Prosperity Horizons Educational News

Play Is Serious Business For Childrens' Intelligence

We think of education as the experience of going to school or college, and of course it is.  Sometimes it's hard to remember, however,  that much of what a child learns,  is learned at home.  Yes, we as parents have a unique opportunity, as well as a responsibility to provide an education to our children.  This may be in the form of good example, but it can also be in building good habits. The following guest articles give more detailed ways in which we can help our children to succeed.

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How to Help Your Children Succeed in School

by Barbara Freedman-De Vito
 

As a parent who wants the best for your children, there are undoubtedly many things that you already do every day to help your children succeed in school. The purpose of this article is to provide some practical ideas for you to try. Some of these suggestions may be new to you, many will be familiar, and some are just plain common sense but, hopefully, they will all serve as reminders of the many simple steps you can take that are too often taken for granted or forgotten about, due to the hectic pace of everyday living.

Read to your kids, whatever their ages

First of all, read to your children. We all know that this is important, but I'd like to point out that reading aloud should begin in infancy. It can contribute to your baby's developing attention span and receptive language skills. In addition, I'd like to encourage parents to read to growing children, even once they are able to read on their own. Don't stop once your kids are in elementary school for, whatever the status of their reading skills, hearing a good book read aloud is an experience apart.

Being read to allows children to focus more on the descriptive passages and the action, rather than having to struggle with understanding every single word. It also allows them to hear great children's stories that are beyond their current reading level, and it's a wonderful way for a family to share a magical experience. Choose a children's book that can also be enjoyed by you as an adult, and have a family reading session each evening or each week. A classic children's story, such as "The Wind in the Willows," or the Harry Potter books might be perfect for your family, depending on the ages and interests of your children.

Encourage independent reading and library use

Offer quality children's literature to your growing children and encourage them to read on their own - at their own level and at their own pace. Fiction and nonfiction can both open up new worlds of knowledge and experience and help prepare kids for success in school and in adult life, and don't forget that online children's stories are an exciting new resource to add to your reading repertoire.

Take your children to the local public library. Be sure that each member of the family has his or her own library card. Help your children see the public library not just as a place associated with homework and drudgery, but rather as an exciting doorway to interesting information and adventure. Encourage library book borrowing related to any special topic that interests your kids - from astronomy to adventure stories, from fact to fantasy.

Get your kids to participate in some of the special free extra activities and programs that are regularly scheduled in many public libraries, like storyhours, craft projects, films, and summer reading clubs. Take your children to museums, concerts, puppet shows and the like. Expose them to any forms of entertainment and cultural enrichment that you may be lucky enough to have access to.

Develop effective research skills and good study habits

Help your kids develop research skills that will serve them well, not only on school projects, but later in daily life as an adult. For instance, if you're planning a family trip, let the kids conduct library and Internet-based research on possible destinations, sites of interest, driving or flying routes, and how to dress appropriately for the climate of your destination spot. If you're thinking of buying a new car, let your kids take part in your consumer research, comparing different car models according to a variety of pertinent criteria.

Nurture good study habits and self-discipline. Set aside a regular, daily study time for homework in a quiet, well-lit room. Be sure that your kids have a study environment that's sound physically, as well as conducive to mental concentration. A quiet room is important, but so too is good lighting, a chair that provides good back support and access to all the materials that your children need to complete projects. Supply them with pencils, erasers, rulers, and so forth.

Encourage kids to keep their desk or other study area neat and well organized. This will prevent lots of time-wasting searches for materials and will really pay off as your children get older and their school assignments become more complex. Good organizational skills, which include the arrangement of physical objects, plus the logical structuring of the steps involved in completing any given project, can last a lifetime.

Take an interest in your kids' day-to-day school life

Take an interest in your children's school projects. Encourage them to show you reports they've written or pictures they've drawn. Make them see that you care about what they're doing and about how they're doing, but don't make them feel like they're constantly being monitored or judged. Don't add pressure, just give them plenty of support, encouragement and praise for jobs well done. Provide them with the resources they need (such as Internet access, library time, books and magazine articles) to do a good job on school assignments, but... resist the temptation to do the school projects for them.

Take the same approach with everyday homework. If your child's having trouble with a math problem, review the rules, explain the procedures, and check the results, but don't just give a child the answers. The learning process is more important than a list of correct answers to hand in to the teacher.

Help them discover their special talents

Set aside some time for engaging in special activities with your children. Build a model volcano together, perform science kit experiments, design a family tree, build your own dollhouse, draw maps, etc. Make learning into a fun and creative process. Help your kids discover their own unique aptitudes and talents, as they discover new subjects that might interest them throughout their lives. Stimulate your children's natural intellectual curiosity and spark their desire to learn more, to take a subject to a deeper level.

Give your kids an opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities: to learn to play a musical instrument or to play team sports, for example. Again, expose your children to as many different skills and pastimes as possible, so that they can discover which ones will really click with them. See where their aptitudes and proclivities lie, but don't force them to participate in something if they don't enjoy it and don't put undue pressures on them. It's a cliché, but don't try to vicariously live out your own dreams through your children.

Go to PTA meetings, attend school plays and music recitals. Once more, it's important to show your kids that you care and that you share their interests and concerns, that you know what's going on in their lives and that you're proud of their achievements. This kind of regular positive reinforcement can help them develop self-confidence and a solid sense of self-esteem.

Go that extra mile

Among the most precious gifts that you can give to your children is your time. Put them first and make time for them. Build a happy, stable home environment, full of love and security, and you've already gone a long way towards helping your children thrive and succeed both in school and in life. Be involved in the big and the small events that make up their daily lives. Offer your support, encouragement, resources and love. Be there for them, no matter how busy your professional life is or whatever other commitments you have. Before you know it your children will be grown up and what they'll become depends largely on you. For their sake, as well as for your own, make the most of their childhood.

There are no pearls of wisdom here, just a refresher course in things that we've all heard a million times, but don't always stop to take them to heart. They're so important that they deserve our attention, to periodically remind us of what really counts in life.

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Barbara Freedman-De Vito, children's librarian, teacher, professional storyteller, and artist, writes and illustrates animated children's stories which are available at http://www.babybirdproductions.com  which also has free games and educational activities for children, teachers and parents. Clothing and gift items decorated with artwork from the stories are also available.

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Play Is Serious Business For Childrens' Intelligence

by Jon Weaver
 

Too many parents consider play as simply a means of diverting and distracting their children. Playthings are often seen as a means of keeping children happy, rewarding them, keeping them out of mischief, and giving parents free time.

Not often enough do parents think of play and toys as fundamental aspects of a child's education, as a means through which children learn to understand the world around them, and as the primary method by which children acquire many basic skills.

Parents can help make their children's play stimulating by doing three things.

First, they can adopt an attitude of conscious, deliberate planning in which play is regarded as one of the most important aspects of their children's environment.

Second, they can see to it that their children are provided with the kinds of toys and playthings that will help develop the widest possible varieties of skills and abilities.

Third, they can assume a direct, participating role in their children's play.

Planning a child's play does not mean planning each activity for every moment of the child's playtime. On the contrary, children should have maximum independence in choosing their own activities. And, within the limits of the daily routine of the home, a child should also choose the time for their activities, as well as the duration of each. Good planning makes sure that play is as varied and stimulating as possible.

A child should play at different times, with friends, with parents, and by theirself. This play should include, within a period of about a month, all or most of the following types of activities, each geared to the age level of the child.

Here are 5 of them:

1. Games Games are perhaps the most basic of all forms of play. From peek-a-boo to chess, from pat-a-cake to baseball, games occupy a central role in the lives of most children from infancy to adolescence. Games may be physical or mental. In general they involve the development of skills, although some lead to the acquisition of information.

2. Arts and Crafts Arts and crafts give children many opportunities to express their desire to make things. Crayons, paints, clay, construction paper, scissors and paste, wood, leather, felt, and cardboard are among the materials that help children develop their creative imaginative, and aesthetic abilities. Arts and crafts also develop skills in manipulation, perception, and analysis.

3. Construction Play Construction play involves assembling objects from what are usually prefabricated parts. It is less creative than arts and crafts, but is also useful in developing many skills. Putting together a set of railroad tracks and trains is a form of construction play, as is play with erector sets, Tinker toys, blocks and the like.

4. Projective Play Protective play is play in which a child adds dramatic and emotional meaning to activities with representative toys-dolls, trucks, soldiers, homemaking sets, and doctor kits. Its great value lies in the role playing done by the child rather than in the development of specific skills.

5. Hobbies Hobbies which cannot be otherwise classified will generally fall under the heading of collecting activities. Collecting stamps, coins, rocks and minerals, butterflies and insects, sea shells, and leaves are all common and popular hobbies. While some help in the development of certain skills, their greatest value is in the considerable knowledge a child can acquire in pursuing them.

Most play can be classified in one of these five groups, and, ideally, play should include all of these types. Also, as skills develop, the activities should move to a higher, more mature level.

However, a child does not automatically vary his play or develop in it. This is where the parent's planning comes in -- continually making the child aware of the broad opportunities available to him in play, initiating certain activities during playtime, making suggestions when the child needs and wants them, buying toys that will in themselves lead to new pursuits, stimulating new interests and ideas in any of a variety of ways. The parent should not manage the child's play, but should try to nudge it in the right directions.

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