Scientific thinking is based on things that children naturally have in abundance—curiosity, energy, and playfulness! While it may sound too easy to be true, a great way to develop scientific thinking is to let children explore and play. As children explore the everyday world, ask questions, and start developing theories about how the w...
When children are learning handwriting, it’s important to aim for “automaticity.” Automaticity refers to the ability to do something correctly from memory, with relatively little effort. As children learn the strokes to form letters in the same way, each time they write, they can achieve greater automaticity with handwriting. This incr...
Holding a pencil correctly can help avoid fatigue and cramping that can make writing difficult. Have your child rest the forearm in a neutral position on a flat writing surface. The hand should rest on the little finger allowing the wrist to move freely. The thumb needs to be in a position where it can provide resistance to the fingers...
In Kindergarten, children typically learn the names of basic shapes, including some 3-dimensional shapes. Before entering Kindergarten, you can encourage your child to recognize shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, and rectangles in everyday life. For example, you can tell your child that you see something in the room that looks...
If your child already easily recognizes squares, circles, triangles, and rectangles, he may be interested in learning about other 2-dimensional shapes and some basic 3-dimensional shapes. Your child may be excited to learn that a shape with 5 sides is called a “pentagon” and a 6-sided shape is called a “hexagon”. In addition to flat, 2...
Friendships are important for young school-age children. If you notice that your child is a bit of a loner in school, don't jump in at once and prejudge the situation. Some children might be shy and cautious by nature, while other children might just have trouble finding a right fit with classmates. A first step would be to talk to the...
Skip counting is a skill that can help children become more confident in mathematical problem solving and in daily tasks such as counting money. Children often begin by skip counting by tens: 0, 10, 20, 30, and so on. In many classrooms, children learn to skip count while looking at a 100 chart. A 100 chart shows the numbers 1 to 100 i...
While it may be tempting to try to bribe or trick your child into eating more vegetables, research has shown that forcing your child to eat something can actually make picky eating behavior worse. Instead, try making your child’s experience with eating vegetables as positive, and low pressure, as possible. For example, try arranging ve...
Take advantage of your son’s natural curiosity, and provide him with plenty of experiences to explore nature using all of his senses. For example, go for a nature walk and let him have fun navigating his way through rocks, mud, snow, tree branches, and roots. You can also give your child a bucket so they can collect leaves, acorns, pin...
The piano and string instruments (such as a violin and guitar) are great choices because they give your child a solid foundation in reading music and music theory that will help with learning different instruments as she get older. Many string instruments also come in smaller sizes making them easier for young children to play. Larger ...
In some languages (e.g., Chinese), spoken numbers correspond exactly to their written equivalent. English number names, however, are irregular making them more difficult to learn. You can help your daughter by first focusing on numbers 11-20. These numbers are unique in that they do not follow any sort of pattern. Make a game out of fi...
It can be difficult when your child receives an inappropriate toy from a well-meaning relative, but as a parent, it is important that you feel comfortable with the toys your child plays with. Be honest with your parents, but do so in a grateful and gracious manner. Begin by explaining to your parents that you have some concerns with th...