CreativePlay Plus: Ideas in Play and Child Development

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Jane Kessler, a child psychologist and professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University. Since retiring, Dr. Kessler has owned and operated Appletree Bookstore in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and along the way has become an expert in children’s books. Over the next few weeks we would like to share with you Dr. Kessler’s recommendations to enhance your child’s reading experience from infancy through eight-years-of-age.

Reading with your child is an invaluable experience for both of you! Dr. Kessler, stressed the importance of reading out loud to children from infancy through at least 8 years of age. As children get older and begin to read more on their own, it is still okay to continue setting a special time to read with your child. For infants and toddlers, parents can help bring alive the pictures on the page by describing the pictures and elaborating on the story. As children grow older, they learn to use context clues like pictures to help them learn to read and make meaning from the story. Parents can also help make reading “real” by connecting the experiences in the book to their child’s life. This shared activity is a great way to help children develop their comprehension skills. Additionally, setting a special time to read each day signals to children that their parents find reading an important activity and skill to develop.

Some great creative play/child development links from a quick trip around the baby blogosphere:

• A detailed list of Natural Childbirth options from Lin at TellinItLikeItIs.net
• A discussion on Families.com about Kids and Movies: How Young is Too Young?
• A great post at EcoChildsPlay.com on the lessons of playing in the sand.
• How to make a Holiday Gratitude Can from BlissfullyDomestic.com
• On Suite101.com, How to reduce the risk of SIDS by dressing baby properly.
• Step2’s Thinkativity toys get rave reviews from CosmoTot.
• Here’s an easy-peasy playdough recipe from the Crunchy Domestic Goddess.

Check out what Kristen has to say about the Matching Colors and Textures puzzle:

My three-year-old son Finn enjoys just about any puzzle, even if Mama ends up putting together most of the pieces, but he put together every single combination on this one.

The easiest way I found to help him was to stack the descriptors and deal them out one at a time so he could match them to the shapes spread out on the rug. I said, “What color is this?” He answered, “orange” then found the orange carrot and joined the two pieces. The only hiccup here was that some of the descriptions were confusing. When he tried to find the brown animal he found two, but the fluffy rabbit was supposed to match the card that said “fluffy.” It was hard to explain that, while the rabbit was brown, he was also fluffy…

Infantino Matching Colors and Textures Puzzle: A 2-in-1 Puzzle For Your Toddler|Celebrity Baby Blog

Here’s some stories from around the net that we’ll think you’ll find helpful.

• From BabyCenter.com: Caffeine during pregnancy linked to low birthweight
• From TellinItLikeItIs.net: Video game addiction treatment centers are popping up in countries like China, South Korea, the Netherlands and the United States in an effort to provide help for video game addiction
• From 5 Minutes for Mom: selected tips from the book 201 Things to Do When Children Say I’M BORED!
• On Families.com: More Ways to Have Fun with Fall Leaves
• BlissfullyDomestic.com posts on the benefits of baby sign language.
• 7 Ways to Get Baby to Sleep from BabiesToday.com

If you have any suggestions for post, please send them to themuse@creativeplayplus.com.

This creative play tip is a great activity to do in small groups or one-on-one with your child. First, find a quiet natural area to sit and observe the surroundings in silence (if possible). Bring paper, watercolors, crayons, or other drawing materials and have everyone chose one thing to draw nearby. It can be a cool rock, a single petal, an interesting shadow, or perhaps a patch of soft moss.

If your child feels discouraged that their drawing is not perfect, remind them that studying their chosen object is more important than their final product. Encourage them to also pay attention to their surroundings, the sounds, the light, the air, and to do their best to work in complete silence.
The purpose of this activity has more to do with relaxing and being in tune with nature than actually drawing.

Based on the pictures, this project looks like great fun for the kids:

All you need is liquid starch and white (Elmer’s type) glue.  Mix glue
and starch in a cup or bowl (disposable is best…sorry environment!) in
about a 2-1 proportion (in other words: 1/2 cup glue to 1/4 cup starch,
vary amounts proportionally as necessary to get the amount you need).
Don’t worry too much about accuracy, I just eyeballed it and it was
fine.  You can add food coloring as we did, or keep it “natural…”

Smooth - Goop!!! (Weekly Unplugged Project) | Unplug Your Kids

PBS.org’s Supersisters blog has a great post about fall fun for kids. Here’s the abbreviated list:

• Take the kids on a corn maze adventure
• Go apple picking
• Pick your own pumpkin and gourds
• Simmer up some mulling spices to make your house smell like fall

Click thru for the expanded listings.

Fall fun for the little ones . Supersisters . PBS Parents | PBS

After a fun-filled day playing outside, children can use time to relax and appreciate their surroundings!

Step #1
Find a comfortable and safe place to sit with your child. Ask them to close their eyes for about one minute (30 seconds if they are younger children). Ask them to listen to all the sounds they can hear.
- What are they?
- From which direction do they come?
- Who might have made them?
- What’s the quietest sound the can hear?
- Can they hear anything quieter?

Step; #2

Next, you can ask them to close their eyes again, and notice what they can about the world through their sense of touch. Ask them to focus on the sunlight and air that’s touching their face, arms, and back. Can they tell where the sun is in the sky and what direction the breeze blowing?

This is also a great activity with small groups of children. Take turns and have each child name one interesting thing they hear, smell, or feel and have everyone else try to sense it.

Children can practice using their senses by looking for how things are alike and different in the great outdoors! Using nature also gives children an opportunity to appreciate being outside and exploring! Both activities below are great ways to help your child focus on details and makes paying attention a fun game!

Tree Sense!

If it’s possible, this works best where there are many different options of trees and plants.

First, blindfold your child and gently lead them to a tree. Stand with them and encourage them to get to the know tree using their senses! Ask them to feel and smell the bark, feel for leaves and estimate how big around the tree is by hugging the trunk. When they feel that they “know” the tree, lead them back to where you started (spin them around a few times) and take off the blindfold.

Now, have your child try to find their tree.

• What senses helped them to locate their tree?
• What things made that tree unique?
• Take turns and have them blindfold you and lead you to a tree!

Match Game

Ask your child to pick from a selection of objects (like a fuzzy stuffed animal, waxy crayon, or triangle-shaped object) and a color from their shirt and challenge them to walk outside and find textures, shapes, and colors that match their choices. Ask your child what ways they are different and how are they are same. They can record their findings in a journal with words or pictures. Have fun exploring!

As the weather starts to change in some parts of the country, we need to be thinking about moving the fun inside. BlissfullyDomestic.com has a good list of indoor activities for kids when it’s cool and rainy out:

• Make an obstacle course
• Build forts with furniture, sheets and pillows
• Make a hopscotch board with painters tape
• Do scavenger hunts around the house
• Play hide n go seek

More suggestions if you click thru the link below:

Frugal indoor fun for kids | Blissfully Domestic