Outdoor Learning Activities For Kids

With the arrival of spring and summer, outdoor learning activities for kids are a great way to teach the basics in an informal setting. From the alphabet and numbers to shapes and colors, the outdoors provides the perfect space for natural learning!

Alphabet

Our favorite outside activity to teach the alphabet comes from mom blogger, Fantastic Fun and Learning. In her Garden ABC Letter Hunt,  she places foam alphabet letters (available in the Teach My Toddler Learning Kit) throughout the garden. For extra value, try to place the correct letter next to a word that matches. This works well for T for Tree, P for Plant or F for flower. However, lots of letters are tricky to match in a garden, so just placing them randomly is still valuable. Have your child find each letter and say its name. Placing the letters in order at the end to ensure none are left in the garden is a super skill to teach alphabetical order.

Numbers

Learning numbers as part of outside learning activities for kids could not be more fun with these super Outdoor Math Ideas from The Measured Mom. From counting, number recognition and patterns, this blogger has it covered. All you need is some sidewalk chalk and counting objects like pinecones, rocks or leaves. Make learning numbers and math fun for preschoolers by getting outdoors, being active and playing with purpose!

Shapes

Learning shapes on buildings and in nature can help preschoolers better understand early geometry. By allowing preschoolers to sees shapes in the neighborhood, they can relate to them firsthand. The Classroom Creative does a great job with an activity called Outdoor Shape Hunt Using Photography. Taking photos makes outdoor learning activities for kids both fun and educational. You will just need to make a shapes checklist, grab your phone and your little one will be well on their way to mastering basic shapes.

Colors

Colors are all around us, so the outdoors provides the perfect canvas to teach preschoolers colors. The blog, Carrots Are Orange has a fantastic post called We’re Going On A Color Hunt. Using flowers, fresh cut grass, the sky and leaves, you can quickly teach your preschooler colors.

Outdoor Learning Activities For Kids

When it rains or you have had enough outdoor learning activities for kids, come inside and practice the basics with the Teach My Toddler Learning Kit.

 

Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit

Activities To Prepare For Kindergarten

With kindergarten registration open across the country, parents often wonder how to chose activities to prepare for kindergarten. Kindergarten is an exciting time for kids but it is important to prepare them, so they can put their best foot forward. From social and emotional to academic skills, the list can be daunting.

Although Pre-K learning standards vary from state to state, there are some common themes for the academic skills required in kindergarten. Pre-K standards can be broken down in two ways.

As a parent, you can prepare your child with the basics or choose to go beyond and offer a head start on learning skills that will be taught in the classroom. Here are just a few suggestions of activities to prepare for kindergarten:

5 Activities To Prepare For Kindergarten

  1. Practice the Alphabet: Using an alphabet poster or book, start with printing the uppercase letters in order. Practice griping the pencil or crayon correctly!
  2. Recognize Numbers to 10: Introduce numbers by counting fingers to 10, counting book pages and printing numbers.
  3. Print First Name: Practice printing first names. This is a common skill required in the first few weeks of kindergarten!
  4. Have a  Knowledge of Colors: Point out colors on a walk, in a garden, around the home or using clothing. Repeat often!
  5. Identify Shapes:  The home and the neighborhood are full of shapes. Pointing out windows, doors, toilet seats and car wheels can help preschoolers understand shapes quickly.

5 Activities To Get A Head Start On Classroom Learning

  1. Recognize and Print All Letters of the Alphabet: Practice printing all of the letters of the alphabet, both upper and lowercase on a daily basis.
  2. Identify Sight Words: Introduce letter sounds with flashcards and beginner readers.  Use Dolch or Fry’s list of sight words to introduce new words.
  3. Recognize and Write Numbers to 30: Use books, flashcards or a number poster to show the progression of numbers 1-30. Eventually move to numbers to 100.
  4. Add and Subtract: Adding and subtracting on fingers or using food such as cereal, grapes or peas can make adding and subtracting real for preschoolers. Start with adding to 5 then subtracting.
  5. Recite Days of the Week, Months of the Year: On a daily basis, talk about the day of the week, the month and the date. Use a calendar to practice the vocabulary and counting the days of each month.

In just 20 minutes a day, your preschooler can master the skills necessary for kindergarten by using the Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit. To give a head start, take a look at Teach My Kindergartener. 

Activities To Prepare For Kindergarten

 

Teach My Preschooler

Indoor Learning Activities For Kids

Encourage indoor learning activities for kids by creating little stations or circuits around the home or playroom. Maybe pack a lunch box with snacks to pretend you and your preschooler are ‘playing school’! Most of all, this indoor fun for kids can  prepare your preschooler for going to school.

5 Suggestions For Indoor Learning Activities For Kids:

Books

Create a separate space at your child’s level for picture books in your home. A mini library is a great station to encourage early reading and listening skills.

Music

Music is a super way to expand preschool minds. You can use rattles, pots, pans, mini pianos and more to encourage a mini Mozart!

Education

You can create your own education station with puzzles, flashcards, coloring activities, however, Teach My Preschooler is specifically designed as a one-stop shop for all things education. Most importantly, it covers reading, printing, numbers to 100 and math.

Exercise

Break up learning time and ‘shake out the sillies’ with a little gym area. It might include a yoga mat or soft flooring for running on the spot, jumping, dancing and stretching.

Rest

Use soft pillows or blankets to create an area for your toddler to relax and enjoy a snack. Unpack the lunch box and enjoy a quiet picnic for two or more!

Looking for more indoor learning activities for kids? Outmatched Mama offers up some great suggestions for educational games and learning fun. In addition, super blogger, Hands On As We Grow has a comprehensive list of general indoor activities for kids.

The Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit is a great way to create indoor learning activities for kids. The multi award-winning all-in-one learning kit is designed for preschoolers 3 years+. The kit is divided into four sections to teach preschoolers, so your preschooler can learn reading, printing, numbers 1 to 100, adding and subtracting. Screen-free, the kit has an assortment of everything necessary to teach the basics. Full of indoor fun for kids, the kit has fully-coordinated books, flashcards, posters, a print guide and magic drawing board, all in one case.

Indoor Learning Activities For Kids

Parent and child play

The Importance of Parent and Child Play

All work and no play! Not the best recipe for life. Busy schedules make it tricky when your little one says ‘Will you play with me?” Here are some key reasons to say yes to parent and child play.

By taking the time for parent and child play, you are nurturing healthy development, a strong sense of self-esteem and confidence. Studies have shown that parent and child play can boost brain development and increase the parent-child bond.

A recent MIT study found that back and forth exchanges during parent and child play boosts a child’s brain response to language. In a study of children between the ages of 4 and 6, MIT cognitive scientists found that differences in the number of “conversational turns” accounted for a large portion of the differences in brain physiology and language skills that they found among the children. The findings show that parents can have considerable influence over their children’s language and brain development by simply engaging them in conversation

Therefore, playing together provides the opportunity to converse, build social skills and shape traits such as empathy and problem-solving. Adult interaction builds confidence and can help with school readiness.

Ideas for parent and child play and conversation:

Read Together: Reading is one of the best ways to engage with your little ones. While reading, stop and discuss the characters, make silly voices and chat about the story.

Play Board Games and Card Games: Playing games provides the most natural parent and child play. You will be teaching key social skills like taking turns, winning and losing plus counting and numbers.

In The Kitchen: Cooking together makes for super parent and child play. Ask you child to help you measure ingredients and be sure to talk about the colors of food.

Play Outdoors: Scavenger hunts, gardening, hopscotch or a simple walk around the neighborhood pointing out numbers and shapes is a great way to encourage parent and child conversations.

Teach My kits and sets provide many opportunities for organic interactions. Parents are a child’s first and most important teacher. Teach My makes it easy to engage in parent and child play and back and forth conversations.

Importance of parent child play

 

 

restaurant games for toddlers

Restaurant Games For Toddlers

Waiting for your meal to arrive and trying to think up restaurant games for toddlers? Look no further! Here is a quick list of simple restaurant games for toddlers to keep them busy and distracted, while you wait for your food.

  1. Alphabet I Spy: One of the easiest and most educational restaurant games for toddlers! Turn the adult or kid’s menu into a game of I Spy. Try to pick out and find alphabet letters and numbers.
  2. Table Hide & Seek: Have your toddler shut their eyes. Using a napkin, hide an object on the table. Encourage your toddler to guess the object. They can feel the object through the napkin for help. Great use of the touch sense!
  3. Pick a Hand: Hide sugar packets or small toys in one hand and have your toddler guess which hand. Perfect way to teach left from right!
  4. Bag of Fun: Use your purse or a shopping bag. Gather up 4-5 small items (sugar packet, spoon, napkin) and place them in the bag. Your toddler can reach in and feel around. Get them to guess an object before pulling it out. Great game for sensory awareness.
  5. Count All Around: Use the restaurant as a teachable moment! One of the simplest restaurant games for toddlers will encourage counting. Count everything from people to chairs, cutlery, glasses and napkins.

Next time, think about bringing along Teach My’s Learning On The Go. Full of restaurant games for toddlers, the travelling set is lightweight and easy to grab on the way out of the door. Weighing just over a pound, the set contains a magnetic whiteboard, flashcards, magnetic tiles and wipe-off markers to learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors and word building while in a restaurant, airplane, car, waiting room or at Grandma’s place!

Learning On The Go

How To Improve Vocabulary

How To Improve Vocabulary

Are you wondering how to improve vocabulary in your kindergartener? A Michigan State University study says vocabulary in kindergarten classrooms is not challenging enough, therefore students are not prepared for long-term success.

First of all, the MSU study looked at kindergarten classrooms across the USA  and as a result, found that Kindergarten teachers do not teach enough vocabulary words.

Tanya Wright, MSU assistant professor of teacher education said “Vocabulary instruction does not seem to have an important enough place, given how substantial it is for kids’ long-term academic success.”

Wright  found most of the words being taught are just common words kids learn in everyday language. Therefore, teachers should offer better kindergarten vocabulary words such as, “hysterical” instead of “funny.”

Most of all, Wright believes the words should be more challenging to improve vocabulary. Teachers should review the words carefully and teach at least ten new vocabulary words every week.

How To Improve Vocabulary At Home

It is fairly simple to improve your child’s vocabulary at home. According to Shawn Greer in Lifehacker, there are eight ways how to improve vocabulary:

  1. Use grown up words in conversations
  2. Let your child tell the story
  3. Converse regularly
  4. Play word games
  5. Label household items with correct terms
  6. Pay attention to your child’s vocabulary
  7. Correct mistakes with care
  8. Be patient

Improve Vocabulary with Teach My Kindergartener

Learn how to improve vocabulary using the Teach My Kindergartener Learning Kit. The kit contains unique and coordinated tools to teach spelling, money, telling time and the year. Most noteworthy, your kindergartener can master 100 spelling words, which can improve vocabulary dramatically.

All in all, the kit teaches vocabulary, counting money, analog and digital time, days of the week, months of the year, dates, years, weather and seasons. You can encourage interaction and repetition because all of the tools match. Most importantly, the kit aims to promote school readiness and a head start for kindergarten, in just 20 minutes a day. In conclusion, Teach My Kindergartener is screen-free, one-on-one learning time.

How To Improve Vocabulary

 

Different Learning Styles

Different Learning Styles

Children have different learning styles. It is useful to determine your child’s learning style, so you can meet their specific needs and address any issues. Studies have shown that accommodating different learning styles can significantly increase a child’s performance at school. Also, as a parent, you can play on your child’s strengths and help to improve the other learning styles.

There are currently 7 different learning styles however, these 3 are most important for preschoolers:

  1. Physical: A physical learner may need to use blocks, an abacus, or other counting materials to practice the new things.
  2. Visual: A visual learner will grasp the material more quickly by watching the teacher solve a problem on the blackboard or seeing a problem solved with real materials.
  3. Auditory: An auditory learner will understand the concept if they can listen to the teacher explain it and receive answers to questions.

Determine The Different Learning Styles

Learning should not be a one-size fits all approach. It is important to figure out your child’s learning style. You can work with your child and make improvements in their weaker areas.

Consequently, if your child is a visual learner, they will benefit from flashcards and books. A physical learner will work well with puzzles and blocks and if your child is an auditory learner, reading aloud can improve learning. By figuring out your child’s style, they will be able to learn more effectively.

Different Learning Styles

The Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit includes tools to meet all 3 different learning styles; visual, auditory and physical. The multi award-winning learning kit is designed for preschoolers 3 years and up. The kit is divided into four sections to teach Reading, Printing, Numbers 1 to 100 and Math. Screen-free, the kit has an assortment of everything necessary for to teach the basics. Full of Preschool activities, the kit has coordinated books, flashcards, posters, a print guide and magic drawing board, all in a case.

Infant Activities

Infant Activities

Infant activities boost brain power and encourage social skills. Imitation is a simple way to interact with your baby and encourage brain development. For adults, imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery. For babies, it is a learning tool.

First of all, according to Andrew Meltzoff, from the University of Washington Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. “Babies are exquisitely careful people-watchers, and they’re primed to learn from others.”

Consequently, babies observe others and copy their body movements. This is how babies learn to hold a phone to their ear or a spoon to their mouth.

In the beginning, your face is your baby’s whole world. Babies can only focus on things that are between 8-16 inches from their face. Therefore, snuggle in close and try these fun copycat games.

Here are simple infant activities to encourage your baby to be a copycat:

  1. Make Funny Faces
  2. Smile Wide
  3. Wink Eyes
  4. Stick Out Tongue
  5. Raise Eyebrows

Therefore, these infant activities will improve vision, hearing, brain development and social skills. As a result, your baby will also learn how to give and receive attention!

Brain Boost With Infant Activities

A more recent study disagrees with Meltzoff. Professor Virginia Slaughter, a developmental psychologist at the University of Queensland says newborn babies do not imitate us, we imitate them. Her study suggests babies are not born imitators and need to learn the skill.

Professor Slaughter’s study reopens the long standing debate whether or not babies are born with the ability to copy adults. An interesting argument but most of all, infant activities encourage interaction and stimulate brain development.

Finally, full of infant activities, Teach My Baby is the multi award-winning all-in-one learning kit for babies 6 months+. Requiring no screens, the kit has everything necessary to teach baby the basics.

Thanks to Blogging Mom of 4 for such a super video review of Teach My Baby!

Teach My Best Educational Toys

Best Educational Toys

You are here because you are looking for the best educational toys for your toddler. That’s a challenging thing to do, given the fact that babies and toddlers have certain needs that you should pay close attention to. As a parent, you need to be very careful when picking any item for little kids who have crucial needs.

GUEST POST: Bestforthekids.com

1. ALEX Jr. My Busy Town Wooden Activity Cube

Alex Jr
My Busy Town

This activity cube features five types of game that can stimulate your child’s mind: animal matching, ABC tiles, curvy bead mazes, racing car rollers, and peak-a-boo open and close doors.

With the number of featured activities, this item has the capacity to entertain your child for a number of hours. And with the different natures of these activities, the product can touch numerous aspects of learning. It can enhance imaginative skills, creativity, logical skills, and critical thinking.

This activity cube measures 16x12x12 inches and suits children aged one year and above.

What’s Great About It: Being a multi-purpose educational item is undeniably the best thing about this product. Your kid will be able to do numerous things with it; and as mentioned earlier, he or she can spend several hours on this cube.

2. VTech Touch and Teach Word Book

Vtech
Touch & Teach Word Book

This word book is best for kids who are learning the letters of the alphabet and those who are aiming to expand their vocabulary.

It includes touch sensitive pages that teach more than 100 words. It features four modes of play namely Letter Fun, What’s That Word, Find It, and Music Time. This may be a good choice during early education.

Once your toddler touches the book, the pages react with words, sounds, and music. This educational book promotes interactive play and teaches fine motor skills apart from letters and words. It includes two AAA batteries.

This baby book is intended for kids aged 18 months to four years.

What’s Great About It: The fact that it promotes an interactive game is the best feature of this product. It is like a teacher in a book as it interacts with its little users.

3. Teach My Toddler Learning Kit

Teach My Best Educational Toys
Teach My Toddler Learning Kit

This is an all-in-one learning kit intended for toddlers 18 months and above. It is a step-by-step guide aiming to ensure successful development and learning. You may join your kid in playing this for 20 minutes a day.

The learning kit is one of the best educational toys because it features four board books, four posters, 55 flashcards, and seven puzzles. It promotes numeracy, literacy, spatial reasoning, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination.

It has four sections: The Alphabet, Numbers, Colors, and Shapes. It focuses on the idea of matching, which can prepare your kid in learning how to read.

What’s Great About It: The kit’s capacity to teach various subjects to kids (letters, numbers, shapes, and colors) and prepare them for learning how to read is its best trait. In just one product, your little one can have his or skills enhanced while having fun.

 

Continue reading Best Educational Toys

Yoga Poses For Kids

Yoga poses for kids are trendy however, also an important way to improve active learning. Physical education classes in schools has made yoga popular among children. It is a great way to encourage a healthy mind and body.

Yoga poses for kids can enhance a healthy mind-body connection. By exercising the body and calming the mental spirit, kids can prepare for the fast-paced world we live in today.

Studies have shown yoga can be an effective way to help children reduce stress, improve concentration, and manage emotions. According to Dr. Gurjeet Birdee of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University. “There’s also some preliminary research that yoga might be good for mood in children, so helping with stress, anxiety and depression.” Dr. Birdee also feels “Yoga might be good for attention.”

The act of practicing yoga poses for kids allows them to to clear their mind and focus on the effort. Consequently, this single focus to achieve a particular pose or stay balanced during yoga helps children to focus and concentrate in school and get better grades, several studies have found.

Yoga and Active Learning

Which leads to yoga and active learning. A recent study published in the journal of Pediatrics discovered that kids who move while learning may absorb more. Combine yoga poses for kids with learning and a winning combination is created.

Teach My recently introduced the world’s first educational yoga mat sets. The award-winning, Teach My Yoga Mat Set – Fish and Learn is designed to encourage active learning. With a fishing pond on one side and yoga poses for kids on the other side, little ones can learn their alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors while fishing, moving and doing yoga.

The Teach My Yoga Mat Set – Hop and Learn combines hopscotch and yoga. Using bean bags, a game spinner and play tokens, children can practice ABC yoga poses for kids and learn numbers, shapes and colors.

Yoga Poses for kids
Teach My Yoga Mat Set – Hop and Learn