January 23rd, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty Three} Problem solving Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Media, play activities, Sites to visit

Some days you just get blown away by the simplicity of a message. Today was that day.

Do you ever find yourself  doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What about the children do you see that in them? How do you get them to move to a point where they can set simple goals and achieve them. Concentrate and persevere in an age appropriate manner.

I’m a totally a visual person so really appreciated Dr Becky Bailey  demonstrations and explanation on the importance of developing the executive state in the frontal lobe. Before you switch off thinking oh no brain science how will this impact my child let me encourage you with a few highlights.

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January 22nd, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty two} 7 words that help shorten an outburst Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Memes, play activities, Thought of the week

Ever been derailed by an outburst or tantrum?

Our instinct is to rise above it. Sometimes you need to but not always.

We do need a strategy for when a tantrum strikes. A strategy presumes then that you’ve tried many different ways and you have something now that works for you and your family. What works for one doesn’t always work for another. Even the same thing doesn’t always work for siblings or the same child all the time. Don’t let that stop you from finding something that works. Having a bunch of different ideas about how to work through this outburst is super helpful- as not all outbursts are created equal.

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January 21st, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty one} Knowing where they are Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Memes, play activities

So many things are coming at you in Early childhood and often for the first time. Some things we may instinctively know and others we have to seek advice. We have talked about knowing your mind and where to see good play ideas from and how to increase our knowledge about play to find something that fits for our family. However it’s still hard when you are socializing to not compare yourself and perhaps your child to other children you see.

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January 20th, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty} More Process not product Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, play activities

 

Close observation of children at play suggests that they find out about the world in thesame way as scientists find out about new phenonoma and test new ideas. Youngchildren may not be able to verbalize new ideas forming in their heads, but they may stillapply similar processes to scientists. During this exploration, all the senses are used to observe and draw conclusions about objects and events through simple, if crude, scientific investigations.–Judith Roden, Lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University College

I love craft books. I reviewed a really good one and interviewed Marie LeBaron about Make and Takes for kids.

The problem with seeing crafts is that often we love them so much we want to repeat them. Nothing wrong with that; though it depends on how much we repeat and how we use them to inspire.

So in the last few days we’ve managed to get a huge list of places to find quality play activities and found a way to filter our choices for our family. Today the focus is on the type of activities we do.

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January 19th, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Nineteen} Choosing (appropriate) activities Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Memes, play activities

Yesterday we were looking at how we need to get out of our playrut and be inspired. Now you have found a whole bunch of places and you’re overflowing with ideas and activities to try.

{Image credit}

From famine to feast.

How do you know which activities are best for your little one other than going by gut instinct? Is that preschool activity okay for my toddler to do? What about my baby who’s not moving that much how much do I do and should she be doing?

Play for the under 5s is all about engaging them and encouraging them to try things out. We do have to be careful that we are age appropriate in our expectations.

It’s hard to tell what’s best for our little ones.

Today I have a free printable to help guide you in choosing the right type of activities for your under 5 child.

So now you have that big list of sites, magazines, shows to listen to and books. Your plate is full to overflowing. Now you can wade through that list and find more appropriate activities using this filter.

Download checklist-playactivities

Enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of the posts in the series, 31 Days to a more Playful Tot.