Art Corner

Read in a book that it is the responsibility of the parent to give room for the child to develop their creativity. We shouldnt shunt their growth by making them routine works of writing and reading ..and also colouring a built in color book. Instead, the required materials should be given to the kid and they should be allowed to think and draw and color as per their choice..

I tried that with my little one .. Gave her water color, papers and the necessary things ..It works as magic ..she will stand their for hours..and will do some or the other designs .. Will play with colors ..mixing colors ..

If we see the picture, we will not be able to make any sense in that ..but just ask them the question of what it is, their imagination starts bursting out ..

This picture was colored by her and when asked she told its an almirah ..

Its suggested that the child is provided with a Writing Box, which contain all the things needed for them to express themselves. Pencils, Color pencils of diffreent types, Erasers, Water colors, Glue, Plain White paper etc .. And motivate them to do soemthing .. they will be so happy to work and we can also see the creativityu in them blooming 

Step in to Reading

"Step into Reading" series books are good for kids . With beautiful color illustrations and small words, they can explore the wonderful world

More information can be viewed at

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/books/step/

Cute Handwritting

Its very good to see the kids learn how to write the alphabets and all .. And the sad thing is as they improve, the old ones are lost.. We cant ask them to write in the old way ..rite . .. ha ha ha ..

To preserve it, at times scan pictures of their writing and save it ..

Picture talks Louder

I had posted in my blog http://montessori4kidz.blogspot.com/ about making kids learn the concept via pictures. To make my child understand morning and evening, I had created some pictures. She got the idea fast and is able to explain it to others too.  Learning via Pictures
Whenever possible, try to give a pictorial view of the things. It will have an imprint in the minds of the children and they will learn very fast.

I had read a story to my daughter about a Tree and an Eagle. Eagle is making fun of tree telling that the tree is static and is not moving and hence is not getting the news .

The tree in turn is saying that He has the most up-to-date information and narrates it to the eagle.
To Eagle’s surprise, tree replies that so many animals/birds stay in the tree and they give him all the news.
Squirrel – eats fruits / live in the hole
Sparrow - Stays in the nest
Crow - Build nest with Twigs and leaves
Wood pecker - Lives on insects
Caterpillar - Lives on Leaves and eats Leaf.

Nice story and a good idea to make the kid learn. Good story. Taking this forward, I introduced my kid to the bird Eagle and mentioned some characteristics. And also the birds mentioned in the story.
So much learning from a short story.

First things First

My friend anitha made this today as a memory snipplet. It contains the list of things which her son did for the first time.. A good idea for all the moms who want to treasure these memories .

Getting your child to talk

Children are not born talkers. They need to learn to become one. And as a parent, we should also out our efforts on to that.


From the day she is born, the mother will start talking to the baby. When nursing, when dressing her, when changing the nappy etc, the mother will talk to the baby. The baby listens to the mother’s talk and then understands the lip movement and try to make sound on its own.

As they grow up, they respond to sounds and will try to imitate the sounds. In this stage, the parents should talk a lot to their child. Always when doing some tasks, the parent can mention about it to the child.

“Now let us apply the powder in your hand. Where is your hand. Haa, here it is”

“What is this ? Hand .. H…a…n…d..”

These kinds of words should be repeated again and again. And when the child is making his effort to talk, we should appreciate and make the child repeat it.

Once they are of some one year of age, we can start singing rhymes to them. A rhyme has a significant advantage in the development of kid’s growth. Rhymes have rhyming words and kids love chanting them. You will have to sing it n number of times before the kid captures the words.

Once they learn the words, anytime we can ask them to narrate a rhyme and they will be happy to do it. You can also sing along and it can be made a wonderful time spend together.

Talking to the kid is very important. Talk to her whenever possible. When you are going for a walk, when you are bathing, when you are feeding her etc etc. They will pick up the words and will start using it during their speech.

Reading story to the child also helps. When narrating a story, you can pause in between and ask them and ask questions which will make the kid to answer the questions. Repeating the same story again and again. Believe me, a child will love to hear the same story again and again. She has the capacity to listen to it even 100 times, (and as a parent we get bored with the same one hearing again)

Yummy Cakes

 

Cakes are yummy. You should see the excitement on the kids face when the cake is brought for cutting during a birthday celebrations. Kids and elders will be curious to know what kind of cake is ordered for the day.

Go to a cake shop, you find n number of shapes. Barbie, spider man, Mickey, Car shape, etc etc. Many a times, as a parent we will have to leave the decision of choosing the cake to the kids.

From the time the cake enters the house, its a great tension to parents to save it from the naughty hands of the kids. The little ones will be eager to touch it and lick it . So one elder person is appointed as a security to guard the cake.

 

Yes, the time is up. Bring the cake.

 

Kids are happy . The cake is bought. Candle is placed and lighted. Now also there is an issue. Some naughty little one will blow it as soon as its lighted. And the birthday boy/girl will feel bad. Again it is lighted.

 

In between, one smart person will be licking his finger which is dipped in the cake. mm..

 

The best way is to cut the cake and finish the function. Yes.

 

Happy Birthday to you  ...  All of them sing..

 

The birthday girl/boy cuts the cake and give it to her/his father/mother/friends/cousins etc etc. Many a times, it will be in a single piece of cake.

 

All the kids will be waiting for their share of cake. Now the security guard will come in to picture again adn he will take the cake away.

 

Somehow I feel very bad when they take the cake away. Hence now a days, whenever there is a cake cutting, I make sure that all the kids get a chance to cut the cake once. Which means the birthday boy/girl will cut the cake first and then all the others can cut once. Kids are happy, we are also happy :)