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Children And Being Artistic

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Lubica Misevski

Child development, the arts, and your little ones brain.

Today's post is dedicated to the creative child in all of us. And how we might help our little ones find their creative spirit, and why this matters.

A report produced by the Dana Consortium coming out of Harvard looks specifically at Learning, Arts, and the Brain. What we found interesting about this report was the connection with the Arts and child development.

It is of course our view that your child has intelligence in all the multiple-intelligence areas. Merely knowing about them individually we are all best placed to nurture our children.

Music - Surprisingly it turns out that the practice of music helps in the study of symmetries, in mathematics, and reading. A child practicing music will also develop the pathway for literacy.

Role Play & Acting - This appears to improve memory, recollection and to be able to understand and look at general knowledge.

Dance - By practising and learning dance, children develop observational skills. This could transfer to other cognitive areas.

The study shows that the “appreciation of the Art’s will lead to pleasure in producing that Art." It also demonstrates how practicing an Art can impact and develop many areas of the brain and the associated pathways. And how visual, linguistic, movement, and music develop completely different areas within the brain.

So whether your child likes music, dance, role-playing, painting or any of the arts. All of them are benefiting brain functions, and each one has a different result.

So have fun, paint a picture, role-play, dance and listen to music, it all matters and it works.

Posted in child education, creative child, Early child education, learning style

How Do I Know My Child’s Learning Style?

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Lubica Misevski



Children are unique, and understanding your child’s learning style is critical to their success. Because when you understand how your child learns you can help them at any age.

There are some key things to look for when it comes to child development and learning styles. And all children are born ready to learn, and absorb information, experiences and the wonder of life.

The three most common learning styles are visual, auditory, and physical (Kinesthetic).  To help determine your child’s learning style here are some signs to look for in each of the area’s.

Visual: They notice details, and are aware when their environment changes. You may have moved a chair, a picture, their toys and they notice. They like to read, remember things by seeing them. May often watch rather than talk.

Auditory: Talks out load to self, can be easily distracted, likes to read, enjoys music, outgoing by nature, happy to participate in activities, can remember steps to follow in a sequence.

Kinesthetic: They are often on the go the whole time, touching, grabbing and playing. They enjoy being active and you may have to chase them around the house to read to them. They like to solve their problems by physically working through them. And are generally very active in play.

In one of our earlier blogs, we take all of the above styles and break them down further into multiple intelligence categories. But for now we stick to the above general areas.

So once you have identified your child’s preferred learning style what are some of the techniques you can use to accelerate their development.

The Visual Learner
  • Making and or using flashcards
  • Allowing them to draw, paint, and create
  • They will like puzzles
  • Use posters and charts to explain things
  • They will enjoy any type of word game, as long as they can see the words

The Auditory Learner
  • Will obviously enjoy a good book (or ten :))
  • Listening to music, melodies, or rhyme’s
  • Use word games
  • Will absorb more information if they answer your questions orally
  • And they enjoy talking so this should be encouraged
   
Kinesthetic (or physical learner)
  • A physical learner is great at remembering what they do, so activities that include participation are very important.
  • Will like building things, such as models, towers, and playing with blocks
  • Playing games of any sort, as long as it includes touching
  • Will like puppet shows (so pull out some old socks)
  • Will enjoy putting scrapbooks together
   
So this outlines 3 general areas of learning and some ideas about catering for each of these styles. Do you see an area you fit into, or the one your child does, we would love to hear about it?

Posted in Early child education, learning style

 

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