Tutoring Your Tot??

I was intrigued to find that this morning's CBS Early Show featured a segment on tutoring toddlers.  Reporter Marysol Castro, who has a two- and five-year-old herself, visited a center in Stanford, CT, where parents take their children for private tutoring.  This center focuses on children under the age of five.

Advocate for the center Anna Dabrowski-Radcke insisted that the earlier a child enters the classroom, the better off he or she is for life.  Students at this particular center learn through the repetition of worksheets; they work on them with the tutors, and then again when they go home.

For me, this raises serious problems.  As was pointed out by another professional in the CBS segment, the brain and the body are designed to develop at the same rate.  By forcing a child into the classroom, a parent is asking him to accelerate the brain without stimulating the body.  I believe, instead, that children are far better off to learn through experience. 

This means that "a kid should be a kid" - and should be allowed and encouraged to explore the world around him.  Why don't we as parents help our children to learn by playing?  I know, I know, there's just so little time and so much to do!  But let's just take some of that precious time to engage our children in play. 

I've gone through just a small part of the current Discovery Toys catalog and come up with a list of favorites for encouraging learning.  In the Early Show segment, they gave a figure of $3100 as the average annual cost of tutoring per child.  I guarantee, these lifetime toys and games will not cost you anywhere near that, and they will develop a much more well-rounded child!

1. "Sounds Like Learning!" CD - includes soothing tunes that include everything from counting to language to manners.  We play it during lunch and snack, and alongside activities such as coloring. 

2. Giant Pegboard - an award-winning toy that focuses on colors, pre-math, and pre-reading.  It comes with pattern cards to help direct activities using the board.  Help your child stack and sort the pieces!

3. Measure Up! Cups, Pots, and Spoons - These can be used in the kitchen, on the floor, in the bathtub, etc.  I stick the cups in the diaper bag so my children have a quiet activity wherever we go.  Measure anything from rice to water - they are volumetrically correct to encourage understanding of math concepts.

4. Playful Patterns - Ask your child to sort them, and observe whether it is done by color, size, or shape.  Work on shape names while making pictures in progressively more difficult pattern cards.  Shapes can also be associated with letters of the alphabet.

5.  Busy Learning Set (Bugs and/or Farm) - come with activity cards, but you can also sort by color and bug or animal type.  These are pre-reading and pre-math without your child ever noticing how much he's learning!

6. Motor Works - building and taking apart 3 different vehicles encourage critical thinking and problem solving.  The reward at the end is a vehicle that works!

As I said, these are just a few of the items you could use to encourage learning with your child while developing skills for play.  If you are interested in these, or any other of our products, please let me know!

To Clean or Not to Clean

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't like messes.  I especially detest messes in my kitchen. 

Yesterday my mom and sister came for a visit.  I had put the baby down for a nap and told Samuel he could play with the "work toys", which is the name he coined for Marbleworks.

My thought was that this would free me up to be able to clean up our breakfast before my family arrived, so that I could spend time with them right away.  Samuel came out with the box of Marbleworks and asked me to play with him.  "No, Samuel, I need to clean the kitchen," came out of my mouth without even thinking.  "But Mommy," he said with tears welling up in his eyes, "You clean the kitchen everytime".

Wow.  Reality check.  I sat down with Samuel and we had so much fun putting all the pieces together and racing our marbles! 

And my mom and sister were happy because after they took this picture I had them occupy the kids while I cleaned up breakfast!

*If you are interested in Marbleworks but concerned about the size of marbles, please consider our Castle Marbleworks,  which has much larger pieces and balls.

Hot Sale Item!!

Okay, I know I just posted.  But I couldn't resist one more!

Julia, my almost-one-year-old, has been offered our Ring Around teether off and on since she's been born.  This teether had kind of made its way to the bottom of our toy basket for a while when, just yesterday, I couldn't find Julia. 

Where do you think she was?  Hidden behind our couch with the Ring Around teether!!

Just look at all those colors!  There's a mirror on one side, and so many different textures to explore.  It must have caught Julia's eye, and so it has again surfaced as one of the "top-of-the-basket" toys, even with my one- and two-year-olds.  This is not just baby toy!  What a great way to stimulate the senses of sight and touch!

The best part??  It's on sale this month!!  Can you think of a few baby showers or dedications you may be going to in the next year?  It's only $5 and only available through June 30th.  So head on over to my website and order yourself one or two . . . or twelve!

www.discoverytoyslink.com/kidsarenumberone

The Beginning

Welcome to my very first post on my very first blog!  Allow me to briefly introduce myself and the concept of this. 
I have been wanting to start a blog for quite some time now . . . but I am far from tech-savvy, and am a bit nervous about getting myself into things like this.  You see, I have this tendency to spend hours trying to do one task on the computer and I never finish because I get too frustrated. 
But this is a new month, and a new week.  And I am SO EXCITED about my new blog!!  Why, you ask?  Well, I am an educational consultant with Discovery Toys.  And this month - June - we have an enormous sale going on that I want to share with everyone!  So naturally, this seemed the appropriate time to begin.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I know I will enjoy writing for it.  Maybe I'll even become a little more knowledgeable about the whole technology thing in the process!
Please stay tuned as I update with new findings on education and the use of our toys and games.  And by all means, if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know!