Visit our store :
KYDZ
3791 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-02 E - Centre @ Redhill
Tel : 6274 3688
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Educational Toys for Kids:
The Benefits of Puzzles
Puzzles have long been a favorite learning toy of kids, moms and educators. Giving children a variety of puzzles enhances their early childhood educational experience both at home and in school.
Here are some of the skills that are enhanced by playing with puzzles:
1. Cognitive skills: Puzzles improve a child's problem solving and reasoning skills. It helps them to see whole-part relationships, increases their visual spacial awareness and depending on the subject matter can teach them a variety of topics like the Alphabet, Numbers, Colour recognition, shape recognition, categories like pets or transportation vehicles, and more.
2. Fine motor skills: Puzzles are fun way to improve fine motor skills. From the time a baby can start eating solid food parents give their children cheerios to help a child with their pincher grasp. Fine motor manipulation is key for writing but but children start learning this skill long before they can hold a crayon or a pencil. Various types of puzzles like peg puzzles and chunky can help teach little ones to pick up and grasp pieces and they aid in the development of the pincher grasp.
3. Hand-eye coordination: As a child places each piece in the puzzle they are manipulating it so see if it fits. Their hand eye coordination is enhanced through this trial and error process.
4. Social skills: Puzzles can be done alone but are also a great tool for fostering cooperative play. As kids ask for a piece to be passed to them, or discuss where a piece should go they are sharing the task and learning to cooperate. It can also help a child learn how to handle frustration when a piece does not fit.
When choosing a puzzle for your child consider the following:
1. Age: Make sure you are purchasing the appropriate type of puzzle for your child's age. For example, jumbo knob or chunky puzzles are great for toddlers but jigsaw puzzles would be frustrating. At the same time a preschooler would really like a peg puzzle or jumbo piece floor puzzle. Older children prefer jigsaw puzzles ranging from 50 - 200 pieces depending on their skill.
2. Material: Do you prefer wood, cardboard, painted, foam, etc Do you want a puzzle with textures to improve sensory perception as well as a cognitive skills?
3. Types of puzzles: peg puzzles, chunky puzzles, jumbo knob puzzles, heavy duty cardboard floor puzzles, peg puzzles, foam puzzles, textured puzzles, shape sorting puzzles, sound puzzles, layer puzzles, and jigsaw puzzles.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Mother o' Mine
by
Rudyard Kipling
If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Visit our store for the following products :
KYDZ
3791 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-02 E - Centre @ Redhill
Tel : 6274 3688
www.kydzedu.com
KYDZ
3791 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-02 E - Centre @ Redhill
Tel : 6274 3688
www.kydzedu.com
Friday, 8 May 2009
How to Promote Creative Play
You can do a lot to help your child develop play that supports her social, emotional, and intellectual development. Here are some suggestions:
- Encourage and value play that is appropriate to the age and individual interests and needs of your child.
- Help your child bring his own experiences into his play. Children's play is usually more creative and less imitative when it grows out of their daily lives. For instance, providing empty food cartons and a simple toy cash register after a trip to the supermarket can help your child start recreating his experience through play.
- Watch your child as she plays to see what she is working on and what interests her. This can help provide ideas about what play materials and other input might further develop her play.
- Choose new toys carefully. Toys that can be used in many ways usually promote the most valuable play. They give children many opportunities to invent new uses for them over time. Too many toys, or a constant barrage of new ones, can prevent children from doing this.
- Find ways to interact regularly (but not always) with your child as she plays. Getting involved with kids as they play -- as long as you're not interrupting or taking over -- shows them that adults value play.
- Try to have regular, uninterrupted playtime in your child's life. This tells him that play is important. It also helps him develop the skills he needs over time to become involved in meaningful and satisfying play. For children who are heavily dependent on television, develop this routine gradually and help children figure out how to begin their play.
- Work to counteract the gender, racial, and cultural stereotypes and violence that characterize many toys. Stereotypes limit children from developing their full potential. Children sort out who they and other people are through their play. Keep this in mind when choosing new toys and try openly talking with your child about these issues when they come up.
- When your child does engage in violent, imitative play based on TV shows, movies or toys, help her bring in her own creativity and imagination. However you view this kind of play, the more you can help your child's play become creative, the less violent it will be.
- Make thoughtful choices about the role of media in your child's life. What and how much children see in the media can have an enormous impact on their play. TV takes time away from play activities and media content greatly influences play. So, try to develop rules - for example, about screen time and screen content.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Visit our store for the following products :
KYDZ
3791 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-02 E - Centre @ Redhill
Tel : 6274 3688
www.kydzedu.com
KYDZ
3791 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-02 E - Centre @ Redhill
Tel : 6274 3688
www.kydzedu.com
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Fine-Motor Skills
Fine-Motor Coordination
Fine-motor coordination involves the ability to control the small muscles of the body and is usually defined as the ability to coordinate the action of the eyes and hands together in performing precise manipulative movements (eye-hand coordination). The early forerunners of fine-motor control appear to be the reflex grasp and avoidance reactions that become integrated and refined with increasing age and experience.
Most manipulative activities require the use of the two hands working together to perform the task. These are referred to as bi-manual activities. Single-handed manipulative tasks are referred to as uni-manual activities; for example, opening a door. The third type of manipulative activities are graphic activities which include drawing and handwriting. In general, children show the most improvement in simple fine-motor control behaviors from 4 to 6 years, whereas more complex control behaviors tend to improve gradually from 5 to 12 years. Isolated finger, hand, wrist, and foot movements tend to improve significantly from 5 to 8 years.
Vision is known to play an important role in fine-motor control. Continued visual experience is necessary for feedback and refinement of early guided-hand responses.
Kinesthetic input from receptors in the muscles, joints, tendons, and skin also provide essential information for development and refinement of fine-motor actions.
Why Teach Fine Motor?
Children explore the environment by moving and interacting with it. By manipulating objects and gathering valuable information about the physical characteristics, this eventually provides perceptual information necessary to make future judgments without the need for physical contact. Through a matching of perceptual and motor information, a child can interpret the characteristics of the environment more efficiently.
Young children at school spend approximately 60%-70% of their time completing fine-motor work or activities. Approximately 12% of children experience difficulties in this area.
Proficiency in fine-motor control allows the child to develop skills that will have consequences immediately and in later life.
Social Consequences. You cannot hide the way you move. Simple tasks such as tying laces or handling any utensils or objects can cause frustration and embarrassment. The child who has poor coordination begins to wonder why something that is natural and taken for granted is so difficult to perform.
Vocational Consequences. Because a number of vocations--including dentistry, secretarial work, cabinet making, and many others--have a large fine-motor component, the choices for the individual with fine-motor difficulties begin to diminish.
Academic Consequences. Quick and precise handling of concrete objects in mathematics and science becomes difficult. Precision and speed in handwriting and drawing tasks are minimized, affecting the amount of work being completed. When actions are not automatic, the available working memory and attentional space in the brain is taken up with concentrating on the movement rather than the concept being learned and practiced.
Psychological (Emotional) Consequences. Children with poor coordination often have unsuccessful experiences in physical activities. As a consequence they can develop frustration, a fear of failure, and rejection which in turn can lead to the development of a negative self-concept and avoidance behaviors. This can dramatically affect classroom performance not only in the fine-motor area but in other areas as well. Research tells us that a child's attitude toward learning in a particular area is at least as important as a child's ability in that area.
Observing Fine-Motor Difficulties in Children
Observable Behaviours
Here is a list of observable behaviours of children with fine-motor difficulties.
* Difficulty with writing; poor grasp leading to poor form, fluency, and frequent discomfort when writing.
* Difficulty controlling speed of movements leading to excessive speed and resultant untidy work, or work not being completed due to overly slow movements.
* Difficulty with precision grip and inaccurate release and therefore problems with games that involve placement of pieces; for example, dominoes.
* Difficulty with spatial relations leading to difficulties with design and copying.
* Tearing paper and/or breaking pencils due to force-control difficulties.
* Difficulty with learning to dress and undress.
* Preference for outdoor activities.
* Clumsiness and frustration: spills food; drops objects; breaks objects.
* Frustration towards and/or resistant behavior to manipulative and graphic tasks.
* Excessive muscular tension when performing fine-motor tasks.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
玩具安全常识
1、 安全最重要
注意玩具包装盒上的安全标示、玩法，适合年龄和警告字句等。并要留意玩具的体积大小，有没有尖角突出之类，尤其是买给婴儿及幼童的，更加要特别注意，因为稚童无知，假如家长没有这方面的知识，很容易发生意外。
2、 配合孩子年龄
许多玩具的标签上，都有注明适合什么年龄的孩子玩耍。例如标签上注明适合3岁以上的儿童的，就不要买给3岁以下的儿童玩。其实玩具一定要切合儿童 的年龄，安全是其中的一个原因，其次是考虑到儿童的智能发展，否则，玩具非但不能带给孩子欢乐，反而使他们感到困扰。
3、 趣味性和教育性
玩具要吸引和有趣，孩子才会全情投入，不然他中是三分钟热度，热情一过，就会把玩具"打入冷宫"，而且玩具"好玩"，孩子从中等到无穷乐趣，对其身心发展也有好处。但玩具富趣味之余，还要有教育意义，指的是该玩具所具有的功能，应对培养孩子的认知，情绪或社交技能有所助益。
4、 玩具无分性别
一般家长的观念，是不同性别的孩子有不同的玩具，例如男孩子要模型，玩具车，而女孩子则玩毛公仔，"煮饭仔"，其实只是没有一定的，玩具只要配合他们的兴趣及个性便可。
5、 玩具要具有创意
太复杂的玩具，孩子玩完一次便 可能再没有兴趣。相反，一件简单的玩具，若具创意及启发性，孩子会玩得更有趣味。另外，如玩具及标榜某某明星或卡通片主角，亦会引导他们注重卡通片故事内容，限制了他们的创造幻想能力。
6、 玩具要耐玩
许多家长认为，买一件玩具给孩子，他们玩一会便会厌了，所以玩具不需要耐用。但其实，一件优良的玩具，应该是经久耐玩的，小孩子不会容易失去兴趣，这样既可避免无谓的浪费，亦可培养孩子珍惜物件的良好品德。
7、 玩具"私有化"
有些玩具如毛公仔或牙胶玩具，是给孩子抱着或咬着玩的，由于卫生的原因，这些玩具最好自己拥有，不宜与兄弟姐妹共同玩耍，这样不但令孩子对玩具更有亲切感，更可助他肯定自我，感到受重视。
Monday, 4 May 2009
Tips for Teaching Kids to Enjoy Reading
By Kristi Jemtegaard
1. The key to reading is words: hearing them, saying them, seeing them, and connecting them to everyday life. Simply talking—in the grocery store, on the way to school, before bed—guarantees a richer vocabulary for your child.
2. Set aside a special time each day to read together. Find a quiet place where you can focus on the book. Pretty soon, your child will make the connection between the pleasure of undivided attention and the pleasure of reading.
3. Expect disasters. Sometimes reading just isn’t in the cards. Don’t push it. The last thing you want is to turn it into a battle. But be prepared to grab unexpected opportunities. Always have a book with you—in your bag, in the car, at the pool: waiting is a lot easier on everyone if there’s a story to share.
4. Read books you like. Your enjoyment will be infectious. Read books your children pick themselves … and praise their choices.
5. Stop occasionally to ask your child questions about the pictures or about what they just heard. Try to ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. “What do you think is going to happen next?” “Who do you like best in this story?”
6. Connect stories to things that happen in your daily life. If you just read a story about a dog, point out all the dogs you see and talk about them: How big? What color? Who do you think they belong to? Make up a new story together about the dog … then find someone else to tell it to.
7. Stop occasionally and point out an interesting word with your finger. Say it and have your child repeat it. Pre-readers don’t need to learn it … yet … but this reinforces the idea that those funny black lines on the page actually contain the magic of meaning.
8. Capitalize on your child’s interests. If he or she likes bugs, find all the bug books you can. Read fiction and fact books. If they ask you a question, go together to a book to look for the answer—even if you know the answer already.
9. Visit the library. You don’t have to be rich to have a house full of books. Attend storytimes. Ask the librarian for books suggestions.
About the Author: Kristi Jemtegaard is the Youth Services Supervisor/Children's Specialist for the Arlington Public Library system in Virginia. She also serves as adjunct faculty in the Education Department of the University of Virginia and has taught at Catholic University in Washington D.C.
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