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Including Children In Thanksgiving

Including Children In Thanksgiving

FRUIT TURKEY Supplies: 1 Green apple, Pineapple, Mandarin oranges, Green grapes, Dark grapes, Edible eyes, 1 Cherry, Peanut butter and Tooth picks Directions: Cut the bottom off the apple so it will stand up straight. Save the cut off part to make the wings and head.  Poke 4 tooth picks on the back side of […]

Enhancing Child Development Skills Through Music

Enhancing Child Development Skills Through Music

Christmas is the perfect time to enhance child development skills through the use music. I am repeating a column from earlier years, as I believe music is a great tool for learning, and the songs of the holiday season are quiet catching to children of all ages. These songs are helpful in the development of […]

A Child’s Work Is Play

A Child’s Work Is Play

Research shows the first few years of a child’s life provides the foundation for lifetime learning.  New brain imaging technology lets us view how the brain works.  Research also tells us that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. And, children are eager learners with their natural curiosity of the world around them.  Through their […]

Children and Traditions

Children and Traditions

With the holiday season quickly rolling in, now is a good time to think about creating family traditions. Family traditions are rituals or routines with meaning that are important in your child’s life. They are repetitive family events that children thrive on. Family traditions create a sense of belonging, and continuity for children. The tradition […]

Selecting Toys

Selecting Toys

Seeing the push of marketing companies to rush the Christmas shopping season, I wanted to give my tips on toy selection.  When selecting toys for your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, etc., there are a few things to keep in mind.  Before buying, consider these questions. Is the toy age appropriate? Always consider the child’s developmental […]

Child Emotional Health

Child Emotional Health

Early childhood specialist Erikson defined eight stages of psychosocial crises during social and emotional growth. You can help your child successfully complete these stages and become an emotionally healthy adult, by following a few basic steps. • Stage 1. Basic trust (ages 0 – 2): In this stage, you give your child his/her basic needs; […]

Social Growth

Social Growth

The last area of development is social/emotional. Of the six domains of early childhood development, (gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self help/adaptive, social/emotional) social/emotional skills are sometimes overlooked by caregivers. We often expect children to behave, or produce, in ways they are not capable. Social and emotional growth follows a pattern. Early childhood specialist […]

Adaptive Behavior

Adaptive Behavior

Self help/adaptive behavior is one of the six domains of early childhood development, along with gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language and social/emotional. Self help skills begin developing early in a child’s life, and follows other development. One of the first major milestones in self help skill is holding a bottle. While holding your child […]

Articulation

Articulation

Communication/language is one of the six domains, gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional, in early childhood development. We communicate through body language or movements, written language and spoken language. Body language begins in infancy and continues throughout our lifetime. Written language begins with marks on paper, coloring, and scribbling. Spoken language […]

Language Development

Language Development

With predictable child development in the six domains, gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional, we made the connections starting with gross motor, then fine motor and cognitive development. The next area of development to blossom is language or communication.. As we know, infants communicate their wants and needs long before language […]

More On Cognitive Growth

More On Cognitive Growth

Continuing with predictable child development in the six domains (gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional), we continue with cognitive skill development. Another way to encourage cognitive development is through creative art.  This is a great way to expand your child’s cognitive ability. Creative art in the adult world, can be pieces […]

Cognitive Growth Continued

Cognitive Growth Continued

Exploring the environment is the beginning of cognitive growth with your child. At this stage, the types of toys that involve movement and sound are important. The “little gym sets” are great. These fit over the child on the floor. You can change toys that hang from the gym using “baby links”. Toys should be […]

Child Cognitive Development

Child Cognitive Development

Continuing with predictable child development in the six domains (gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional), we will explore cognitive skill development.  In cognitive skill development, we simply turn on brain  function to create intellect. Intellect is the capacity for knowledge, or the capacity for rational or intelligent thought, especially when highly […]

Eye Hand Coordination

Eye Hand Coordination

The six domains of development (gross motor, fine motor, language, cognitive, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional), in infant development is predictable. Using the large muscles, the infant cognitively thinks about repeating behaviors that were pleasurable. He/she desires more, but the hands are not yet functional. Fine motor skills are those movements involving fingers, hands, wrists and […]

Review of Gross Motor Skills

Review of Gross Motor Skills

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of early childhood development, I want to review with you some of my earlier topics.  While early childhood development is complex, it follows a simple pattern. Gross motor is the first area of development, followed by the other five domains (fine motor, language, cognitive, […]

School Supplies

School Supplies

With August only a heartbeat away, school is on everyone’s mind.  Children are excited as they think about meeting new friends and seeing old school buddies.  Parents are thinking about gearing up for the new year.  Back-to-School supplies are the order of the day.  What is on the list of necessities for your child? First, […]