Got a Fussy Eater?

Nightmarish mealtimes? Feeding children can easily be counted as one of the top three parenting exercises that are the toughest to accomplish. It’s a no brainer that feeding kids is a hard road, but there are ways to ease the journey.

It Works Every Time: Place a low table in a room where your children spend most of their time. Keep a bowl of washed fruits on it. The table should be low enough for the contents to be clearly visible at all times. Every time the children are nibblish, they will reach out for what they see. Watch them get hooked on to fruits rather than cookies. Vary the contents from time to time. Change the texture – go from soft to crunchy and vice versa.

Visual Appeal: It’s not for nothing that chefs go overboard trying to make their food look good. We eat with our eyes first, so take the “senses” route when it comes to “creating” food for your child. Let it look good, smell good, have different textures, and so on. Liven up the drab sandwich by giving it a different shape such as a circle or star; “draw” a ketchup face or simply make it the most colourful sandwich they’ve ever seen! Remember, more colour means more nutrition.

Familiar vs. the Unfamiliar: You know your child best, so work out the extent to which new foods work. Sometimes, “familiar” equals comfort food, and at other times it creates boredom. Rule of thumb – the more variety you give your child at an early age, the more likely they are to want to try out new foods at a later stage.

Involve them: There’s rarely a child who won’t eat what he’s helped make! Get your child to help marinate the veggies to make that delicious grilled platter. Children are never too young to help in the kitchen. Haven’t we all seen cookery shows on television where children as young as 7 or 8 cook like seasoned chefs? Ask them and they tell you that they started helping in the kitchen at age 2!!

Be the Role Model: You’re showing them the way. Cook and eat wholesome food, they do the same. Binge on junk, they follow you. It stands to logic that it’s hard for a dedicated carnivore to cultivate a love for vegetables in the child!

Bottom line: Even if children are fussy eaters, they’ll eat enough to keep them going. Be creative in your choice of foods and how it is presented to them. Make mealtimes fun – get the family to eat together. Get your child’s friends to come over once a while and let them eat together – children are more likely to eat when they see others their age happily tuck in.

Plant Away!

There’s nothing more exciting for children than to have and develop their very own vegetable patch. Surprisingly, I have come across very few schools that provide this enriching experience to their students. Urban centres understandably have limited, if any space to accommodate this activity…but growing vegetables or flowers in pots or long wooden boxes filled with soil is a viable option. Parents living in high rise apartments can make use of their balconies to facilitate the activity. 

If educators have the luxury of being able to pick a spot, go for one with plenty of sunshine. For a group of 8-10 children, a raised bed approximately 8 feet long and 3 feet wide is good enough. Ask your gardener to make “walkways” between beds to avoid trampling. Work with small groups at a time to avoid not just overcrowding, but also so that you can give them personal time and guidance.

Next, the gardening tools – provide real child-size gardening tools, not toys. You will need a few shovels, rakes hoes, and trowels. Unique garden ornaments are available too. Make use of these to help each group identify its own plot. Alternately, you could make your own using discarded material such as empty tin cans etc. Very small children might have problem reading, but if working with slightly older ones, name tags work just as well. Even within a larger plot, each child could have his or her personal “garden” – allocate individual spaces and mark them for easy recognition.  

 Prepare your children for the activity by making them part of the process. Now that their garden is ready, allow them to decide what they want to grow. Watch it though! You might have someone who wants to grow burgers or pizzas! They can plant seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, carrots etc. The thrill of growing vegetables is greater than growing flowers simply because they can eat their produce!

Now for the most exciting part……planting and tending. Show your children how to sow seeds. They could either plant in rows or just scatter the seeds depending on what you are planting. Tomatoes or beans would be better off evenly spaced, whereas a coriander splash is perfectly acceptable. Schedule gardening sessions so that children weed their vegetable patches at least once a week and water their plants daily, or as required. Enriching the soil with fertilizers is important too. Use organic or natural fertilizers, keeping in mind at all times that all garden related activities must be strictly supervised by adults. However, let the children get their hands dirty! Do not hold back on that at all. 

Make the most of the gardening experience. It offers you the opportunity to get children to engage with nature. Use it to slide in diverse lessons ranging from life cycles to the concept of change. Get them  exploring to observe colours, shapes, sizes. In addition to plants, they may come upon worms, spiders and birds, particularly if they have an outdoor garden. Record observations on charts. Watch their thrill as a bud or flower appears and turns to fruit. The ultimate joy? Being able to pluck the produce and eat it! Teach them to wash the fruit or vegetable before popping it into their mouth.

They are doing something real with tangible results…it’s a priceless experience. 

Making the Most of Outings and Trips

Learning about the world is an important part of children’s education. A lot of of this happens when they are out on trips or outings. That’s why schools make field trips an integral part of their academic routine.

Parents can also take every opportunity to make outings a learning experience for their children. A drive to the mall could be an enriching lesson on traffic rules and road safety. Children must understand that rules are made for our safety and that following them is in our interest.

Model safe behaviours – wear your seat belt, don’t talk on your mobile phone while driving, point out instances of unsafe practices on the roads – for instance, if you see a helmetless rider or someone’s elbow (or head) sticking out of a window. Your child needs to understand that people get hurt if they are not careful on the roads!

The mall itself is a haven for educational opportunities. Go to the supermarket and have your child observe the layout – toiletries in one section, edibles in the other, clothing, toys, stationery etc elsewhere. Classification is an important analytical skill, so such exercises are beneficial for children.

Back home you could go for a nature walk (or even just to a park with some amount of greenery).  Make the nature walk an opportunity for as much learning as possible. Listen for sounds, look for insects and plants. Bring back fallen leaves or flowers of different shapes, sizes, colours etc. Get your child to group these according to particular characteristics they share – for instance, according to shape…so all big leaves would go into one pile, middle sized into another and small leaves into a third pile. If it’s flowers, they could be categorized by the number of petals they have or by colour. Allow your child to determine the categorization criteria.

If you live in the city, you could listen for “city sounds” or use objects around the house for classification activities. Take a variety of fruits, for instance, and ask your child to categorize these – it could be based on shape, size, colour or even fruits that we can eat without peeling and fruits that must be peeled before eating.

If you are walking around the neighbourhood, visit the post office or a bank for your child to observe people at work. Explain what they are doing and why they are doing it. Provide your child the opportunity to make small monetary transactions – for instance, giving money to a grocer on buying eggs and receiving the change. Inculcate saving habits early – get a piggy bank and encourage your child to drop in coins regularly. They are always thrilled to do so. 

To help your children learn when they are outdoors or on a trip, listen to what they say, answer their questions and encourage them to describe what they see. Back home, talk about the different things you saw on the trip. Let them draw, paint or use play dough to make some of things they saw.

Finally, outings with kids are about having fun as much as they are about learning. So, don’t focus so much on the learning that you forget to have fun! 

Developing Fine Motor Skills in Children

Have you noticed how small children find it very difficult to accomplish tasks such as doing up buttons or picking up grains of rice with their fingers? There are two reasons for this - firstly, the tiny muscles of their fingers haven't developed sufficiently i.e. they are lacking in fine motor development. Secondly, children don't have the hand-eye coordination required to perform the task i.e. their hands and eyes cannot work in tandem because there hasn't been enough practice.   

There are many parents who are most eager for their children to start writing the ABCs. Think twice before pushing your child. You might be doing real damage. Before children can hold a pencil to write, the small muscles of their hands must be allowed to develop. There are several enjoyable ways of doing this.

Everyone makes flour dough at home - give some to your child. It's a lot safer than play-doh if ingested, and just as pliable. Add some food colour to make it more attractive. In pulling, stretching and shaping the dough, your child is silently building strength in those little fingers. Additional tools such as rolling pins, cookie cutters etc. could make it a lot more fun.

Activities such as tearing, cutting, pasting are also great to build finger muscle control. Bring out old newspapers and magazines and encourage your child to tear paper into as tiny pieces as possible. Use these torn bits to paste within the large outline of a tree, house or any other object. As children grow older, make the outline smaller and show  them how to stay within that outline while pasting. You could also tear and crumple paper to use for the pasting activity. 

Go ahead and be creative - pick up fallen leaves, petals, feathers and the like on a "nature walk" and paste these to create a collage. 4-5 year old children can start using child-friendly scissors to cut out simple shapes such as a square or triangle. It could be exciting to cut out pictures from an old magazine and use these to create a masterpiece!

Children love colours so drawing, colouring, painting should bring them great joy. Encourage your child to scribble. However, remember, no ABCs. Let them just pick up a crayon and scribble away on old newspapers. It's common to find children scribbling on walls - get a easel board and provide lots of scribbling material to protect your walls! If you can afford it, get a wood panelling akin to a blackboard at your child's height level in his or her room. Provide supplies - coloured chalk, a duster etc. for a great scribbling experience. Place coins underneath plain paper and show children how to gently rub crayon on these to see impressions emerge.  

Be with your child to supervise painting sessions. Spread newspapers on the floor before starting out. Use child friendly water soluble paint. Allow your child to paint freely using paint brushes, ear buds or even old tooth brushes. Do not impose your ideas - let them draw and paint as they like and not how how you want them to. Make hand prints and foot prints. It's going to get messy, but enjoy the fun. Your child is going to love it! Cut vegetables into half and dip them in paint to create vegetable prints. Bitter gourds, onions, okra etc. yield beautiful block designs. Give your child a clean eye dropper to "pick up" paint and experiment with different sized coloured droplets. As he or she squeezes the dropper to suck up and release paint, the finger muscles are exercised.

The tech savvy children of this century are no strangers to mobile phones, and other digital equipment. Pressing keys in mobiles and remotes, clicking the mouse etc. aid fine motor development as well as hand eye coordination. 

All these activities will compel children refine their finger movements aiding in fine motor development. Their hand-eye coordination will improve too. Provide every opportunity you can to assist in both. Encourage them to do up and undo buttons and zippers on their clothes. Show them how to tie their shoe laces. Its not necessary that they will be able to do these immediately - remember, don't push...it'll come to them in good time. In the mean time, have fun together!

Developing Large Muscle Skills in Children

Small children find it difficult to sit still for too long at a stretch. That's because they are not not meant to. Their large muscles i.e. leg and arm muscles, shoulder muscles as well as neck muscles are developing and we need to do all we can to provide them opportunities to help them achieve this. Pre- schoolers are also learning to coordinate their movement - for instance, they may still not be able to walk swinging their arms freely, but will be able to do so, given the chance to practise. 

By about 18 months, a child should be walking, although each child is a unique individual, so there are bound to be developmental differences even within the same age range - no worries there! Parents, caregivers and those managing Day Care Centres and/or Preschools must allocate time to their little ones for large muscle skill (or motor) development. It doesn't cost a thing. If children are running, hopping, jumping, throwing, carrying, balancing, climbing (whew!), her large muscles are active!

If you have access to a children's park, take your child there for a while every evening.  The play equipment will afford your child the opportunity to climb, pull, push and practise a multitude of other movements. They learn to socialize too! At home on a rainy day, children could crawl under tables or chairs, play tug-o-war or ride their tricycle. If you have a punching bag that can be used for pounding, that would be very useful too. Draw random shapes on the floor with chalk and get your child to walk on these. The task needs concentration as well as coordination. You could also ask them to carry things - for instance, a half filled glass of water on a tray; or balance a book on their head!

If there isn't a children's park near your home, you can still provide opportunities for large motor development. Run around together playing "catch". Take a ball and throw it at each other attempting to catch it. Encourage your child to throw the ball greater distances over a period of time. You could also place an empty box or carton and ask your child to aim at it or knock it off. Children enjoy kicking a ball and that's great exercise for the leg muscles. Random kicks could slowly be channelized into aiming at targets, such as the empty carton suggested earlier. Bouncing the ball is another activity that is great for developing hand-eye coordination as well as development of the arm muscles.

Animal movements are great fun and provide for a variety of leg movement. Get your child to hop like a bunny or a bird, gallop like a horse, crawl like a tortoise, wriggle like a snake or pounce like a cat or lion. Let them suggest the animal, decide how it moves and then perform the movement. It's not just fun, but stimulates  thinking and role play as well. 

Do be careful that the outdoor play area is clean and safe. If your child is using play equipment, make sure that it has child friendly rounded edges without sharp points. Metal equipment should be rust free, while wooden equipment should not have splinters. Check the area for dangerous objects such as broken glass, rusty nails etc. 

Most important of all, let your child have fun!      

Creating and Following Limits

Hi all!

This one will come in handy for parents of young children as well as caregivers. 

It's vital that a child learns early on what is ok to do and what is not - this being said with a view that safety of the child and those around him is paramount. Also, without knowledge of and practising behaviours that set a limit, a child would find it very difficult to cope with interacting with others outside his or her home or family. 

Some children accept boundaries and limits more easily, whereas others might be frequently tempted to find out what your reaction to their actions would be. In dealing with such children, calling them "bad" or "naughty" is not the solution. Label the action rather than the child. Express your displeasure at the action and then let the child face the consequences. For instance, they must know that hitting another child is completely unacceptable. If they are clear about your expectations, they will probably know that their action of hitting another child means that they don't get to play with this or any other "friend" for a certain time period or that they miss out on an ice cream treat in the evening. 

There are many ways in which you can convey to child your expectations. Some of these are:

• Be the role model. There's no point lecturing if the child doesn't see others in the house doing what he or she is expected to do.
• Be consistent. If hitting other children is off limits...it's off limits-no questions asked. If it's that way every time, your child will know that it is unacceptable.
• Praise good behaviour and encourage it. Positive reinforcement works and motivates. For instance, if your child has put back her toys after playing with them, give her a hug and say thank you. Point out that she now knows exactly where to find them when she wants to play again - also no one is likely to trip on the toys scattered on the floor. Such words will make her want to please you again with other actions. 
• Play small games to keep the "setting limits" process interesting. For instance, rather than asking your child to wash her hand each time before eating, ask her if she can do it before you can finish making the salad or setting the table.  

Finally, take heart that a time will come when your child will understand that the limits you set are for her protection. Children are innately curious and will investigate everything - the world around around them, their physical abilities, their emotions and also how far they can push their luck with you!  

Happy parenting!

Music Time

Feb 12, 2013

Kids love music and rhythm. If you play music at home, you'll observe the young move to the rhythm without even realizing they are doing it. It's fun! 

If you run a school for young children, make sure music is part of the programme. You could have a musical session after indoor playtime, when children are ready to exercise their vocal cords as well as their bodies.

Music involves movement, so make sure you have adequate space. You could push the furniture to a side to create space. If you can arrange to play music outdoors, that's even better. To start the session, arrange all children in a circle and sing your favourite songs. In addition to repeating the songs that your children already know, introduce new ones regularly. 

Proceed to movement. 3-4 year olds should be able to respond to rhythm or beat while clapping if an adult is leading. 4-5 year old children should be able to respond to rhythm with body movements like jumping, swaying. Older children who are 5-6 years should have no problem responding to music with simple dance steps. Keeping their age group in minds, provide a beat and get children to clap or move (jump, march, walk, skip etc.) accordingly. Vary the beat so that they move slowly or fast according to your directions. 

Get creative with rhythmic movements. You could ask children to mimic animal movements to a drum beat - for instance, galloping like a horse or hopping like a bunny. Ensure they vary their speed according to the rhythm. Use a drum to provide the beat - or if you don't have one, you could just use a bell or even a metal spoon and container to achieve the same. The idea is just to provide the rhythm for kids to follow. 

Action songs provide both music as well as opportunity for rhythmic movement. For instance, if children sing "Here we go round the mulberry bush" they could not just move in a circle but also perform actions such as brushing their teeth, combing hair etc. as per the dictates of the song. 

To end the session, have the children sit in their circle again and sing some soothing, quiet songs. Once in a while, just play music and them enjoy a free style dancing session! There's nothing as liberating (for adults too!!) as swaying to music. 

While all of the above was intended for a pre-school setting, parents with small children can follow exactly the same at home. Participate in the activity with your child, or get some children from the neighbourhood together and then have a musical session as a group. As far as possible, plan activities that involve the use of the whole body. This can include making a "train" and then moving to the "choo-choo" rhythm. They will enjoy it thoroughly. 

Cooking With Young Children

Jan 17, 2013.

Hello and a very happy 2013 to all our readers. 

All young parents and children care-givers/educators must have at some point seen their children show great interest in cooking and related processes. Cooking is a whole new, exciting world for them as it involves interesting ingredients and activities. What's more, they can actually 'eat" their effort in the end! And that's not  all. They learn Science and Math, they learn how to work as a team and they also develop great observation skills. 

Set up a cooking station on a low table so that children can see what's going on and take part easily. Of course, it goes without saying that they must at all times supervised by an adult. This is not only mandatory from the safety point of view but also the adult is required to be able to mediate and extend children's learning. For instance, if a recipe requires 4 spoons of sugar, it helps to have an adult around to keep track of the counting involved. 

What's Cooking?

So.....what can your child cook? If you have seen any of the Junior Master Chef series on TV, you will have been as astounded as I was to learn that some of the children on the show had been cooking from the age of 3 or 4 years. Even if they can't cook all by themselves, children love to help with things such as spreading butter or jam on slices of bread to make sandwiches. So, go ahead start with cold foods....sandwiches are a good thing to make. Get creative with the use of bread. Get children to cut out bread slices into different shapes - you could use lids, cake moulds or cookie cutters to do it. However, check for rounded edges before you hand over any implement to avoid accidents. 

Children could also help with peeling fruit and squeezing juice, mixing dough or even lining cake tins before moving on to more complex procedures that involves the use of kitchen implements. 

Getting Started:

Before handling food, wash your hands and ensure that the children to do the same. It's important that they see this as the first step to cooking every time. Explain clearly why this needs to be done. For instance you could say. "We must wash our hands with soap so that germs don't get into our food. Germs can make us very sick."

Next, hold a discussion on all the ingredients and equipment you will be using. Make sure it's all on the table so that children can name these or identify them if they are seeing some for the first time. As far as possible, have a set of bowls, spoons etc. for each child so that they can experience the real thing. Alternatively children could take turns measuring, pouring, mixing etc. 

Making the Most of each Experience:

Encourage the children to use their senses to see, touch, smell and taste the raw materials before they are mixed together or processed. They will discover textures, colours, tastes and how materials change as they are processed. Ask open ended questions to guide their sensory experience. For instance, ask how sugar tastes..and whether any other ingredient tastes generally the same (honey, syrup or other sweet ingredients could be named). Similarly you could ask if they can think of other items in a kitchen of the same colour as sugar. 

At the end of the cooking activity, ask children of they remember the sequence of events that went into creating the sandwich, cake or whatever it is you were collectively cooking. Finally, the last part of the cooking must be the best part of it - TASTING! Usually children love anything they have helped cook. Compliment their effort and say how delicious the dish is....then watch that beautiful smile light up their faces!

Happy Cooking!

Playpen Team

Make-Believe Play

Have you ever observed your child play “House” or “doctor-doctor?” You definitely must have, because make-believe is an extremely important part of children’s lives.  They try to make sense of the world around them by imitating what they see at home and the varied experiences they have outside home. Through make-believe play (or role play) children express their concerns, interest and feelings. If you look back and think about it, the very first make-believe game your child played was probably “house”…that’s simply because it was his or her first experience with “life.”   

Make-believe play is a very valuable activity because it helps children develop socially and emotionally. It encourages children to play together so they learn to share and take turns. It also teaches them to cooperate. For instance, when playing “house” you could see two children preparing “pretend” food, while another one sets the table and the third pours out tea! It teaches them the “give and take” that is needed when interacting in a group.

Part of developing self control is learning how to express feelings in socially acceptable ways. Make believe games provide opportunities for children to understand their feelings in ways that are safe and acceptable. Role play also helps children use their initiative and develop creativity – they can choose what games they want to play, they can then decide how they will play it and they begin learning how to use initiative in getting other children to follow their ideas…that is the beginning of showing and developing  leadership skills!!! As aptly expressed by eminent educationist Lev Vygotsky, “In play the child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself.”

For all those young parents who are looking for a good preschool for their child, check if your chosen school has the facility for children to indulge in role play. If they do, you would see things such as a housekeeping area with miniature kitchen sets, a puppet theatre, doctor sets, an art corner and the like.

At home, children will indulge in role play indoors or outdoors. It is not uncommon to see them take a bed sheet and use it to make a tent! Encourage such play…it’s doing your child good.  Some suggestions on what you can make available at home to create opportunities for role play for your child and his/her friends are:

• Child size utensils – which are easily available and not very expensive
• Child size furniture – small chairs, tables, wardrobes with hangers
• Teddy bears, dolls, doll’s clothes, bedding (blanket, sheet, rug etc) These can easily be made from waste cloth around the house
• Toy telephones
• Play money (encourage your child to come up with substitutes such as leaves or bottle caps that can be used as play money)
• A white board (or anything with a smooth surface that can be used to write on), chalk, duster
• Hats of different kinds
• Empty plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, paper bags, toilet rolls, bottle caps, styrofoam glasses etc.

The scrap material mentioned above encourages symbolic thinking in make-believe play, so don’t throw these – save them for your child’s toy box! By using symbols in their play, children develop the ability to understand that pictures, letters and numbers stand for objects and ideas – a fundamental concept for success in school with reading, writing and math!

So encourage role play as much as you can. In doing so, you are helping your child develop his or her thinking skills – especially problem solving skills. For instance, they’ll figure out a way to keep a rug falling off a chair when trying to make a house…or solve the problem of everyone wanting to be the “teacher.”

As always…..at the end of play, ensure that your child knows that all play material has to be put back in its place.

Happy parenting!

Playpen Team

How Children Learn

The series of articles I am writing refers to different areas of child development and learning. I kept these in mind when putting together the curriculum for Playpen preschool. In doing so, several areas of child learning have been addressed in order to engage children in self learning, and more importantly, self-paced learning. 

1. A child must be developmentally ready to learn. No matter how stimulating an environment we provide to a child, he won't learn unless he is ready for it. On the other hand, if the environment limits learning opportunities, children will not reach their potential - so both are important. 

2. Children are naturally curious and motivated to learn.......unless we stifle their curiosity or deprive them of a stimulating environment.

3. Early childhood i a critical period of development of communication competence i.e. development of self-expression as well as understanding others. This is the best time to help them learn a language and children who have the exposure to any language pick it up fast and well. 

4. Learning is enhanced when children are engaged in interactive processes. They develop intellectually, as well as socially, which at this stage is a very important developmental milestone. 

5. Children develop not through rote learning, but active exploration and manipulation of their environment. Play and activity, thus form the best medium for their learning. 

6. Individual differences exist in any group. The uniqueness of a child must be recognized and celebrated. So, should also be recognized the right of a child to follow his or her unique learning style.

More in next!

Playpen Team

Brushing Teeth

Hello, all you lovely young parents!

Parenting is one of the toughest jobs on the planet! There are a million things to attend to while raising a child - and each aspect is as important as any other. Today let's talk about "toothy issues."

All baby teeth appear by the age of two and a half and it is imperative that your child learns to care for these despite the fact that they will fall off and be replaced by permanent teeth at a later stage. If they are able to establish key oral hygiene routines at this stage, rest assured, they will follow it even as they grow up. 

It's important that children brush their teeth twice a day. Initially you will have to help you child while he or she brushes. Use a soft brush and remember to change it 3 to 4 times a year. Please make sure that there isn't too much toothpaste on the brush - they may not be able to spit it all out. Encourage them to rinse and spit out all or as much as they can because too much flouride in the system will make their teeth discoloured and brittle. 

Take your child to a dentist regularly. Statistics tell us that 8% of two year olds have one or more cavities, and this increases to a whopping 60% by the time by age 3! Now, that's scary isn't it? Do all you can to prevent this happening to your child. At mealtimes, rinse well after eating so that your child learns by imitation. Ensure you serve nutritious and well balanced meals.

Lean more about healthy teeth the fun way! You kid is sure to enjoy the animation and there are experiments the whole family can participate in. 

Until the next post....take care!

Playpen Team

Developing Healthy Eating habits in Your Child

May 27, 2012

Hello, all you young moms and dads!

It's important that your child develops correct eating habits from childhood since that is going to have an impact on his or her lifelong eating patterns. Parents have a huge role to play in this. Try some of these:

1. Model good eating behaviour: You can't expect your child to eat greens or fruits if he sees you snacking on chips or pastries!

2. Keep a bowl of fruit on a low table in your child's room. If he can see them, he will reach for them whenever he is hungry. This trick worked wonders for my son, who even at 23 now, reaches for fruit rather than biscuits when he is hungry!

3. Provide for variety: Foods that are attractively "packaged" are more inviting than routine fare. Make circular sandwiches packed with nutrition within the slices of bread. The shape will entice your child to try it.

4. Water should be the choice of drink to give to your thirsty child. Avoid sugary drinks - it only adds empty calories. Milk is great at snack times.

5. Eat together as far as possible. In doing so your child doesn't just learn to eat the right foods by imitation, but also gets his first lessons on dining etiquette - which is very important particularly when you go out to eat.

6. Involve your child in the food preparation process. Even very small children can help lay the table or peel fruit. Let him watch as you cook - give him some dough to roll out!

There's lots you can do to get your kid off the "right" block as far as eating is concerned. Remember, he only eats what you put in front of him - or what he sees around the house. Make sure he sees the right things!

Best Wishes,

Playpen Team

Quality Matters - We Are Now ISO Certified

May 05, 2012

Dear Friends, 

When we, at the Playpen team embarked on a journey of creating pre school and allied services, quality was uppermost on our minds. The “product” in terms of the curriculum and the service to our franchisees, students and their parents had to achieve standards of quality that would be recognized and respected throughout the world. Our mission was to develop quality management systems that complied with international standards.

I am pleased to announce that we have taken the first step towards making this happen  - Playpen Education LLP. is now an ISO9001:2008 Company. We have set the bar high for ourselves to work continuously towards enhancing our performance, and to partner with like minded people to achieve sustained success.

 Getting the ISO 9001:2008 certification was important to us because we wished to develop a systemic orientation in the Company that would ensure that we never comprised quality. In the course of preparation to be assessed for meeting quality standards, we put place the right policies, procedures, documentation, technologies, resources and structures so that we may consistently achieve high standards of quality.

I would like to congratulate and thank the Playpen team members for their tireless support and endless hours of work to help make Playpen Education LLP an ISO certified Company. None the less our work on improvement of our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Business Management Systems shall continue as hither to fore.

Poonam Bhardwaj

MD, Playpen Education LLP

Tormenting Tantrums

Mar 18, 2012

Around the 2 year age mark, you'll find your child giving in more and more to tantrums. These could be expressions of frustration at not being able to complete a task or simply as a way to gain attention. Once children are in this distressed state, they don't know how to manage it, because they haven't learned to do that yet and that's why they need your help to learn how to calm down. 

You need to first find out what has triggered the tantrum. It could be inconsistent behaviour on your part that leads to this tantrum - think about it - maybe on one trip to the market you bought your child a candy. the message your child got was I'll get a candy on every trip to the market. The next time you refuse, oh boy! you're in for a tantrum!!

When looking for triggers, observe the difficult times of day for your child - is he/she in a happier mood in the morning? Does he/she lose patience towards the end of the day? Make these times easier by anticipating your child's needs. Also, try and look at the situation from your child's point of view. What might seem like inconsequential to you may be like the end of the world for your child! 

If you child is not hungry, thirsty or unwell, the root cause of the tantrum needs to be addressed and the child reassured with a warm hug. However, sometimes just as we adults need to blow off steam, kids need to do it too! If that seems to be the case, make sure there is nothing around that could cause your child injury and stay close by until the tantrum blows over. 

Happy parenting!

Playpen Team

Developing Kindness in your Child

March 17, 2012.

Children have a  natural tendency to be kind - it's how we adults develop(or not)  this innate kindness in them that will guide their empathetic behaviour as they grow older. If you have a small child, you may have occasionally seen spontaneous kind behaviour in your child - maybe he or she tries to comfort a tearful friend or gives the pet dog a friendly hug. However, your child also has basic needs such as hunger that will override any "kind" behaviour if there is a need to choose. So, don't be surprised if he or she pushes another child to reach for the last apple in the bowl!

There's a lot you can do to gently veer your child towards being a caring individual. Cooperation is one aspect of  kindness and you could create situations where your child would have to be a team player. For instance, you could play board games. A good game depends on cooperation between players - but watch out for the sulk when your child begins to lose! 

Getting a pet is a great way for your child to shower his love and display considerate behaviour. Pets are totally dependent on us and require a lot of attention and care. A pet in the house could teach your child responsibility. 

Finally, explain consequences - tell you child that an act of kindness makes people happy, and that selfish behaviour causes unhappiness. Praise your child when you observe him or her making a spontaneous caring gesture - this will go a long way in reinforcing the behaviour. 

More in next!

Playpen Team

Kiddy Science

The word "Science" terrifies some of us. Maybe we just haven't been exposed to science at a very young age the way we should have been. Science, simply put is nothing but a natural exploration where children discover themselves as well as the world around them. Our job as educators is to give them the opportunities to play and do things where they will naturally discover and learn. This discovery is the beginning of science. 

I was once with this little girl  who saw a ladybird. She watched it for a while and then asked, "How does it move? Does it have feet like us?" I suggested that she lift the insect gently and turn it upside down to find out if it did indeed have tiny feet. She refused to do so because she had been taught not to touch insects and the like. I did it for her, and our discussion moved forward. What impressed me was the fact that although she couldn't see the insect's feet, she had made a connection between walking and feet by extending her own experience of movement i.e. the use of feet to move. 

The point I'm trying to make is that children are curious by nature. We owe it to them to fuel their curiosity and then help them discover. We may not realize it but there are potentially hundreds of opportunities that come up every single day that can be used to draw children into a "scientific" situation. Let me give you just one example.

Kids love playing with dough. Flour is easily available in every home and can be used in the classroom too for a great "doughy" activity. Mix flour, salt and water to make the dough while the children watch. Add some amount of water to flour and salt mixture. Stir it, all the while talking to the "observers". Ask - "Is it too dry? Is it grainy? What can we do to make make the dough?" Someone will tell you that you need to add more water. Do so - maybe add more than required. Mix it again. Invite the children to touch the dough - they'll tell you it's sticky. Ask them to give you a solution to the problem. Someone will definitely ask you to add more flour. Do that.  

When all agree that the dough is of a perfect consistency (having touched it and made little balls), say its time to add colour to the dough. (Be sure to use food grade colour.) This will generate a great discussion with each one wanting a different colour. Ask them to come up with  a solution. Maybe the dough can be divided into parts and each part coloured separately. This is also a great opportunity to mix colours and see which new colour emerges. 

Through this seemingly simple activity, your kids have been through several scientific processes. Don't believe me? Why not? They've observed, made predictions, experimented, solved problems, compared and contrasted and discussed differences - that's a lot of Science even if they haven't been made aware of it! 

So, look sharp and make use of situations where you can develop the scientific bent in your child. For some fun Science experiments for kids, check out this link 

Till we meet again! 

Playpen Team

Play Blocks

Jan 10, 2012

Hi Folks!

All of us have bought play blocks for our kids sometime or the other - you know the kinds that they have spent hours building with. A parents we buy it as just another plaything for our child - not knowing the wealth of "constructive experiences" they bring. Think about it. 

When children play together building houses, bridges and every other structure you can imagine, they are working on different areas of child development all on their own i.e. physical, mental, social, emotional, communication, creativity, thinking skills.....etc. Academicians work hard to develop formal programmes to develop these in small children!! Give your kid a set of blocks and leave her in there with some friends...and it all happens naturally. 

If given a chance, children will exhibit the highest order of creativity. Unfortunately, we often thwart their thought process by feeding them all that we think they need to know. Give the same set of blocks to five different children, and you'll see what I mean when I say that creative thinking varies and manifests itself in the most wonderful ways in kids.

When a child shows you her creation with a flourish, there's a real sense of achievement there. She  is expressing her initiative, independence, and maybe if its a "joint venture" her cooperation with a playfellow in coming up with this marvel - if that isn't social development, I don't know what is!Applaud her effort.

Placing blocks one on top of another or at a angle to create something requires patience and delicacy of touch. This action strengthens the small muscles of her hands. She also shows an increasing level of hand-eye coordination, without which the blocks would keep toppling off. 

If playing with friends, listen quietly as your child shows an increasing command over her language and communication skills as she questions, explains, describes or even narrates right through the process of creating her masterpiece. 

Finally, look at the thinking skills you child is engaging in as she ponders over the size and shape of her creation. All the time she is thinking - how high can the structure go without falling over? how many blocks will it take? how do I balance it? how do I fit blocks of different shapes and sizes to come up with a coherent whole? That's a lot of thinking and problem solving happening inside your little one's head!

Yes! Blocks are a marvellous thing to gift your child. 

Playpen Team

PS: Pardon my use of "her" and "she" throughout my blogs with reference to a child. No offence to boys - I have a son of my own, who i love dearly.....but I'm just partial to girls!!

Read to Your Child

Hi Folks!

There's nothing more delightful than curling up with your child to read together. If you are willing to spend some time reading to your child everyday, you're sure to get them hooked to a lifelong habit. They'll never sleep without picking up the book on their bedside table and reading a few lines every night. In fact, the more they see you read, the more likely it is that thy'll pick up a book themselves when the opportunity presents itself. 

There are a million books out there that will enthrall your kid. Let her pick what she wants you both to read together. Children take comfort in repetition, so you might end up reading the same book night after night - that's fine. Maybe it's the character that fascinates your child, maybe its the sequence of events that's exciting or maybe it's just the sheer joy of looking at the illustrations that go with the story. 

So, even though your child may be only 2 or 3 years old, how do you make the most of your reading sessions? There's lots you can do to develop your child's language and communication skills through reading. Discuss the characters in a story - ask you child who her favourite is. Get her to talk about what is special in this character. If you were to add one more character to the story, who might that be? How would it change the story? If you were to give the story another ending to the story, what might that be? 

If you are reading a new story, stop at intervals and get your child to make predictions. Ask: What do you think will happen next? Based on their previous experiences, children definitely come up with something - it stimulates their thinking. 

Slowly, you could introduce your child to parts of a book - use words like Title, Author, Illustrator etc. soon these words will become a part of your child's vocabulary. Every time you pick up a new book, read out the title. Even if your child can't read yet, she will recognize the picture on the cover and associate it with the title. Read out the author's name. Tell your child that this is the person who has written the book. Ask: Would you like to write books when you grow up? 

In this day and age, if you're able to get your child to love books, you're doing her a great favour because no digital experience can match the joy of unwinding with a book at the end of a long day at work!

Happy reading!

Playpen Team

Early Childhood Experiences

Early childhood experiences play a critical role in achieving developmental milestones in a child. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, the richer the experiences, the better the growth - physical as well as mental.

At home, or in the case of those associated with child learning, a lot of thought must be given to setting up the learning environment with "Discovery/Science" in mind, in addition to the basics of language learning and numeracy. Activities must be planned in which children can discover for themselves and learn. By way of illustration, a Discovery Activity on Sounds could have a "Sound Corner" with a variety of objects like tins, drums, sticks, spoons, plates and other things that can be used to produce sounds. If you ask a child to make a sound using these objects, he will be happy to bang the spoon on the table or beat the drums. It's we adults who have a problem with noise!!!

Get children to experiment with making sounds in different ways - get them to jingle keys, press buttons on a keyboard, put  a coin in a tin jar and shake it. Let them explore loud and soft sounds. Then, get your child to think. Ask questions such as - Can you find anything to put in the tin that will produce a soft sound? Do you think rubbing sandpaper on a rock will produce a sound?

There's no end to what we can do to get our child to satisfy his curiosity by exploring.

More in next!

Playpen Team

Opening your own Preschool VS Going the Franchise Route

Hi folks.

The idea of opening a preschool might seem hassle free and low on investment. Not true. Having small children in your care is a HUGE responsibility even if they are with you for only a couple of hours every day. When deciding to take the plunge, you will be faced with a long list of issues that need to be addressed and planned for. This list will include (but is not restricted to) some of the following:

1. Selection of appropriate location and building for the school

2. Ordering child friendly furniture and teaching learning material

3. Planning and writing the curriculum

4. Preparing material that will be used for school promotion

5. Creating systems to facilitate school operations including logistics and administration

6. Arranging for transport

7. Staff selection and training

8. Writing Policies and Procedures etc...

The list is long, and as mentioned earlier, not restricted to just the points above. This is just the beginning. 

Pressure points? For me at No. 1, 2 and 3....it's the Curriculum. Why? Simply because the curriculum is the heart and soul of your enterprise. You could put in all the money in the world to do up your preschool to look like something out of a fairy tale, but if your students are not engaged in a manner that leads to structured learning, the purpose of your enterprise is lost.

These are some the challenges you will face when designing and executing a curriculum:

1.Unless you are an experienced Early Childhood Education trained person, chances are that you'll falter when it comes to designing the curriculum. Unlike popular belief that Early Childhood Education is just a downward extension of formal schooling, nothing could be further from the truth. The areas of development in preschool are very different from that in later stages. 

2. It is expensive and time consuming to develop.

3. Ensuring that content delivery is of the quality you desire is not easy and training must be ongoing.

So, even if you get this done, there are all the other things on the list that you need to arrange all by yourself. In this respect, it is easier to opt  for a franchise because somebody has already done all your home work for you. They have spent time and money tying up every last thing that you will need to set up and run your school. 

You will have the backing of a brand name that they will promote. In addition there is constant hand holding and support in all areas of operations including teacher training. Of course, you have to pay a fee and royalty to your Franchisor, but then don't we pay money to service providers on a day to day basis? Of course we do!  

Happy decision making!

Playpen Team