Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Engage With Your Children and Grandchildren




Look at these highly engaged people. They are connecting to activities and information on personal devices, for sure. 

 But what is missing in these pictures? Of course, they are not engaging with each other. How many times to you see parents interacting with their children, only to suddenly break away to answer their cell phone. How many times is this interruption really necessary or even important?

What To Do?
Life has gotten very hectic with instant connections to friends, co-workers, Internet, games and videos. How can you manage all this and still make time with your children and grandchildren a priority? Here's an easy solution...turn off your phones or devices while engaging in activities. So many times children need our full attention and real one-to-one communication. One grandmother recently mentioned her annoyance at so many mothers who are loose these precious experiences through so many cell phone interruptions. Her solution? She requires her daughter to turn off devices when they are all together. 

Why This Is Important ?
Research supports talking directly to children to engage them in thoughtful conversation. Asking them critical questions is the way to develop language and vocabulary. What do you see? Then what happened? What kinds of colors? How many? 

The advantages of good pre-school education have been in the news recently. But it may be too late by then. Studies are finding that even by 18 months children listen and learn words. This is how brain development occurs. Without it, children rapidly fall behind those who have the advantage of hearing parents talk to them. 
The degree of child development dependents on strong communication for vocabulary development. Words that are spoken directly to your infants are what build vocabulary. This "processing" is what scientists think develops brain, intellect and learning. Merely, hearing words spoken on TV, video and radio does not have the same developmental effects.

Other Ideas
You don't need special times to talk to children. In fact, everyday situations: waking, dressing, eating, moving, playing are all great times for interacting through directly talking to children. And what about those electronic devices? Use them together. Share games and activities. Phones and other devices have all kinds of engaging media: pictures, sounds, apps, video. What ever you view, interact together with the media. They can be just another opportunity to help your children and grandchildren develop to fullest potential. You will also have lots more fun in the process, building strong bonds through many interesting experiences, as well as vocabulary.


More Ideas and Activities
For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.
Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Article: 
"In the Beginning Was the Word," Feb 22, 2014, The Economist http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21596923-how-babbling-babies-can-boost-their-brains-beginning-was-word 
Wikimedia Commons Photos by:
Ed Yourdon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/72098626@N00/3576388263
Ant McNeill http://www.flickr.com/photos/27361344@N08/4686147794 

Gleb Kotov http://RIA%20Novosti%20archive,%20image%20#916719%20/%20Gleb%20Kotov%20/%20CC-BY-SA%203.0 

Friday, March 7, 2014

Help Discover the Young Engineers in Your Family


Have you ever observed children creating something from Legos or TRIO blocks? They are very focused. Here's how adults can help nurture these “engineering” skills in young children. 
Organize Blocks
  Sometimes young children need to be left to just play and experiment with their blocks.  Other times families can teach them some engineering skills Does this mean you have to be an engineer? Not at all, here are some simple ideas to help you interact easily. Following step- by- step pictures to build a project is a great way to start.
 Discuss how sorting and organizing materials by color and shape will help each time they build. Then provide and label some see through containers. It will be easier to search for parts and clean up.
Organize Thinking
  Ask children to choose a colored diagram of something they would like to make to make from a book of ideas provided in block kit packages. This book can be a source of ideas and help children come up with their own ideas or make modifications.     Guild children toward a simple project you think will be successful. If you are using a step- by- step book, help children look at the picture guide carefully. Count out how many of each kind of block is needed for building and place in piles. If there are enough blocks, make your own project, too.
  Discuss how you are going to start making the project. Encourage your children to think out loud and ask questions as they build. Say your thoughts out loud. Show what thinking looks and sounds like.  Show them that when they make projects with others it is fun to talk back and forth, ask questions, and share ideas even though sometimes others may not use them. You are helping young children think through math problems, since building teaches geometry and many other skills.
  Compare the project you are building with the picture of the step- by- step photos.  Do the pictures look like your project? Do children have an idea to make it better or different?
What Else Can We Do?
  Challenge each other. Play a game called “Can You Make What I Make?”  The name says it all. Take pictures of the final projects and send them to cousins.  Can they make the projects, too?
  Investigate what happens if a piece is added and it interferes with stability or balance? Encourage family members to give Mega Blocks. Duplo, K”NEX, Bristle Blocks, Gears, or other engineering toys as gifts.
Make a card game with a list of projects like house, truck, fence, airplane, or robot. Pick a card and place it face down. Can one person make the object and the other guess what it is?
  Children can help adults put something together by handing tools for a short time.
  Check the library for engineering books like ‘The Lego Ideas Book” by Lipkowitz, or the “Lego Adventure Books” series.
More Ideas and Activities
For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.
Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Photos: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Child_playing_with_unit_blocks.jpeg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Houten_blokkendoos.jpg