Web Power Mall

Posts Tagged ‘child development’

Grandparents can play a pivotal role in encouraging creativity and stimulating the immagination of their grandkids by simply providing them with the time, resources and the space for making art.When your grandchildren come to visit you, set aside some interruption-free quiet time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are 'caught' - because nothing squishes creativity more so than a Nanna or Pop  saying "Don't make a mess" every 2 minutes!

Choose the right drawing materials too as this is very important. Many craft materials can be improvised, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Always ensure that you check safety information and follow instructions. During any ‘art-time’ children should always be surpervised because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is ideal for containing supplies, or if space does not permit, a portable tackle box is a good option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a canvas so that your child can paint something and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall! Provide also coloring books or coloring pages which are bountiful online – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw.

Nothing much has changed since your children (their parents) were small – little boys still  typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls may enjoy coloring images of Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Barbie pictures to color.

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of a child's life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

Letters are the building blocks towards a lifetime of reading, writing and learning and should not be taught solely with paper pencil worksheets. Instead, parents can plan fun activities their child will enjoy taking part in. There is no better way to help kids learn the ABC of letter than by making the learning fun.

Any alphabet learning activity you begin with your child should last only five to ten minutes per day depending on your child. As a parent, you already know your child’s attention span and can time each activity accordingly. Also, plan just one activity per session introducing five letters at a time. Learning the alphabet in no particular order is difficult for children, howevert is a key skill needed for their success as readers. Keeping activities short and engaging will make all the difference to children as they begin to learn the basics of reading.

Here are some ideas for you to try at home.

Letter of the day

Nominate a letter of the day – for example the letter S – and plan a couple of activities around that. For example, print and color coloring sheets of a favourite character such as Spongebob Squarepants whose initials are SS and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best . Also, why not eat food beginning with S such as sausages or sweetcorn? And do some of the other activities mentioned in this article involving the letter S.

Bath time foam letters

Parents can purchase a bucket of foam letters from any dollar store. These letters are fabulous fun for a young learner in the bathtub. Parents can place letters on the side of the bathtub, spell our words and review letters.

Shaving cream letters

Parents take a cookie sheet or spray shaving cream directly on your kitchen table. Ask your child to smooth out the cream to form a square. Hold your child’s index finger and assist him with forming a letter. Then ask your child to wipe the letter away and start again.

Letter art

Using bingo dabbers or finger paints have your child create one large uppercase letter filling the entire space of an A4 piece of paper. Create each letter in alphabetical order and decorate the child’s bedroom or playroom with these letters. The art your child creates will mean so much more to him than any store bought alphabet poster.

Magnetic letters

Place five magnet letters on a cookie sheet and tell your child the letter you would like for her to find. Be sure to alternate turns when your child has mastered all letters.

Rice printing

Spread out a thin layer of uncooked rice on a cookie sheet. Choose a letter with your child and ask him to draw it in the rice. Repeat this with other letters. This will give a child who enjoys sensory learning another way to internalize letters.

Fine motor skills are defined as the coordination of small muscle movements which usually occur in the fingers and usually in coordination with the eyes. When related to the hands (and fingers) the term dexterity is most commonly used.

Manual dexterity involves the ability of the hands and fingers to make coordinated movements. Strong fine motor skills, such as used with writing, knitting, sewing and other activities that involve the hands and fingers, rely on manual dexterity.

In young children, manual dexterity is developed normally through routine activities that also require hand-eye coordination. Some children’s fine motor skills develop faster and are stronger than those of others and some children with weak fine motor skills may struggle when learning to form letters and beginning to write.

Because there are many reasons why fine motor skills and the associated manual dexterity may be affected, paediatric occupational therapists often work with children to improve their manual dexterity.

Thankfully however, there are many ways to help your grandchild improve manual dexterity through simple every day, hands-on activities. Exercising a child’s fingers and hands can dramatically improve their manual dexterity so do try some of the following activities:

Threading cereals that have an O-shape – Threading cereal onto yarn is an activity that requires fine motor skills and is repetitively exercising the same muscles, all the while practicing hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.

Sewing with yarn and cardboard – This is another activity that can improve manual dexterity and builds on fine motor skills. Children just feed the yarn back and forth through holes which requires concentration and can also satisfy a child creatively.

Color in pages – Coloring in – more so than ‘random’ drawing, requires children to hold crayons firmly to stay within the lines of the image they are trying to color. This too requires concentration and gives the child an end result to be proud of. At sites such as Bratz Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Bratz coloring book for little girls, while little boys would perhaps enjoy the Pokemon coloring sheets at Pokemon Coloring Pages.

For particularly young grandchildren who cannot color yet or play with small objects, a classic shape sorter toy is a great place to start. For older grandkids, small, interlocking building blocks such as Lego or Duplo are great ways to play while improving and strengthening their manual dexterity.

The benefits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are frequently argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity – Ask anyone what the first personality characteristic arts and crafts develop in a young child and most will answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct. Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and benefit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in a future career. Kids learn to do things in new and alternate ways and literally profit from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance – Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual – be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional.In fact, most well-known accomplishments in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance. For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet. If something goes wrong… they are encouraged to perservere by trying different ways and means and the outcome is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration – Akin to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short they overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example little girls enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best coloring pictures of fairies

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.

Give your child many opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.

Preschoolers are an interesting age group. Their little minds are sharp and quick in learning, but their attention spans are somewhat short! If you want your preschooler to remember any learned activity and pieces of information, you need to re-emphasize them frequently. This applies also to teaching preschoolers about colors.

Teaching your child the colors of the rainbow is an important part of childhood learning and it is also delightful to watch them associate each word with  a color. What is important however, is to make it fun.

Here are some ideas to make learning the colors fun for you and your toddler:

Make the bath a different color every week – so you have red week, blue week and so on. During your child’s nightly bath, add a couple  of drops of food coloring to the bathwater. Talk to your child about each color and name other items you see that are the same colors.

Color theme their food too. During one week point out all food that is green such as peas – next week, highlight red food such as strawberries and apples. During yellow week make a fuss about yellow sweetcorn or lemons.

Buy a box of crayons and a coloring book, and spend time drawing and coloring with your child. If you have access to the internet and a printer, there are many online coloring pages that will cost you nothing at all. Little boys may like pictures of trucks and cars while little girls enjoy images of fairytale scenes and princesses. Both genders will enjoy characters that are unisex such as Spongebob Squarepants for example and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Spongebob colouring pages

In fact, Spongebob is a great character to use to teach the color yellow!Use coloring in together as an opportunity to talk about the red car or indeed the Yellow Spongebob…

Some young children  are naturally talented when it comes to learning colors. They may have a flare towards painting, coloring or drawing and, thus, colors are something that they will get the hang of quickly. Although some kids learn their colors very quickly, it is a fact that almost all kids are extremely interested in colors…. which makes the task of teaching colors – quite an easy one after all…

Encourage creativity in your children by providing them with the time, resurces and the space for making art. Try to set aside interruption-free time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are ‘caught’ – because  nothing squishes creativity more so than a parent saying “Don’t make a mess” every 2 minutes.

Choose the right drawing materials too as this is very  important. Many craft materials can be improvised, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Always ensure that you check safety information and follow instructions. Young children should always be surpervised during ‘art time’ because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is ideal for containing supplies, or if space does not permit, a portable tackle box is a good option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore  a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a large canvas so that your child can paint something ‘grand’ and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!Also provide coloring books or coloring pages – of which you’ll find plenty online. Granted – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw. 

Little boys typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls usually enjoy coloring images of fairies and princesses  - at sites like Princess Coloring Pages  you’ll find the best printable colouring pages

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of your child’s life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A  folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

Preschoolers are an interesting age group. Their little minds are sharp and quick in learning, but their attention spans are short! If you want your preschooler to remember any learned activity and pieces of information, you need to re-emphasize them frequently. This applies also to teaching preschoolers about colors.

Teaching your child the colors of the rainbow is an important part of childhood learning and it is also delightful to watch them associate each word with  a color. What is important however, is to make it fun.

Here are some ideas to make learning the colors fun for you and your toddler:

Make the bath a different color every week – so you have red week, blue week and so on. During your child’s nightly bathtime, add a couple of drops of food coloring to his or her bathwater. Talk to your child about each color and name other items you see that are the same colors.

Color theme their food too. During one week point out all food that is green such as peas – next week, highlight red food such as strawberries and apples. During yellow week make a fuss about the yellow of eggs and sweetcorn.

Buy a box of crayons and a coloring book, and spend time drawing and coloring with your child. If you have access to the internet and a printer, there are many online coloring pages that will cost you nothing at all. Little boys may like pictures of trucks and cars while little girls enjoy images of fairytale scenes and princesses. Both genders will enjoy characters that are unisex such as Spongebob Squarepants for example and at sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best printable Spongebob colouring pages

In fact, Spongebob is a great character to use to teach the color yellow!Use this coloring opportunity to talk about the yellow Spongebob or the pretty pink princess dress…

Some young children  are naturally talented when it comes to learning colors. They may have a taste or flare towards painting, coloring or drawing and, thus, colors are something that they will get the hang of quickly. Although some kids learn their colors very quickly, it is a fact that almost all kids are extremely interested in colors…. which makes the task of teaching colors – quite an easy one after all…

The benefits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are frequently argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to  take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity – Ask anyone what the first personality characteristic arts and crafts develop in a young child and most will answer ‘creativity’. And they are  correct.  Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and profit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in a future career. Kids learn to do things in new ways and literally profiting from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance -  Perseverance is  perhaps the single most important quality for any successful business person, sportsman, professional or  individual.  In fact, most well-known breakthroughs in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance.  For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet.If something unexpected goes wrong… they are encouraged to perservere by trying different ways and means and the outcome is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration – Akin to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one  specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short they overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away  to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example little girls  enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best

  Little boys on the other hand prefer pictures of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.

Give your child many opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can  be creative and feel pride in what they create. 

To the casual observer a child who is drawing or coloring in,  is just scribbling. The marks seem to be haphazard, almost meaningless. But there is much more happening in your young child’s mind while s/he engages in the physical act of drawing and coloring.

In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of 18 months, toddlers become interested in scribbling. It seems to provide sensory enjoyment, but research has shown that the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination and control improve eventually with practice. Cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise and importantly, the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s small muscle control is not fully developed, he or she may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may have difficulty placing the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large. They usually involve the entire arm with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the pattern of physical development begins from the center of the body (the trunk) outward.

With practice, the toddler will naturally improve his or her control, full control, however, will not be achieved until much later. A few toddlers rest the forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A rhythmic, repetitive, scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds, providing sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble we can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is a natural gateway to muscle control and coordination.

Intellectually toddlers are concerned with both the process and results of their art. They do not intend to represent particular objects at first. Instead, they are concerned with color and line. However, they may look at the marks and scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a dog or tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. This is called fortuitous realism and becomes common as a child approaches three years of age.

As a parent you can encourage your child to draw and color by offering him or her opportunities to do so. Provide them with blank sheets of paper to let their creativity run wild or supply a coloring book or coloring sheets – many of which are available free of charge online. Little girls may enjoy coloring images of  princesses and at sites like Princess Coloring Pages you’ll find many disney princess coloring

Little boys to tend to prefer images of trucks, cars or machinery – but images of Disney characters are also a hit with little boys.

Remember that toddlers need constant supervision while coloring due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.

To the casual observer a child who is drawing or coloring in,  is just scribbling. The marks seem to be haphazard, almost meaningless. But there is much more happening in your young child’s mind as s/he engages in the physical act of drawing and coloring.

In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through to primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process actually starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of 18 months, toddlers become interested in scribbling. It seems to provide sensory enjoyment, but the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination and control improve with practice, cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise, and the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s small muscle control is not fully developed, he or she may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may have difficulty placing the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large, involving the whole arm with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the pattern of physical development proceeds from the center of the trunk outward.

With practice, the toddler will naturally improve his or her control, full control, however, will not be achieved until much later. Some toddlers will rest their forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A rhythmic, repetitive, scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds, providing sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble we can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is the precursor to muscle control and coordination.

Intellectually toddlers are concerned with both the process and results of their art. They do not intend to represent objects at first. Instead, they are concerned with color and line. However, they may actually look at the scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a car, a house or a tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. This is called fortuitous realism and becomes common as a child approaches three years of age.

As a parent you can encourage your child to draw and color by offering him or her opportunities to do so. Provide them with blank sheets of paper to let their creativity run wild or supply a coloring book or coloring sheets – many of which are available free of charge online. Little boys may enjoy coloring images of  cars and trucks or of favorite characters such as Pokemon and at sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find the best free Pokemon coloring

Little girls on the other hand tend to prefer images of fairies and princesses and these too are plentiful online.

Remember that toddlers need constant supervision while coloring due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.