afantastic start, but another thing you can do as parents is to try to get your child with a group of words familiar sight words. What are they? They are a group of basic, common English words, expect to see the children "on demand" (hence the name), even if you do not know the meaning. These words actually make up 50-70% of the spoken and written language. They are words like "the", "e", and "it". sight words, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions andsome nouns, adverbs, adjectives and verbs.

Children are encouraged to recognize sight words without the use of phonetics, but things get complicated when you think about how to teach a child to read these words. Many of these items can not be decoded phonetically. Another problem is that you can draw a picture for most of them to describe their meaning. This is like storing most effective way to learn these words.

Start by having your child just a few words for eyeslearn every week. Make saving fun by turning it into a game like searching for a word or memory. Have your child circle each word they see the eyes of magazines and books, fortunately there are plenty to find on every page. Say and repeat sight words with your child. Even better, say or write sentences to the memorable words. Many words are in the eyes of song phrases, so if it helps to sing the vocal line to your child, makes it easier to remember.

Finally, to ensureYour child will learn basic sight words, trying to establish educational programs. A good program to try Fat Brain Phonics system. This was developed by the parents of a child who has difficulty learning to read is. It has many proven methods of teaching sight words, and a list of more than 101 high frequency. In addition, there are lessons in phonetics effective you can walk with your child.

necessarily teaching sight words a child reading and learningDevelopment. Fortunately, as a concerned parent there are many ways for you interest in ensuring your child to learn these critical words. Instead of telling a stranger "to help my child to read," you can take matters into their own hands. With games creative wordplay, and a program of additional training as a Fat Brain Phonics, the child can learn to read in a fun and productive.

This article is copyright © Jasmine Newhart

Turn off the TV my family Redefine

When my two boys, both had their nap, it was a moderate amount of television, part of their routine rest-time. As a stay-at-home mom, I also enjoyed the quiet time to pause and prepare for dinner and return some phone calls. I've always been fond of airtime within the recommended guidelines take no more than two hours of screen and my children are still in time to play outside, outdoor activities, cooking and art projects rainy day and season with plenty ofToys>. I do not think that television is their life disrupted in any way.

My two boys, only 22 months away, arguing with each other. This reached the age of 4 and 6. Their struggles rarely in any real violence, would have caused the damage escalates. Their struggle has not been maintained only with a particular favorite toy. Everybody, including my husband told me it was all in accordance with sibling rivalry. As an only child, I had no frame of reference forthis and found it extremely difficult to bear. I read books, read the articles and tried many strategies, but the conflict would break out, despite my efforts.

Part of the problem lies in their different personalities, or so I thought. My son was very imaginative and create endless stories about his toys, where my youngest son was more physical and would instead move around. My youngest son did not have the attention span to focus onfun and left on the road during my greatest time to play. That would follow the oldest around and do exactly what he did and that could be really annoying.

I decided that I spent too much time playing together, if you ever need to maximize things always have been processed. My son is in full day kindergarten and had little time to play when we went to the playground, dinner eaten, bathed, homework and have done so to bedan age-appropriate, early. Something had to go and something to show that I watch while I made dinner and allows them to show he saw in the morning, when he moved quickly in itself.

I went cold turkey with the television on weekdays. They asked for a show every day and every day, I would tell them, for one reason or another. The time was extended to house and so was the fight. I told myself that things will get worse before she got better. There wasMoments that I wanted to turn on the TV and can only make dinner in peace, but I held my ground. I decided to do this experiment for a couple of weeks and there would be no improvement in their struggle, I return to my normal routine.

In just two short weeks, things are better. They have most of a small amount. All our lives better by leaps and bounds. My youngest son, who I thought lacked the capacity for self-enjoyment and creativity that was missinga whole village for his collection of Disney Seven Dwarfs bowls, textiles, paper, adhesive tape, dried beans in the private office and found a carton of eggs. He then played with her the next day for more than an hour while I cleaned the kitchen and lunch.

My son was doing wonderfully in school, both socially and scientifically, but is sometimes moody and upset at home for vulnerable always be easy. He was always ready to lose his temper with his brother. Within a week, reduced televisionThe increase in the time and quiet time to play with toys, he slowly found a way to draw things together with his brother. His mood is relaxed and raised his patience for his brother. Their argument has been reduced and I heard them talking about ways to work together to find compromises and solutions.

The television was taboo during the week and only as a break during the day on weekends, where, and then stored for no longer than an hour. After a while, 'have stopped asking. They knewthat if there is a weekend, there was no television. Within two months I have had two happy, creative children, who talk among themselves and can survive longer and longer periods.

What is the time to do things as a stay-at-home mom? Yes, it takes longer for me settled in a job before I can slip away. Yes, it takes more effort to think more projects or propose different toys or toy, if they find something to do with the problems. However,time is almost always when they are happy to play and I can the things I need to do the house. The sound of their laughter, and not the theme song of television show for children has greatly raised my spirit.

My kids were playing video games. They love to play with them, though in that case also a friend and ask if they can get one. However, these same children in our home where the TV can not get shot and there are video games growing high-techand do not want to leave. They discover their love for the train tables, play musical instruments and happy with the toys we have in our little basement and has not been asked to be switched on the television.

Perhaps what is now called moderate two-hour television and the TV Academy of Pediatrics limit is too much. Perhaps for days or weeks at a time set aside where it is deactivated. Yes, television can teach our children how their ABCand counting in the past, but is it really necessary? It is not soon enough for kindergarten? Is also educational, non-violent television taken away from those formative years, when the game is very much based on social development? A simple experiment in giving my children more time together to answer these questions for me. The TV went into my house and my children were children once again turned to his imagination, and the family I always wanted to come into focus.

It's learning toy live up to the hype?

In a world that is increasingly competitive, parents turn to educational toys for their children's hands and give them the upper. However, there is a large separation in believers and nonbelievers. Many parents believe that educational toys have no purpose what so ever, but other parents swear. The question we try to meet the learning toys for this post is to work with that?

All kinds of educational toys that are developedCreated by a team of experts. These are the professionals, education seasoned when it comes to early childhood education are. You know how children react to the information and how to maximize the natural ability of the child. If this decision is explained if you have your toys or your purchase, you must think about what you get from home.

The experts, these are toys that have poured thousands of hours in the combinedProduct. Each product is so that your child made to a particular topic or Excel. The books and toys have a specific purpose when it comes to your children educated.

Another reason for educational toys are so popular because kids love them - and they are learning from. There are many colors and images that makes it extremely designed for children with stimulants. Educational toys can come in many forms. Purchase booksAnd electronic toys, cards, DVD and even wooden toys, which are used for educational purposes.

In an educational effort for parents to have a better reputation among toys, there are studies in order to be worthy of her. The truth is that the studies are completed, around the world consistently show that early education toys a great help in improving the mental condition of the child.

Through the use of educational toys, parents arethe foundation of life education for their children. They create a positive learning habits for life, it is up to adults. The parents before starting work with their habits of early learning of their children and their first learning experiences of children benefit more from this draw later in life.

If you wish to give your child a head start in life with educational games. They are affordable and have a value ofits weight in gold.

It's Time Preschool

The parents of a child are unsurpassed source for training before school. Research shows that the more time and effort of parents, guardians or teachers in schools to give the child, the more a preschool child is able to adapt their environment.

An important part of pre-school learning is to read and write. Children can learn early in life, and why it is so important that they have the best learning experience. AlAge of four years, the practice of vocabulary and grammar begins has become important. The first impression is long with the children, and how they perceive their day in preschool learning their perspectives and openness to learning that affect their lives. A variety of learning experiences are designed to meet the needs of children in different areas of development needs.

For four and five years, the average vocabulary range 1500-2000 words. In this age group,The curriculum should focus on the past of the words and pronouns. Most children this age are able to count to twenty, and this is simple addition and subtraction. science projects easy to get to preschool children to seek answers and find them.

In essence, the pre-school education is an extremely important part of life for children, because it is the first experience of basic training they have, and so it is essentially the first truly social setting and the experience that theyhave as well. Young children have an extraordinary ability to absorb information and accumulate knowledge, provided that all such information submitted found in age-appropriate way. Preschool is an exciting time for children the way for a long time for learning the structure view.