During the summer a friend of mine told me about this book and the blog. I have been reading some of it and I found it really useful, great tips to improve communication with your kids.
Take a look: http://tenpowerfulthingstosaytoyourkids.tumblr.com/
Kids’ Apps and Games to Make Summer Days Fun
You’ve got a creative kid, and summer break gives your kid more time to stretch those creative muscles in fun ways. And creativity is more than arts and music — making, tinkering, and experimenting are all ways kids can be creative. Whether they want to write code for a video game or make an origami crane, kids can explore their creative side with some of our favorite apps, games, and websites. Let the making begin!
These categories can help guide you to the best creativity tools based on your kids’ interests. We also give tips and activities you can use to support your kids as they make and create!
We rate media on both age-appropriateness and learning potential based on developmental criteria from some of the nation’s leading authorities. We make recommendations about which age each title is appropriate for. Then we evaluate the learning potential with these ratings: BEST, VERY GOOD, GOOD, FAIR for learning, or NOT FOR LEARNING.
Common Sense Media is the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.
Parents often ask us to suggest good books for their kids — ones that will engage, entertain, and maybe even enlighten them. So we’ve scoured our recommendation lists and consulted with teachers, librarians, and book critics to assemble what we consider essential titles for your home bookshelves or to download to your ereader, smartphone, or tablet. From the classics to more recent must-reads, fantasy to funny, we have more than 150 great book suggestions for your kids and teens, from bedtime stories to chapter books to true literature, and more. Just search our themed categories, and you’ll find all of our picks arranged by age groups.
Our goal in creating this guide was to choose books that are proven to click with all kinds of kids — and can encourage them to become lifelong readers. The list is mainly fiction, because stories really grab kids. And we didn’t shy away from controversial books, trusting that our age ratings and detailed reviews will help parents decide what’s appropriate for their kids.
Our expert editors are completely independent; we’ve provided buy links for many books, but they’re simply for your convenience.
By Bonnie RochmanDec. 31, 2012
Playtime can be as important as class time for helping students perform their best.
Recess is most children’s favorite period, and parents and teachers should encourage that trend, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Recess can be a critical time for development and social interaction, and in a new policy statement published in the journal Pediatrics, pediatricians from the AAP support the importance of having a scheduled break in the school day. “Children need to have downtime between complex cognitive challenges,” says Dr. Robert Murray, a pediatrician and professor of human nutrition at the Ohio State University who is a co-author of the statement. “They tend to be less able to process information the longer they are held to a task. It’s not enough to just switch from math to English. You actually have to take a break.”
The AAP committee that developed the statement began its research in 2007, expecting to discover that recess is important as a physical outlet for children. What they found, however, was that playtime’s benefits extend beyond the physical. “We came to the realization that it really affects social, emotional and cognitive development in a much deeper way than we’d expected,” she says. “It helps children practice conflict resolution if we allow them unstructured play, and it lets them come back to class more ready to learn and less fidgety.”
The policy could be a lifeline for the dwindling role recess plays in the school day as districts trim budgets and hours of instruction, and squeeze more academic subjects into existing or even fewer school days, often sacrificing recess in the process. A year ago, a national survey found that just six states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Illinois and Iowa — adhere to standards from the National Association for Sports and Physical Education that schoolchildren participate in 150 minutes a week of physical education. And just three states — Delaware, Virginia and Nebraska — have 20 minutes of mandatory elementary-school recess a day, according to research published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Since the 1990s, 73% of elementary school students through sixth grade have some form of daily recess, though it can vary widely between districts and even from school to school. That inconsistency could have serious implications for children’s health, says Catherine Ramstetter, Murray’s co-author and a health educator at Cincinnati’s Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences. As recess started to disappear, for example, researchers noticed a spike in childhood-obesity rates.
(MORE: Why Are Parents Less Likely to Take Little Girls Outside to Play?)
A school volunteer, Ramstetter has personally encountered the challenges of maintaining regular recess. The inner-city Catholic school in Cincinnati where she offers her services has no playground. Recess takes place irregularly in the school gym or at a local park, and only for students through fourth grade. And teachers often withhold recess as punishment.
She and her fellow committee members say that could be a mistake. Banning unruly kids from recess can backfire since these students are precisely those who may potentially benefit the most from the break that recess represents.
It’s also important to distinguish recess from physical education, says Ramstetter. While gym class offers kids a chance to stretch their legs and get their heart rate up, it is still considered instructional time, with very different goals from those of the unstructured downtime of recess. Likewise, it’s important to let kids play what they want — that means playground monitors shouldn’t organize kids to play kickball or soccer. “When it’s structured, it’s not a break in the day,” she says.
The new statement is not meant to be a recipe for rescuing recess; it does not specify how long recess should last, but calls for more studies to determine the optimal length of breaks in the school day. But the authors do advise that recess should be a protected time, a sacrosanct period of free play that is no less important than the hours devoted to math or reading.
That understanding reflects a growing body of research documenting the power of some time off for improving concentration and even creativity. “Everyone, not just kids, benefits from regular breaks in the day,” says Murray. Adults rarely sit down and spend two or three hours focusing on a single task. “We get up, we get coffee, we mix and match our tasks during the day so our concentration can stay sharp,” says Murray. “With kids, we have to schedule these breaks.”
Without such intentional periods of play, the AAP committee says, it’s not just children’s waistlines that may suffer, but their ability to pay attention, and ultimately their academic performance as well
Recess Is as Important as Class Time, Pediatricians Say | TIME.com.
Great Holiday Gifts for Kids
No matter how much planning you do ahead of time, shopping for holiday gifts can feel overwhelming. Let us help! Our guide is packed with 100+ holiday gift ideas hand-selected to inspire, educate, and entertain kids of all ages and stages. Whether your list includes young children, tweens, or teens, now it’s easy to find presents that kids and parents will both feel good about. All of our picks are arranged by age and media type and include movies, video games, books, music, TV shows on DVD, apps, and websites.
Our expert editors are completely independent, so their selections are based solely on kids’ best interests. We’ve provided buy links for many titles, but they’re simply for your convenience.
Giving without guessing makes for happier — and more fun — holidays for everybody.
Are you looking for things to do with the kids, during the day or afterschool activities?
Take a look at this fantastic options offered at the National Gallery
Current children and toddler programmes include those listed below with web links:
Cartooning for Kids – 7 and up (Mondays month of October only)
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/cartooningforkidsoctober
Walkers Art Club Primary – 7- 9 – Thursdays
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/walkersartclub
Walkers Art Club Secondary – 10 – 12 – Thursdays
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/walkersartclubsecondary
Walkers Toddler and Mums – Fridays
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/walkersartclubfortoddlersandmum
Family Fun – Saturdays
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/satmorningfamilyfun
Cineclub for Kids- Tuesdays
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/kids-courses-and-workshops/cineclubkids
Even if we aren’t actively watching TV, most of us leave the set on in the background. But that may have detrimental effects on children in the home, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Matthew Lapierre, an assistant professor of communications studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and his colleagues conducted the first study to quantify how much background TV young children are exposed to on an average day. While many previous studies have focused on the effects of direct TV viewing on children’s behavior and development, Lapierre’s was the first to investigate what might be considered “secondhand” TV exposure, defined as any exposure to television that the child is not actually watching.
To the authors’ surprise, in the survey of 1,454 parents with at least one child between the ages of 8 months and 8 years, the scientists found that children were subjected to nearly four hours of background TV a day. “We were all startled by the scale of the exposure in these homes,” says Lapierre, who conducted the research while at the University of Pennsylvania. “We went into the study expecting the rates to be high, but not at the scale we found.”
(MORE: Disney’s Diet: No More Junk Food Ads on Kids Channels)
The households were recruited by a phone survey group, which enrolled typical American families that represented a broad range of demographic variables, from ethnicity to income and education. Parents answered questionnaires about the activities of one of their children in a 24-hour period, and were asked about whether a television was on during any of these activities. On average, background exposure amounted to 232.3 minutes a day, with exposure being greatest for younger children: infants and toddlers under 24 months logged about 5.5 hours of background TV a day, compared with 2.75 hours a day for the oldest children, aged 6 to 8.
Parental influences played the greatest role in determining how much background TV children experienced. Other factors that increased indirect TV exposure included living in a single-parent family, where children were exposed to more than 5 hours a day, compared with 3.5 hours in multiparent homes; lower household income, with children in the poorest families experiencing 6 hours of background TV a day, compared with 3.5 hours among those whose family income reached above the poverty level; and lower parental education, with children of parents with high school diplomas or less being exposed to more than 5 hours a day, compared with less than 2.5 hours a day for those whose parents had more formal education.
(MORE: Watching TV: Even Worse for Kids than You Think)
The data were alarming given that children under age 6 already watch about 80 minutes of television a day directly; these findings suggest that indirect TV exposure is greater than direct watching, and could have equally, or potentially more serious effects on children’s development. Studies have linked excessive TV viewing with obesity in children, while violent and sexually inappropriate programming has been correlated with behavioral and cognitive problems in young viewers. (In contrast, educational programming has been associated with learning and cognitive benefits.)
Lapierre says that his study also hints at difficulties with executive function and self-regulation among kids who are exposed to more background TV, but those findings are still preliminary and will be explored in more detail in additional studies. While his study did not explore the consequences of indirect TV exposure, previous trials suggest that it can affect children’s concentration and behavior in relationships. In one such study, conducted at the University of Massachusetts, scientists observed parents and their toddlers as one group interacted in the presence of a television and the other group interacted without a TV. In the television group, despite the fact that the parents and children were not watching the programming, their interactions were less frequent and the children’s play episodes were shorter.
Parents might not think that young toddlers are processing television content when it’s on in the background, but they may be more distracted by the screen than parents realize. And much of that exposure is not to children-friendly programming, but likely adult content targeted for parents. “The thing we find most concerning is that if a child has a television on in the background, then he is hearing things that are supposed to elicit his attention like loud noises, sound effects and beeps, so even if they aren’t watching directly, they aren’t able to engage in play behaviors or interactions with their full attention and have more meaningful experiences,” says Lapierre.
(MORE: Top 10 Topical Sesame Street Characters)
What also concerns Lapierre and other child development experts is that despite all the focus on how much television children watch purposefully, they are actually indirectly exposed to far more television than anyone imagined. Further, it’s not surprising that the youngest children are exposed to the most secondhand TV, the authors note, since parents and caregivers likely leave the set on, either as stimulation for themselves or as background noise to combat the loneliness of not being able to converse with another adult. Such indirect exposure is also highest in families with lower educational levels and lower incomes, as the television is more likely to become a substitute for meaningful interactions in these situations.
How can parents help their children reduce their secondhand TV exposure? Removing TVs from children’s bedrooms is an important first step, since it’s easier to turn on sets if they are there. Second, while it seems obvious, simply making sure to turn off the TV if nobody is watching can also steer children’s attention and energy toward other activities, whether it’s a conversation or play. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 2 not watch any television at all, in order to protect their cognitive and behavioral development; the current findings suggest that policy may need to include all exposure to TV, whether it involves direct viewing or not.
Background TV: Children Exposed to Four Hours a Day | Healthland | TIME.com.
Researchers at the University of Chester in England found that the Kinect Xbox 360 system pumps up heart rate and pushes children to move more than the Wii system or playing sedentary video games. Because Kinect includes more whole-body movements, while Wii is navigated by a handheld controller, children tend to expend slightly more energy playing games on the former.
In a small study involving 18 boys and girls aged 11 to 15 years, Michael Morris and his colleagues found that the children playing Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing (both on the Kinect Xbox 360 system) boosted their energy expenditure by 153% and 263%, respectively, over their baseline resting rates. They also increased their heart rates by 103% and 194% over their heart rates while playing more sedentary video games.
The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, did not directly compare the Kinect and Wii systems. Rather, the authors measured energy expenditure and heart rates in Kinect players and compared these values to previous studies of those playing Wii. Says Morris, “It does appear from the data in this early small scale study, that the whole-body movement of the Xbox provides slightly better results for energy expenditure and also heart rate.”
In fact, over the course of an hour, children playing Kinect may burn 172 calories more than if they were playing a sedentary game. Even more important, says Morris, was the fact that the Kinect players worked up enough of a sweat to reach about 66% of their maximum heart rate. Because the heart is a muscle, pushing heart rate up regularly to reach its maximum pumping capacity is a good way to improve fitness, and fitness can lead to longer term gains in health and survival. In a recent study, those who were more fit in middle age were 30% less likely to die early than those who were not, regardless of how much they weighed.
Still, Morris says the results aren’t an excuse to give up playing real-life sports or engaging in exercise outdoors. As far as the social and health benefits go, playing actual sports is always preferable playing the virtual version. What’s more, there are studies suggesting that children who play active video games may end up exercising less than kids who don’t, because they convince themselves they have reached their physical activity “quota” just by playing the games.
But, says Morris, while “active video games cannot singlehandedly substitute for outdoor play or sports, they might help to bridge the gap for children with low physical activity.” And since video games seem to have more immediate appeal than a jog around the block, setting children up with ones that get their hearts racing may not be a bad idea.
Alice Park is a writer at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @aliceparkny. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
Cayman Moms 