Archive for the 'play activities' Category

March 7th, 2012

10 fun places to read aloud with the kids

Posted by Melitsa in Education, language, play activities, Roundups, Seasonal play, Sites to visit

Cuddled up on the sofa is our best place to read aloud together. But as they get more wriggly and jiggly we’ve discovered some other fun places to read aloud.

Bathroom- got to love the echo and the chance to ham up your story telling. Whether clothed and bringing in chairs or a bathtime treat.

Local park- sitting on the rug surrounded by openness and a good book. Beware you’ll attract new curious listeners.
Read More…

March 5th, 2012

How do I find a read aloud for my multi aged children that will work with them all?

Posted by Melitsa in Education, Media, play activities, Roundups

Reading aloud is one of those precious moments that many of us reserve for the end of the day when we’re putting the children to bed. This week on Wednesday 7th March is World Read Aloud day a global movement of literacy and reading aloud by LITWorld founder Pam Allyn.

Reading aloud is probably one of the most squeezed activities in our household because of the time pressures. It doesn’t benefit from enough time and thought. The amount of reading generally gets smaller as new siblings arrive and older children learn to read. It doesn’t need to be that way!

In this short extract we hear founder, Pam Allyn tackle this problem When you have more than one child how do you choose the right book that fits them all without giving up on Read alouds?

Podcasts of 2012

February 22nd, 2012

Solutions for tackling tricky toddler emotions

Posted by Melitsa in Articles, Education, Media, play activities, Sites to visit, Thought of the week

Strong emotions are a big bug bear when you’re in a playful home or are they really? Our aim as parents surely is to train, teach and allow opportunities of growth. We allow ample unstructured playtime to build creativity; structured activities to encourage skills and further learning; outdoor skills to connect with nature and so on. However, since our children come with varied temperaments, there is that potential to clash. This power struggle of who wins and who loses is a big problem in most of our playful homes. Mostly because we rely on previous experiences and default scripts we are often surprised that really come out of our mouths.

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We can all think of a sticking point in our playful experiences at home and wish we had a tool or trick to just fix it, and fix it forever. Tricks don’t last over time. Although they can get you through situations they often start you down a path that leads to more problems. A better solution is to arm yourself with ideas, tools and solutions that you marinate with overtime and gradually introduce into your family.

Remember, you only have to succeed the last time.
Brian Tracy

What we know to be true with toddlers

February 20th, 2012

Tackling emotions

Posted by Melitsa in play activities

We meet strong emotions all the time. The amount of times we decide to do a planned activity and we’re stumped and sidetracked by an emotional child. Not just that but we bring our own emotions. We’ve had a bad phone call, fight with a family member, not enough sleep or new fire to put out. It’s hard to just switch over to being this playful parent with life going on behind you.

Sometimes we know that we were out a little too long and it’s nap time. But many times we’re just stumped. I recognise that many times I have no idea why or how the afternoon went pear-shaped. It’s much harder after a battle of wills to work with your child. So let’s take a look at some ideas on managing emotions so play can be again fun, exciting and present.

Teaching Children How To Handle Their Emotions: As Simple As PIE

Verbalizing Emotions

Teach Children About Feelings And Emotions

::: separation anxiety – tips for teachers

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I like these solutions to tackling emotions, both our emotions and our family. It’s not an easy option to tackle yet our emotional state leaks into almost everything we do at home. The wrong tone, a dirty look, roll of the eye and our body language give off clues and teach our children how to use their emotion. How is it possible to have playful home when it’s so full of such high emotion?

Hearing your child parrot back something you say is sometimes a cringe moment. When you say it, surely it doesn’t sound like that?

The better solution I’ve found of late is to be more proactive about emotions which I’ll talk about in the next post.

How do you handle your negative emotions?

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