The greatest gift you can give your child is love and fun!
Recently, we’ve been getting an influx of parents asking us for ways to get their children to pick up important skills before they begin school. While the simplest solution is to force your child to a strict 9 to 5 schedule of rote memorization.
We all know the impossibility of that! Fret not, there are better ways for them to grow and that is through the principle of play.
Our folks at www.smartchildrenplay.com took the time to look into the vast research surrounding early childhood learning and came down with the nine essential yet basic skills your child should pick up as they learn through play.
Children are naturally curious. They learn from the world around them.
At this stage, they are eager to touch, taste and interact with everything they can. It’s important during this curiosity-driven time, they’re learning all the right things.
For the best learning experience, children from as early as a month, all the way to age eight should be encouraged to play with educational toys.
-
Problem-solving
Some toys – Like Creative Building Blocks – help kids develop the skills they need to understand math, science and other things requiring an end solution. Most of the work involves putting pieces together, but the process starts in their mind.
They need to figure out why some pieces will not fit together, and how they can achieve the shape they are aiming for.
All these lessons serve as the foundation for how they will approach important decisions as they grow.
-
Fine Motor Skills
Children need to constantly focus on specific tasks to improve their fine motor skills. They learn best by playing and eating, as those are the few things that can hold their concentration long enough.
This skill is vital as they’ll need to have good control of their hands to hold a pen or pencil.
Construction kits such as the Motorcycle Assembly Kit helps kids to build muscle strength in their hands. It also teaches them to have a firm grip, and the several ways they can hold objects to make them fit properly.
-
Creative Skills
Every child needs to learn self-expression. This is what will help them take a task, visualize how they want to approach it, and they apply themselves to the process.
Creativity will also help your child learn to express and cope with how they feel. Fun, educational toys that encourage creativity include the Candy Color Beads Handmake Craft Puzzle Educational Toys and the 24 Colors Polymer Play Set.
-
Language and Reading Skills
Children learn language from their parents, but toys like Cognitive Flash Cards are a good way to start expanding their vocabulary from an early age.
With educational toys, you can also start your child’s reading training at home. Sending your child to kindergarten without any former reading experience can be challenging.
It makes it easier for the child to fall behind on class activities. If they’re the quiet type, they might be uncomfortable with letting their teacher know when they don’t understand certain things, especially when everyone else does.
To prepare your child to stay ahead of their early classes, they could start learning letter and word recognition with toys like the Wooden Preschool Learning Cards.
-
Intuition
When it comes to decision making, children are very dependent on the people around them. However, it’s good to encourage them to face mini situations by themselves.
Educational toys provide safe situations where children can explore their self-awareness, and get comfortable with trials and errors. With a toy like the Montessori Educational Building Kit, your child can start making small but self-affirming decisions.
-
Memory and Recall
Children quickly develop working memory, which is how they know the right response when you tell them to do something. However, their memory needs to be constantly exercised so they do not develop attention or recall problems as they grow.
To keep their minds sharp, engage them in games where they will have to learn from their environment. Also teach others something, like with the Liar Game Stretch The Truth Family Fun. Remember that most of the information they’ll store involves things they watched other people do.
Use only healthy practices when playing family games.
-
Competition
Competition teaches children the need for a dedication. It is one of the fun ways you can motivate your kids to complete tasks.
While doing this, it’s important you teach them an important lesson: the process is more important than the end goal. This will prevent them from picking up negative habits that are ‘win-focused.’
They should always remain friendly players. A fun way to introduce competition to play time is through family games where you can observe how your child reacts under competitive pressure.
Family names like these prepare your kids to feel at ease when putting in competitive roles at school, during sports events, and so on.
-
Social Skills
Some toys are designed to encourage kids to share and collaborate with others. They prepare kids for play environments where they will have to interact with other children.
Hilarious games like the Funny Poppy head Card game will teach your kids to invite others to their playtime, before testing those social skills outside the home.
-
Arranging/Organizational Skills
Kids need to learn to arrange, and not in a linear motion. Children start early in trying to arrange things around the house, especially if they often watch an older person do it.
However, because they don’t know where anything should go, they end up making a mess. Toys like The Intelligence Box teach kids to understand that everything has a place, and the best ways to determine what that place is.
Introducing educational toys to your child’s playtime can be both fun and beneficial to their overall growth.
