Posts Tagged young kids
Reading Software For Kids
Reading software for kids has evolved into a very effective tool to start teaching youngsters how to read before they even start organized education. These days, it is not uncommon at all for children to use computer software programs to develop their reading abilities as many as two years before they are scheduled to start formal education.
How Reading Software for Kids Works
Most reading programs that we are familiar with involve memorization and repetition. Think of the traditional flash card methods that have been used for many years in schools and at home. Fortunately, with technology becoming more available to parents and students, there has been some software programs developed that has revolutionized how kids learn.
With research clearly showing that humans learn quicker, and retain more information, by visual learning, computer software that maximizes visual word association is by far the most effective way for young kids learn to read.
Many people have associated learning to read English as a youngster with learning a foreign language in teenagers. To accomplish this level of learning, takes the right approach and method. Using visualization tools available online, your child can learn to read much quicker than using other traditional methods.
An important item to note when you are researching reading software for kids, is to make sure the software does not make learning too easy. Kids who are used to playing video games and the like, are used to having to work to get a reward. Learning to read should be the same concept, and not be something that automatically gives the answers to the child in the middle of the lesson.
This does not mean reading software programs should be too difficult, either. Rather, they should be challenging, yet be fun and interactive at the same time, so the learning experience is seen more as play time for your child, rather than learning time. Many parents have found that making using the computer a reward for good behaviour, an effective way to disguise learning as a fun reward.
So starting your child off on the right foot, and getting a head start on learning to read, can be done with very little effort on your part. A simple software download, and your child is playing fun games that make learning to read a breeze for them. It will not be long before they are able to start school in advanced reading classes, because of the work you did before hand using your software.
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How Early Music Education Develop Your Infants, Toddlers and Young Kids Through Musical Toys
Every parent should have the experience of being proud of the new things that your kid(s) learned every single day. Whether it’s just a new sound that they can make, or a small progress in their walking, these are just tiny precious things that parents so much cherish of.
The Golden Learning Period
The speed that children can absorb new knowledge is just like a sponge sucking water in. Many researches about early childhood learning have confirmed that children have their golden learning period from infant to 6 year-old. It is the period where your children explore and absorb new things including sounds, words, movements, as well as the golden period for brain development.
Benefits of Early Music Education
Many researches on early childhood music education have drawn conclusion that children can benefit from music educations, not only on their musicality, but also on:
1. development of language skills
2. creativity
3. parent-child relationship
4. social skills
5. cognitive development
6. concentration
7. self-esteem
8. self-expressiveness
Develop Music Education at Home
There are music playgroups available for infant, toddlers and young kids. You can also help your kids to develop musicality at home by using musical toys.
Below are some selected musical toys that could help your kids to benefit from early childhood music education.
For Infants:
Fisher-Price Precious Planet Kick and Play Piano
This kick & play piano associates baby’s physical movement with different tunes, which eventually can build up a song through kicking the soft pad. Via the music making process, babies would get familiar with the concept of having sound while kicking. The series of short tunes would help them recognize different sounds and be able to distinguish them. Their musicality would be subtly built.
Baby Einstein Count and Compose Piano
Instead of using feet, this Baby Einstein Count and Compose Piano emphasize on the usage of hands, ears and eyes. The speaker of the piano produces music tunes, as well as number-counting in 3 different languages. Your babies can also compose music via using different modes and keys. This piano is an advanced version of all average pianos for infant.
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The Big Gap – Online Educational Games For Kids
In our quest to find online educational games and learning activities for kids in kindergarten, preschool and first grades, we did a detailed study to see how well they fulfill parental expectations and needs. Our findings show significant gaps, indicating challenges and new opportunities for online educational websites for kids.
What do parents actually want?
Earlier surveys have shown that parents generally want their children to get used to computers at a young age, but not get addicted to the same. Parents expect children’s websites to be informational, easy to use, and suitable for kids of varying ages. They look for games and activities that teach the kids the essential concepts of early childhood education, such as, numbers, alphabets, phonics, analytical skills etc. They also look for online stories, rhymes and other entertaining content. Studies have shown it to be highly effective, if the kids are taught in a subtle and entertaining manner, without giving them a burdened feeling that they need to learn. Such a fun learning approach goes a long way in addressing their short attention spans, and it is quite effective in motivating kids to learn.
Of course, in today’s scenario, most parents are busy and find little time to sit along with their kids in front of the computer on a regular basis. Educational websites for kids need to be well designed for easy kid-friendly usage, and have the ability to engage young kids without the parents necessarily having to babysit them all the time.
What do most educational web sites offer?
To our surprise, our research showed that most kids education web sites fail to meet the above, rather basic expectations. We found a large number of websites offering online educational games, activities and content in a highly unorganized manner without any standardization. Each site had its own content and navigational structure, requiring kids to read and understand instructions on the screen, making it mandatory for an adult to help and supervise. Typically, most games are not age specific and unintuitive in their design. Large number of games relied on kid’s hand-eye coordination, and did nothing in terms of helping them learn a new concept.
Even the more education-oriented websites, actually do not ‘teach’ or explain concepts to the kids. They pose questions in a game format that mainly ‘test’ what the kids already know. Teaching requires audio-visual content that explain the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of each topic in an age-specific manner. This is one of the biggest shortcomings of most of the web sites for early childhood education.
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