HOW TO PREPARE YOUR CHILD FOR FIRST TIME TO SCHOOL

So your little one got admission in the best preschool of your choice. You made all the preparations for the coming day, you sent your child early to bed so that he would wake up early and get ready for the school. You kept a backpack stuffed with all the essential school supplies for the preschool like crayons, paper and glue sticks by the front door. First day of school outfit is hanging ready in the closet, and the lunch box you have prepared is packed, shoes are polished and ready to go. The first day of preschool has arrived and it’s time for your child to start his educational journey that will last about for next twenty years. Don’t you feel that you should make this monumental first day a great experience for you and your child?

It’s quite easy and you can do it right, you just need to have a few things in mind while doing this.

The Crying Game

First, be prepared for some tears. Separation anxiety is very common among preschoolers, particularly those who are going to school for the first time. It is quite innate for children to cry, whine, and cling to their parents during the first few days of school. They are, after all, being put in a new environment with strange faces.

Despite the fact that it may be difficult for some parents not to give in to their child's heart-wrenching howls, it is significant that you make your child realize that you cannot be with him all the time. To bring down the stress levels both for you and your child you can do as follows:

• Prepare your child for the separation: On the breakfast table, you can say that you are leaving for office and your child is such a big bravo and he/she will be fine in school with other kids when you go to office, and for being in the school you will give him some gifts.
• Tell your child what you will be doing while you are away: This reassures him that you are not going away for the reason that you don't want to be with him, but because you have to get a few things done.

• Describe to your child what he will be doing in school in your absence: Explain him about the fun things he will be doing in school with his teachers and other kids, like all those fun activities that often take place in a classroom of a preschool. A child accustomed to scribbling with paper and crayons at home, for example, will find it comforting to discover the same crayons and paper in his or her preschool classroom.
• Reassure your child that you will be coming back: Promise him that you will be returning - and prove to him that he can trust what you told him or her by returning on the appropriate time. And in no way, under any situation, threaten to leave your child when he "misbehaves." This will make him more fearful, and he will cling to you even more.
• Prepare yourself: When you have done all the best things you could have done and you still find yourself with a sticking vine, keep in mind that the crying will only lessen, once your child learns the important lesson that he can carry on without you for a few hours in the preschool. Don't make an upheaval or rebuke your child for sticking to you; motivate and reassure him instead lovingly. Holding, hugging or pampering him while saying him to go into the classroom by himself, may puzzle him about whether he or she should stay or go, so be firm.
• Praise your child while separation: Say a few words of appreciation while separating him or her like, "I'm so proud of you for being such a big boy/girl in school" to make him/her feel proud of his/her "accomplishment." Besides this you can also give him some gifts related to his schooling and education for instance, your kid’s favorite cartoon character’s schooling stuff like ben 10, mickey mouse, Hannah Montana, Winnie the pooh, Tom and Jerry, Ninja Hattori, Superman, and Disney etc.
• Give him articles similar to preschool in home play and learn: You should give him some puzzles, colors, crayons, books, toys at home to play similar to the preschool classroom so that he can enjoy doing things and don’t make excuses or cry for going to school next day.

In any case, children’s crying loudly on their first day in the preschool is nothing new to a preschool teacher. They are used to of such situations and they have tact’s to deal with this very situation. You also should follow it. Mostly, they will say you to leave it and probably it will be the most difficult thing you will have to do, but it genuinely does work. Nine out of ten times, the child stops weeping within five to ten minutes of the parent leaving the school premises. But, when you will return back to classroom a few hours later to pick up your child you will find him happy and content with a pile of artwork he or she cannot wait to show you and tell the stories his/her teacher has told him/her in the classroom.

How to Study Faster and Remember More in Less Time?

With the everyday increasing availability of information to people at present, there is a real dire need for speed reading to keep oneself abreast. There are a number of techniques and methods that help in increasing your speed of reading and that too without really dropping your retention and comprehension capabilities. This helps students save time and get extra marks in the exams. This is advantageous for students because through this skill they can cover more chapters than their social group in less given time. Even in the corporate world, employees with this skill are able to comprehend different reports, newspapers, emails, correspondence and other technical papers much faster to excel in their careers. Therefore, it betters the efficiency and productivity of the person along with providing him more time to take care of other facets of life.

Speed Reading Techniques

Discovering to read speedily does not assist in enhancing the I.Q. level of a person, although, it does help in growing the brain’s ability to understand several new concepts in lesser time than ever. Moreover, one should build up his or her grasp on the language and vocabulary to master this skill entirely. A few very common and basic techniques that can be used are as follows:

• Avoid Reading Word by Word: Unluckily, most of us are instructed to read anything especially our course books word by word since our childhoods. This is a characteristically general poor reading habit, which makes the person contemplate more on the words more willingly than the concept delivered by the consummate text. For speedier reading, one requires reading in lumps and blocks while comprehending the basic heart and soul of these groups.
• Avoiding Sub Vocalization: This method is considered to be one of the most important speed reading techniques,  one should avoid sounding out each word when reading as it cuts down the comprehension ability and the pace of reading of the individual. One should practice on a regular basis to get out of this reading speed decelerating habit.

• Focus on Reading: There are a lot of people who believe in multi tasking. Nevertheless, one should avoid mixing any other work during reading and try to just sit and read with concentration. Avoiding maximum possible distractions and disturbances will help tremendously in improving the reading speed of the individual.
• Skimming the Content for Main Ideas: Reading is not an additive practice. It is not necessary that one take in the sentences and paragraphs sequentially and in order. One should develop the habit of scanning the whole content in the minimum possible time so that they can and focus more on the significant content, which are mostly marked in bold or are in bulleted points. This will help a person in avoiding the ruffle and focusing more on the very important material.

• Take Regular Breaks: Regular studying for hours at a stretch dissembles the efficiency of the person while decelerating the retention process. One should take regular breaks to refresh him or herself, which also helps in deflecting much strain on the eyes.

• Switch on to learn through digital media: In the breaks while reading one can also switch on to learn differently through the CDs and DVDs which are intended for better learning and comprehension. This method is pretty useful for the students aspiring for competitive exams like IIT-JEE and AIEEE which demands a lot of learning in shorter span of time. This method of learning is also useful for the students appearing in the board exams.

•     Using Interactive Media: People get bored reading the books. Especially during the exam preparation time many a student feel bored mugging up the lessons, they can use interactive media for preparing their courses which are designed and developed to cover the whole course in easy understandable manner.
•    By continual practice of these speedy reading methods, one will notice a substantial amount of change in his or her own interpretation style in a few months. Despite the fact that a large number of people are blessed with speedy reading by nature, there are a whole lot of courses and CDs/DVDs available online that help people in learning this proficiency. One just needs to keep in mind that speedy reading is not magic rather the regular practice and steady concentration are the only two ways that will help a person master this truly important art of speedy learning. 

How Can You Make Your Child Concentrate on Studies?

Studying or simply concentrating in studies can be a boring job for the majority of children, particularly if the children have little or altogether no interest in the books or learning material at hand. This automatically brings down concentration levels and brings on a sense of helplessness in the child.

The trouble, nevertheless, is not as serious as it may seem and a few simple steps can do in assisting one nurture good relations with their textbooks and formulate efficacious concentration spans.

• Make a Timetable: First, it is essential to plan a proper timetable where not only study hours but also breaks are included. Little breaks in between long study hours are essential to give a child relief from a tedious study schedule.
• Make Study Sessions Engaging: It is also significant to make study sessions more engaging and interesting so that children do not lose their interest while studying. You can also give them extra information related to the subject and topic your kid is reading.
• Make Chapters short and Easy: Try to make chapters easy in the form of small little quizzes.

• Fun and Rewards: A little reward like a simple toffee or a 10 minute break to play or watch cartoon on TV at every answer is not a bad idea to keep your kid’s excitement on. Also, try to integrate little jokes and anecdotes in the middle of lessons so that kids do not get bored.
• Write down main ideas: Encourage your children to take notes. This valuable study habit is quite beneficial to children. When the child take the time to record what he is reading, it reinforces new facts, helping him concentrate on his studies.

• Apply what you learn: Besides just learning fact, show your children how they can recount what they've learned. For instance, rather than just making them learn the formula for finding the area of a triangle (area= 1/2bh), have them measure something in their room that's has a triangular shape, for this activity they can measure their birthday cone cap or any other triangular thing. This will make learning math more sensible to them. In addition, explain how knowing math will help them in practical areas of their lives, such as calculating how much carpets they need to buy for their room, etc.
• Do Not Force: If a kid don’t feel like finishing a chapter or a lesson after long hours of study, then he/she should not be forced to study on. Study overload should not be imposed on the children when they are not able to pay attention in the studies for that time.

• Set aside time for distracting thoughts: Tell your kids to get out a blank sheet of paper and make a note of any distracting thoughts. Then tell them to pick out a specific time and place to think about them-but not while studying and doing homework.
• Let Them Stay Healthy: Lastly, make sure that kids get ample amount of rest each night, with an average of 8-9 hours of sleep. Furthermore, take care of their diet and give them enough and appropriate stuff to eat well because it will help them stay fit. Also, ask your children to spare some time for fitness activities such as sports, as it will finally help them concentrate on things in a more effective way.

Concentrating on studying is not by a blame sight an unfeasible task and all it takes is a bit of fortitude. Anyone who is committed to following the aforesaid steps is bound to realize a marked difference in their execution and learning within shorter time span.

Exciting Art and Craft Activities for Your Tiny Tots and Toddlers

Mary Lou Cook quotes that “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

The quote above summarizes nothing else but the essence of a child’s imagination and creativity. Words will fall less even if a poet desires to describe in words the joy a toddler feels when he gets a crayon or pencil to scribble for the first time, this infuses in him a sense of achievement and opportunity to paint, whatever is in his mind.

Besides the above there are many more reasons which emphasize the importance of Art & Craft on toddlers:

• Helps improve concentration of the child
• Boosts creativity and Imagination
• Increase observation power and exploration
• Develops fine motor skills
• Improves eye-hand co-ordination
• Help energetic child to sit for longer period of times
• Chances of learning about colors and shapes

Creativity and artistry are the natural instincts possessed by every child which determines his personality and formulates his manual dexterity. There are a lot of Art & Craft Activities that can help children to develop his creative and imaginative skills.

• Crayons: The first thing parents could do is that they can provide crayons to their kids and observe a thrill in their kids when for the first time they scribble on paper and could spot various  colors and shapes coming out of it.

• Finger painting: It seems to be messy, but in real it’s one of the most pleasurable activities for the kids. At first, let them explore on their own on paper with colors. For little older kids parents  can come up with many ideas:

• Tell them to draw a rainbow with seven different colors.
• Draw an aquarium and ask your child to draw and color fishes using his thumb.
• Draw a flower and let your kid use index finger to color the petals.
• Draw an insect and ask your child to color it his thumbs and fingers.
• After some time doing this activity they will begin to draw different shapes with different sketch pens like bird, fish, hut, insects, flower, peacock etc. There can be several more such ideas, just straighten out your creative side.

• Play Dough or Clay: Kid’s love playing with dough or clay. They squeeze it, roll it, pull it, shape it and make imprints in it with different objects like keys, fingers, palms, pencils etc., and simply explore their imagination out. Non-toxic colorful play dough can be given to children as they are safer.

• Brush Painting: Many children in their third year enjoy painting with paintbrush and poster paint or water color. Here, parents can help their children by letting him do the free hand painting for some time and then drawing picture for him to color in with the help of brush and paint. Don’t forget to appreciate your child’s effort when he attempts to color into the pictures. You can also tell him to make an intriguing mirror image effect, just by painting on the one half of the paper and fold the other side. This way beautiful greeting cards can be made and shared with their peers.

• Vegetable Printing: You may be amazed to know that how various vegetables cut through root and dipped in tempera paints can be used to give some interesting patterns and pictures:

• Using Onions: Cut an onion horizontally and vertically and give it to your child. Your child can use it as stamp to stamp the paper with various colors and create wonderful patterns and art.
• Using Potato: Take a medium sized potato and cut into two halves, and carve out a design into it, this can be used by your child to stamp on paper with different colors. Similarly you can make and stamp many designs and you also can make a name stamp which your child will love to print on paper. You can also cut a potato in four pieces and your child can use it to make a flower using these pieces by holding them in different positions, you can draw leaves as well and use a vertical piece to draw the stem.
• Using Ladyfinger: You can draw a flowery bush and ask your kid to stamp the petals using cut ladyfinger, it gives spectacular patterns and the flowers designed through it look quite beautiful.

• Sponge Painting: Sponges that come in animal shapes or usual kitchen sponges that you can cut into fantastic shapes, dipped in poster paint and stamped onto paper, makes an appealing medium that is quite easy and convenient for little fingers to manage.
• String Painting: Take a number of strings of different widths and have your child dip them in paint, then drag them transversely on a large paper sheet. This way amazing pattern come up with it and when children use for colors in the pattern it looks amazing.
• Rubber Stampings: Rubber stamps comes in various animals, human being, birds, shapes sizes, and designs as well as in alphabetic and numeric shapes and when they are in the child’s hands it’s all fun for them to color with them and make different designs and patterns on the paper with the help of color – but you need to keep watching them while they are doing this activity or you may find your home decorated with these stamps all over the wall and bed covers colored with these stamps and colors.
• Chalks: Colored chalks in bright colors are appealing to most children. You just get a chalk board and see your child’s thoughts and imagination as blend of colors and patterns on that board. Colored chalks can also be used on black construction paper, your child may be delighted to find that something hold on the black background too.
• Rubbings: Put a white paper over an object that has an interesting engraved texture – a piece of bark or a coin for example. Then have your child rub a crayon or color pencil to and fro firmly on the paper to appear an enthralling effect.
• Coloring Books: Nowadays great variety of coloring books are available in the market and online stores and you are the best judge to decide which one is suitable for your child, but here are a few varieties of books available which can be real delight for your child:
• Magic Pencil Books: These books comprise white sheets and children have to rub HB lead pencil or color pencil on them, which exposes hidden pictures on those pages, it is ideal for novices as it just requires scribbling on part of children and stunning pictures come forth.
• Magic Painting: In these books, children simply have to apply water with a brush and see the magic of colors. The books are sure to mesmerize children as they experience the magic of colors budding on pages with just with the touch of their brush.
• Crayon Coloring book: These books are specifically created to introduce crayon-coloring and show children how best to make neat and attractive drawings. Colored drawings have been given on one side which serves as guidelines to draw similar pictures and color them. The child is, however, free to use his own thoughts and imagination.
• Activity Books: These books are specially designed for children to begin enjoying different forms of creative drawings, that include join the dots, puzzles, mazes, puzzles along with mazes, coloring etc., it is not only funny and enjoyable but also helpful in improving natural power of creation in the children. These books also help to arouse a child’s reasoning power and meant for grown-up children.
• Wipe & Clean Activity Books: These books allow a child to make mistakes, wipe them away and try the activity or puzzle again. It is really an enjoyable and very simple way to learn for the kids.
• Paper Models Books: These books facilitates simple cutouts inside just to fold and paste them according to instructions and they will be pleased to see beautiful butterflies, racing car, boat, houses, aeroplane and several other marvelous objects made by them. These books help the kids to develop observation power, imagination and construction skills.
• Collages: With this medium a child can make a lot of things and lot of designs. Bits of fabric, feathers, macaroni, seeds, beans, beads and buttons, clippings from magazines, glitter, and other lightweight household material can be used and with the help of nontoxic glue they can pasted and then a great collage is ready. Similarly leaves, acorns, twigs, small pine cones, small stones, sand, can be painted or otherwise adorned on paper or cardboard collage.
• Origami: Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding to create interesting objects of different shapes. It is both exciting and enjoyable to find how, with the help of a piece of paper, one can create almost endless items of different shapes. This fascinating activity provides plenty scope to the creative talents of children and offers long term entertainment and fun to them.
• Scissors: Older children like to practice cutting paper with scissors. These days, children safe scissors are available online. These scissors are specially designed lest the children get hurt.