Preschool (3-5)
- A Gem of an Idea! Playing Creatively with Toys
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When our puppy developed a sweet tooth for plastic and destroyed several of the play foods that came with my kids’ Step2 play kitchen, my kids were disappointed. How were they going to play in their kitchen without any food
- Part One: Potty Training – Is The Child Ready?
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One of the most anticipated milestones in the lives of young children is achieving potty mastery. However, now more than ever before, parents seem befuddled and utterly confused when it comes to preparing children for this potty mastery process. To …
- The Ins and Outs of “Time-Out”
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Dealing with challenging behavior is one of the most stressful aspects of parenting. Decades ago “hitting” children was an acceptable response to their negative behavior. As parents learned that physical punishment fails to prevent misbehavior, “hitting” became taboo and putting …
- Creative Play Number Match Game
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Most parents will agree that mathematical skills are big deal. So what do you do when your child doesn’t seem interested in numbers? Try this clever number match game from mommy blogger Allison at No Time For Flash Cards. What …
- A Case for Mature Pretend Play
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The choice between a play-based preschool and academic preschool can be agonizing for any parent. Ultimately, preschool should be a place where a love for learning is cultivated and children are given experiences to enhance their executive functioning skills (i.e. self control and attention skills). Executive functions is a psychological term used to describe the cognitive process that is involved in planning and monitoring what we attend to and what we do (“execute”) with this input.
- Back to School with Creative Play
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It’s back to school time! Many parents are probably breathing a small sigh of relief; trying to think up ways to entertain your kids with creative play for nearly three months is never as easy by August as it is in June.
- Reading Fairy Tales
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A great time to start thinking about introducing fairy tales to children is around the ages of four to six-years-old. Fairy tales, like Cinderella and the Three Little Pigs, are wonderful classic stories with humorous as well as scary elements. …