Children and Technology

Technology has become a very big part of our lives, including the lives of the young ones. Therefore, we, as early childhood educators are encouraged to integrate technology into our teaching. This is to allow children to be exposed to technology as it is important in one's life, to make lessons more interesting with the colourful graphics, motion pictures and sound effects.

Technology has created a huge impact in our lives. Young people pick up technology more easily than the older ones. The younger they are, the more savvy they are with technology, whether it is a computer, mobile phone, television, radio, or laptops.

The most popular electronic device among the people now is the iPhone by Apple. Everyone wants an iPhone. It includes the function of a mobile phone, computer and GPS (Global Positioning System). It's graphics are also one of it's selling point.

So, over the Chinese New Year holidays, I went back to my dad's hometown in Melaka and had reunion dinner together with all my relatives. Three of my cousins are using iPhone, as well as my parents. My cousin, Kelvin and his wife, Irene are both using iPhones. The thing that surprised me was that their 3 year old daughter, Krystal was asking for the iPhone to play games. She was so savvy using the iPhone, that she never needed instructions on where to click, in this case 'tap'. As they wanted to leave, Krystal was craving for more cookies, but her mom didn't allow her to have anymore as she had a lot. She was insisting of bringing the cookies back with her. But as soon as she heard her mom saying, "Come, let's go home. Don't want the cookie, I let you play with my iPhone." The moment she heard that, she immediately stopped craving for the cookie and went into the car to get the iPhone from her mom.

The next day, we met again. When Krystal arrived, I was texting using my mobile phone. (FYI, it's not an iPhone). She spotted me with my mobile and sat beside me, asking for me mobile. So, I passed it to her. It's her first time using this phone, so she was asking me to open it for her. I showed her some pictures and the next thing you know, she was able to navigate the phone! Another blink of an eye, she was taking pictures with my mobile phone! Moreover, the pictures she took aren't amateur at all! She knew how to focus and where to click without being taught. The aunties were so impressed that they kept asking her to take a picture of this uncle and that aunty. And she did! Not bad at all, I would say. Everyone was impressed with her photography skills. It doesn't look like a 3 year old snapping pictures at all.

This is Krystal browsing pictures on my mobile phone.

Here are some prove of her photography skills.

What is LOVE?

Valentine's Day, which is celebrated on February 14th, is a day to celebrate love and affection between loved ones. Every year, on this day, people exchange greeting cards, roses and presents to show and appreciate one another.

As this is one of the ways people show their love and affection to one another, I came to realise that children too, have their own ways of showing their love to us. Children are so pure and sincere.


I had children who came up to me in school saying, "Teacher, you look so pretty today" or "Teacher, is that a new pair of shoes?". A simple comment like that can actually make our day. I was indeed touched that these young ones actually took note on how I dress and what I put on. It is their way of showing their admiration for me.

At times, my children in school will also approach me and give me gifts saying, "Teacher, this sticker is for you" or "Teacher, I made this card for you". It is amazing that the children actually went home and drew a card, just for us! How incredible is that. The effort they put in show their sincere love to us. They are indeed gifts that money cannot buy.

Therefore, this Valentine's Day, let us celebrate the love we have from these precious little ones around us. Let us enjoy and appreciate them. Let us learn from them on how sincere love can be. Totally pure.

Watch out for these love signs from children and you'll be surprised to know how much you are being loved by them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Motivating Preschoolers to be Active

The other day, we came across an article called 'Motivating Preschoolers to be Active'. The article could be found at http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/fitness/active_preschooler.html#. We found the article to be interesting, so, we would like to share what we discovered with you.

After reading the article 'Motivating Preschoolers to be Active', we learnt 3 things.

1st thing we learnt:

No matter which age group the children are in, they enjoy doing activities that are fun! Physical education can be made fun in school and at home. Teachers and parents need to be more creative and be motivated to find out ways to make an activity lively and interesting.

2nd thing we learnt:

We need to understand which skill the children have, and is working on to keep things fun! Teachers and parents need to have a clear understanding about each child's individual needs. We need to know which skills have been mastered and which need strengthening. In that way, we will be able to come out with developmentally and individually appropriate activities for the child.

3rd thing we learnt:

We need to consider the children's opportunities to be active at home, preschool or child care centre. Children need to have access to a playground or large indoor space for activities. There need not be fancy playground equipments for children. Children would just enjoy simple games such as catch and tag, riding bicycles, playing with balls and bats, and dancing around. Hence, children should be given at least 30 minutes free play everyday for them to physically exercise.

In the Malaysian school system, the National Preschool Curriculum from the Ministry of Education is used as a guideline of what must be done in the preschool. However, it is not stated specifically on how the activities should be conducted.

After reading the article, we can think of 2 application in the Malaysian context.

1st application:

Teachers need to be creative and make each lesson fun and interesting for children to enjoy. For example, when we want to teach the children how to balance a bean bag on various parts of the body, we do not just ask them to place the bean bag on that body part and count one to ten. Instead, we can dance together with the children with a song and balance the bean bag on the various parts of the body. This will motivate the children to participate as most children like music and they will not feel they are forced to do so. Children will enjoy what they are doing as they practice their basic skills of balancing.

2nd application:

As parental involvement is important for the development of children, we need to keep parents informed on the activities that have been done with the children and encourage parents to motivate them at home as well. We can help parents by giving them some suggestions on what can be done. For example, if we observed that the child does not know how to catch a ball, we can encourage the parents to play throwing and catching ball with their child. This way, children will have reinforcement at school as well as at home.

Therefore, let us encourage our preschoolers to be active and go outdoors where the air is fresh and clean! LET'S GO OUTDOORS!

Sesame street. (2009, December 18). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrqF7yD10Bo

Recycle!

Just the other day, I was talking to my children in school about recycling. I told them a story entitled 'Why Should I Recycle?' by Jen Green and illustrated by Mike Gordon. This book was published by Scholastic Inc.

After sharing the story with my children, I decided to find out more about how I can incorporate recycling in the Art and Craft lesson. I came across this website and found it to be very useful :
http://www.pbs.org/parents/special/article-earthday-greencrafts.html.

By using recyclable materials for Art and Craft, we allow children to grow in their imagination. Children will also learn to be creative in their thinking and discover things for themselves.

Therefore, we should expose our children to using recycled materials and encourage them to grow in this area of development.

The Importance of Play in Child Development

It is now February. It is already a month since we started school for 2010. Time really flies.

On the first week of school, we allocated more time for play in our daily lesson plan. I realised that as the children play, they are so engaged with what they are doing that they hardly had any time disturbing their friends. I noticed that the children who was once known as 'the naughty boy' or 'the boy who likes to disturb his friends' was in such good behaviour. He did not disturb his friends, but was playing together with them.

It is known that “Children learn best when they are playing”. This is what we often hear and learn from researches. However, in today’s competitive world, many children are being deprived from play as parents may say that it is just a “waste of time”. Parents want their child to succeed and put their time to good use, and some may think that the best way is only by sending them for extra classes. I am not saying that extra classes are bad for children, but there have to be a balance in what we do. Therefore, today, I would like to share with you a few of the benefits of play.

Benefit #1: Play allows children to develop physically.

As children play, they exercise their fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and dexterity. During Physical Education lesson in school, when we want to help our children in their hand-eye coordination, we plan activities such as catching a ball. When we want our children to have good gross motor skills, we bring our children out to the playground to jump into hoops on one foot or two feet. We also have activities to help children with their fine motor skills such as threading, buttoning, lacing, pouring and many more.

Picture taken from http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/kids-parenting/playtime-00000000014868/page21.html

Benefit #2: Play allows children to develop intellectually.

Children learn to solve problems, investigate and discover, explore cause and effect and think critically when they play. During small group activities, we allow children to play with jigsaw puzzles as it helps in their problem solving skills. Blocks are also a good open-ended toy for children. When children want to build a tall tower using blocks, they will need to explore what is the best way to stack the blocks. They will need to think critically and make decisions. They will also need to think of ways to solve the problem if the tower is not stable. As children play, they use their creativity and imagination. This is important for a healthy brain development.

Picture taken from http://www.nhbvi.com/Agenda/Goal1/Book1/index.htm

Benefit #3: Play allows children to develop socially.

Children learn how to share, take turns, resolve conflicts and negotiate with one another. During outdoor play in school, when children are playing in the playground and there are only two swings available, the children will have to learn to take turns and share with one another. This is the time when children also learn how to communicate with their friends non-verbally, such as using body language, eye contact, sign language and facial expression and verbally, as they learn to speak a certain language as they communicate with one another. Children become more confident while playing and this enhances their self-esteem.

Picture taken from http://www.little-tikes-climbing-frame.co.uk/little-tikes-tropical-playground-climber.php

These are just a few of the many benefits of play. Therefore, we as teachers, parents or caregivers should recognize these benefits and allow our children to grow in the best way they can. The best part of it, children will play without being forced to do so. They love and enjoy doing it!

For more information, you can visit:

http://www.child-development-guide.com/importance-of-play.html
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-your-child-benefits-from-play_64065.bc

Tips to help children read

I was reading 'My Child Malaysia' magazine, which was given a copy to us by our lecturer, Ms. Rosaline, and I came across an interesting article on reading. The article gives 10 easy tips to parents on ways to improve their child's reading skills, just 15 minutes a day. I think it is quite relevant and parents who wants to help their child in their reading should try this out.

Tip #1

Since the children are travelling everyday to school, back home or anywhere else, there is some time spent in the car during the ride. Instead of just letting the children be restless in the car, we might as well make use of the time they have in the car by putting it into good use. For young learning children, we can ask them to practice reading by asking them to read and spell out car licence plates, road signs and interesting billboards that they come across on the road.


Tip #2

It has been a trend for young children to be a couch potato and to sit in front of the TV, watching television programs for hours everyday. For a change, parents can encourage children to swap some of their TV time for a new adventure story which is interesting and will catch their attention. Parents do not need to do this everyday, they can do it once a week for a start.




Tip #3


Besides reading a storybook, when you and your child are too tired to read, you can always listen to a book on the CD player. Your child will be able to learn by listening, and improve on their pronunciation while enjoying the colourful and interesting pictures in the book.

Tip #4

We have been taught to provide a literacy rich environment for the children in one of our classes. In schools, we should label everything, from the doors to the windows, to the books and toys. This way, the young children will be exposed to the alphabets and words which will help them in their reading. The same thing can be done at home, especially for young toddlers who are learning to read. When they are exploring things at home, they will be able to learn to read the labels and get to know what they have in their surroundings.


Tip #5

Whenever you go out with your child, pack some books and snacks along. When they are free, offer them a book to read. Although the books may seem heavy, think of it as cultivating the reading habit in your child's life. Then, your child will see books as part of his or her life.

Tip #6

Cooking sessions with your child as your helper can be a fun activity. As you are going through the recipe, you can get your child to read the recipe to you, informing you the ingredients, measurements and instructions.

Tip #7

I believe grocery shopping with your child is a fun activity to do as well. Besides spending quality time together, you can teach your child to read the labels on the food product. It will be a useful skill and good habit to keep. You will be exposing them on how to select a good food product.

Tip #8

If you go on a working trip where you will have to leave your child under the care of someone else, you can always pack a few of your child's favourite books and read it to them via the phone.

Tip #9

A 'reading pocket' consists of some interesting things that can be read with your child, such as comic strips, magazines or newspapers. You can make it a habit to create a reading pocket for your child and pick out something interesting with your child and read it by the end of the day. It will be a good parent-bonding tool which makes reading more exciting.

Tip #10

Sometimes children love bedtime stories so much, to the extend that they would want you to have a bedtime story session with them. Go ahead and do it. But instead of you reading the story to them, let them read it to you.