Review

Check out this review of some of our latest products!  Friendship Island... great game for older children.  Place and Trace.. an oldie but a goodie!  Lot's of fun. 

Check out the review here!

Toy of the week

Busy Farm includes all the animals on the farm- horse, cow, pig, sheep, duck and rabbit.  It also includes cards for children to match colors, match animals, sequencing, alphabet awareness and other skills.

It really should be called "Preschool in a Box!"  My daughter Rachel, almost 3, enjoys playing with the animals, sorting and matching by color.  Some of the harder cards in the set include matching the animal to the letter it begins with, which animal is bigger and what does each animal make (ham, milk, etc...)  This is a great toy to begin working with children on early math skills- counting, sequencing, addition and subtraction.

The website has more information on how this toy can increase your childs skills.  Be sure to check it out here.

Holiday Gift Sets

Discovery Toys is offering bundles this fall!  WOW!  Personally, I really like the Toddler and the Preschool bundles.  Great way to get your child great toys at a great price (around $14 a piece).  Or save some of the items as gifts for birthdays of friends. 

Hostess's can purchase the bundles at 1/2 price with a qualifying party.

How does your child learn?

It is amazing to me how all three of my children learn and react in different ways. I really didn't pay attention to learning styles until I had children and saw my oldest struggling in school. When she went to Kindergarten she was still having a hard time with letters and phonics. Somehow, I missed the boat on how to teach her using her learning style.

Since that time I have learned that there are 3 different learning styles. Although we all learn from each of the ways there is usually one that is predominant.

For example- my oldest has always loved music and listening to books on tape. She is my auditory learner. My middle daughter has always asked to see what you are doing. I remember my mom trying to make a movie of her and all she wanted to do was see the movie before it was even made!! I am still trying to figure out my youngest daughter's learning style. It will probably be kinesthetic so I will have all three different!!

Play is the primary way that children learn. Play is how we show children that we love them. Sadly, the average parent spends 14 minutes a day playing with their children. I hope the following examples will help you to increase communication with your child and enhance the play level.

Here are some tips in helping determine how your child learns and examples of products that can help your child achieve different skills. Most of the information was compiled from the Discovery Toys website.

VISUAL LEARNERS:

Uses eyes to learn.

They may say “let me see” or “show me”.

Spelling – recognizes words on sight
Distracted by color and movement
Handwriting – tend to be good, spacing and size important
Liked by teachers.
Generally tidy and they do not like clutter
Pick out misprints and typos in books.
Good at reading maps or charts
Show feeling in facial expressions
Sensitive to others facial expressions. “Mom, you look mad”
Enjoy computers, videos, movies – have to watch TV….can’t just listen
Not very emotionally outwardly – sometimes labeled shy or snobbish
Like to spend time alone
Warm up slowly in new situations
In crowd – quiet and like to watch
Usually look good in appearance – well put together – color coordinated
Good fine motor skills – can put models together using directions
Look up when they are thinking
Plan by making lists

ABSeas Fishing Game is a great way to visual learners to learn letters, phonics and more. Fishing for letters and matching to the correct upper or lower case letter shows the visual learner the difference between letters. Advance the skills by having the children tell you the phonics sound with the letter.

AUDITORY LEARNERS:
Love to listen and talk to others.
Remembers by hearing things
Spelling – they use phonics approach
Show feelings with words
Handwriting – they have difficulty learning initially
Distracted by music and voices
As babies, they babble a lot and in crib they listen for sounds
Can repeat a conversation word for word
Enjoy listening to radio and tapes over reading
Very dramatic and love an audience…..good storytellers, like to sing, like to tell
jokes
Like to talk on the phone
Talk to themselves when working alone
Give verbal excuses for not getting things done
Prefer to have someone else read directions when assembling models
Commit a phone number to memory by saying it aloud, usually know their own at a
early age
Tends not to look when listening, head often down or cocked at one side when
listening
Prefers to be with group of people – always wants friends around
Hears emotions in others voices “Mama you sound mad”

Sounds Like Fun CD is a great example of a product that can help an auditory learner. The phonics based song on this CD pairs right up with how these children learn. Pair the song up with the phonics chart and it will key in to the visual aspect needed to learn reading and phonics!

KINESTHETIC:

Learns and remembers by doing, “hands on” experiences
Speaks slowly
Spelling – often a poor speller, writes word down to see if it feels right
Handwriting – deteriorates when space becomes smaller and push harder on pencil
Touches everything – satin on blanket
Enjoys sports, well coordinated
Prefer movement games
Sensitive, feelings easily hurt
Must touch to convey feelings – like hugs, handshake, high five
Often have trouble in school because generally likes to be outdoors
They need to move around
Remember what was done, not what they heard or saw
Perpetual motion machine
Like to take things apart and put them back together, like crafts, building things, art
projects
Likes to wear comfortable clothes
Eyes often diverted down while listening or “gazes” over others head
Need to adapt to a visual or auditory world and our job is to make them feel good
about it

ABSeas Fishing game again is a great game for kinesthetic learners. Playing the game is a great way to enhance learning. Another idea is to have the kids line up the letters in order. Have the kids step by the letters while singing the alphabet song. Anything that can get these kids moving and learning is going to ehance the skills for this child.

Take a moment to figure out how your child learns. Although you don't want to purchase items only in their predominant learning style it can enhance the learning if you target this area.

Would love to hear what you found out about your child or yourself! What learning style are your children? What learning style are you?

Personally, I always thought that I was kinesthetic. Now, I believe that I am an auditory learner. My second is visual and then kinesthetic!!

Cups? What's the big deal?

When my daughter turned 1 she recieved a set of cups for a gift. The person that gave her the cups was so excited about these cups she could hardly stand it!

I on the other hand thought- what is the big deal? They are just cups. Sure you can stack them and nest them.. but why are they so important or cool? Parenting magazine states that they are one of the top three products that babies need along with a ball and blocks.

So it took me until my second child to realize the value in a simple set of cups! I didn't even realize that the original set included a parent guide that gave me all kinds of ideas to use with the cups. Ooops!

Now granted, there are a lot of cups on the market. The cups I received were Discovery Toys. This was even before I started to sell the product. Now with my third child we have enjoyed the full benefit out of these simple set of Measure Up Cups.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. On the bottom of the cups are animals from smallest to biggest. You can also stamp them in playdough or cookie dough.

2. Cups work as great snack cups. We always take a few to church with us to fill and dump cheerios.

3. Bathtub- gotta have them! Great for pouring and dumping. Can also do math with older kids- take 3 and 4 and dump in 7 it will equal 7!

4. Teach children to drink. I used these with each kid and placed a small amount of water in the bottom to get them used to drinking out of a cup.

5. Time- each cup has a sticker on it that shows dots that line up like the face of the clock. Inside the cup also has the dots. You can also take the twelve cups and set them out like a clock and have kids use spoons, socks or whatever to set the "clock".

6. Multiplication: my oldest struggled with this concept. I asked her how many times would it take to fill up the 3 to equal 12. Once she saw the visual she began to understand!

7. Stacking: cups can stack upside down or right side up. Easy for children to manipulate.

8. Nesting: the design of the cups are easier to nest than square cups.

Okay... so you get the idea. Lots of uses for Measure Up Cups! I'm sure other people have more ideas! Be sure to comment what you favorite use for the cups is with your child!

Struggling in Math

My oldest daughter has always struggled with math. She is a great student... but math just never seemed to click. Every year at conferences teachers would discuss how she struggled with timed tests and simple problems.


Something clicked this year! Of course, I attribute much of the success to her teachers. She is in 4th grade- soon to be a 5th grader. At her conference this year instead of commenting on her struggles with math the teacher said "I am sure you know how well she does in math." WHAT?


What a surprise that was to hear the teacher express her success! My daughter was so excited to hear that she was doing well.


I also firmly believe that much of her success comes from her constant efforts on a few of the games we have around our house. What your children play with will affect how they do in life and in school.


One of her favorites has been Mosaic Mysteries. It is a puzzle designed for older children and uses creativity and problem solving! The puzzle comes with a guide that gives kids ideas of different designs and puzzles.


Maybe you are thinking... WHAT? A puzzle- but puzzles actually help children with reading and math skills. They help children fit the pieces together and problem solve.

This picture is one of the many designs she has made using this puzzle set. It is very portable so great for the car too! Kids can simply put the box in their lap and make the puzzle.

The puzzle is sold through Discovery Toys. You can view the game at http://www.toysaregreat.com/

Helping Language Develop in Children

When our children are first born we are so excited to hear what their first word will be. I remember when my oldest was first born... I thought every sound was "mom." Maybe I wanted every sound to be Mom!



When my oldest was 2 1/2, I purchased this CD. Granted it came with my starter kit for Discovery Toys, but thought I would listen to it with my daughter. At first I was not sure about what this CD says it can do. It can help children learn phonics, months of the year, counting- really a lot of what a child needs to learn for kindergarten.



Well, I was amazed! Within a week she could sing the months of the year. I had nothing to do with that. It was the CD that we were listening to in the car.



Since that time many parents have told me the success they have had with the CD. They have said it is great for the car, bedtime and quiet time.



Below is a exerpt from an article written by a teacher. She talks about the importance of words and singing with your child.

“…banana, fana, fofana, fi fi fo fana…” Sound familiar?
This childhood ditty can be stuck in your head for hours, but it may actually serve a
purpose. You might want to make up your own silly version. Absolutely, GO FOR
IT!! Be sure to include your kids in the fun!
Why? Playing with sounds, rhymes, and nonsense words is vital to the logical
progression of pre-reading skills. How?
Spoken language is made up of sounds (phonemes)
Sounds make words
Words make phrases
Phrases make sentences
Sentences have meaning
Mastering written language (reading) follows the exact same progression with the
phonemes (sounds) represented by symbols (such as letters) called graphemes.
Remember how your baby would delight in your smiles, coos, and sound mimics
during his babbling stage? As your child develops, she will mimic the sounds you
make. Take advantage of these opportunities by making rhymes and word
repetitions.
“bat, rat, cat, ratatattat”
“bed, bat, b,b,b,b”
“car, cat, cut, cot…..bot, not, sot, rot, tot”

written by
Miss Cathy”
MA Education, Curriculum: Reading Option
Reading Specialist
Currently teaching second grade (10 years)
Former Preschool/Pre-K teacher (9 years)

The CD is called Sounds Like Fun. It was written by a mom as she was singing to her daughter. Since the CD has been released many Kindergarten classrooms and preschools use this CD to enhance the learning.

Below is one of my favorite songs on the CD. It is the phonics song. The CD also comes with a fold out page to use while listening to the song to increase the learning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9VPtz3EHQ