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Thursday, January 29, 2009

An origami frog or a toy?

It looks like an origami or toy frog, but you would be astonish to know that it is a real frog.

According to 'wikipedia':
The Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) is a small-sized tree frog, reaching lengths of about 5 to 7 centimeters (3 inches), native to Neotropical rainforests in Central America. They are not poisonous and rely on camouflage to protect them. During the day, they remain motionless with their colorful parts hidden. Thus, they appear almost completely green, and well hidden among the foliage.

There are more featured pictures which you can read and watch at wikipedia site.

Link: Featured pictures

Saturday, January 24, 2009

How to empower your child's self esteem?

Healthy promotion of self esteem skill among children is very important as it can help them grow as a positive and confident personality. This article would be helpful for parents and teachers to help learn this very essential life skill for their children. There are many techniques and tips which are useful to empower and boost the self esteem skill.

Webster's dictionary defines self-esteem as "a confidence and satisfaction in oneself" and self-concept as "the mental image one has of oneself "

Self-esteem is considered to be the overall value that one places on oneself as a person (Harter, 1989), whereas self-concept is viewed as the body of self-knowledge that individuals possess about themselves (Rosenberg, 1986).

When parents and teachers of young children talk about the need for good self-esteem, they usually mean that children should have "good feelings" about themselves. With young children, self-esteem refers to the extent to which they expect to be accepted and valued by the adults and peers who are important to them. During their early years, young children's self-esteem is based largely on their perceptions of how the important adults in their lives judge them. The extent to which children believe they have the characteristics valued by the important adults and peers in their lives figures greatly in the development of self-esteem. For example, in families and communities that value athletic ability highly, children who excel in athletics are likely to have a high level of self-esteem, whereas children who are less athletic or who are criticized as being physically inept or clumsy are likely to suffer from low self-esteem.

Children and teenagers with low self esteem will display a variety of traits, including:

- Being easily influenced by advertising or others.
- Avoiding new challenges for fear of failure.
- Becoming frustrated easily by setbacks.
- Blaming others when activities are unsuccessful.
- Disbelieving that (s)he has any talents or special abilities.
- Feeling unloved.

Children and teenagers with a high level of self esteem and strong feelings of self worth will also display stereotypical traits, such as:
- Welcoming new challenges.
- Tolerating frustration.
- Taking responsibility for unsuccessful ventures.
- Recognising and sharing his/her talents and special abilities.
- Feeling loved, and loving others in return.

While many children develop self esteem as they grow, for some children self esteem must be nurtured and tended. Parents and teachers can help the children develop this life skill by adopting few simple tips and techniques. Parents are at the front line of promoting children's self esteem, and while often their opinion is enough to make even the littlest chest swell with pride.

Be loving with your child, giving hugs and kisses regardless of achievements.
Help your child set realistic, attainable goals.
Praise your child for the effort, not for the outcome.
Avoid criticising your child's performance at a given task, and instead praise his/her enthusiasm or imagination.
Encourage your child to engage in activities due to interest, not ability.
Do not tolerate self criticism from your child. Help him/her focus on positive points.
Lead by example. Do not criticise yourself in front of your children.
Foster a caring environment at home by dispelling sibling rivalry.

Sources: Developing Self Esteem

Debbie Mandal at 'Bella Online' who si a stress management editor suggests these tips to boost child's self esteem:

* Exercise: Children need to be active to relieve stress hormones and sharpen learning ability which improves by 20% after exercise. Athletics, teams, dance classes and one-on-one sports training create empowerment by literally strengthening both the body and the mind.

* Healthy eating: If you want children to think highly of themselves, make sure that they eat quality foods, not junk. Food and mood are connected. A rainbow array of fruits and vegetables create sunny dispositions. Lean proteins promote academic success. Whole grains help manage stress.

* Guiding children to pick a creative hobby: Nurture their creativity. Nothing boosts self-esteem like developing a creative gift which might range from cooking and constructing to singing and writing. Through creativity children can tangibly identify and observe their uniqueness. “Look what I did.”

* Carving out private time: Children are overscheduled and over-stimulated. They need quality, private time to explore and find their own way to reset their natural rhythm. You don’t have to constantly amuse them when they say, “I’m bored.”

* Give them responsibilities and chores: Even if you have a nanny or a housekeeper, children need to do chores. Contributing to the household gives them structure and accountability which creates personal pride. Small children can help set the table or pick up their toys.

* Humor: Laughter breaks negativity instantly. Show your children how to reduce and reinterpret those “little disasters” with a comic eye. Children who have a sense of humor are magnets for positive social relationships.


Related articles: How Can We Strengthen Children's Self-Esteem?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Tips to stimulate a child's creativity

Creativity is a skill which can be learned and developed through practice. This talent can be encouraged among children with the some tips and tricks. These tips and tricks can dramatically accelerate child's personal growth and help sharpening their thinking skills as well as exercising their natural creative powers.

Bill Gates recently said that “Too few young people are acquiring the knowledge they need to use technology in creative and innovative ways.”

Bill goes on to say that, “We can all help address this issue. As parents, we must help our children appreciate the joys of learning and discovery. Teachers and educators must find ways to teach science and math so it is relevant and exciting.”

These 10 ways to stimulate your child's creativity are taken from 'About.com' and for detailed post you can read the full article at the bottom of the post. May be these all tips cannot be adopted but they can definately help you to train your child's creativity development.

1. Create A Magical Dress-Up Box
2. "When I Grow Up" Drawings
3. Cast The Kids In A Play
4. Create a Never-Ending Bedtime Story Starring Your Child
5. I Feel Like Dancing!
6. Plan A Garden Together
7. Make A Kite First...Then Go Fly It!
8. Let Your Kid Lead The Way
9. What's Cookin' Outside
10. Create A Musical Band

Source: Top 10 Ways To Foster A Child's Creativity

Related posts:

* Learn doodling to make you more creative

* 7 activities to stimulate creativity

* Games that stimulate creativity

* Crafts activities improve students learning skills

* Interested in inventions, innovation and creativity?-Let's explore!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Free e-book for parents -Beyond the Golden Rule

'Tolerance' is a skill which helps us deal with life matters. In simple words I think we can resemble it with 'patience'. This post is about a free e-book which you can download and learn how to teach your kids 'tolerance'. As a parents first we should learn it and then teach it to our young ones. First let's learn more about this term:

Merriam webster dictionary provides definition of 'tolerance': 'Capacity to endure pain or hardship'
Wikipedia says: Toleration and tolerance are terms used in social, cultural and religious contexts to describe attitudes and practices that prohibit discrimination against those practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by those in the majority. Conversely, 'intolerance' may be used to refer to the discriminatory practices sought to be prohibited.

"Beyond in tract ability" explains: Tolerance is the appreciation of diversity and the ability to live and let others live. It is the ability to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality and so on differ from one's own.[1] As William Ury notes, "tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person."[2]

Intolerance is the failure to appreciate and respect the practices, opinions and beliefs of another group. For instance, there is a high degree of intolerance between Israeli Jews and Palestinians who are at odds over issues of identity, security, self-determination, statehood, the right of return for refugees, the status of Jerusalem and many other issues. The result is continuing inter-group violence.

Drawn from our handbook, Beyond the Golden Rule: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Responding to Prejudice, the age-specific sections here offer practical advice about the challenges and rewards of parenting

The ideas in this guide will help foster tolerance in yourself, your family, your schools, your workplace and your community. Some of the ideas are things to do. Some are things to think about. Some are things to remember.
This guide is not a sure-fire recipe for making the world a better place. These ideas are only some of the possibilities. The best ideas are those that work for you and your community.

- Download PDF version of parenting handbook: "Beyond the Golden Rule"
or go to this link to download from the site link.

Links:

Tolerance

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Career Information for Kids

We often ask our kids 'What you are going to be, when you are grown up?' and sometimes we estimate about any profession which a child seems interested. Career selection is an individual choice and teachers or parents can definately help their children guide about the career they intend to adopt in future. If from the very early age our kids have an idea or target for the future studies or profession, they would be more passionate about their future goal.

Career information for kids is from Bureau of Labor Statistics, offering very useful links and information about many professions.

Web site for kids provides introductory career information for students in Grades 4-8. Most of the material on the site has been adapted from the Bureau's Occupational Outlook Handbook—a career guidance publication for adults and upper-level high school students that describes the job duties, working conditions, training requirements, earnings levels, and employment prospects of hundreds of occupations.

On the kids' site, wording and labor market concepts have been simplified and some statistical detail has been eliminated. In addition, the occupations on the site are categorized according to interests and hobbies common among students. The twelve categories and their corresponding occupations are shown at the end of this Teacher's Guide.
To help students continue their career exploration, each occupational description on the kids' site links to related information in the Handbook. The Bureau's Web site for kids is updated every 2 years with each new edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Because the kids' site is designed to give a quick introduction to a career, the information provided is general. For example, the most common way of preparing for an occupation is described, while other, less common, methods of entry might be mentioned only briefly or not at all. In the same way, the earnings figures given are representative and might not illustrate the variety of earnings found in an occupation. The Occupational Outlook Handbook gives more precise and detailed information.

When describing projected job growth in an occupation, the kids' site uses phrases such as "faster than average," "average," and "slower than average." The "average" referred to in these phrases is the projected job growth across all occupations. These projections are developed by economists in the Bureau's Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections.

For every field which you have interest describes the possible careers and each career choice explains:
What is this job like? | How do you get ready? | How much does this job pay? | How many jobs are there? | What about the future? | Are there other jobs like this? | Where can you find more information?

site link:Career information for kids

Friday, December 26, 2008

"All Safe Sites" - A search engine for young children

As internet use is increasing worldwide, more sites and links are emerging to help our kids browse safely online. I have written few posts about few top search engines where parents, teachers or students can search safely for the specific stuff.
is a directory and search engine for yound children. It is designed with visual aid to make it easy for small chilren who find text based sites difficult to read.

Other specialities of 'All safe sites'

- It is free of ads, and the reason (according to them) behind keeping it ad free is that most advertisement programs are deceptive in nature and attempt to lure the user away to another web site that is often not suitable for children.
- It offers educational, fun and safe sites.
- Directory of the search engine is human edited. Each site in their directory is personally reviewed and recommended by an elementary school teacher.

Home page offers search for catagories: Educational, technology, fun & games, entertainment, random and top rated sites.
Site link: All safe sites

Related posts:

* Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!

* Search for the kids sites at "Kinder Start"

* Study Sphere-providing learning resources

* A "Child and Family Web Guide" about child development sites

* Where to search for educational stuff?

* Famous Search Engines for Kids

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Exploring the environment - A resource for teachers and students

"Exploring the environment" offers teachers interactive ways to teach students about weather systems. It is one of the sites which helps teachers explore environment issues with their students for grades 5-12 and each activity indicates the applicable grade level, though most lean toward the upper grades. Geography teachers can use this link for activity based teaching and suggest their students to prepare their

The homepage for modules and activites has a jigsaw puzzle graphic with pieces interlocking that compromise the topics, their grade ranges, whether they are an activity or lesson, and whether they are "Basic", "Comprehensive" or "Advanced".

The two "Activities" available "Strangers in Paradise" and "Mars Landing" are located on the homepage at the top of the jigsaw puzzle graphic. Both are for grades 7-12, and each emphasizes working with digital images, such as enhancing, saving, manipulating, etc.

Detailed instructions are provided, along with a bit of humor in each scenario. Each of the lessons involves a situation that students must solve.
Some of the lessons include:
- "Florida Everglades",
- "Water Quality", and
- "Tropical Poison"
There is also a "Glossary" provided in a link at the bottom of the page, specific to each lesson.

Students can start browsing from the page: Modules and activities

The "Classroom of the Future" and "Exploring the Environment" is collaboration between NASA and Jesuit Wheeling University, and they are responsible for this fine website that offers teachers unique ways to teach students about weather systems.

* Get access to teachers pages

Related post:
"Tox Town"- educating us about environment health concerns

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Famous Search Engines for Kids

When we search for educational or edutainment sites from ordinary search engines like Yahoo, Google, MSN, there is chance to not get the specific information. Because there are millions of professional sites selling products and naturally it takes time and effort to search for the valuable stuff. This post would help parents, teachers and kids to search at specific search engines which provide safe and useful infromation for them. These search engines are user friendly enabling filters to bring out only reliable and safe sites to the family members.

Famous Search Engines for Kids

* Kindernet - Kindernet insures that the safest and most useful results are found for you and your children using the smart searching filters. Kindernet also allows for faster searching by making the keyword entry process easy. If you want to search for two words, just type in “and” between your two key terms. If you wish to exclude a word, just add a minus sign in front of it.

* Quintura - Quintura Kids is one of the most useful search engines for kids. Quintura Kids caters its famous “cloud search” specifically to the children, allowing them to search through various subjects with ease. It provides the users with categories or “tags” for their keywords. This allows kids to get very specific with their search and get accurate results just like the big-boys who use quotation marks, addition signs, and secret symbols in Google.

* GoGooligans - This is basically Google for kids. It has safety filters which prevent vulgar material from leaking out from the unsanitary cables and pipes known as the internet. GoGooligans also offers many search options, allowing kids to search through specific websites such as PBS, Britannica, Merriam Webster, About, etc. Also, once the search term is entered, users can then choose more specific results for their keywords, such as, Geography, History, Facts, Definition, and much more.

* Ask Kids - This search engine is a easy to navigate and offers features which make searching less of an ordeal. Enter your keyword and you are presented with numerous different facts along with your search result. This allows the children to not get lost in the all the links, and it helps them to get their information quickly.

* Famhoo - it provides a clean and simple layout that is usable by even the youngest internet users. Famhoo is a family search engine with top notch filters.

Parents and teachers are suggested to bookmark these links and let their children start browsing from these search engines.

Related posts:

* Where To Search For Educational Stuff?

* Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!

* Search for kids sites at Kinder Art
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