Tips to teach toddlers alphabets

Familiarizing kids with alphabets is a herculean task for many parents and teachers. The initial introduction of the child to his first letters A..B…C could be simplified if creative methods are used. It requires lot of patience and persistence to teach kids alphabets. The whole learning process can be made lot of fun by infusing excitement through games and activities.

Here are few quick tips for making learning fun for kids:

Teaching alphabets through games

Games are the best means of teaching alphabets like blocks, puzzles, bingo etc. They can be very helpful in the teaching process. For instance, teaching using alphabet blocks could be exciting. Children can construct new words, assemble alphabets or arrange the consonants and vowels. Also, in case of puzzles, child can identify a picture or find the alphabet relating to it or fix up the puzzle from the mixed up pieces.

Use alphabets decor

One can adorn the walls with wall arts consisting of diverse sizes and shapes of alphabets and colorful alphabets also add charm to the room.  Also, you can try out putting child's name on the door followed by labeling his drawers and contents. You can even decorate by showcasing alphabets for pictures and frames. Choosing child's play area or bedroom for the purpose is important.

Creating alphabet book

Making your own alphabet book by pasting selected pictures cut out from old coloring book or magazine relating to the alphabets is good idea. You can ask your child to fill the book by making a page with each letter.

Humming songs that include alphabets

Kids are fond of humming songs and what could be better than singing alphabet songs to them. Singing or hearing songs increases the chance of children to remember alphabets longer. Include songs in the daily routine for toddlers as songs provide opportunity to little ones to learn new things more easily and also it increases their activity level and self-confidence. Above, everything else it is a fun way of learning for the child. Sing songs as often as possible. Make ABC song part of daily lesson plan. This is one of the easiest songs for children to learn and it soon becomes their favorite.

Play and experiment with themes to make alphabet learning really fun and interesting for your kid and if you do so it won't look like herculean task anymore. So, gear up and put on your thinking cap to make your child pally with alphabet buddies!!

Baby-proofing your house

When baby begins to crawl, then it is time for parents to take some household precautions in order to safeguard the little one. The safer you will make the home environment, the less you will need to worry about his safety. The zone in the house that you need to child proof extends to the point high above your child’s reach.  Babies are very eager and enthusiastic to explore the world around them. They want to see, play and touch everything that comes in front of them. Parents need to survey the house carefully and make changes accordingly to ensure total safety of the child.

One must remember that babies get into trouble fast than you can imagine. If there is any dangerous spot in the house, make sure your baby stays away from it. You can even install some helpful safety devices within your home to protect your baby. Along with that to prevent accidents, parents need to follow simple household safety measures. But parents need to keep in mind that no amount of childproofing can replace them. No matter what they always need to keep eye on their baby at this stage.

Ways to child –proof your house:

• First, of all, crawl through the house and get a baby's-eye view, and remove anything that is dangerous to your baby.

• Remove all breakables that may harm the child such as vases, picture frames, ashtrays and ornaments from tables.

• Mainly hide and cover all electrical cords and keep them above the child’s reach.

• Pad the corners and sharp edges of the furniture, beds, coffee tables and glass-topped tables.

• Keep tiny objects out of your baby’s reach as he may swallow it. Don’t keep coins, marbles, beads, paper clips and other small objects on the floor or on the low tables.

• Garbage pails should have lids so that baby cannot remove it.

• Cover electrical outlets with special plates or plastic inserts

• Do not keep unsafe indoor plants inside the house.

• Choose toys carefully when shopping for your child.  Look for toys that are well made and appropriate for your child’s age. Watch out for toys that have sharp edges, small parts or sharp points.

Keep out of reach

• Keep alcohol, cigarettes , poisons ,detergents and other chemicals above shoulder level and out of baby’s reach.

• Keep matches and lighters always on a high shelf in the cupboard.

• Keep guns and other firearms out of the house. If guns are in the house, unload them, put them in a locked place.

Cuteness overload: Little Prideens Santa look adorable

“Ho Ho Ho !! Merry Christmas!!  I am Santa today”, greeted a cute little child, as I entered into the premises of Mother’s Pride School.  Christmas is just around the corner and I could already feel the pulsating excitement in the best Pre-school. I could see little Santas and fairies everywhere in the jubilant mood. There was joyfulness and merriment in the Mother’s Pride air. Later, I was told that there is Christmas celebration today.What apt an occasion could be for kids to have fun, other than Christmas? Yes, Christmas by default is a festival that comprises of all the ingredients of a child’s happiness with Santa

Claus and his gifts, Christmas tree, good food, candies and cakes; all together, making it memorable for children.During Christmas every school makes special preparations for the Christmas celebrations and creates joyous ambience and educates children about Jesus, his birth and related stories of Christmas. Various activities are held in the schools like carol singing, fancy dress, crafts, dancing, drama, group play etc. Christmas is a time for jingle bells and celebrations that surely brings good cheer on every child’s face.

Mother’s Pride pre-school is not far behind in gifting toddlers’ best memories on Christmas. The school is tastefully decorated with dazzling lights and Christmas tree.  The entrance is stunningly decked up with huge Santa Claus riding on his open sleigh along with his reindeer. Also, there are lots of gifts surrounding Santa. The whole creation is successful in being eye candy for parents and kids in the school. Parents along with their kids clicked pictures near it. Even I didn’t mind clicking a pic or two with the charming Santa. The whole day was planned as a celebration for tiny tots. One could hear resounding noise of the famous Christmas carol “Jingle bells” in cute little voices in the entire school.  The enthusiasm and the Christmas spirit were high amongst kids. Each class had its own Christmas tree decorated with stars and bells. There was fancy dress show, where each child in his own way felt proud of being the best Santa. There was distribution of gifts and candies to the toddlers. Kids were also treated with delectable cakes and pastries on the occasion. All together, it was wonderful and exciting day for little toddlers.

How to choose Appropriate Day Care Centre for your Child?

Choosing appropriate child care for your little one may seem like a staggering job for parents. Of course, it is your job to ensure that your child is safe and happy in the child care.  The daycare should be such that reflects your style of parenting as well as provide good child care development. Having someone else look after your child is always a complicated choice to make. But nonetheless, it has to be done. To make the right choice you have to mull over many factors.

Here are some tips for making such an important decision.

• Begin searching six months before you need child care facility for your child as best centers fill up fast.  It is always better to do a research of all day care centers available in the nearby location.

• Prefer child care which is close to your home, in order to save your time commuting. 

• Environment of day care should be welcoming and friendly. It should be a nurturing environment, where child learns and responds to things around him. 

• It is best to get recommendations from other parents. Ask centre to provide you with names and numbers of their current clients. Take their opinion about day care. 

• Choose day care that lets you pick up and drop off your child at different times. It should be flexible so that it gets convenient for you. 

• Day care should have good ambience; suitable for the child. It should be colorful, bright, spacious and clean.  

• The food provided at day care should be nutritious. Fresh fruit and vegetables, milk and milk products, lean and healthy protein, whole grain in the proper portions are a must. You child requires healthy food to grow.

• Your child should be exposed to different activities throughout the day. Various kinds of toys and equipments present at the day care are important to keep the child engaged. As child spends very long day at the day care away from his parents. There must be crafts, construction toys, books and other important learning tools available for the children. 

• Infant areas should be separate and quiet.

• Avoid centers that don't allow you to visit and that don't have security cameras. The outdoor areas of the day acre should be properly fenced.

• Always inspect the kitchen area of the day care and make sure it is clean and neat.

• Mainly important thing is to make sure your child receives quality, specialized care in an environment that is fun, enlightening and nurturing.

When and How to Start Toilet Training for Toddlers?

Learning to use the toilet is the big step for the toddler and parents. For toddlers it is something new to learn. Some children learn it quickly while others take more time to train. Each child learns at his own pace. It is important to wait until your child is ready to learn potty training. Don’t rush to teach your child. Keep patience and don’t consider toilet training as a project and don’t associate it with success or failure.
 

Recommended age to begin potty training

As such it is not easy to decide right the right age for potty training for your child. The pediatricians usually recommend age between 18 months to 36 months. Usually, it depends on the child's development and readiness. As before this age, most children's bladders empty so frequently, it becomes difficult for them to control. 

How Long Does It Take?
 

Obviously, the toddler doesn’t learn it overnight. The process easily takes between 3 to 6 months. This may differ from child to child, as may take less time or others may take more.
 

Tips for teaching toilet training -

• You can try to help your child recognize sensations like –“being wet” and "about to be wet" etc. Encourage your child to talk about these sensations whenever possible. Notice signs such as pausing while playing, when child becomes uncomfortable. Also, make the child notice these signs.
 

• It is important to make the child familiar with the bathroom equipments. A child who becomes familiar with bathroom procedures and equipment is more likely to get trained than others.
 

• Teach your child or make him practice lowering and raising training pants.
 

• Buy products that will help you to potty train your kid. Buy a handy potty chair on which the child may sit perhaps while you are in the bathroom yourself.
 

• Some toddlers may show sign of being mentally and emotionally ready but physically they may not be ready. They may not be able to handle the pressure. Therefore, best is- rather to struggle to potty train your child it is best to wait.
 

• Overall potty training process requires complex combination of physical and cognitive tasks. Your child has to learn to associate to the physical sensation with the proper response.
 

• More than the child it is the parents, who need to be ready to start the toilet training process. At least one parent requires devoting time and energy to toilet train the toddler.

Celebrating Childhood on Children’s Day

Time for fun n frolic and abundant delight as Children’s Day is here to make all toddlers smile.  Yes, it’s 14th November and whole of our country celebrates it as Children’s Day.  The occasion is commemorated to pay tribute to the India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his birthday. All children lovingly called him ‘Chacha Nehru’ and he truly cherished this endearing name.

He had great love for roses and often children used to gift him one. He felt children were just like roses and he compared them. According to him, children were like the buds in the garden and they should be nurtured carefully and lovingly. He also often used to say that – children are the future citizens of the nation and thus they were real strength of our country and foundation of the society.

Children are like precious gems. They are divine gifts from god to the parents. Their innocent smile and laughter makes everything so colorful and bright. Truly, they signify pure and faithful love. Therefore, Nehru emphasized the importance of giving love and affection to children.

Amidst all this celebrations, one should not forget Chacha Nehru's real message. That is providing our children with a safe and loving environment to the children, in which they can grow with ample and equal opportunities. This day serves as a reminder to every one of us to renew our commitment for the welfare of children.

Celebrations in schools

Most schools hold cultural performances on Children’s Day. One such popular school – Mother’s Pride held fest on the occasion.  Children rejoiced the most as the day was filled with fun and fanfare. There was singing, dancing and storytelling and what not.

The children were let loose to enjoy to the hilt. There was no stopping for the little ones and whole environment of the school was filled laughter and smiles of the toddlers.  The school arranged special treat for the kids and the highlight was a little candy stall, that witnessed huge crowd of kids. All together, kids had gala time. They hoped celebrations would never end.

Right Age for Toddlers to begin Reading

Toddlers are at a stage where they are learning a language and familiarizing it.  Also, it is a stage when they are building their communication skills and experimenting with new words and vocabulary. Reading at such crucial juncture can help toddlers to spark up their brain development and imagination. Though every parent is aware of the fact that reading is essential for over-all child’s development but they don’t know what age to pursue their little ones to read?

What age is right age?

Children usually don't start reading before the age of 5 or 6 that’s because its takes time for toddlers to develop neural connections with printed letters and they learn slowly to decode them.

Though reading for toddlers sets the foundation for later independent reading. But before they can read independently, they need emergent literacy skills, which include – basic understanding that marks on a page represent letters and words and knowing the letters of the alphabet, knowledge of vocabulary and its usage, most importantly they need understanding of phonemic awareness.

Parents can read to their child as often as possible. It is the best way to help him or her learn to read independently. Reading words while pointing them out to the toddlers helps them to connect the sounds to words.

Choosing books for young toddlers

Toddlers have a very short attention span, and it is very difficult to keep them focused for long. It is natural for such young children. That’s why interactive books are recommended for them. By using interactive books or tools with interactive stories, the toddler improves his/her vocabulary and develops language comprehension well.

Picture books - Toddler books with pictures provide more elaborate plots and illustrations that catch attention of the little ones. Subjects range from ABCs to animals, feelings to favorite characters.

Colors and Shapes- Toddlers are dazzled by bright colors and bold shapes. One can try books which features familiar objects that will teach children basic information in an appealing, hands-on format. 

ABCs-  Playing with letter blocks and singing the alphabet song are must-dos for ABC learning, but these educational books will captivate your toddler and set them on the path to letter recognition.

                           

These types of books are great to introduce your little one to the pleasures of reading, and most have educational benefits as well.