New Media Use Plan Helps Families

Journal of Pediatrics Guides Parents & Grands

The latest journal of Pediatrics October 2016 (aappublications.org), has released new recommendations for technology use by children. The report “Media and Young Minds” relates how technology can be managed in the home (healthychildren.org/Media Use Plan), the number of suggested hours of screen time, and helpful hints for parental guidance.

Positive Technology

  The report mentions some positive aspects and uses. 

Many Positives

Pediatricians still maintain that children younger than 18 to 24 months, a time of rapid brain development, should not have screen time. However, it is healthy, for families to get together with online resources like Facebook and Skype to chat with relatives and friends. Technology allows far flung families to see each other, communicate, and nurture connections.

Children Should Interact With Apps 

 If parents want to introduce some shows or apps they should watch with the children and be very selective. Even infants exposed to screen media blue light while in the lap show significantly shorter night-time sleep duration than those with no evening screen exposure.  Reading e-Books is different from reading a traditional book with illustrations on an adult’s lap.

   This age is better off on the floor actively playing and talking with family. “Because of their immature symbolic memory and attentional skills, infants and toddlers cannot learn from traditional digital media as they do from interactions with caregivers, and they have difficulty transferring that knowledge to their 3-dimensional experience. The chief factor that facilitates toddlers’ learning from commercial media (starting around 15 months of age) is parents watching with them and reteaching the content,” according to the report. Authors include Dr. Jenny Radesky from the University of Michigan and Dr. Megan Moreno from the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Age Appropriate Guidelines

The guidelines recommend children ages 2-5 have a one- hour limit of screen time. They again recommend that families watch with the children, talk about what is being seen, and carefully select shows from PBS Kids and the Sesame Street Workshop. Children need to be active, talking, and reading with adults.  There is no substitute for human interaction and relationship for developing a healthy brain and the rest of the body. 

Singing With the App

According to the new report, children flourish during unstructured time.  They need to get outside discovering things in 3- D rather than on a two dimensional screen, crucial for development.   

Doable Reasonable Guidelines

  Pediatricians continue to urge families to include one hour of physical activity, 8-12 hours of sleep, and unplugged family time like meals.

Use Reason and Good Judgement with Media

• Ban screen time one hour before bedtime since noise and light can disrupt sleep.
•  Discourage use of entertainment media during homework time since multitasking interferes with learning. Monitored educational sites can help with homework learning.
• Continue to monitor what kids watch and do on–line.  Discuss on-line bullying, sexting, and other hazards with older children.

Websites Best Apps for Kids & Parents Magazine sites:

http://www.bestappsforkids.com/category/apps-by-age-grade/toddler-apps/ 

http://www.parents.com/fun/entertainment/gadgets/the-best-iphone-apps-for-babies-and-toddlers/?slideId=40807

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Making Halloween Fun Last

Halloween Is Not Just About Candy

Halloween is not about the candy.  It is about dressing up in costumes and pretending you are your favorite character. It is about using your imagination to scrounge around for all of the parts that make up a whole costume. Halloween night is almost anticlimactic to all of the preparation and anticipation. Children are often sad when they must put away the costumes, light sabers, and crowns.  Why not keep all of Halloween fun around for a while?

   Develop a costume box and let your children’s imagination sore. Add a few dress up clothes or Halloween costumes and they become princesses and Star Wars characters. Halloween time is a great time to look for bargains and ideas to add to a costume box. Cardboard and duct tape are handy to construct inexpensive knight armor, crowns, and safe light sabers. Old sheets and towels are useful for super hero capes.

   Children of all ages love to make a special cozy place

Children Love a Cozy Place to Play Dress Up

 to play dress up. During warm weather kids have fun building forts or setting up tents.  On days when the weather is nasty, the family can help them set up a little box train, castle, tent, or hideaway place inside, and take out a costume box.

Nurture Imagination

  For a quiet activity spread a big sheet over chairs or table. Inside the tent, let your children make a little room with their favorite blanket, pillow, books, toys, crayons, paper and flashlight. Send in a snack like crackers and cheese or Cheerios and climb in, too.  Sometimes little kids can fit into a tunnel simply made with sofa cushions placed against a solid surface.

  For a more active time, use cardboard boxes to make a train, bus, castle or spaceship, whatever they are really into at the moment. You can help them decorate large pieces of cardboard with markers. There are many ideas for cardboard boxes on line at Pinterest.

Dramatic Play

  Support the activity by pretending and carrying on a conversation. Dress up, too, and tell stories. Children’s

Children Love Acting Out Scenes

libraries have many books about princesses, super heroes and other adventure stories.. The Disney book section of the library shelves are a good place to start.The illustrations are beautiful and the well-loved old stories are full of action. Children enjoy acting out those scenes. 

   Imaginative play builds vocabulary, problem solving, and communication skills. Children playing in a fort like area learn to decorate their environment, problem solve, and develop an appreciation for quiet activities.  Reading and dramatic play are more opportunities to turn off technology.  It is very hard for children to use imagination when media is distracting them. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Kids Love Getting Pumpkins Early

Pumpkins Smell Like Earth

“Pumpkins smell like earth. They taste like a thousand orange rainbows. They look like a giant golden nugget.”

  When young children get a little help from adults these words have a poetic ring.  Without exception, young children have a poet hiding inside.

  Children start to vibrate with energy and creativity around Halloween so we probably should just get into it early and enjoy the possibilities, too. Waiting until a day before Halloween to buy and carve, misses great opportunities to teach in the family.

Many Pumpkins to Choose

  If possible, visit a place with many pumpkins on display and allow enough time for children to explore, touch, and compare.  Talk about sizes, texture, a wide variety of shapes and misshapes. Which ones are smiling already? Which ones look upset?

Where Can You Find Pumpkins?

  At home, place pumpkins on a table and cover the entire space with paper for writing and drawing. Whole pumpkins work well for sight and sound. Look at all angles and rap on them. Pumpkin pieces and insides are great for smell and touch.  Pumpkin baked goods like pumpkin bread and cookies are mighty fine for taste after the work is finished.

  Help children write words or draw images that represent their feelings. To spark new carving ideas search google images for free pumpkin stencils and templates. Children can combine a few ideas and draw them on the paper.  You are teaching them that planning ahead for any project helps avoid tears and frustration.

Choosing Pumpkins is Exciting!

  As they draw and talk about their pumpkins’ facial expressions and feelings carefully print their words on the table paper. Remind them to look, smell, and touch inside and out.  Encourage them to thump the pumpkin. If you asked a pumpkin a question, what would it say? You can search google for pumpkin jokes and riddles. Then children can change them slightly and make up their own. You can also practice similes, a comparison using like or as. For example, pumpkins are like puffed orange apples.

Write Pumpkin Poetry Together!

Pumpkins for Poetry

  Now read the words and phrases they have said. Arrange them so they sound more fun, poetic, and musical. They can be used as texts or cards with pictures for grandparents and cousins. 

As young authors, children discover the wonder of words through poetry, but this takes a little time. Poetic words paint pictures and stimulate the senses that children use to learn about their world. It is too late Halloween night when the focus is on candy and costumes.

   Writing poetry works well with nearly any ordinary object that can be explored with the senses. Eggs, socks, rocks, toast, a favorite toy, blanket, leaves, and snow are examples to explore.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
Sketch: Mark Nowicki

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Apples are the Stars of Fall

Many Kinds of Apples

  Apples can help teach children to observe, use their senses, make choices and predict. All are skills used in STEAM (science, technology, engineering art, and math). Then discussing food costs is a beginning of teaching economic principles.

Apple Shopping

   At the grocery help children pick out four different kinds of apples. Note their names, farm location and weigh the apples. Which one weighs the most? At the checkout look at the prices to see which apple costs the most. Talk about why some apples might cost more. At home look up where apples are grown and find the places on a map.

Select Apples

  Before working with the apples, teach children to wash apples and hands. Carefully cut the different colored apples in half from the stem through the core. Discuss halves as two equal pieces. Have children predict the apple they think will taste the best.  Then taste pieces of each color. After they decide which apple they like best, discuss words like sweet, sour, and crunchy. Match the words to the different apples.

Use a Cider Press - Make Apple Cider

  Cut the extra apple so the stem is at the top of the first half.  Children are always excited to see the seeds in the center in the shape of a five pointed star.

 Then cut a thin slice from each. Use red, yellow and green poster paint to paint each thin slice and press the painted slices carefully on paper to make star apple prints.

Apple Snacks

  Making cider is a wonderful family activity as you can see from these photos. Don't have a press? Visit a cider mill in your area. 
Apples make a nutritious snacks and Halloween monsters.  Cut very thin wedges and add a little cinnamon for something different. Peel, slice, sprinkle with cinnamon and place in the microwave for a few minutes. Cover with whipped cream.

Add Apples & Grind

  For apples monsters, cut an apple in half then cut a wedge out of the half so as one looks at the half it looks like a mouth. Stuff the mouth with peanut butter or cream cheese. Place a half strawberry for a tongue sticking out. Poke holes for two two eyes and a nose and stick chocolate points or pretzel sticks in the holes.  Pretzels and seeds can also be teeth. Whipped cream can be frothy hair.

Cider is the Juice of Crushed Apples! Enjoy!!!

 Baked apples in a microwave are easy and quick. Children can wash and use a table knife to core a two apples. In a bowl mix two

 tablespoons brown sugar and one teaspoon cinnamon and stuff the center of the apples. Place a teaspoon of butter on top of that mixture. Then adults can microwave cook in a safe dish for about 3 minutes until tender. Cool and test before giving to children. While eating you can tell the Johnny Appleseed story. 

photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Planting Bulbs Fun with Children

  

As You Prepare for Winter -- Plant!!

Preparing for winter is another opportunity to teach young children science, geography, and economics. Families can plant flower bulbs that will seem like magic to little ones and teach valuable skills.

Planting Together

   Explain that you are planting flowers to surprise everyone in the spring.  Walk around the yard and discuss where flower bulbs could be planted based on good soil, water, sunshine and visibility through windows.

   Shop together for bulb varieties like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus, crocus, and alliums. Discuss colors and check for healthy and fresh bulbs. Discuss that wild animals like to eat bulbs and flowers. If you have many animals, you might want to stick to daffodils and narcissus. Squirrels and chipmunks may also move bulbs around. 

  Make a big deal of reading the planting directions on the back of the package out loud. Read the steps several times out loud and plan the planting sequence together. 

Follow & Discuss the Directions Fully

 Who will do each step?

   Examine the bulbs and notice texture and size.  Explain there is a small plant inside that stays cool all winter and then will grow when the temperature gets warmer. Where is the pointed side of the bulb that must face up?  What will come from the pointed side? (stem) What will come from the round bottom side? (roots)

  Discuss and create a planting assembly line. Make a single hole for each, large circle, or a trench five inches deep.  With the pointed side up. Sketch a quick map of the flower types and where they are placed. Cover up with soil and give it a few gentle “love pats”.

  When all of the bulbs are planted, water well and cover with mulch, leaves, or both.  Discuss that the soil, leaves, and snow will keep the bulbs warm just like a blanket.

 Teaching Young Gardeners

Draw a Map of Your Ideal Flower Beds

  Gardening teaches children many skills. Young children learn economics by making a planned purchase and checking out prices and quality of their plants.  Adults can show the value of reading directions, writing a list, and following directions. Children can make a 

geographic map to show how beautiful the yard will be. They learn how plants grow and how animals and humans interact in the environment. Children increase science vocabulary and have quality conversations with adults. Your family may want to volunteer for a community or religious beautification project or read library books about plants and children’s gardens.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.