Parents today have a number of resources they can use to help their child get ahead in today’s fast paced society. Now more than ever schools are struggling with a number of issues:
- Over crowding
- Teacher shortages
- Budget cuts
- Layoffs of support staff
Toddler and Preschool:
Did you know parents, babysitters and day care providers can provide fun school activities for children no matter what age they are? Toddlers and Preschoolers need to get the basics down before entering Kindergarten. There are basic and specific skills each preschool age child should know. Following simple directions, following through on tasks and being able to communicate effectively are just a few basics but, while these are important skills, Kindergarten teachers want those children entering school to have specific skills such as the ability to read simple books, write their names and simple math just to name a few.
Parents, babysitters and day care providers can now visit any number of websites usually staffed by teachers or retired educators to download and print out activities for kids that will address in a fun way skills needed for entrance into Kindergarten. It need not be 100% educational; a lot can be said for printing out coloring pages for your children to color. Coloring is educational in itself as the children explore their world through color, shape and recognition of every day items.
Kindergarten and Beyond
Fun school activities for children do not always need to be on paper. Some of these fun activities designed for school age children are now online. Some teachers use the internet in a number of ways:
- Computer skill building
- Interactive Learning
- Reading and Math testing
- Task follow through skill building
Each of these areas is then built upon during the educational experience until the children graduate from college or university and begin their careers.
Children learn by doing and the more exposure they have to the required skills necessary to continue their career after graduating from a college or university, the better.
Internet accesses to sites that promote educational skills also provide fun activities at home for kids that will carry through the learning experience from the classroom to home so that there is little to no regression in the skills learned while on school holiday or summer vacation.
While Internet access is valuable, it should be balanced with physical hands on activities that will support the skills taught. While it is fun for kids to color and do activities on paper or internet site it is also equally important to allow children enough play time where they can run, jump and just be kids.
