Uncle Alert!! a little help here dads!

[rrubies]

Hey all so wouldn't straight up call my self a father but I offered to help my sister out for a little. Kind of an unorthodox situation but actually works out great for everyone. My sisters job demands her and her husband to travel quite frequently so I raise her two kids eight months out of the year. The oldest is sixteen so he's real easy but the youngest is three and more impressionable. I never had kids of my own but have watched these two grow up so I am not too worried. I do know enough to be aware of the fact that the first few years of a child's life is the most critical for brain development. I am trying to construct a regiment for the youngest that will promote development but wasn't quite sure ware to start. I would really enjoy to hear what you guys have to say, and funny stories are always a plus lol.

-Ricky

[Newmom!]

Play games, have fun, allow for discoveries. The most important skills to learn at this young of an age is in the social and behavioral areas. Exposure to academics is great, but kids who "know it all" yet cannot particiapte socially in a classroom setting are set up for failure.

Things to do that promote learning
-Puzzles
-taking apart (and maybe putting back together) an old appliance
-cooking together - be sure to point out the recipe as you read it - you can point out the numbers and then count out the cup fulls, etc. You can point out commonly occuring words or abriviations (like eggs, or tsp.) and have your nefew "read" them to you throughout the recipe.
-library story hour
-reading a variety of books and asking a variety of questions regarding the text, pictures, guessing what will happen next, etc.
-playgroup or preschool with other children his age 1 or more times a week
-block building. Legos are fun, but Unit Blocks are awesome, as 2 squares make a short, two shorts make a long, two triangles make a square, etc. Lots of math concepts of size and proportion and division in unit blocks. Blocks also help to learn how to build a solid foundation to support smaller pieces, and so much more.
- Listen to and dance to a variety of music. Find CD's/Youtube/go to concerts, where individual instruments can be listened to. Talk about/dance to the beat, listen for rhyming words in lyrics, and more.
-Talk with him, a lot. When he askes you a question (when appropraite) turn the question back to him and have him try to figure it out on his own first. Teach him to "research" - For example: at this age if he asks a question about "Thomas the Tank Engine" have him see if he can figure it out by looking at one of the said books or toys he owns.
- Ask him to recall a set of events, such as what you saw first, second, next, last, on your outting to the grocery story.

There is so much more, but I hope you get the idea that a sit down academic regimine is not the way to foster appropriate child development that will build a solid foundation for the future, but rather a variety of experience that give meaning to information is the way to go.

[bracacia]

everything that NEWMOM stated.

also, there is a CBS program called WORD WORLD.

it is animated and teaches spelling, names,shapes.....just about everything. everything is well spoken.

this is how it works.
you have Duck. Duck is a duck of course, but his body, are the letters d-u-c-k. and you have mr.pig, ms. sheep, horse.....and so-on.
everything is spelled. so the barn is made out of the letters, and shaped as a barn.

they always spell a word in every episode.
its.....time.to........spell a word ! lets do it, lets do it, lets do it now!
in the nest episode, the spelled the word nest.
it starts off by the letters, then they group put the words together by cylibals, and then they put the word together sound it out.

you can sit down and participate too ! it really isnt as corny as it sounds. it is a very useful show.

you can youtube WORD WORLD, and also, target sells a multi disc set for around $10 I believe and has about 5-6 episodes.

this would be perfect for the 3 year old.

[Newmom!]

I just came across an "article" that describes the benefits of play - goes along with what I was saying in my previous posting.
http://www.livescience.com/15541-top...fits-play.html

[bracacia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW1og...e_gdata_player

here is a link for word world.

this is the run away "o" episode.

[vikgil]

Engagement is#1. If you can spend more quality time with them - that's going to really change their development trajectory. Additionally - great books, great toys that are age appropriate are good. I have been reading and thinking a lot about this too - 2 things I found to be interesting for example are - kids who practice a lot in fine motor skills have a much easier time developing language skills; kids who grow up with a 2nd language at early age develop brain synapses that otherwise would not have and it stays with them permanently - making them much better at learning / adapting to new languages later in life.

[rrubies]

After reading through these posts (THANKS a lot guys!) One approach that should prove to be very helpful is to build a bond with the youngest which will give him assurance. I read a few blogs that explain how engaging in specific play is extremely beneficial for both child and parent. I realized that "playing with toys" doesn't end with giving a child a toy and calling it a day. How parents engage with their children is important to parents. A fundamental part to raising a smarter and happier child is interaction with you (father or uncle lol) I am super excited because this is one of the things I was looking for. Still the very beginning of what hopefully will be a huge breakthrough, but I am very anxious to incorporate specific activities into our every day schedule that will really promote engagement.

[lipnok]

It's funny because I always 'play' with my kids, but when I think about if I have ENGAGED my kids in the past it changes everything. Play and engagement are necessarily the same thing. The difference is the intended objectives. Through engaging your child you are still playing with them but with specific goals in mind. I think a lot of these exercises appear to be pretty ordinary, but the underlying fact is that they are stimulating a specific developmental stage.


http://education.families.com/blog/t...ith-your-child

I came across this article and this is what made me aware of the usefulness of proper engagement. It talks about how, "much of a child's learning takes place during the first six years of life. During this time a child will learn more and faster than any other time." It also states that some of the main learning categories that can be effectively stimulated are "curiosity, creativity, and learning development at home by interacting with your child."

As one may notice lol I am pretty excited about this. I want to find a reliable source to assist me through this tho. I know most of these toys or activities may look like any other toy, but some of these educational toys are most effective if used with a certain learning category in mind. Does anyone have any ideas on ware I can find something like that??

[kazimierz91]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW1og...e_gdata_player

here is a link for word world.

this is the run away "o" episode.

Thanks for this link!


Best Regards,
Kazimierz
Budowa Domów Warszawa
mobile phone: +98 43 382 994

[rrubies]

Hey Guys!

Its been a while but I found a great program that really fits what I was looking for when I started this post. You have all been a lot of help to me so I figured I'll share with you all my new finding!

It's called SparkBox Toys, it's an educational toy rental service.

http://www.sparkboxtoys.com/

check it out for yourself, but these are all toys that are created to spark child development for children during huge fundamental stages of their lives. Pretty cool concept I have my first box on the way to my house.