Category: Parent Interests

Technology is everywhere and with it we are given vast opportunities to learn and grow. Here are some creative ways to use technology in an environment that encourages imagination and develops important skills.

Start a Blog

Blogs are everywhere on the internet right now. From cooking to crafts, travel or fashion, blogs have given a platform to those of all different backgrounds and interests to express themselves.

With easy-to-use and free platforms such as WordPress or Blogger, you can help your child set up their own blog. A blog can be an expression of any interest to your child, which gives them agency in their own writing and thoughts. A blog can even be a way to introduce your child to interviewing and journalism.

Find out more about how to set up your child’s blog here, and maybe even gain some inspiration from these well-know child bloggers.

Photography and Video Editing

Technology doesn’t just happen in front of a screen. For early learners, durable cameras are a great tool for exploration, learning, and developing fine motor skills. Challenge your child by finding objects with the same shapes or colors. Using a group of pictures (or only one) tell a story using sequence of events.

Your older child can take on concepts like composition, lighting, and negative space.

If using a digital camera, try out some basic free online editing programs like this one.

Coding

With coding gaining more and more prominence, parents and teachers are finding ways of incorporating computer engineering into their classrooms and homes.

From the outside coding may seem complicated and daunting. Online programs like Kodable have made coding more accessible to kids. Coding not only teaches mathematic skills, but also encourages children to take risks and troubleshoot problems.

Here are a few other popular coding apps to check out with your child.

Research and Exploration

The internet is a vast expanse of information and that can be overwhelming at times. Teaching your child how to use this information, and where to find what they need is a valuable skill they will end up using daily.

You and your child can practice researching topics they are interested in by asking questions, gathering information, and checking sources.

Kids are endlessly curious about life. Why not take a moment to have them find answers to their own questions by researching?

Here are some strategies of how to go more in depth when teaching your child how to research.

Creating Art

Get creative with technology! Art can come in many forms. Explore these with your child through digital art programs that allow them to create 3-D collages, animate their own characters, doodle, color and explore famous artists.

Halloween is days away and what better way to spend it than with some fun and educational pumpkin activities.

Whether you’re still in need to pick the perfect pumpkin, or if it’s already starting to decompose on your porch (oops!) there is so much to learn from these bumpy, round, and bright vegetables.

Here are seven ways you can get you can celebrate pumpkin season with your early learner this fall:

1 – Measure your pumpkin

Have your child make a dot on the pumpkin with a marker. Using a flexible measuring tape or piece of string, start at the dot and wrap it all the way around the pumpkin. If using string, have your child hold their finger at the marker, then line up the string with a ruler.

Record your measurements and see which pumpkin is the roundest. You can even measure the height, too!

2 – Line up pumpkins by size

Get a whole variety of pumpkins and have your child line them up from big to little. Make it tricker by adding in pumpkins of all different shapes and weight.

3 – Counting seeds

After you’ve separated the seeds from the gooey inside, let them dry out (or roast them!) and use them for all kinds of learning activities.

From counting charts:

To color sorting:

There are endless ways to use these perfect-sized learning tools.

4 – How do pumpkins grow?

A pumpkin patch is the perfect place to explore how plants grow. Walk your child through each stage a pumpkin goes through before it is ready to be picked. Maybe even save some seeds for your own garden.

Here is a helpful book to get you started:

5 – Bake a pumpkin pie

Learn how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch! Baking is a great way to introduce measurements and other math skills. Plus, the satisfaction of seeing a pumpkin transform into an edible form is so exciting to behold. Your child will get to taste something of their own creation.

Here is a kid-friendly recipe:

6 – Weigh your pumpkin 

Have your child stand on a scale and write down their weight on a piece of paper. Then, have them hold the pumpkin and weigh themselves again. Subtract their own weight from the weight with the pumpkin to get the pumpkin’s weight.

You can weigh the pumpkin by itself to see if their math is right.

7 – Why do pumpkins rot?

Pumpkins don’t keep their beautiful shape forever – especially after we carve them. Make an outdoor science project on your front porch by studying what happens to a pumpkin when it decomposes. Take pictures each day, make notes and have your child use other senses like touch and smell to make observations.

By Shelly Koren

A significant element of our lives that greatly affects our ability to excel in school and focus is frequently ignored by students; this is of course food. We interact with food every day from pizza day on Tuesdays to grabbing a burger after class because food gives us energy to progress in our day.

Although we may not notice how our eating habits affect our capabilities, a new study published in the Journal of School Health maintains that your diet can significantly affect your academic performance. This study discovered that students who replaced unhealthy saturated fats with fruits and veggies were able to gain a higher average on academic assessments.

It is not surprising that the food we digest ends up affecting our energy output and so it is important to eat well especially as a student. Experts claim that the brain is an essential part of learning and it has to be healthy in order to do so. They claim that with poor nutrition or inadequate hydration the student’s ability in the classroom will decline accordingly.

University of Waterloo Health Services establish that eating healthy does not mean eliminating all food you enjoy, but balancing between the healthy and the unhealthy.

In addition to healthy eating, Philippa Norman, a writer for Healthy brain for Life has shown that it is important to eat throughout the day because food provides the body with energy. If you do not have the schedule that can accommodate consistent eating, Norman suggests that having snacks in a bag will help to stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent the student from becoming incredibly hungry and filling up on unhealthy food.  She also emphasizes the importance to eat breakfast lunch and dinner, and make sure that students eat something every four hours.

“Eating regularly and choosing healthy portions of nutritious foods means having more mental and physical energy, feeling good about yourself and enjoying better health”

 

What students eat impacts not only their behaviour and energy, but also how well they are able to succeed academically, so it is important to eat healthier foods to provide nourishment for the brain.

By Shelly Koren

It is a common problem for teens to avoid sleeping as much as they should, which ultimately takes a toll on how they behave at home, with their friends, and their ability to retain information at school. This could be for numerous reasons, for example the student may have been unable to manage their time wisely and is now scrambling to finish their assignments, or they could be using social media websites, which also happens to keep them awake.

Regardless of the reason the issue of sleep amongst students is a prevalent one, as members of the Student Health Advisory Council claim that students are one of the most sleep-deprived populations, particularly university and college students. In fact in comparison to previous generations, students go to sleep later and attain less sleep per night than ever before.

The recommended amount of sleep for an adult is about eight to ten hours in order for them to remain alert throughout the day. A study by the Journal of Adolescent Health using 1120 students found that only 30 percent of the participants slept at least eight hours a night, which is the minimum recommendation for young adults in school.

The topic of insufficient sleep is discussed by Roxanne Prichard, a psychology professor at the University of St. Thomas, claiming that, “Students underestimate the importance of sleep in their daily lives. They forgo sleep during periods of stress, not realizing that they are sabotaging their physical and mental health.”

 

She goes on to explain how not getting enough sleep can weaken your ability to concentrate and solve simple problems. Lack of sleep also serves as a dysfunction because it affects the ability to remember, therefore making it impossible to focus in class. It also becomes exceedingly difficult to memorize key points for a test.

 

Sufficient sleep is essential not only for young adults, but throughout one’s life because it allows the brain to rest, and prepare itself for the next day. It is therefore important to sleep enough from a young age in order to achieve the best work that you can.