Skill development among kids -Playing with Play dough

I like play dough as learning and skill development tool and from very early age I provided play dough kits to my son. He is now 12 plus but still loves to play with play dough as there is a lot to create with this soft material. In preschool and early years at school or nursery, kids need to play with play dough for not only having fun but as a helping activity with many educational benefits.
Play dough helps children grow in following ways:

1. Physically
2. Emotionally
3. Socially

The key to learning is repetition and being able to focus attention on an activity in detail.
By strengthening this skill, children begin to learn in a more complex manor such as problem solving and trail and error.
Playing with play dough is sensory attention span stretchers. According to the National Network for Childcare, toddlers have extremely short attention spans. Sensory activities, such as playing with Play Dough, often helps children stay focused for longer periods of time.

Educational benefits of play-dough and process of skill development: 

1. It helps to strengthen little fingers, hands and wrists.
2. Modelling and using cutters & rollers is great for muscle development.
3. Fine Motor Development: Fine motor skills are essential in the developmental process of a young child. By playing with play dough, children are introduced to the skills that they will need to begin placing paint brushes, scissors, and pencils in the correct holding position. These skills help them later to develop writing skills.
4. Emotional Development: These activities can be messy, but recognize that the mess is worth the soothing nature that will take place in your classroom versus the alternative.
5. Social Skills: Play Dough can teach the toddler to share with others, interact with other toddlers, as well as learn to communicate and share her final results with the play group
6. Imagination and Creativity: Imagination and creativity are vital processes to enhance learning skills.  It helps to foster your child's imagination.  According to the Creativity Institute, encouraging the development of creativity in a toddler helps develop the child's mind, including his skills of decision making, problem solving and imaginative thought in general. It deepens their thinking and sets them up for success. Dramatic play is even more important than letters and numbers.
7. It is one of the best open ended toys I know - play-dough can be anything - food, animals, bowls, shapes etc
8. It helps children develop self esteem -there is no right or wrong and the child has the opportunity to gain mastery over their environment.
9. It is a great release for tension or angry feelings - squeezing, punching, poking are all acceptable if done to play dough. 
10. Play dough can be used as therapy for special-needs children.

Provide molding tools and accessories to develop creativity and imagination such as:

• Plastic knives
• Plastic scissors
• Rolling pins
• Cookie cutters
• Mixing bowls
• Little aluminum pie pans
• Glitter

You may buy play dough kids which are available with various colors and tools to shape and play. Professionally made play dough can be used few times. Usually we make play dough with easily available materials at school. But it can be used once and you need to add colors at different portions of dough to make it more interesting.

If you are using it at home then 'home made play dough' is a cheaper solution.

There is a great deal of learning happening when you simply let children play with play dough. Play Doughcan also help a child learn basic information such as colors, shapes, counting etc.. 


Useful links:

Playdough Recipe for Kids

Building block play helping build learning skills among kids

There are so many benefits of play building blocks. Playing with building blocks helps in educational skill developmental and mental stimulation for kids.
It has been more than 200 years since it was determined that wooden blocks aid the development of young children through play with building blocks of various kinds.


They can be wooden, plastic, cardboard and even foam in vibrant colors and different shapes like cylinders, squares, arches, triangles and more.                                      

They may help your child develop and enhance

• motor skills
• hand-eye coordination
• spatial skills
• creative problem-solving skills
• mental stimulation
• social skills
• language skills

More Educational benefits of playing blocks:

Physical benefits: Toy blocks help in improvement of eye-hand coordination. Building blocks help build strength in little fingers and hands especially when using sets that involve pieces that snap together and pull apart.

Social benefits: Block play encourages children to make friends and cooperate, and is often one of the first experiences a child has playing with others. Blocks are a benefit for the children because they encourage interaction and imagination. Creativity can be a combined action that is important for social play.

Intellectual benefits: Children can potentially develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. Math skills are developed through the process of grouping, adding, and subtracting, particularly with standardized blocks, such as unit blocks. Experiences with gravity, balance, and geometry learned from toy blocks also provide intellectual stimulation.

Creative benefits: children receive creative stimulation by making their own designs with blocks. Building blocks inspire and encourage imaginative and creative play.

Blocks teach problem-solving skills through the discovery of how stacking and matching can produce different results.

One study found that kids who played with blocks scored higher on language tests than kids who had no blocks. Perhaps the children with blocks simply spent less time on unproductive activities such as watching TV--but the end result was good for them in any case.
Kids can integrate their own constructions into pretend play scenarios. And there is evidence that complex block-play is linked with advanced math skills in later life.

Blocks are also helpful for children with ADHD. Blocks are now available categorized by age for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, early school age and older school age children.
Useful links:


* Educational benefits of playing blocks

* Toy blocks - A guide at 'Parenting Science'

* Lessons to teach while playing with blocks

Easy toilet paper roll pencil holder crafts with kids

I was inspired by the crafts idea at 'Khadija's creative mind' and planned to do toilet paper roll crafts for my nursery class.

Today I could finish making a cute pencil holder. As I had to give this projects individually to all children of nursery class, I asked them to bring at least one toilet paper roll from home. It took about a week to collect toilet paper tubes. The first step was to cut slits on paper tubes and teachers have to do it as our kids are small to handle a bit hard stuff of toilet paper tube.

For next step I used a square sheet of white art paper for the base of pencil holder. Slit ends of tube were folded and fixed at square base.

We teachers of nursery class prepared it before kid's work. Kids were happy to see the raw form of pencil holder. They colored it and happily took home.

I have added two feet with this pencil holder.

With two feets I have trimmed the upper folded parts into circle petals.

Upper edges of paper tube can be trimmed into any shape.

As you can see I have shaped the finished product into more interesting work of crafts. What more you can do with it?
Pasting sequences, buttons and glitter can make it prettier and shows your creative skills when placing at your reading table and may be you can give it to your friend as a gift.
Note: I have taken all the pictures with my digital camera, keeping resolution a bit low as I have to edit pictures later for posting to blog. I will put my blog address or name at these pictures later but I hope that these pictures are not adopted at any other place without my permission. 

Play and Skill development among children

Play has always been part of learning and growing, and at the same time it provides enjoyment and fun. It is a tool which teachers or parents can use effectively for skill development among children. Play helps children develop intellectually,emotionally. It also helps in motor skills, and language development skills.

Kids need opportunities to play both alone and with other children. This will ensure that motor skills, cognitive skills and social skills all have a chance to develop and flourish.  Play is one of the ways children learn about and practice living in their world and their culture. It also helps children to manage their feelings and to cope with upsetting things that happen in their lives. Play helps build relationships.
Physical activities improve motor skills. Toys and activities that encourage them to use their imaginations can help them develop cognitive skills. And group activities enhance social skills.

List of various kind of plays and how they help in skill development among children.

Intellectual development (learning)

• Sorting toys - learning about number and grouping 
• Puzzles - learning about shapes, sizes, number 
• Posting boxes - learning about space and size 
• Hitting a mobile and making it move - learning about cause and effect 
• Card games and board games 
• Making up games

Developing motor (physical) skills                         

• Pushing and pulling toys 
• Riding on toys 
• Picking up small things 
• Throwing and catching 
• Climbing toys 
• Using crayons or paint brushes 
• Writing Computer games 
• Hitting balls

Social/emotional development

• Playing alongside others and watching them 
• Playing with others 
• Playing mothers and fathers 
• Copying adults and practising adult tasks and roles 
• Water, paint and mud - expresses feelings Music - relaxes and expresses feelings 
• Pretend play - dressing up Games with rules (eg hopscotch, card games, ball games)

Developing language

• Stories and books 
• Songs 
• Nursery rhymes 
• Games with friends and adults 
• Talking to each other 
• Listening to tapes

Cognitive Development

Many educational toys concentrate on cognitive development. This includes things like remembering, problem solving and decision making. These skills are essential for success in school and all other aspects of life. Any activity that requires imagination has the potential to encourage problem solving and decision making skills. Games such as Memory and Bop can help a child develop his memory.

An important part of play for young children is play with parents, and there should be some time for this every day. A toy company some years ago asked a large number of five year olds what they would like for Christmas, and their survey found that many children wanted more time with their parents!

Source:
http://www.cyh.com/

More useful links and online sites:


* The Role of Pretend Play in Children's Cognitive Development 

* How to accelerate fine motor skill development among children?

Blow painting -A fun art activity for early year kids

Research shows that arts and crafts help kids to develop brain capacity in early childhood. Participating in arts and crafts also encourages self confidence, concentration and positive social skills such as flexibility and cooperation.

What you need to start this activity?

• Art paper or simple A4 size white sheet of paper,
• poster or water colors (keep cup or container for each color)
• straw and dropper.

Poster or water color should be mixed with water. With the help of dropper or paint brush you just put few drops of water color or poster color at paper and blow the straw in different directions.
By turning the paper round, the paint can be blown more easily in different directions.

Children love blowing through straw and watch run colors in various directions. Kids of nursery class are amazed when they watch the formation of colorful pattern and design.
Finishing touch: Just cut long strips of poster paper with zig zag scissors and paste around the paper.

The facing picture shows a finished sample of 'blow painting'
There are many ideas which can make this blow painting process more creative as shown in two pictures at the end of the post.

Useful links:


* Blow painting at 'things to make and do'

Another idea from a site

Adding gooly eyes makes it 'germ blow painting'

How to know if your child has handwriting problems? and what are the signs of handwriting problems?

Handwriting is one of the most important skills that children acquire and use throughout the school years as part of their occupation as students. When handwriting skills are deficient, children suffer various consequences related to their academic performance and social interactions, thus limiting their successful participation in everyday school activities


Parents and teachers need to analysis and check the signs of handwriting problems. Effects of poor handwriting or spelling in later years may be:                  

• Papers with poorer penmanship and/or poorer spelling are rated lower by teachers for composition quality 
• Difficulties with spelling or handwriting can interfere with execution of other composing processes
• Handwriting/spelling problems can constrain development as a writer 

 Educational guidelines often are limited to one standard, “produces legible handwriting” in the English/language arts standards. When students fail to meet this standard, teachers have no means for examining which skills are lacking. Meanwhile these students are experiencing all the negative effects of poor handwriting.
Parents and teachers should learn the signs of handwriting problems from early years. 


Signs of Handwriting Problems 
Kids develop at different rates, and just like adults, handwriting varies greatly among them. Some kids have trouble learning the direction letters go in; others struggle to write neatly or use cursive writing. Sometimes writing problems can be a sign of other issues such as developmental delay or learning disabilities. Often these problems have multiple symptoms, with writing being only one component.

Conditions that can affect a child's ability to write include:              
• memory problems that prevent a child from remembering spelling, grammar, or punctuation rules
• language problems that cause difficulty with word pronunciation, spelling, and sentence structure
• visual or sequential ordering problems that cause uneven spacing of words, and inability to make lists or put ideas in order
• dysgraphia, a neurological disorder characterized by writing difficulties (such as distorted letters or misspellings) regardless of reading ability
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Children who have special needs also may have trouble learning to write.

Signs that a child may need additional assistance with learning how to write include:
• A very awkward pencil grip
• Illegible handwriting • difficulty forming letters
• An inability to concentrate and complete writing tasks
• Avoiding writing • many misspelled words
• Letters or words that don't follow correct sequence
• Incorrect placement of words on the page
• Uneven spacing between letters
• A large gap between spoken language and writing ability
• An exceptionally slow and difficult time writing

If your child is struggling with writing, you may choose to have him or her assessed by an occupational therapist. This can help you determine if your child needs actual therapy and tutoring or just some additional writing practice at home. 

Related: 'Kidshealth.org'
Useful links:

* A new study shows that kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have worse handwriting than their non-ASD peers. 

Tips for teachers to help develop good handwriting

Handwriting is important because kids are required to use it daily in school from kindergarten on. Children who struggle with the mechanics of handwriting may have trouble taking notes or tests or completing their schoolwork. This can affect both their self-esteem and their attitude toward school.

By age 4, students should be starting to develop a tripod grasp which is using the thumb and index finger to hold the pencil/crayon and resting it on the middle finger. It is ok if the student rests the crayon/pencil on the 4th finger. If the student is still using a full hand grasp or very awkward grasp, this may indicate some difficulty with strength and coordination.                        

By age 4-5 students should be able to make vertical and horizontal lines, circle, square, triangle and draw a simple person with head, torso, legs, arms, hands, and feet. For the older students (1st grade and up), general neatness, staying on the lines, size consistency and spacing are all aspects to look at in determining if your child is struggling.

If your child's handwriting continues to be messy and hard to read even after formal instruction at school, try these tips: 


Help your child take it slow. Many kids struggle with writing because they try to do it quickly. Encourage your child to take time to form the letters carefully.

Explain that mistakes happen. Teach your child how to use an eraser.
Reinforce proper letter formation. Find out from your child's teacher how he or she should be forming letters, and then encourage your child to practice writing using those patterns. Using lined paper can be helpful.
Make sure the pencil is properly positioned. Ideally your child will use what is called a tripod grasp. This means the pencil should rest near the base of the thumb, held in place with the thumb, index, and middle fingers. Plastic pencil grips sold at office supply stores may help if your child has trouble holding a pencil properly.
Expose your child to lots of words. You can do this by reading regularly together, pointing out words that surround you (such as street signs or product labels), and by hanging up examples of your child's writing around the house.

Tips provided by 'Kids Health.org'

Useful links: 

Activities to promote a good foundation for handwriting among kids

Good foundation of handwriting starts at home. Proper fine motor skill development makes it possible for kids to learn good handwriting at school. Teachers at the same time can help kids enhance their skills needed  for good handwriting start. This post helps you learn about the activities which can help promote a good foundation for handwriting among kids.
Writing is one of the most complex tasks that humans engage in, involving both motor and critical-thinking skills. It's not surprising that learning to write is a process that takes years to complete. It also happens in order, with each skill building on the last.

Today modern technology has dramatically changed the way we communicate through writing. However, despite the increased use of computers for writing, the skill of handwriting remains important in education, employment and in everyday life. Handwriting with pen and paper still has an important role from early childhood through our adult lives.

Handwriting readiness can be developed by activities to improve children's fine motor control and isolated finger movements.

Activities to promote handwriting readiness: 

• Rolling therapy-putty or clay dough between the tip of the thumb and tips of the index and middle fingers. Use modeling clay or Play-Doh to form words. First, make large flashcards with letters of the alphabet or simple words. (Laminate the cards if you can.) Then roll out thin ropes of clay. Ask your child to trace the words or letters on the cards using the ropes of clay. Not only will he learn to recognize words, but playing with the clay will help build the muscles in his fingers and hone the fine motor skills he'll need to write.                                              
• Use sand to "write" words. Help your child make letters and words out of materials like sand, glitter, or cake sprinkles. Cookie dough and pancake batter work too — and you get to eat the results!
• Picking up small objects with tweezers.
• Pinching and sealing a zip lock bag using the thumb opposing each finger while maintaining an open web space.
• Twisting open a small tube of tooth paste with the thumb, index and middle fingers while holding the tube with the ulnar digits.
• Moving a key from the palm to the finger tips of one hand.

Activities to promote prewriting skills:

1. Drawing lines and copying shapes using shaving cream, sand trays or finger paints.
2. Drawing lines and shapes to complete a picture story on chalk boards.
3. Drawing pictures of people, houses, trees, cars or animals with visual and verbal cues from the practitioner
4. Completing simple dot-to-dot pictures and mazes.

Activities to enhance right-left discrimination includes

1. Playing/maneuvering through obstacles and focusing on the concept of twining right or left
2. Connecting dots at the chalkboard with left to right strokes.

Activities to Improve children's orientation to printed language:

1. Labeling children's drawings based on the child's description
2. Having children make their own books on specific topics such as favorite foods, special places etc.
3. Labeling common objects in the therapy room.
4. Look at pictures together in magazines, catalogs, or storybooks. Ask your child to tell you what he thinks the people are doing or thinking, and write down what he says as a caption. Or ask him to narrate a conversation he thinks two people may be having.

Related: http://www.childsupport.in/html/ourservices_handwritingskills.html

Useful links:

* 25 Activities for Reading and Writing Fun