Craft activities improve student learning skills

There is a strong link between crafts activities and skill development among children of all ages. I am also a craft teacher and noticed it very often that many kind of crafts help in skill development which as a results produce good learning outcome in their other subject areas. Let's have a look at some research based studies and reports in this connection:

"The Academic Value of Hands-on Craft Projects in Elementary Schools"

Conducted in 2001 by ROCKMAN ET AL, an independent educational research and consulting company, the study revealed the following key findings:

* Student learning improves when classroom lessons incorporate hands-on craft activities.
* Students develop greater curiosity about the subject matter when craft projects are included.
* Student behavior and socialization skills improve when crafts are undertaken.'

Teachers regularly use craft projects to teach the core subjects and link the projects to state and national curriculum standards.
Teachers say learning through craft projects accommodates students with different learning styles.

Focus Group Research

In 2005 teachers from two different U.S. cities, Paramus, NJ and Cleveland, OH, participated in two focus group studies. Key findings of these studies include:
Crafts can enhance the lesson and the learning process and in many cases are vital to the learning process.
Crafts can be a break from some of the serious and boring academic activities
Through the use of crafts, teachers gain a better understanding of the child’s thought process
Teachers agree the average amount of time for a craft activity in the classroom is thirty minutes.
During the fall of 2001, the Hobby Industry Association (HIA) contracted [with] an independent educational research and consulting company, to study the impact of hands-on craft projects as an instructional method within the core curriculum. Additionally, they wished to determine ways this teaching technique links to state and national education standards.

As the only large-scale study of its kind, and one of the first efforts to investigate the area of hands-on projects and academic learning, this study found that a significant number of teachers use hands-on projects linked to core curriculum content to advance standards-based learning. Teachers said hands-on projects enhance the instructional process and help students learn both basic information and more complex ideas. Additionally, students develop important learning skills and the abilities to articulate complex ideas, to use appropriate and sophisticated terminology, and to integrate the ideas they have learned into their continuing learning efforts. This belief was confirmed by student data evidence collected in this study.

KEY FINDINGS

Student learning improves when classroom lessons incorporate hands-on craft projects.

Students who spent a greater proportion of their classroom learning time engaged in hands-on projects scored significantly higher on writing and drawing knowledge application tasks. In classes that spent almost half of instructional time on hands-on projects (48%), students scored an average of 83 out of a possible 100 on the knowledge application task. Comparatively, students whose classes devoted a low percentage of class time to craft projects (11.8%) scored an average of 75. The creativity and level of detail students demonstrated on the application tasks also indicated that the hands-on projects left many students with vivid and lasting understanding of both facts and concepts.

Teachers regularly use hands-on craft projects to teach the core subjects and link the projects to state and national curriculum standards.

Almost three-fourths (72%) of the participating teachers indicated that they explicitly and intentionally link their instructional units involving hands-on projects to state or national standards. In addition, writing, research and presentation skills are typically incorporated into the projects.

Students develop greater curiosity about the subject matter when hands-on craft projects are included.

Ninety-six percent (96%) of teachers agreed that students exhibit greater curiosity about the learning unit when hands-on projects are included in the instructional approach. Teachers also reported significant differences in learning behaviors when students are involved in hands-on projects. They reported increases in student motivation, willingness to ask questions and volunteer information, enthusiasm, and attention to assigned tasks.

Teachers say learning through hands-on craft projects accommodates students with different learning styles.

While 46% of teachers viewed hands-on projects as an effective learning technique for all students, 54% said this approach is particularly well suited for students who learned more effectively in non-traditional approaches, such as visual or kinesthetic learners, slow readers or writers, or non-native English speakers.

Student behavior and socialization skills improve when hands-on craft projects are undertaken.

Teachers reported enhanced cooperation, responsibility, dedication, confidence, and time management skills when students participated in hands-on projects. Eighty-five percent (85%) of the teachers said students work cooperatively on handcrafted projects, while only 50% of the teachers said they do so in non hands-on projects.

CONCLUSION

The study concludes that hands-on craft projects are an effective means of teaching a standards-based curriculum and that students develop both a greater appreciation for and understanding of what they are learning.

Hands-on projects appear to function as learning anchors that organize and integrate various classroom-learning activities.

By making the learning experience concrete, the dynamics of these learning anchors inspire students to enjoy learning, accomplish goals, take pride in their achievements, and persevere in their learning.

For the full 45 page PDF report: Download for FREE

Learn origami for the development of creative skills

Origami is an ancient art, which is very popular among children as well as adults. Despite of having fun from this good pass time/hobby, origami has some benefits in skill development.

Origami can be used for skill development by educators, teachers, Psychologists, Physicians, Parents for educational, developmental, and therapeutic aspects. Origami is good for any age: from kids, those who start learning all by themselves, to persons of mature years who don't stop developing their own individuality.
What is happening when we are doing origami?

Body level:
Your hands are made active, they give impulses to your brain, and activate your left and right hemispheres. Tactile, motor and visual brain's zones are made very active.

Soul level:
Your emotions are painted with joy, satisfaction, and pride in your own work. They broaden your emotional self-image.

Mind level:
Your memory, non-verbal thinking, attention, 3D-comp-rehension, imagination are working hard.


More benefits?

"Oriland.com" has described 10 reasons to be involved in origami:

1. Development of fine 'motor skills' of both hands.

2. Development of intellectual abilities.

3. Development of creative abilities.

4. Activation of the Right and Left hemispheres of the brain.

5. Development of imagination.

6. Development of attention.

7. Development of memory.

8. Development of patience.

9. Emotional and aesthetic experiences.

10. Joy, satisfaction and pride in your own work!

Source link: 10 Reasons to be involved in Origami

Where to learn origami?
You can find many books from internet, but to start learning there are many sites, which provide free stuff.
Go to the article: learn origami


HOW ORIGAMI HELPS TO DEVELOP CHILDREN

Scientific proof how origami helps to develop skills:
Ph.D. thesis by Katrin and Yuri Shumakov

Left Brain and Right Brain at Origami Training

* More reading: ORIGAMI BENEFITS

Related posts:

* Learn origami at the internet!

* Useful links and resources for paper crafts!

Lean how the world actually works at "How stuff works?"-

It is exciting to learn new things and I believe that learning never ends. Being an educator I learn a lot from my students also. Internet has done a great favour for everyone, by providing a wealth of information by a click of mouse. Now you talk about dictionary or encyclopedia or news, everything is in your hands ( a click away).

At " How Stuff Works", you would feel like exploring the world in an easy and interactive way. Parents, teachers and students can equally get useful information about any topic from How stuff work?.

Let's see what you can find there:

From car engines to search engines, from cell phones to stem cells, and thousands of subjects in between, HowStuffWorks has answered it. You can find comprehensive articles, helpful graphics and informative videos on every topic.

On HowStuffWorks, you can also find consumer opinions and exclusive access to independent expert ratings and reviews from the trusted editors at Consumer Guide -- all of the information you need to make a purchasing decisions ¬in just a few clicks.

Mission:
“Demystify the world and do it in a simple, clear-cut way that anyone can understand"
Achievements:
HowStuffWorks has won multiple Webby awards, was among Time Magazine's "25 Web Sites We Can't Live Without" in 2006 and 2007, and has been one of PC Magazine's "Top 100 Web Sites" four times, including in 2007. Recently, HowStuffWorks became part of the Discovery Communications family, in a merger that will make HowStuffWorks the cornerstone of Discovery’s digital platform and ultimately create a fully multimedia version of an encyclopedia, with content and video that will answer virtually any question an Internet user might have. A HowStuffWorks program on the Discovery Channel is currently in the works.

HowStuffWorks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications, is the award-winning source of credible, unbiased, and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world actually works.
This site was founded by North Carolina State University Professor Marshall Brain in 1998.


To get newsletter from the site:

How stuff work?

Related post:

How things work?

"Reading Rocket"- helping kids learn to read

Reading Rocket is a comprehensive and daily updated web site that includes reading news headlines, research-based articles, tips for parents and educators, video interviews with top children's book authors, a monthly e-newsletter, national and local resources, an online store, and much more.

"Reading Rocket" is a national multimedia project that offers research-based and best-practice information on teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle. It is an educational service of public television station WETA in Washington, D.C.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that one in five children has serious difficulties learning to read. These children are potentially among the most troubled kids in society. With early identification and a lot of help, however, children who struggle to read can flourish; without it they are at risk for failure in school and in life.

ReadingRockets.org

Since 1965, the federal government has invested more than $100 million to find out why so many children have problems learning to read and what can be done. Thanks to that research, we now know how to identify children at risk and how to help them before they fail. Reading Rockets' mission is to take that research-based and best-practice information and make it available to as many people as possible through the power and reach of television and the Internet.

Mission:
Reading Rockets aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, administrators, and others who touch the life of a child by providing accurate, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle.

- The project is guided by an advisory panel made up of leading researchers and experts in the field of reading. They produce and distribute research-based PBS television programs, online services, and professional development opportunities, which are available at no cost.

* Teachers page gives you information that's research-based on how to teach reading effectively.
- Strategies to Help Kids Who Struggle

Sign up for free newsletters to receive news and information about key issues in reading, learning disabilities, and other areas of learning.

* Free print guides created for parents, teachers, and others who want to improve the reading achievement of children. You're welcome to download and print these guides for your own use.
Link: Reading Guides

- Download link of the guides: Guides from Reading Rockets
- These are many of our favorite guides, published by organizations devoted to reading and literacy issues: Guides from Other Organizations

"Teaching Expertise"- A learning site for teachers and parents

This is one of the sites which is a good source of learning for parents and teachers. I could find a lot of articles on various topics about learning as a teacher, which are equally beneficial as a parent.

Teaching Expertise is an information and learning website for teachers and other education professionals. It's a place to come for free education articles and bulletins, advice and guidance, knowledge sharing and ideas.


There's a huge searchable library plus our full catalogue of books and newsletters. A lot of material on Teaching Expertise is also useful for parents and researchers.

Mission: To provide teachers with the best place to learn from each other and develop professionally and personally.

Site was launched in November 2006.

* Section Teaching and learning covers everything from curriculum development to classroom conflict.

* Managing behaviour positively can go a long way to reducing the stress levels of staff and pupils alike. The articles in this section explore the challenges involved in providing the optimum climate for learning, both for encouraging positive behaviour and reducing negative behaviour.
- Behaviour

* Every Child Matters is highlighting achievement and enjoyment for all. In schools, teachers are overcoming barriers in the classroom, and learning more about meeting individual needs. The articles here will inform, update and stimulate your work with pupils with SEN
- Special Educational Needs
some sample articles are:
- Activities to develop gross motor skills
- Activities to develop social communication skills
- New resource for teaching synthetic phonics
- Gifted and talented children are not always easy to spot, as parents, teachers and educational psychologists have different criteria for making judgements. Once identified, these pupils need support to achieve their full potential. Teacher expectation, expertise on the part of educators and effective management of provision are all contributing factors. Find out more about gifted and talented provision, by browsing the articles in this section.
- Gifted & Talented

* School leadership and management teams need to be honest and boldy introspective, to examine their own practices and ask themselves if they are really doing all they can to create the conditions in which highly effective work can take place at all levels, at all times. These articles span the wide range of leadership skills and management functions which enable the school to achieve a 'high-performance culture'.
- Leadership and Management

* CPD (continuing professional development) plays a key role in enhancing teachers' success as educators. The transmission of a thirst for knowledge – so central to what teachers do in the classroom – cannot prevail without regular professional learning, to keep teaching as vibrant and effective as possible. This section contains a wide range of articles relating to CPD – for both teaching and non-teaching staff.
- CPD – Continuing Professional Development

* Safeguarding and child protection training is now required for all staff who work with children. The Every Child Matters national framework includes, "The duty to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people". In this section you will find articles to inform and update you on this vitally important issue.
- Child Protection
* These articles, taken from recent issues of our Optimus newsletters, will prove invaluable for anyone with a professional or personal interest in Early Years.
- Early Years
- Helping young children understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle
- The importance of healthy eating for young children
- Encouraging communication, curiosity and creativity

As a Parents:
** These articles for parents will provide you with a wide range of information about issues in your child's school. There are also many specific topic areas for you to explore, including behaviour, achievement, special educational needs and more.
- Parents

As a teacher:
** Find fresh inspiration and practical ideas for Classroom Teachers in our education articles. Read professional updates, broaden your knowledge and discover transferable good practice in our case studies.
- Classroom Teacher
- Motivating every learner

"Neurolearning blog"- A blog about learning, teaching and brain

Eide Neurolearning Blog is created by the persons who are from education field, alongwith physician degree, so their posts are very rich informative source. Parents or teacher can both read the blog to know more about learning and brain related articles.

Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide, who are physicians and from education field. This blog is about brain, learning, teaching and more about these topics.

Few very useful and informative articles:

* In the article "What Today's Students Can Learn from IDEO " it says:
"IDEO is a world reknown and innovative design firm that helped develop Apple Computer's first mouse, the Palm V, the insulin pen, the first stand-up toothpaste tube, and overhauled the consumer experiences of Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and high fashion dressing rooms.

With the Information Revolution, facts and information base are not the essential commodity any more. It's no longer vital to "know that", but rather to "know why" and "how to make better." And these skills are right up IDEO's alley. What IDEO may help specifically with is a more systematic approach to teaching and encouraging problem solving."
To read in details:

* The Blessings and the Burdens of High IQ

* Your Brain with Time- What About Teen Brain?

* Timing is Everything - Dyslexia, ADHD, Auditory Processing, Sensory Integration.

* Research studies have shown video gamers who practice on action games like Medal of Honor have a wider visual span and greater sensitivity to visual detection. But the flipside of this visual sensitivity is increased visual distraction. More at the article: Are Computers Driving Us to Distraction?

Their one of the blog is Classical School Blog which is about resources, links, and lesson plans- including all aspects of the Trivium - Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, Latin and a little Greek, Ancient and Modern History, Great Books and Philosophy, Bible and Theology, and Classical Math and Science. For homeschooling and traditional schooling parents and teachers.

Role of educational toys and games in skill development

Educational toys are part of the modern educator's curriculum. These educational toys and games are fun to play while they help the child in skill development.

Wikipedia says:

Educational Toys In Child Development:
"Educational toys enhance intellectual, social, emotional, and/or physical development. Educational toys are thus designed to encourage reasonable development milestones within appropriate age groups.

For preschool age youngsters, simple wooden blocks might be a good starting point for a child to begin to understand causal relationships, basic principals of science (e.g. if a block falls from the top of a structure, it will fall until a surface stops its fall), and develop patience and rudimentary hand-eye coordination.

For a child moving towards elementary school, other, more sophisticated manipulatives might further aid the development of these skills. Interlocking manipulative toys like Legos or puzzles challenge the child to improve hand/eye coordination, patience, and an understanding of spacial relationships. Finally, a child in elementary school might use very sophisticated construction sets that include moving parts, motors and others to help further understand the complex workings of the world. Importantly, the educational value derived by the child increases when the educational toy is age appropriate."

In an article from "Creativity Institute" it says:
"Playing with blocks can be good for children with ADHD"

"Block play can be great for many ages. From simple stack-up and knock-over fun to imaginative building. Blocks teach problem-solving skills, because a child discovers how stacking and matching can produce different results. They can also become components of pretend play, because a child can fantasize what the structures are. There are also big foam blocks that are almost "life size" and let children create their own fantasy playhouses. These lightweight blocks are so versatile, they can be climbed on or tunneled under. Magnetic block and construction sets have pieces that connect in more ways than can conventional plastic snap-together blocks and allow even more imaginative opportunities. And don't forget the versatility of the classic wooden building blocks.
Blocks, like many traditional toys, have other educational advantages for a child with ADHD. The number of positive outcomes is limitless, so children can continue playing until they've reached a level of personal satisfaction."

* Nik Nak toys offers: Child Development Chart: It is Child Development Toy Guide for you to use when considering which toys to give to loved ones. This provides guidelines to development stages and then suggests appropriate educational toys.

Teachers can use this guide in kindergarten or pre-school stages, where you need to provide learning in a fun way.

Someone said "Education is what creates true motivated free thinkers." and there is no doubt that when learning is fun, you can get success in creating true motivated free thinkers.

* Find the right toy.com is online retailer of educational toys for all children. It guides you in finding the right toy for your child. This site is useful for both parents and teachers as it guides you to choose the toys, which might help in developing skill level in many areas like as "visual, sensory, social, emotional, and so on.

It showcases meaningful advances in child development and educational learning toys. From kids' mobility toys to visual learning and developmental toys, your leader in educational toys.
What they do?

"We do the legwork for you, sorting through the veritable litany of "developmental" toys and educational "learning" toys. We've taken professional experience in developmental therapy and put it to work, screening toys that make a difference in the lives of children and parents. When it comes to child development and occupational therapy toys, we're serious about success. From kids' mobility toys to sensory stimulation toys and improving hand eye coordination. Our collection of educational toys capitalizes on your child's strengths by using them to develop weaknesses. With developmental toys and more we've put the child back in child development."

* Creativity Institute deals in toys which bring out the creativity in your child. They believe that "Every child has creative ability just waiting to be tapped!"
What they say:
"We've selected toys we believe can help develop creativity in children, whether the creative process comes naturally to them or not.

Through our newsletter and articles featured on creativityinstitute.com, we do everything we can to try to help parents nurture creativity in their children with helpful hints, advice and suggested activities."
Their blog has many useful posts about creativity.

* Learning toy center says in "Why Educational Toys For Your Child?":

"Learning and developing new skills as a child grows can make a big impact on their life. Educational toys and games help stimulate a child’s creativity as well as their development. "

*** Sites providing educational toys and games for your child

Build your own web site!

Learning is really fun, as it is a creative process which should continue. When I started surfing the internet, I was really amazed to see that there is a lot to browse and learn. But I was still not sure that I can do something with creating my own site or blog, until after reading a lot of free stuff about web sites and blogs, I started my first web site and then blog. The journey continued, and I gradually but slowly kept on learning new and basic things about internet, browsing, web development, blogs, blogging etc. It has been more than 2 years when I started my first blog with a blogging network, who provided me basic guidelines to start and develop it. Few months passed, but I was not very much serious about it. Its one year ago, when I realized that I have learned enough to start my own blogs. About 8 months ago, I started my first "WordPress" blog Reviews and ramblings around the blogsphere! and as the response was appreciating, I started more blogs, which are getting good exposure.
I told you my own blogging story just to show that if you are also interented in web searching or developing your own site or blog, it can be a fun. Even though I learned from lot of mistakes, but now at this stage I can provied you enough useful stuff which can guide in making or creating your own web site.

Do it yourself web site
* Writing HTML
If you are facing problems while learning to build your web site:
Read the frequently asked question page

Learn more about your computer!

Internet provides links to lot of useful FREE tutorials and lessons, to learn about computers. All the tutorials are free and start from basic learning skills.

* Learn about computers at BBC where 'Computer Tutor' teaches all the skills you need to use a computer. Computer Tutor is for people who don't know how to use a keyboard, mouse or computer screen.

If you're a friend, family member or tutor helping someone learn, all you need to do is choose your connection speed and press 'Start'.

- The BBC''s guide to using a computer"

* Build your own computer tips is a site providing lot of useful information about computers.
Robert Blackstone is the creator of this site.

Newsletter links takes you to the page, where you would be able to download 3 free computer building e-books.

The articles link provides link to many computer related articles.

* Download FREE e-book "A Guide To Using Your PC And The Web"
A Guide To Using Your PC And The Web is a 110-page e-book of computer tips, presented in an easy-to-read, step-by-step manner.

There is information on the basics of using your PC and Windows, tutorials for popular programs, online safety tips, and hundreds of links to useful web sites.

Because the e-book is a single small PDF file (less than 1 MB), it is easy to store or to e-mail to friends and relatives.

Downloading instructions: Once you have downloaded the e-book PDF file, you will need a PDF reader program to view it. PDF is a common type of file used for sharing documents on the Web.

The most popular PDF reader program is Adobe Reader which you can download for free.

Right-click the above link and select Save Target As or Save Link As to save the e-book to your PC.
- Downlaod FREE e-book

I would be updating this post, if I get more useful links. Suggestions from the visitors are also welcome.

Useful links and resources for paper crafts!

I love making paper crafts, because it is easy to make, you don't have to bother about buying expensive supplies, and easy to discard, when you are finished with your projects. But first let us know about paper craft, as it is different from origami or paper folding.

Definition of Origami: "Origami, the art of creating various shapes from a single piece of paper, is a pastime that has been enjoyed in Japan since ancient times."

I have collected some useful links and resources, which are mostly FREE to use. There are a lot of ideas to keep your child busy and not only children but adults can also enjoy making these crafts.

1- DLTK's Crafts for Kids features a variety of fun, printable children's crafts, coloring pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of our children's favorite cartoon characters. The site is run by "Leanne, a mom with two girls and husband.

* DLTK's Crafts for Kids

* Note on Crafting with Preschoolers

2- Crafts bits provides resources for teachers, therapists, and craft enthusiasts. Craftbits.com is an independent craft website.
Site is created at sunny Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. At Craftbits.com you can find free crafts, free craft projects, diy craft gift ideas, christmas crafts, kids crafts, sewing crafts, candle making and more.
* Paper cragts page

* Kids crafts page

3- * Tips and techniques at paper crafts section at "Michaels.com.

4- Paper crafts magazine blog with news and paper craft ideas.
* Paper Crafts projects

5- 'Family fun.go.com" has some good paper craft projects at: 3D paper crafts for kids

6- "Creative Park" presents every kind of papercraft- from simple toys to intricate crafts, there's something for all the family! - and it's free to download!
Make fun with 3D paper craft
There are a lot of origami ideas and these ideas can be downloaded

An internet learning site for children and teens!

This site is not only for children or teens, but teachers who want to guide their children about basic knowldge of internet and web, this site would be a good source.

“Welcome to the web” provides you step by step instruction based tutorial where you can lean about internet, web browsers, searching and researching the internet.

Welcom to the web is created by Mark Warner, and is a production from Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers.

What you can learn from the site?

1- The internet section provides you with the information about the Internet, what can it do and how do you move around the internet.
* The internet

2- Guest book section shows you the use of guest book and also give you tips to be safe on the internet.
* Guest book

3- Web browser is an important section of this site, as you would get introduction of “web browser, use of it.
* Web browsers

4- Searching the net-Here you can learn safe use of internet.

* Search the net

5- “Researching on the internet” is basically about printing web pages, finding words on a page and how you can copy text and pictures from the web.
* Researching

6- And the most important part of the site is “Challenge”.
This will test what you have learned about the Internet and if you are good enough to succeed, you will get a special certificate to prove your brilliance!

*

"Science Master"-Learning science just got easier

"Science Master.com" is an educational "science learning" site, for students, parents and teachers.

Mission: To provide the best science resources for teachers, parents, hobbyists, and life-long learners. The ScienceMaster web pages include links to research sites, lesson plans, activities, and project ideas.

Goal: to excite young minds about science by integrating information, communication and community with compelling products and services all in a fun-to-use Internet network. The ScienceMaster team includes science professionals, educators, subject matter experts, and technical advisors who work collaboratively to bring you the best science resources.

ScienceMaster provides information, news, links, pictures, products and services, with the best content from NASA, the USGS, the EPA, NOAA & leading colleges & universities. You can learn about the universe, or space, find information on volcanos, and global warming, explore plants, animals or microbes, and study physics or chemistry.

Awards and achievements:
* ScienceMaster is winner of the Excellence in Education for All Best of the Web Award Winner for 2001 by The Education CoffeeHouse. This award is given to 100 websites that provide quality information to students, parents, and educators.
* ScienceMaster's A+ Learning Galleries has received the "Teacher Information Network Gold award" bestowed on sites which are utilizing the Internet as an empowering tool for quality education.
* ScienceMaster has been chosen as a Top Site by "Educating.net"!
Awards & Recognition

Main topic pages you may search:

- space
- Geology and earth page
- Biology and life page
- Physical Science page
- Tech learning
Science Master.com

Read very informative articles from teachers and learning professionals, scientists and parents: Link to Articles

Great images, sound files, software, try-outs all for free at:
Free stuff

Very interesting article about The human mind.

Search for the kids sites at "Kinder Start"

Searching for kids sites at the net could be a time consuming task. Because if you search at usual broad search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN, you would get thousands or millions of results, but as that search is not focused and it might take hours to search for the useful resources, better to search sites at specific topic search engines.

I have written posts about some search engines which provide the site links safe for children. Today I am here with a review of a directory plus search engine, which is focused on children 0-7 years on the net.
As far as I searched the site, there are lot of useful links and informative sites. It is the largest and most popular indexed directory and search engine for kids.
Site was created in May, 2000 with funding from a group of private investors.
Mission (In their own words): To provide parents, grandparents, foster parents and teachers with the most organized, and easiest to use index and search engine available.


Their motto or trade mark is: "Because Kids don’t come with instructions"

KinderStart.com has added resources for teachers of young children and even young users.

How to use the site: When you click on the home page link, you would be provided with topics, and each topic takes you to another page with a lot of site links. KinderStart has given some description of the site, so you can search for your favourite sites easily.

Sign up to receive their newsletter: link

"New Horizons"-- Effective teaching and learning resource!

It is a voluntary service (non-profit network), so access to the information is FREE.
This site deals in learning for all ages and abilities. Students, teachers, parents, professors, school administrators, equally can find useful information on this site.

Achievements:
New Horizons.org was founded in 1980. Since 1995, this website recieves around 8 million hits a month. It has received numerous awards, including the most recent from the International Society for Technology in Education as one of the best education sites on the Internet. More comments on this section

The Mission Statement of New Horizons for Learning:(In their own words)
New Horizons for Learning is an international network of people, programs, and products dedicated to successful, innovative learning. As such, this organization:
• Acts as a catalyst for positive change in education
• Seeks out, synthesizes, and communicates relevant
research and information
• Supports an expanded vision of learning that identifies
and fosters the fullest development of human capabilities
• Works to implement proven strategies for learning at every
age and ability level
• Builds support for comprehensive lifespan learning communities
• Sponsors The New Horizons for Learning website.
Our website has been created to focus on learning from pre-birth throughout life. Many of the areas on our site focus on the school years, but in this area, you will find articles and resources about early childhood and parenting, adolescence, and the adult years, including higher education, learning in the workplace, and the older years.
We believe that providing this context for our discussions about learning point to the fact that learning is a lifelong journey. It gives meaning to our lives and keeps us growing mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Sections of the site:
1- Teaching and Learning Strategies provides information on some of the best researched and the most widely implemented methods of helping all students to learn more successfully. The information includes a description of how the teaching and learning strategies work, where they have been applied, results, and where to find further information from experts in the field, books, websites, and other resources.

2- Transforming Education: Realizing a Vision This area of the website is devoted to the possibilities of creating new kinds of educational systems and learning communities for today's students now in the process of becoming the adults of tomorrow's world. How do we make systemic change in curriculum, teaching and learning strategies that make it possible for every student to be successful; time schedules that allow projects and exploration of a topic to be completed; environments that allow for both group and individual learning and that facilitate the active, participative, and interactive processes that bring learning to life?

3- Lifelong Learning In this area, you will find articles and resources about early childhood and parenting, adolescence, and the adult years, including higher education, learning in the workplace, and the older years.

We believe that providing this context for our discussions about learning point to the fact that learning is a lifelong journey. It gives meaning to our lives and keeps us growing mentally, physically, and emotionally.

4- News from the Neurosciences How would it affect educational systems if everyone truly believed that the human brain could change structurally and functionally as a result of learning and experience--for better or worse? How would it affect how we teach and how students learn if everyone believed that the kinds of environments we create for learning, how we teach, and the learning strategies we offer students could result in better mental equipment they will use throughout life? In News from the Neurosciences, you will find articles that support the validity of this concept, as well as articles of current interest on various other aspects of brain research and its implications for education.

5- Students with Special Needs In this area of our website we offer a comprehensive resource for parents and teachers of those who are challenged physically, emotionally, or cognitively.

We include information about gifted learners, who also have special needs that are not always acknowledged or met. You will find interesting and informative articles by specialists, stories of parents and teachers who have found successful ways of dealing with their children's needs, state and federal guidelines, links to related sites, and many other useful resources.

6- Student Voice in Transforming Education In this area of our website, we ask students to share their insights about what works and what doesn't work for them in school and other environments for learning. We are currently experimenting with different ways of interviewing them through video, as well as involving students themselves as interviewers and film-producers. We also include articles by educators about how to encourage student involvement and how to create more open and participatory environments for learning.

7- Perspectives on the Future How can we best prepare our children and our students, as well as ourselves, for a future that is difficult to imagine? How can we all learn to take an active part in determining a positive course for humanity? Homes, schools, and other places of learning must take these challenges seriously as we head for an evolutionary challenge early in the next century.

Every section has more links for articles, recommended readings and related links.

Few links at the site:

* Early Childhood/Parenting
* Learning in Adolescence
* Higher Education
* Learning in the Workplace
* Learning in the Senior Years
* English Language Learners

Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!

"Ask for Kids" (formerly known as Ask Jeeves for Kids) is an educational based search engine.

* Ask for Kids allows kids to ask questions and perform web searches, such as "When did Hawaii become a state?" or "What's it like to live in space?"or even "Convert 122 inches into feet" in the same way they would ask a parent, friend or teacher.

* The home page provide you with a picture of a pile of books with the names: Dictionary, Thesaurus,Almanac,Biography,Science,Clip art,Astronomy,World Atlas,Math help and history. So easily you can search for your subject.

* You can click on the link "Fun & Games", if you have finished searching and now want to relax, and play some online free games.

Why "Ask for Kids" was created?
In their own words:

"Kids have great imaginations and are curious by nature. That's why Ask for Kids has created a fast, easy, and safe way for kids to find information and answers online. Ask for Kids is primarily an educational Web site that kids can use for homework help and research for school projects.

Each Web site included in Ask for Kids is carefully selected by an editor. We include only "G-rated" pages and those written specifically for children. We select sites for the quality and depth of their content, and for safety. This criteria extends to the content of the pages presented on the Ask for Kids search results page, as well as the content of pages directly linked to on those results.

Ask for Kids focuses on modernizing its search engine technology, and giving kids tools that would make their searches experience better and more satisfying."

A beautiful site for parents and teachers!

This is one of my favourite sites, which provides free learning and reading skill guide for parents and teachers. Kids can also enjoy the stories and other activities at the site.

"Their mission is helping parents and teachers build children's learning skills."

This site was launched on October 31, 1995.

* Chateau Meddybemps is named as one of the seven best language arts sites for elementary teachers.
More achievements:

* An average of more than 64,000 unique visitors view the site during typical months. Just under 200,000 visited during October. The numbers also jump around Easter. That's a lot of children, not counting the parents, siblings or teachers looking over their shoulders.

* The site is well respected by parents and educatiors. Close to 6,000 other sites (many from far corners of the world) provide links to meddybemps.com.

* Reviewers for the International Reading Association (IRA) named Chateau Meddybemps the third best phonics site for children. A book called 101 Best Sites for Elementary Teachers placed our site among the top seven language arts sites.

http://www.meddybemps.com/aboutmission.html

Purpose of this site: (In their own words)
"Chateau Meddybemps was created for two reasons:

1. (The serious reason) To enable parents and teachers to help young children strengthen learning skills in unique and playful ways.

Rather than provide level after level of a particular type of activity, we simply encourage parents to use our site to explore the fun in learning. Discuss this. Play with that. Answer a riddle. Learn about letters of the alphabet. Count, color and create. Write a story.

In all these activities, skills overlap. A child builds self-confidence, develops new abilities and enjoys learning.

By using this site, you can participate, guide and share in the pleasures of discovery. By following this model, you can build skills using all sorts of materials in your child's environment. You will also strengthen the bond between you by sharing experiences.
We recommend that you read the Parent's Guide or Teacher's Guide. These guides:
1. Explain how children learn
2. Describe the sequence of skills development
3. Compare a variety of skill-building tools
4. Tell you how to make learning fun
When you have appropriate expectations, working with your child will be a rewarding experience for both of you. Building skills takes time, but you will see progress and your child will be much more likely to succeed in school.

2. (The playful reason) To share the characters and stories of the island of Meddybemps - because they're just too much fun to keep all to ourselves."

Bed time stories link: Bed time stories

Teacher's guide:
Teacher's Guide Topics:
* Use Language
* Listen
* Write
* Read
* Develop Social Skills
* Think
* Develop an Understanding of Math Concepts
Teacher's guide

Parent's guide:
Parent's guide