How Toys for Special Needs Children Can Help Learning
Toys can play an important role in a child’s education and development. They can help a child develop their hand-eye coordination and identify shapes and color at an early age. Toys can aid children with special needs in their development and therapy . For this...
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Mathematics: Numeracy
From Reciting to Understanding When reciting numbers in ascending order or saying the alphabet,” young children are usually simply demonstrating memorization skills. Numeracy and literacy require understanding the meaning those symbols and being able to put that...
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Mathematics: Geometry
Shapes and the arrangement of relative parts within a whole are the subject of geometry. Consider the construction of spider webs or the arrangement of petals forming a rose. Study the facade of a cathedral, the angles and the fitting together of the architectural...
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Mathematics: Measurement
Measurement is a basic math concept for time, quantity, size, weight, and volume. Children learn these properties naturally through play. Think about the concepts learned while filling and spilling, nesting and stacking. Fill the pail. The pail is full. Spill the...
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Developing Math Awareness and So Much More
April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. That got me to thinking about ways children learn mathematical concepts during play and through daily activities, observations, and conversations. Consider the infant gazing intently at the face of the person...
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Might Hospitalized Adults Benefit From Practices Advocated by Child Life?
I’ve written about the ways child life specialists make being in hospital less traumatic for children and their parents, from advocating for positions of comfort to educating patients in age appropriate ways, from providing distraction during procedures to...
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Looking Back, Moving Forward
Previously I wrote on two topics that touch all of us – how our lives can change forever in a heartbeat and how staying calm empowers us to carry on. At birth, every child transforms the lives of its family. Daily living will never be as it was. That’s a given....
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Hats Off to Child Life Professionals Worldwide
March is Child Life Month, a time for raising awareness of the psycho-social needs of pediatric patients and their families and celebrating the child life professionals who support those needs. Illnesses and injuries are always frightening. Diagnostic testing and...
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Read Across America
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Your books have had quite an impact these past 80 years. Your wonderfully whimsical words and drawings continue to delight and inspire the young and the young at heart. You encourage us to “think and wonder, wonder and think.” We’re better...
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Name This Famous Person
An author/illustrator born on 2 March 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts . Need a clue or two? 1. Wrote and illustrated books for adults and children, and holds the rare distinction of having been number one on The New York Times Best-Sellers List for both nonfiction...
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How Do We Decide What’s Best for Our Child?
We all strive to do what’s best for our children. Question is, what does ‘best” mean? Does one size fit all? Should we consider each child and choose options that best fit what we know about that individual and how she learns? Or go with the flow? Once we decide...
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Rain, Rain Come Our Way
After years of drought, we experienced the wettest January in more than a decade, and I celebrated every drop. Granted inclement weather poses challenges, from rain slick streets and highways to mud flows and flooding. Yet week after week of sunny skies during the...
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Children Learn While Playing
Play is essential. Children learn while playing, and we adults do irreparable damage to children when we ignore this truth. By play, I mean self-directed, open-ended exploration and discovery. When playing, children use of what’s available, decide what they want to...
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Finding The Best Toy
Customers sometimes ask me to recommend the best toy for their child or grandchild, particularly if the child has a special need. Many begin the conversation by sharing a diagnosis. While valuable, this information only addresses one aspect of who the child is....
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Flourishing During the Holidays
Whether your family celebrates Hanukkah, Christmas or both, this year finds the celebrations coinciding. With its eight days, Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 24 and culminates on the evening of January 1. The traditional Christian celebration of Christmas...
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Holiday Gifts for Tots
The Holidays are upon us! PlayopolisToys has made a list of a few favorites to help you with your holiday shopping. Happy Holidays! Newborn to 12 months: Giant Soft Book: Giant Soft book offers babies multi-sensory stimulation through each of its pages. Baby...
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Distracted? Distracting? What’s Distraction?
When hearing the word distraction, what comes to mind? According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, distraction has three distinct meanings. The most common refers to anything that keeps us from giving our full attention to something else. Often we view that...
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Do As I Do And As I Say
Thanksgiving is our most family-centered holiday. We come together to share a meal and spend time with those we cherish, or at least that’s the plan. I’m aware that often friction among relatives mars the experience, and an opportunity to celebrate kinship and...
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Worry Eaters Relieve Anxiety
When life throws a curve ball, ignoring our feelings makes matters worse. Successful coping requires us to acknowledge our feelings. Otherwise we’ll likely “come undone.” Suppressed emotions have a way of escaping, often at inopportune times and in inappropriate ways....
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Life Happens
We’ve all likely heard the oft quoted, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Experience confirms the truth. Lest I forget, however, I was reminded when my daughter-in-law called in tears to say she needed a ride to the hospital. She was...
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Learning to Value Process
I admire creative people and am fascinated by the creative process. I’ve been observing how people view what they do and how they react when challenges arise along the way. Process leads to product, and that’s where differences surface. If we begin our process with a...
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What Creativity Looks Like
We talk about the importance of children developing creativity and problem-solving skills. What are we saying? Being creative means thinking differently, being imaginative, inventive, innovative. Its expression relies upon persistence, problem-solving,...
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