Great Ideas for Making Music Outdoors

Music has the power to lift us- body, mind and spirit. This is especially true for young children. Making and moving to music promotes all areas of development: physical- coordination, muscle tone, fine and gross motor skills develop as children play instruments or dance to music cognitive- creating and listening to music includes problem solving, [...]

Summer Skills Series: Critical Thinking

The ability to think through problems, anticipate the results of your actions and reflect on what you have done are all critical thinking skills. While these don’t fit neatly into the categories of reading, writing and arithmetic, they are definitely important skills for success in school and in life. The brains of toddlers and many [...]

Tips for Successful Mixed-Age Groups

Whether spending time at home with siblings, in a family child care setting, or in an early childhood program where lower enrollment allows for mixed age groupings, summer often provides a unique opportunity for kids of different ages to play and spend time together. This can be a great experience. Younger children watch and learn [...]

Summer Skills Series: Early Reading and Writing

Unlike walking, talking or even problem-solving, reading and writing are not skills that develop naturally in children. Both the right-brain and the left-brain have to work together to decipher an image, connect it to a particular sound and then string several of these picture-sounds together to create a word. It’s complicated, and takes practice! That [...]

Summer Skills Series: Fine Motor Development

Whether you are a parent looking for activities that will prepare your child for school in the fall, or a teacher looking to try something new and different, summer is a great time to practice emerging skills in fun, new ways. Throughout the month I will give tips and activity ideas that will help children [...]