The brain development that occurs in the first three years of a child’s life plays a crucial role in their overall growth, contributing significantly to their thinking, learning and problem-solving skills. As a parent or caregiver, it’s only natural to want to ensure you’re doing everything you can to make the most of this rich period of early development. However, figuring out exactly how to stimulate a child’s mind can be a somewhat overwhelming task.
Child development experts, educators and parents all seem to have their own beliefs around what toys, books and activities should be incorporated to optimize mental stimulation in children. Where do you begin? In this article, we’ll go over some of the top recommendations to help optimize your child’s development.
Activities to stimulate a child’s mind
Engaging your child’s mind in different ways throughout the day is the best way to stimulate mental development. What might these activities include? Here are some examples:
Reading: Most experts agree that reading to your child is one of the best things you can do to promote brain development early on. Not only does reading to children help them begin to understand the basic principles of language and communication, it also improves their recognition skills and creates important emotional bonding opportunities for you both.
Talking: Speaking to your child as you move throughout the day, narrating what you’re doing, explaining your plans or even just describing what you’re seeing is a great way to keep them engaged between activities. As your child grows, they’ll begin to make connections between what you’re saying and what they’re seeing. Hearing speech and conversation also improves language and communication skills.
Playing: Depending on your child’s age, play could be peek-a-boo, singing and making funny sounds or engaging the imagination by playing pretend. Toys are also important—select toys that develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and shape recognition, or toys like play kitchen equipment and realistic tools to help them learn how the world around them works. Incorporate new toys that challenge them as they develop mastery with more familiar ones.
Comfort: Providing consistent, responsive care helps your child process stress and lets them know that their caregiver is a source of comfort when they’re struggling. This is an important part of healthy mental development. Establishing routines around play, sleep and mealtimes can also help a child feel secure.
Music: Many experts believe that exposure to music can help children’s minds develop. Like talking, music helps children recognize patterns, explore language and engage with those around them. Singing, clapping and dancing to your favorite songs with your child can help them learn and grow.
There is no one-size-fits-all roadmap to teach you how to stimulate a child’s mind—you know your child best and will have to determine for yourself what they respond to and what systems work best for your family. What we can all agree on, however, is that participating in a diverse set of engaging activities intended to stimulate a child’s mind is good for children—and their caregivers, too! If you’d like to add more variety into your child’s routine, visit Kids Kingdom Early Learning Center online to chat with our teachers about creating a tailor-made curriculum to help your unique little one grow.
Picky eating is extremely common in young children. This can be frustrating for parents who want to ensure their children are getting a balanced diet. When a child refuses to eat a food and steadfastly says no to so many of the items you put in front of them, it’s understandable for the first instinct to be to try to force the child to eat.
You’ll quickly find, though, that young children have very strong wills and can’t be forced to eat something they don’t want to eat. Besides, attempting to force the matter will only develop a negative association with that food, making it even less likely they will eat it in the future.
Instead of using force for getting your child to try new foods, try the following steps instead:
Start young: From the time your child first begins solid foods, you should focus on giving them a wide range of nutritious foods and flavors. This will encourage acceptance of more different types of foods and potentially limit some issues with pickiness as they grow older.
Introduce slowly: New foods should be introduced one at a time and served with familiar foods. Giving a child a plate with multiple new foods at once can be overwhelming. Having something familiar gives them a food to fall back on and will make it less scary for them to try something new.
Eliminate distractions: Try to remove distractions from the dinner table, so they can focus on eating.
Involve children in food prep: Getting children involved in food preparation and cooking can help them experiment with new foods in a sensory way. They’ll get comfortable with experimenting with the food physically before it shows up on their plate, which can make the prospect of trying it a little less scary.
Start with small portions: Children are much more likely to try a new food when it’s served in bite-sized portions rather than when you drop a full helping on their plate. A small amount of a new food is much less intimidating.
Don’t pressure them: Avoid putting pressure on your child to eat all of the new food or to clear their plate. Not only does this add some stress to the experience, but it also goes against natural hunger cues. Let them stop eating if they wish to do so.
Praise: Make sure you praise your child when they try a new food. This will encourage them to do so again in the future.
Avoid rewards: Never use dessert as a reward or other types of bribes to get your child to try new foods. The praise should be enough.
Be consistent: It may take many different attempts and exposures with a new food for the child to finally accept it. Don’t give up. Keep giving them small amounts, and don’t pressure them to try it or finish it. Let them warm up to the food at their own pace.
Figuring out how to pick the right day care for your kids can be daunting. With so many options to choose from and with it being such a big decision, it’s easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself.
To make the decision easier, we’ve put together a list of priorities you should have to help you in choosing the right day care for your child. Take a look:
Licensure: The program should be licensed, and you should double-check that licensure status with the state. You can also find past inspection reports and complaints when investigating licensure.
Visits: Are you allowed to visit at any point? If parents are not allowed to drop in and visit, you should consider a different program.
Staff: Any day care you select should have a good staff-to-child ratio. These ratios are lower for younger children; for example, with babies under one year old, there should only be three babies to a single adult. Staff should receive ongoing training in child development, and the director should have a degree in child development or a related field.
Supervision: Children should be supervised at all times, even when sleeping.
Feeling: Does the program feel welcoming? Does it appear children are having a good time with their activities and that the adults genuinely enjoy working with and caring for the children? You should get the sense that this is a positive and warm environment.
Emergencies: There should be someone present at all times who is trained in pediatric first aid, in CPR and in responding to allergic reactions.
Background: All staff and adults working in the program should have to go through state and federal background checks.
Cost: Are you able to afford the program you’re looking at? You shouldn’t drastically exceed your budget just because you’re laser-focused on a particular facility. There may, however, be programs in your area that can help you afford care.
Transportation: Does the program provide transportation that will help you get your child to and from the program and/or school?
Location: You should consider a day care that is located conveniently for your family, such as near home or work or in direct routes to either location.
Hours: Any program you choose should be open when you need it to be, so it can accommodate your schedule.
Programming: What sort of programming occurs at the facility? How does the program enhance and support your child’s learning and development? Your child, especially at a young age, is always learning, and any childcare program you select should have steps designed to encourage such learning.
Disabilities: If you have a child with a disability, consider whether the facility and staff are capable of meeting your child’s individual needs.
These are just a few examples of some of the most important considerations when choosing the right day care for your children. For more information about the factors that should go into your search, contact us at Kids Kingdom Early Learning Center.
Staying healthy has never been more important, regardless of your age, and winter can be a challenging time to promote the health and wellbeing of the entire family. It’s a common fact that winter is cold and flu season, and children are particularly susceptible to illness during the winter.
Luckily, preparing for winter isn’t too difficult, and taking a few proactive steps can effectively protect the health of your family. Here are some helpful tips regarding how to stay healthy in winter.
Dress kids appropriately
While kids are resilient, they need an extra layer of protection against the cold temperatures of winter. As a general rule, dress children in one extra layer of what an adult would wear to stay comfortable. Kids should wear several layers of loose-fitting, light and tightly woven clothing under a heavy jacket when going outdoors. Bare skin should be covered as much as possible, so encourage kids to wear mittens, gloves, a hat, scarf and waterproof boots for full protection from the cold temperatures, wind and precipitation.
Stay active
It’s all too easy and too comfortable for kids to stay inside and spend time in front of screens during the cold winter months. Unfortunately, that’s not healthy. While it may be too cold for kids to take part in outdoor sports, try to keep them active with indoor sports like soccer, volleyball, basketball or even swimming.
Determine whether you should use a humidifier
Many families use humidifiers during the dry winter months to prevent nosebleeds and dry skin. It’s not always wise to keep a humidifier on full time, though. Higher humidity levels can increase the levels of dust mites and mold in a house, which can affect the respiratory health of kids and adults alike. If you have allergy-susceptible family members, it may not be smart to run a humidifier during the winter.
Promote a healthy immune system
Boosting your child’s immune system is an essential step in preparing for winter. The body’s immune system is the first line of defense against the germs you encounter on a daily basis. Improving your child’s immune system is easier than you might think. As an added bonus, these tips work for adults, too. Here’s how to strengthen the immune system for winter:
Get enough rest: While adults generally need seven to eight hours of sleep per night, kids need a little more depending on age. Babies to toddlers require between 12 and 18 hours per night. Preschoolers should get between 11 and 13 hours, while kids ages five through 10 should get between 10 and 11 hours per night.
Stay hydrated: Water helps the body fight infection and illness, and dehydration increases a person’s chance of getting sick, regardless of age.
Eat right: Try to incorporate more immune-boosting foods into your child’s diet, especially foods rich in zinc and vitamin C.
Preparing for winter keeps families healthy during cold and flu season. Learn more about keeping kids safe, happy and healthy all year round by contacting Kids Kingdom Early Learning Center. Reach out today to see how our caring approach to the health and wellbeing of every child positively impacts the health of the whole family.
Talking with children about death is never an easy or enjoyable task, but it must be done to give them the support they need. This is especially true around the holidays, when children will likely be spending more time with extended family and might be having a difficult time missing certain important figures in their lives during the usual holiday traditions.
As humans, we often tend to avoid talking about upsetting topics. Children will quickly pick up on our emotions by watching our body language, facial expressions and hesitations. If they see us having a hard time talking about our emotions and our loss, this will cause them more stress.
This is why it’s so important to be open in discussing loss and grief with children and let them know it’s okay to feel however they feel. It’s also important to have an understanding of how children think of death at various stages of development:
Preschool children: Young children see death as temporary and impersonal. They do not yet understand that death is permanent, and may not have a particularly emotional reaction to a loss. This is completely normal and appropriate for their age level.
Children five to nine: From ages five to nine, children begin to see that death is final and all things die. However, they do not relate to the idea personally. They might start to associate certain images with death, and may have nightmares about those images.
Age 10 through adolescence: At this point, children begin to fully grasp death as irreversible, and the idea that they will also someday die.
It is common for young children to have very different emotions about death and ways of processing their grief. The same child who is devastated by the death of a pet may seem untroubled by the death of a grandparent.
When discussing death with young children, it is important to use simple terms. “You won’t be able to see them again.” “They do not eat, feel, talk or breathe.” Be nonjudgmental in your conversations, and listen to and observe their reactions.
You may need to have multiple conversations about the subject. Children learn through repetition. Sometimes they might ask more questions, other times they might remain silent—whatever their reaction, it is important you check in regularly to revisit the subject and monitor how they are doing.
Children may have a difficult time understanding other people’s emotions. A child might ask why someone is crying. It is important to answer them directly: “Mommy is crying because she is sad Grandpa died. She misses him very much. It is okay to feel sad when someone we love dies.”
Avoid religious references, especially if the child has not had religion as a significant part of their life. They will not understand phrases such as, “Grandpa is with God and the angels,” or “Grandpa is in heaven.” If the child does have a level of familiarity with religion, it is important not to skirt around the emotional aspect of death for those who are left behind.
With the holiday season approaching, it’s important to remember kids may be feeling recent losses even more acutely. For more tips on supporting grieving children, contact the experts at Kids Kingdom Early Learning Center.
