Saturday, July 11, 2009

Teaching Tiny Tots

About a month ago we received an interesting email from Sharon. She is a former teacher and is a now mother of two and runs an amazing site for teaching kids! We asked her to write a guest post and will include her site on our side bar.


Start the Learning Process Now

Your toddler’s mind is like a sponge - absorbing everything around him or her. Everything is a new exciting learning experience. Notice how a wooden spoon and bowl will capture your child’s attention for an amazing length of time?

As a parent, you can participate in and facilitate the learning process from as early as six months by engaging your child in simple activities and using a lot of showing, demonstrating and descriptive language. This exercise may seem silly at first, and make you self-conscious but it is very important! Even when you are using “grown-up” words to describe basic activities, this dialogue with your child

will develop more meaning over time as your child begins to associate the object with the words you use. The benefits of consistently demonstrating how something works or taking the time to describe how an item looks or feels will also help your child develop the ability to focus on an object or task. By starting with this exercise at a relatively young age, your child becomes accustomed to this activity over time and will be more engaged if you stick with it. Later, when your child is about one year-old you can take this technique one step further and engage your child in simple activities to develop their ability to follow directions which is one of the keys to success in school.

Not all children grow or gain weight at the same rate. Similarly, by the time your child is in preschool, you will always find a range of abilities in a classroom. This will become increasingly evident as your child enters Kindergarten and will continue throughout their education. A good teacher will use these disparities so that all the children benefit, but you may also want to discover your child’s learning style. This knowledge can assist you in helping your child experience more successes in the future, which further facilitates the learning and education process.

There are essentially three different kinds of learners.

The Visual learner: A visual learner will observe body language and facial expression closely to help understand what a person is saying. They often learn best from photos, drawings, picture books, and videos.

The Auditory learner: These children learn best by listening to what is going on around them. Auditory learners interpret what they hear by listening to the tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances. Written information may have little meaning until it is heard. These learners often benefit from reading text aloud or being read to.

The Kinesthetic learner: This type of of learner is one that builds comprehension through touching and doing. They learn best with “hands on” type of activities.

At an early age it will probably be difficult to determine which learning style will most benefit your child. However, by participating in “hands on” activities with a lot of descriptive language being used, you will be reinforcing all three types of learning. Personally, I think it can only build self-confidence prior to the child’s first school experience and help develop a positive attitude towards school.

.

Here are just a few ways to begin to engage your child using a lot of showing, demonstrating and descriptive language.

At the grocery store: Show your toddler fruits and vegetables using names and color words. Tell your child how many bananas you are going to buy and count them while you put it in the bag.

Introducing new stuffed animals: Talk about the animal, the color, shape, texture and size.

Playing with blocks: Show how to stack, line up, sort by color, count how many.

Introducing Toys: Use color words, shape, explain how to use while showing.


Why not give your child a head start? Let the learning process begin now.

For more activities and setting up an activity area you are encourage to visit us at Teaching Tiny Tots! Hope your visit! www.teaching-tiny-tots.com

1 comment:

Jared and Delia said...

How exciting. I already feel better informed reading this post. Thanks!