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How Can Art Help Your Preschooler's Development?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 16:54:24 GMT

Your preschooler is into art in a major way. If you let them, your child would draw, glue, sculpt, finger paint, and collage 24-7. Even though these types of artsy activities may seem like simple child's play, they can actually help your preschooler to develop valuable skills.

Even though traditionally 'academic' content areas, such as literacy and math, are absolutely essential when it comes to your young child's later school success, art plays a pivotal role as well. How can the visual arts help your child to develop new skills and abilities? Take a look at the ways in which the arts inspire, energize, and prepare your child to learn.

EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION

Art is a visual language. Like letters, pictures are symbols too. Even though your preschooler can't write out sentences or tell a story using letters, they can use pictures. Drawing, painting, sculpting, and other art forms provide your child with the chance to express challenging emotions in a positive way. This is especially important in the child's early years when they don't always have the words to express what they're feeling.

Along with drawing or painting out their feelings in pictures, your child can explore emotions through colors and movement. Whether your child is splashing paint onto a paper to release their anger or drawing with 'happy' hues of yellow, they're learning about emotions - and getting a lesson in appropriate ways to express themselves.

SOCIAL SKILLS

The idea of an artist sitting in solitude as they paint or draw isn't entirely accurate. While some artists do work alone, your child doesn't have to. There are plenty of opportunities for young children to build social skills during art activities.

Your child can learn how to cooperate with others while creating a group mural. Or your child could practice sharing as they pass their crayons to another child. Your child could even make new friends while working on a collaborative project.

After the children are done with their project, they can talk about what they created. This type of discussion breeds social skills, giving your child the chance to communicate with others.

PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITIES

How can your child use paper shapes to build a house collage? How can they paint with purple if they only have red and blue? Art is an ideal vehicle for fostering problem-solving skills. Preschoolers are inquisitive thinkers. They want to explore and learn how the world around them works, and art lets them do this.

Open-ended activities, that invite children to explore using materials in multiple ways, add to the problem-solving potential that art has. Instead of telling your child how to paint, how to draw, or how to use clay, let them explore and figure it out on their own. This exploration gives your child the chance to think critically and practice their problem-solving skills.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Preschoolers are in the process of refining their fine motor skills. As your child ages, they progress from barely being able to hold a spoon to gripping a pencil and using it. Art activities provide opportunities for children to practice eye-hand coordination and dexterity. They also help your child to build muscle strength in their fingers and hands.

Whether your child is drawing with a crayon or colored pencil, gripping a paintbrush, sculpting with clay, or cutting with scissors, they're building fine motor abilities. Trying different types of art activities will give your child a variety of ways to play with different materials and develop their finger and hand skills.

Does your child need more creative playtime? The Learning Centers offers an array of art and educational opportunities.

Sensory Processing Disorder In Your Toddler And Early Intervention: How Preschool Can Help

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 15:53:05 GMT

Receiving a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD, in your toddler is difficult to absorb for you as a parent. You know all too well that your child filters their environment: sights, sounds, taste, touch, and even bodily space, different than their peers. From sound sensitivity to sensory seeking behaviors, your child can be a tornado of activity and outbursts, prone to emotional tantrums and exhausting meltdowns.

With early intervention, your child can learn to interact with the world around them and learn how to socialize, listen, and perform other basic needs successfully. An early intervention preschool program can be beneficial in many ways for your child.

Preschool Creates Routine

Routine is extremely important to your SPD child, whether they are over-sensitive to their surrounding or hypo-sensitive (under-sensitive) to the occurrences around them. Since children with Sensory Processing Disorder are often unable to decipher the happenings around them the way other children do, the slightest change in routine, from an unexpected house guest to misplacing a favorite pair of socks, can send them into an uncontrollable meltdown.

Preschool is all about routine, teaching children how to take turns, transition from one task to another, and interact with one another in positive ways. Since your child will have the same teacher, see the same classmates and encounter the same learning tools daily, they can get into a routine that can make transitioning much easier at home. Routine can also help your SPD child learn to listen and follow basic commands, which will prove to be helpful when they start traditional school.

Preschool Brings Out Their Skills

Your child has unique talents all their own just like other children do, and preschool activities (like painting, simple mathematics and musical activities) can help bring their interests out. In turn, your child can learn to be more confident in themselves and their individuality.

Studies have shown that children who play new activities learn to master new skills, which, in turn, brings confidence to a positive level. In addition to learning the basics of education at an early age: shapes, letters, numbers, and colors, your child will discover their own talents that you can encourage at home.

Preschool Encourages Positive Social Behavior

Children with SPD often have a hard time interacting with others. They either don't enjoy being touched or having their space invaded, or they don't know how to interact softly and tend to bully other children around. Since children with Sensory Processing Disorder use their senses differently than other kids, they may not pick up on social cues that are "the norm" with their peers.

Preschool teachers teach all children how to interact with one another positively, using close one-on-one attention and contact to help your child play successfully with other children and learn to share. As you meet with your child's potential teacher, explain the social concerns you have with your child, such as:

Not taking turns
Not sharing
Hitting, biting or scratching
Not interacting with others

Your child's preschool teacher will come up with a personalized plan for your toddler to help them learn how to play with other children in positive, helpful ways.

You want the best for your child and allowing them to reach their fullest potential begins with early intervention. Your child's preschool teacher will take their diagnosis and use it to help come up with a personalized learning plan that will work best for your child's needs.

With the right preschool program, your child can learn to thrive. Contact our knowledgeable team of educational experts at The Learning Centers to help you find your child the right learning program for their special needs.

7 Ways To Get Involved In Your Child's Preschool Classroom

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 15:47:57 GMT

The day your child starts preschool is a major milestone, and you can expect to see them making great leaps in their development over the upcoming year. While you know that your child's classroom is a nurturing environment, staying involved as a parent enhances your child's learning.

Parental involvement in the classroom during the early childhood years lays the foundation for children to make greater strides in their academic achievements. Use these ideas to get started with supporting your child's development by staying active in their new classroom.

Communicate With the Teacher

Your child benefits when you maintain an open line of communication with their teacher. For example, the teacher can adjust their strategy if they know that your child might've had a sleepless night or is struggling with a specific skill. They can also tell you about things that they are working on that you can support at home.

In addition to sharing information about your child, you can ask the teacher for ways to be involved in the classroom. Once your child's teacher knows that you are interested in helping, they can make you aware of upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Commit to a Routine

Children in preschool thrive on a daily schedule, and you can use this same tactic to get started being involved. Work with your child's teacher to create a schedule for your involvement such as helping out for an hour one day each week. This reinforces the importance of your commitment to volunteer.

Follow the Lesson Plan

Preschool programs tend to work around themes that allow the teachers to help young children make connections between the classroom and the world around them. You can use the lesson plan as a springboard for planning activities at home that can be shared with the classroom.

Check the teacher's lesson plan to find ways to make school-home connections. For example, if the preschool is currently working on a seasonal theme, you could have your child bring an acorn to school to share with the class that you found at home. Alternatively, your child might enjoy bringing a book from home to preschool that fits the current theme.

Supply Recycled Art Materials

Preschool art projects often use materials that are easily found at home. Talk to your child's teacher about upcoming craft activities that may benefit from recycled materials such as cardboard paper towel tubes or scraps of fabric. Then, start a collection bin to bring when the materials are needed.

Ask for At-Home Volunteer Jobs

As a working parent, it can sometimes be hard to find time to volunteer inside of the classroom. However, teachers can often find activities that you can help out with during your spare time at home. Whether you cut out pictures for the bulletin board or help write names on labels for the cubbies, your child will notice your involvement.

Share a Skill With the Class

Young children benefit from enjoying real life experiences, and you can set up a time with your child's teacher to introduce new concepts by sharing your skills. From doing a simple cooking demonstration to talking about your career, kids always love these teachable moments that reinforce their learning experiences.

Attend Special Events

Quality preschool programs plan special family events that encourage everyone to get involved. Check your child's preschool calendar to find out about upcoming events such as holiday dinners or fun outdoor days. Then, arrange to attend so that you can build happy memories involving preschool with your child.

At Terry Parkway Learning Center, we love when parents get involved. Contact us today to get your child started in a preschool program that promotes learning through home and school interactions.

4 Ways To Help Your Child Get Along With Other Children At Preschool

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 23:47:06 GMT

Getting ready to send your child to preschool for the first time can be pretty nerve wracking, to say the least. One of the biggest worries you may have is whether your child will get along well with other children.

This is especially true if your child has spent most of his or her time with other adults. You wonder what will happen as your child adjusts to a new environment, surrounded by other children. Will your child make lots of new friends? Or will you hear reports from the teacher that your child isn't getting along with others?

There are several things you can do to prepare your child now to make friends at preschool.

1. Provide Social Opportunities

The more your child practices working and playing with other children, the better his or her transition to preschool will be. Make sure your child has the opportunity to interact with other children at least a few times a week. Your child should interact with other kids in several different environments, not just on his or her own turf.

Some examples include:

• Meeting new friends at a park

• Going to a playgroup activity

• Playing at a friend's house

• Participating in a music class or sports team

• Meeting other kids in the neighborhood

A wide range of social experiences should help your child adjust well to the social aspect of preschool.

2. Correct Behavior When Needed

Preschool-aged children might struggle managing their emotions. If they don't get what they want, they might scream, hit or take things from other children. While these behaviors are normal, that doesn't mean they're okay.

When you see a negative behavior in your child, you can use this opportunity to gently correct him or her. As you do so, make sure you let your child know that you understand his or her feelings. You could say something like, "I know you're mad that Sarah took your toy, but you hurt Sarah when you hit her. Why don't you offer to share your toy with Sarah?" If your child learns correct behaviors now, he or she will have a more enjoyable experience in preschool.

3. Help Your Child Recognize Others' Feelings

Just as you should acknowledge your child's feelings, you should also teach your child to acknowledge other children's feelings.

For example, say your child is swinging and another child is crying while waiting for his or her turn on the swing. You could say something like, "José is sad because he wants a turn on the swings. Remember how hard it was for you to wait for your turn? How about we swing for one more minute and then let José have a turn?"

By learning to recognize other children's feelings, your child will be more empathetic and helpful toward other children.

4. Model Good Behavior

Children learn through imitation better than any other method. If you want your child to get along with other children, you have to show him or her how you get along with other people.

Some things you can model include:

• Saying "please" and "thank you" regularly

• Correcting your child calmly rather than losing your temper

• Being polite and patient with others, even with strangers like store clerks and waiters

You can also teach children about good behavior by reading him or her books about friendship and cooperation.

Following these tips can prepare your child to have a positive relationship with the other children at his or her preschool. The preschool itself should also offer plenty of helpful social opportunities. If you're looking for a great preschool in Louisiana, contact The Learning Centers today.