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]]>How Arts and Crafts Benefit Children
Before you put art and crafts in the too hard basket, consider what consequences that could have on your child!
Yes crafts are chaotic and you may not particularly want your house to get messy after cleaning all day but arts and crafts benefit children in more ways than one. Here’s why you should embrace the arty, crafty mess.
Benefits for kids
We all want our children to have the best start to life and that includes their development. Arts and crafts play a vital role in improving their skills and can be encouraged from a young age. Benefits include:
• Makes learning a positive experience by making it fun.
Participating in painting, drawing, collage and so many other activities, encourages children to have an interest in learning from a young age. It allows children the opportunity to experiment with different textures, colours and shapes while identifying patterns. It also incorporates knowledge of colours, counting and numbers.
• Encourages the use of imagination and develops self-expression.
This skill is crucial for building self-esteem and allows them to express their feelings in an inspiring environment. Thinking creatively ensures each piece of art they create is an original piece they can be proud of.
• Assists in developing skills.
Using different tools, textures and uniquely sized objects; children will hone their fine motor skills and continue to develop their cognitive skills.
• Develops control
When painting or gluing for craft time, children learn that they are required to wait for their art works to dry. This gives them the opportunity to develop patience and control.
For more understanding of the importance of art in child development, click here!
Craft ideas
There are so many options available for children to enjoy arts and crafts.
Our favourite ones are: Chalk / crayon drawings, painting with brushes / gloves / wool, experimenting with textures using fruit / rubbing plates / leaves, finger painting with shaving cream paint, collages, telescopes and even toilet paper roll people with pompoms and glitter.
Comment below with what arts and crafts your children love.
Do you see the benefit it has on your kids?
This is an S1 POST in collaboration with Child.com.au.
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]]>I have shared my love of LeapFrog here on the blog a few times now and that’s because it is a brand that just keeps giving. I love that they continually produce products to suit a range of ages and encourage learning from the start. Mr 5 has a LeapReader that he uses daily and we recently added a new book to the collection that is proving to be very popular with not only him but every other child that visits; Doc McStuffins: The New Girl. The book encourages good vocabulary skills and healthy habits while educating children about cultures, health and social skills.
LeapFrog
The fun new AlphaPup aimed for 1-3 year olds is a fantastic product that teaches the alphabet, phonics and is great for improving gross motor skills. It is full of colour and has a range of settings for sound that include: the alphabet, singing and dog phrases. Miss H loves pulling this behind her she crawls along and gets so much joy from the bright coloured buttons. The AlphaPup is going to be a hit in our house for a long time yet.
Disclaimer: I was gifted the above items for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and those of my children.
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]]>Parents often ask themselves how can we prepare our children for school because I don’t want them to behind or struggle. How do we educate them to differentiate letters, how do we teach them the basics for reading, how do you make them want to learn? In all honesty some kids are just plain not interested and need to be encouraged. Kids want (and often need) to know that learning can be fun and thankfully many of the new tools available to parents today do exactly that.
My 4 year has been ‘playing’ with the new LeapReader for the past month and I say playing because that’s exactly what he thinks he is doing. He doesn’t realise that he is learning to take his time and listen to instructions before racing into the activity. Kye is also being more assertive with letters and is now excited to read and write. The LeapReader is designed to assist children in becoming confident, independent readers and writers. It does this by building their knowledge of reading fundamentals, sounding out letters and words, trace letters and eventually read sentences.
I love that it takes an approach in education that is suitable for all ages and all levels of learning. With over 40 different books available for the LeapReader (and a wonderful selection at that) there is definitely something to suit every childs interests. We have been using the Learn to Write with Mr Pencil the most because it teaches children to write upper and lower case letters, shapes, direction, helps to understand letter sounds, correct stroke order and pencil control. Most importantly though – It is fun! The LeapReader is available from all major department stores and independent toy retailers for $99.99. For more information click over to the LeapFrog website.
As the title suggests I have a giveaway for Mad Mummas readers! I have 1x LeapReader with sampler book (RRP $99.99) that LeapFrog has generously given me to giveaway.
To enter all you have to do is follow the instructions on the rafflecopter below.
Winner is decided based on skill and chance plays no part. Australian residents only! Sorry everyone else. **The mandatory instructions MUST be completed or your entry will be void!**As the winners are chosen based on skill and not chance; you will be sharing for 0 extra entries. It’s good karma though and I’d love you to share the giveaway with friends and family.
GOOD LUCK!
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]]>The post Learning Can Be Fun! + GIVEAWAY appeared first on All Mum Said.
]]>Do you remember back in the day when toys were made to last? When so many of the awesome playthings were made from wood? I LOVE WOODEN TOYS and always wanted to get some for my boys when they little but just couldn’t find any and if I did they were ridiculously expensive or poor quality. So unfortunately they missed out. That is of course until a wonderful blog buddy of mine opened her very own store that is full of – you guessed it – WOODEN TOYS!! That’s not the best bit though – they are extremely affordable. Woohoo!! There is a stigma for kids that learning is boring, dull and takes them away from actually playing which we all know isn’t always the case. The range at School of Mum is absolutely brilliant and combines fun with learning. The toys are educational yet exciting!! Catered to suit children of all ages these magnificent products are great quality and will provide hours, weeks and more than likely years of fun, learning and entertainment.
The variety of products don’t stop at classic wooden toys though; there really is something for every child. You will find items suited to babies, toddlers, school age with a wide range of clothing, personalised items, puzzles, teddies, clocks, memory and my all time favourite – wooden blocks – IT’S ALL THERE!! We have recently had an order arrive from the wonderful School of Mum and my kids couldn’t get into the bag fast enough. As you will see below some of the products can be fun so much fun for children that they don’t even realise they are learning. The memory game is made from wooden tiles with a letter of the alphabet and an Australian animal that begins with the same letter. Not only are they strengthening the memory part of the brain but they are also learning letters and animals.
$19.99
The clock puzzle is great for both my boys as we use it to help learn the time for my 6 year old and my 4 year old uses it to identify the numbers along with the concentration of working out the correct order of the numbers. There is a boy and girl version of this particular product.
$3.50
For the babies in way of toys there are the Rattle and Roll Doves which are gorgeous, simple and easy to use. As bub moves or pulls it along the dove effortlessly rolls and rattles causing a great deal of excitement. This also comes in pink or blue.
$9.99
With the Bird Smackeroo there are hours of fun to had and most importantly it is great for building on hand /eye co-ordination. As you can see from the short video below it is very easy to use and great enjoyment for the kids.
My all time favourite product is the Educational Wooden Blocks, this might be because they take me back to my own childhood but at the bargain price of $15 how can I say no? There is no much that can be done with these little babies; building, stacking, learning, the possibilities are endless.
$15
Now I’m sure by now you have worked out that I am very fond of this little shop and as a way of sharing some wonderful educational (and fun) products the extremely generous School of Mum has decided to offer a $50 voucher to one very lucky lucky Mad Mummas reader!! Just in time to get some great items for Christmas.
To enter all you have to do is follow the instructions on the rafflecopter below. Winner is decided based on skill and chance plays no part. Australian residents only! Sorry everyone else. **The mandatory instructions MUST be completed or your entry will be void!**
GOOD LUCK!!
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