15 staycation ideas to help stay away from screen time and get your family fun back these holidays: Take a day trip. Look for fun places to go two hours away from home. Go fruit picking. It’s a great way to educate the kids on...
It’s great for young readers to find a book they love and that the author has continued the book in the form of a series - just to make them want to read more! Keeper of the Crystals ‘Eve and the Kraken Hunt’ by Jess Black (New...
This month we look at some Christmas picture books and some books for holiday reading aloud to littlies. Reading to preschoolers is very revealing when you are reviewing picture books. They either love them and engage with the reader or start to wriggle and wiggle. The...
Kate Southam looks at the role parents can play in identifying and developing their children’s instinctive talents and abilities beyond the school curriculum. Louise and John first noticed there was something different about their daughter when she was five and wanted to learn to read. They...
Jennifer Dudding asks how we can show our kids the value of unconditional giving with gifts from the heart. As Christmas approaches, I find myself questioning the messages I teach my children. Do they see it as being all about them? Is it merely a time...
As we approach the giving season and parents’ thoughts turn to gifts for kids, sharing a home with weapons made of foam still made one mum squirm. Malia Jacobsen investigates Tacoma (USA) mum Emily Waggoner, a former social worker who runs an in-home day care, wasn’t crazy...
Professor Nicola Yelland highlights the importance of pretend play in young children and the value brought to it by books such as the new Peppa Pig ‘When I Grow Up’ program. In pretend play, the young child is not just taking on the ‘role’ of the...
New picture books for 2-6 year olds released in the past month. Reading to preschoolers is very revealing when you are reviewing picture books. They either love them and engage with the reader or start to wriggle and wiggle. The genre of picture books really...
After some initial anxiety, Donna Webeck draws the line at forcing her son to write before he is ready. His H appeared more like a spirograph than the eighth letter of the alphabet. On we went for another 10 painful minutes until it became clear I...
Dyslexia is a complex and much misunderstood condition, writes Karen Thomson. A number of experts refer to dyslexia not as a disability but rather an alternative way of thinking, or a ‘learning preference’. However, as reading and writing underpins most subjects taught in school, dyslexic children...
