Hickory Dickory Dock. The clock struck one…

As we run around in frenzy completing our day to day tasks, we almost end up running against time and many mothers wish that children would do more things on time, waste less time etc. for children to understand about time, being on time and wasting time etc it is important that they understand the concept of – time.

What is time? How do we see it? Where do we see it? How do we know that time is up? For us it is easy to understand these questions but these are concepts about time that we take for granted, and can be confusing for a child .

The concept of time first begins in simple everyday rituals, because till children cannot count, it goes without saying that they will be unable to understand about the small hand, big hand, 2 o’clock etc. The understanding of time starts with simple everyday rituals and routines. ‘We will brush our teeth, then we will have milk and then we will sit for a story’. Children as young as 18 months can understand when you tell them a routine and infact kids love routine as it adds that much needed structure to their day and gives them things to look forward to. This is also good for their growing brains as brains thrive on routine, knowing what is next.

Singing songs to children about time, clocks and other time related concepts, also helps, so when its time to put toys away it helps to sing the song given below. similar songs can be sung for eating, brushing teeth and other daily chores.

‘Its time to put your toys away, toys away, toys away

Its time to put your toys away. its time to end our game’.

Songs and rhymes like hickory, dickory dock, help children understand about the existence of clocks and make them observe them in their environment.

The next step is to make a picture clock for your child which is in the shape of a clock but instead of the numbers has pictures of his/her daily activities in the same sequence, where number 12 usually is on the clock, paste the child’s photo and on the other numbers place pictures of the routine of the day. As the time to brush the teeth approaches put the big hand on the child’s photo and the small hand of the clock on the picture of child brushing teeth. And say, ‘lets look what time is it. Oh, its time to brush your teeth.’ 

The concept of time is not only about teaching how to ‘see’ time, but is also about teaching the importance of being of time, using time well and understanding that there is a special time for everything.

1.   Concept of being on time- extremely essential. At this age children learn by imitation so your child will learn looking at you and your habits, so be punctual!

2.   Using time well- here using visible items like a sand timer helps so that children can see time passing and know that little time is left to complete the activity etc

3.   Special time for everything- just like schools have a timetable it is important that mothers make a timetable for home and help the child display it in the room, this helps children understand routine, structure and time management!

Try out these time tested activities with your child and I guarantee you will have the time of your life!

The A to Z of Parenting in 2015

http://m.idiva.com/opinion-iparenting/the-a-to-z-of-parenting-in-2015/34193

Is it time for Santa Claus to retire?

http://m.idiva.com/opinion-iparenting/is-it-time-for-santa-claus-to-retire/34081

Questions children ask about Terrorism…

Questions children ask about Terrorism…

The Peshawar tragedy will bring with it a lot of fears and anxiety in young children. Some will be able to voice them and some will worry about it unable to ask the questions that are worrying them. It is important that as parents and teachers we support them in this period by ensuring that our own anxiety does not pass on to our children.

If you find a child withdrawn or has suddenly started exhibiting different behaviour, then maybe talking to the child or helping the child draw his/her emotions and thoughts can help.

Children will have a lot of questions and it is important that if children ask questions about the tragedy and its related factors that we reply to these questions with honesty and simplicity. It is better that they voice their questions to a trusted individual like a parent or teacher rather than being ignored.

Our replies will also give them an assurance that the adults are thinking about their safety and they will be able to get back their trust and feel more secure.

5 sensitive questions that children ask about terrorism and how to handle them appropriately.

1.     Who is a terrorist?

Ans- A terrorist is a person who hurts others and harms them. Sometimes even killing them.

2.     Why were they killing the children?

Ans- They wanted to harm people and they did not think whether the people they are killing are kids or teachers or parents.

3.     Were there no guards in the school to save the children?

Ans- Yes there were and the guards tried their very best to save the children and many were saved too.

4.     Will terrorists come to my school too?

Ans- Well your mummy and daddy and all of us in school are going to protect you and keep you safe.

5.     Will the terrorists be caught and punished?

Ans- Yes, all the police and army will now hunt them down and capture them soon.

Let us not ignore the anxieties that may be plaguing our young children as they see images or hear about the tragedy. Let us keep our children safe and secure in the knowledge that we are there for them.

Play is a 4 letter word...

  

Play? What is that? Your kids play??

Play is a 4 letter word but not a bad word to use around kids!

When parents visit a play way school their first impression is, “wow so many toys and play materials, very nice” this is then followed by a question, “ this is all fine but what do you teach? What will my child learn?”

And this is where most schools and teachers are unable to help parents understand that Play=learning and how learning happens during play because play is the work of childhood. So schools know that kids learn through play and toys, then why do parents think that play and toys=no learning? It is time to bridge this gap of understanding how children learn through play so that parents and teachers can nurture children through play based learning and growth especially in the early years, the most significant years.

Fredrick Froebel, the father of kindergarten (kinder=child, garten=garden) invented games that he called ‘gifts’, there were 13 gifts in the Froebelian method that teachers were trained to gift children with related songs. Each gift taught kids important concepts of counting, math, concepts, science and math, all through playing with the gifts. This was learning through play.

Maria Montessori designed didactic equipment that involved children’s brain, muscles and senses. Children would learn language, counting, science, geography, all through puzzles, games and activities. This was learning through play.

Lev Vygotsky believed that play helps nurture social and language skills in young children and he stressed on the importance of play in early childhood environments. This was learning through play

Brain research has made significant discoveries about how the brain is stimulated through play. The hand and the brain need each other- Neurologically, "a hand is always in search of a brain and a brain is in search of a hand”- Wilson. Use of the hands to manipulate three-dimensional objects is an essential part of brain development. According to latest brain research when kids play with blocks, push around toys, throw balls, this is constantly fertilizing neural growth.

And the play personality of your child changes as per the age and development of your child. Observe babies in the first nine months as they manipulate toys, they reach for, hold, release, suck with the toy. The focus is on manipulation as their finger muscles are developing and their brain uses all the five senses to learn. This is learning through play.

From 9 to 18 months children will be involved in function games with their toys, tossing, pressing, throwing etc. they are curious to know what each toy can do. This is learning through play.

18 months onwards when the brain is now geared for imagination, children indulge in imaginative play; they give a functional twist at a symbolic level to the toy or object. So a long block is used as a mobile phone or banana. This is the beginning of symbolic play that is the foundation of learning to read and write. When a child can visualize an object as having another function then the child will be able to see the word ‘c-a-t’ and visualize a cat. This is learning through play.

So if kids don’t play, they don’t learn and that is why play is called the work of childhood. So watch your kids play today and observe these schema in their play. What is a schema?  A schema is a repeated action in children.

1.     Trajectory - fascinated by the way they themselves or objects move through the air.

2.     Rotation- Children who just adore circles and anything that goes round

3.     Positioning- children who are always placing things in some kind of order

4.     Transporting- children who are always on the move, moving items and often carrying a bag

5.     Enveloping- children who like to cover themselves or objects as well as hiding

6.     Enclosure- children who love to surround or enclose either themselves or other objects

7.     Connecting- connectors simply enjoy attaching themselves or objects to other things

8.     Transforming- these children spend hours mixing

Yes, children thrive on play because their brains learn best with play. So even though play is a 4-letter word it is one of the best words that adults should speak around children. So tell your child to play today…and play along…it keeps you young!

Want some play ideas? Log on to www.bornsmart.org

Italian your parenting

Italian your parenting

All parents are interested in the progress and development of their children and to do it correctly they need pointers to guide them to the right path. Parenting can be pleasurable if it is simple and research based. Just like food is nourishment for the body, parenting is nourishment for the mind, body, and soul. Just like we eat different types of food- Guajarati, Chinese, Italian, Punjabi etc., similarly parenting too can be of different flavors. So how about Italian? Let us Italian your parenting!

Two of the most globally famous early childhood educational practices were born in Italy- Montessori and Reggio Emilia. In Reggio Emilia there is a wonderful poem called ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’. This poem talks about how all children have a hundred languages, but we the people, parents, schools, and society, steal the ninety nine and tell the child that there is only one language. We want all kids to learn, behave, speak, feel, and perform in the same manner. We have lost touch with the concept of individualism. In parenting too we try to ensure that all our kids are the same. They should walk at the same age, look the same, and perform similarly in tests. Let us give them the hundred languages and let them grow as individuals and not clones.

Italy is known as the land of pizza but it should be called the land of the Piazza. Every city is dotted with Piazzas, these are kind of squares in different parts of the city where people sit, chat, drink coffee, tea, or lick ice-cream cones and kids can play, elders can walk and youngsters can cycle.  We need these spaces in our cities and homes, little piazzas so that children learn about social development and community spirit face-to-face and not only on Facebook.

We are so obsessed with ‘branded stuff’ and the English language. In fact now many children are made to learn Chinese, Japanese, before they learn their mother tongue. But in Italy and in most European countries, children learn their mother tongue for the first few years. Italian children are proud and confident in their Italian. In India our kids are burdened to learn a foreign language before they even speak their mother tongue. Let us also help our children be proud of their roots before we give them wings. Every street in Italy has Louis Vuitton stores, one of the most expensive and fashionable brands in the world. In India Louis Vuitton has become a ‘class’ symbol whereas in Italy it was a mere fashion statement. Isn’t that how all fashion should be?

Children in Italian schools are given many opportunities to draw, paint, create, and that is indeed natural. After all this is the land of Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and many others. This is seen in the architecture and paintings around Italy. You are automatically forced to use words like gigantic, mammoth, awe inspiring, intricate, mind boggling, impressive, as words less than these would fail to describe the architectural genius that you see in the buildings. The presence of fountains in each city helps you understand how architecture was used to create spaces where people can mingle, sit and hear sounds that are soothing and close to nature. I wish today’s architects around the world would get over their obsession with steel and glass. No wonder our children’s vocabulary is limited to tall, shining, and awesome (sic). 

Robotics is commonly used in most Italian schools to teach Math, Science and concepts but this has not replaced art education in the schools. Leonardo Da Vinci was a painter and inventor similarly education that we choose for our children should be about the expressive arts and intelligence fused together. It should not be either/or but the best of both that should inspire our children.

Pinocchio, one of the most path breaking stories for young children was also born in Italy. At a basic level, moral learnings are abundant in this wonderful story that every child should be exposed to. If you will tell a lie, your nose will grow longer! What a wonderful way to teach children about moral values and ethics. The Disney version has a song, ‘Let your conscience be your guide’. That should be the anthem of every child. Enjoy Pinocchio with your child today…both the book and the Disney version.

We cringe when we are with our children and see a naked picture of the human body but we swing along with them on vulgar lyrics that ogle and comment on women and sex. We need to give our children a balance. Ancient Italian architecture and paintings help children grow up with a positive concept of the human body. The statue of David is indeed a reminder that children should grow up viewing and revering the naked human body rather than learning about it as vulgar and porn. We have similar sculptures and paintings in India like the Sun Temple at Konark or certain select paintings of Raja Ravi Varma that help us give our children a positive and moral outlook towards our bodies, how babies are born etc.

And here are some great parenting tips from an amazing Professor from Italy, Daniela Lucangeli Padua University.  She says children have selective attention. They know what to focus on and when to switch off. Parents are always worried about the fact that their children do not listen to them. Well find out what gets your child’s selective attention, and then use it to ensure that your children listen too and hear you. She spoke about the amygdala in the brain and emotions that accompany learning. So aptly put by her that the emotion that should accompany learning should be curiosity and not fear. So we need to stop threatening children to make them perform or complete their tasks or homework as it is directly affecting their brain development. She quoted Eric Fisher on how rage and fear does not damage learning and creativity as much as boredom does. When we drone on and on with our children, they get bored. When we hold their hands and make them do their homework, they get bored. When we feed them with our hands instead of letting them feed themselves, they get bored. When we make them wear their clothes, tie their shoes, do their beds…they get bored. Their boredom all day long affects their learning and creativity. So if you want your kids to perform better at school, stop boring them!

They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.  I would like to add that parenting inspirations are in every city and country, if we only look at them from the point of view of children and their hundred languages.

My learnings from NETQ6 EARLY LEARNING NETWORK a conference in Padua-Italy

My learnings from NETQ6 EARLY LEARNING NETWORK a conference in Padua-Italy.

I was indeed honoured to be invited as the keynote speaker at NETQ6 EARLY LEARNING NETWORK in Padua, Italy. My topic for the keynote was about our developmentally appropriate ipad projects and how we listen to children’s voices through their drawings by documenting their thoughts and emotions at Podar Jumbo Kids. The learning journey started with the NETQ6 EARLY LEARNING NETWORK conference in Padua University. It was organized by Network For The Quality In Early Childhood Education and had speakers from Italy, UK, Poland, Turkey, Northern Ireland, Germany, Spain, and Romania and of course from Jumbo Kids, India. I must thank Mr. Stephano for a wonderfully organized conference. The main conference sections covered the following topics:

·         Developmental models in early education for learning disabilities http://littlesmilingminds.com (Italy)

·         In a Children’s Hospital like in School... Let’s do Robotics! (Italy)

·         From 2 years old to children centers (UK)

·         Verbal and communicational games with using of Logodogo - from a word to a sentence, from a letter to reading (Poland)

·         Role of developmentally appropriate technology in early years education (India)

·         Pre-school Social Skills Support Project (PSSSP) (Turkey)

·         Overcoming Barriers to Learning at Country/State level (Northern Ireland)

·         Pedagogy from the point of view of children to assure successful learning from the very first (Germany)

·         Practical applications of software and apps from the Aragonese website of Augmentative and Alternative Communication ARASAAC

·         Let’s make art one of the 100 languages of children (India)

·         Creative Robotics (Italy)

·         Overcoming Barriers To Learning (Northern Ireland)

·         How to create materials for parents on the basis of a flip teaching model (Spain)

·         Using free resources to create educational games (Romania)

I was impressed with the keynote by Professor Daniela Lucangeli of Padua University on Developmental Models in Early Education. The session touched on brain research and Vygotsky, both topics that interest me and are used in my curriculum work. Some points that she brought forth which are truly path breaking are about how children have selective attention and a teacher’s knowledge about this type of attention in children can help create better learning environments. She spoke about the amygdala and emotions that accompany learning. So aptly put by her that the emotion that should accompany learning should be curiosity and not fear. She quoted Eric Fisher on how rage and fear does not damage learning and creativity but boredom does. And my most important take away from her talk was her philosophy of how the process of learning should be- Outside, inside – Inside, inside- Inside, outside. Which simply means that learning comes from outside to inside a human being, then time needs to be given for that learning to manifest, stimulate, sink in inside the individual  and from inside would come insights, connections to the outside. And that is how learning will come full circle. If teachers understand this simple formula then they would know how to ensure that their teaching style is not all talk but talk-relate- and let the kids talk about their point of view/connections.

The early years team from Northern Ireland had a session on Begin with children- early years media initiative for children. A pertinent point that they are raising in their country; children’s voices, are they heard in media? They have developed fantastic videos and puppets that teach children about inclusion and emotions. These puppets help young children to understand what it feels like to be excluded and encourage them to respect and include others who are different.

In Germany- there is no word called disability but hindered and in Italy the word Ritardo means delayed. Sensitivity to needs of all children was visible in the work of all the speakers. The ARASAAC program of pictograms to teach kids language is a useful tool for autistic children.

The session on learning in children was educative as I revisited the difference between exploration and a guided tour. Most teachers have a formal teaching style in which they do everything and explain everything to children; this distinction will help me groom teachers to understand that subtle but important difference between teacher centric and child led classrooms. A simple mantra to teach teachers- Support on demand, not automatically.

Play way is such a loosely used term these days and many teachers fail to understand play way is Learning by playing as a fundamental part of the beginning of educational processes. The Learning process of children in a play way philosophy is self-motivated, intrinsic and self controlled. To consider and respect the point of view of children as important to becoming an active part of the learning process.

The Italian workshop on creative robotics was indeed an eye opener about how learning of math, science, language, and concepts can be done with simple robotics with young children. This was really amazing wherein kids learn to make simple robots complete with circuit etc. These circuit sets are available readymade from Amazon but children age 4 and above learn to fix them and use them to make different robots. Concepts of animals, people who help us, are all done with robotics.

As I attended this workshop I thought about Leonardo Da Vinci, a painter and inventor and here in Italy I experienced Reggio Emilia and Robotics, art expression and technology, both used in developmentally appropriate methods. Indeed this conference was ‘brain-fuel’ for me and the learnings and inspirations I gained from all the speakers will definitely find a place in our work at Podar Jumbo Kids. Thank you Dr Podar for supporting such global explorations and for ensuring that we believe in the hundred languages of children and never steal the ninety nine.