The POWER of ReadingWritten by L.J. Davis
Reading to your child at a young age is one of most effective tools for expanding his mind and instilling a lifelong love of learning. Reading a good book allows your child to travel to places she has never been, to meet people she has never met, and to develop an understanding of how to deal with a variety of physical and emotional situations.Reading to your child also helps you develop an emotional connection. Whether you have her cuddle up in your lap, nestle with him while he is winding down for bed, or read to her while waiting for food in a restaurant, you are connecting. Reading to your child from an early age will also help him be successful in school. Reading out loud will help him learn language and become familiar with words. Reading is foundation for developing an understanding of conceptual information and it sparks imagination! Your child is never too young to be read to. Frankly, you should begin reading to your child while in womb. During this time, use reading as a way of familiarizing baby to your voice. If both parents take turns reading, it is even better. Imagine, before baby is even born, act of reading helps you connect and it can help parents reconnect with each other. When your child is born, adventure begins. During "easy" phase of infancy when your child is not physically able to explore his/her world, reading to your child helps him feel loved and comforted. Nestled in your arms with a favorite picture book, your baby will, at first, seem unaware of what is going on. But is she? When my daughters were infants, I would read a series of picture books called "Find The" board books by Stephen Cartwright. These books have lively illustrations, but no words. Guided by a series of images that included pictures of children and animals, each book asked children to find piglet, duck, teddy, puppy, bird, or kitten. When my daughters were very small, I would hold book in front of them and while their heads wobbled about, I would ask, "Ceiley, where's bird." Of course, there was no response, so I would point out where bird was and, in doing so, I would describe picture and put it into context. For several months, I would pull out book and ask, "Where's piglet!" One day, an interesting thing happened. When I asked magical question, my daughter lifted a chubby finger and pointed to piglet. Had she understood what I had been saying all along? I will probably never know but one thing is certain, before age of one, she knew what a piglet was, what word "find" meant, and she used her magnificent brain to tell her finger to point to picture of pig. All because I read a book. Her mind was indeed a blank slate upon which I could impress ideas and concepts.
| | 10 fun activities for kids to do at homeWritten by Kenia Morales
With such a cold weather my girls spend more time inside. This means that automatically they watch more television, which is something I don’t want them to do. Don’t get me wrong I can honestly say that I have become a great fan of Dora Explorer and Sponge bob “thanks to my girls” but, I do not want them glue to TV whole day. I want them to use their imagination, learn new things and get rid of some energy. So, I schedule many activities with them during day. In return I see that they have less time to pull each others hair because they are busy having fun. However, they are not only ones enjoying themselves; they are giving me more space when engaged on individual activities and better yet! I am also having more fun with them. Yes, I have released my inner kid and you can too. Here is a list of fun thing to do with kids at home:•Always have plenty of crayons and a special place for your kids. So, that they can use just for creating their little Picasso drawings. Make sure you praise their efforts. The special place can be a little activity table or even in floor.
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