Activities Archives - Page 16 of 22 -

Super Important Independent Skills to Work on with Your Preschooler

September 2, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

As parents, we do almost everything we can to make our children’s day stress free and easy going as possible. We get them up in the morning, get them ready for the day, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We organize most of their time for the day, always trying to keep them busy. But there is a point where it can be too much. We need to allow space for our children to develop independent skills that they can use daily. Don’t get caught up in making their day your WHOLE day. Allowing them to be able to start caring for themselves is especially important. These are some valuable independent skills that your preschooler can work on mastering at home and school.

One of the first self-skills your child learns is how to hold their own bottle, then as they get bigger use their fingers to feed themselves table food. Then eventually a spoon and fork. At dinner, do you let your child serve themselves? We do this (during non-crazy corona times) at YSA! Its an amazing self-skill that we foster daily. The kiddos participate in family style dining and they should be doing it at home with you too. Do not worry, the messes they can clean that up too! We also embrace spilled food/milk, it is really no big deal to help them learn how to wipe up a mess. Show them how to do it, do hand over hand, then allow them to just take the lead! Be encouraging and proud when they clean up their own messes (even if you had to help a bit) when they are finished. I always make sure to thank them for cleaning up their mess and being responsible, it is a big deal!

Blowing their own noses is another independent skill that is super important! Find a way to get your kiddo to blow dragon breath out of their nose! Or have them spray the fire hose! Make up some silly saying and show/ teach your kiddo how to blow and wipe their own nose. Along with blowing noses is washing hands. Another hygienic task that we work on with your kiddo. YSA kids are some of the best handwashers, we really have put in the practice to make sure all the kiddos are following the safest and complete hand washing steps. This is another thing to practice at home. Ask your preschooler to show you how, ask them what song they sing while washing. You will be surprised to see how awesome they do!

Putting on, zipping, and buttoning a jacket is another multistep skill your preschooler is working on at YSA. A great one to work on at home as we approach chiller temps. Don’t let them fool you! They are working on/mastering this skill at YSA! This is such a great fine mother exercise! Don’t take the practice from them, let them try…fail…try… try again! An easy way to help them to start learning to put their jacket on is by having them lay it on the floor, collar/hood closest to their feet. Then they stick their arms in and superman flip the coat over their back. I will include a picture example : )

And last but not least… wiping. Yep, got to throw that one in too. We work on this skill at school multiple times a day! Ha! Please, show your preschooler and help them master this oh so important life skill. Front to back… need I say more! Haha!

These are just a few of the basic self-skills for your child to learn. As they grow, give them more responsibility to care for themselves and more responsibility. Allow them to help with daily chores, errands, and taking care of pets as they become of age. They really thrive and get excited to help, just have to be encouraging and sometimes make it some silly fun!

Ms. Whitney
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

Celebrating Dot Day

September 1, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Dot Day is almost upon us! What is that you may ask…

Only a really fun international book day that you do not want to miss out on!

It is based off a book titled “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds. As many of you have probably already gathered, he is one of my favorite children’s authors.
The Dot is a book about art on the outside shell, but as you unpack the story it is so much more than that! It gives people worth. You ARE good at something and you CAN always do SOMETHING. It doesn’t matter what age or skill level. We all have something to offer artistic or other. “Make your mark and see where it takes you”. This quote from the book brings us all together to create and be unique.

There is a website for this special day where you can visit and learn more. There are handouts and printouts for all kinds of activities to do. The website is Thedotclub.org.
Out little school has been sharing in this fun for years. We do something different each year to keep it fun and something to look forward to. We have many copies of the book floating around to keep us inspired. As well as many of Reynold’s other books. They all have a fresh perspective to offer to children. One year all the teachers made dots to hang in the hallway and another year we made thousands of frozen yogurt dots for the kiddos to snack on; it was a great mess with different colored dots to choose from. We always wear polka dots and have the children put their own artistic spins on making dots during art with all different art mediums.

It is just a fun little day to highlight a great book, an amazing author, and have a themed day of joy. Make sure to sign up as a participant on their website. It just adds you to their running tally of people around the world joining together. Many then post pictures of their dot fun. We would love to see your creations on their website and our Young Scholars Academy Facebook page as well! 2020 needs some more joy. Let’s give our kiddos one more day to be excited about; it is also something that can easily be done at home with a little internet connection.

Ms. Brooke
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Literacy Coordinator
Curriculum Coordinator

It’s ok to make out of the box decisions

August 25, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

This is by far the most personal and vulnerable thing I’ve written in awhile, but I feel that in my position as Parent Connection Coordinator, it’s pretty spot on for what we’re dealing with as parents right now. I’ve worked in Infant A here at Young Scholars Academy for 2 years. Before that I stayed home with my two boys, and before that worked with infants and toddlers for 7 years. Ask me anything about infant feeding, sleep, development, car seats, etc and I either have the answer or I know where to find it. Most of my knowledge base is invested in those topics because they are what I’m passionate about. My boys are 6 and 3 though, so as a mom I’m in uncharted territory. My 6 year old is in 1st grade this year and the entire mess of trying to figure out schooling truly started this past spring when everything shut down and schools were forced to implement a last minute e-learning schedule. I felt it right along with other moms (and dads too!) when the stress of all the decisions came into play. I’ve been stressed along side them. We’ve all seen the memes and posts on Facebook about no decision being the right one or the wrong one, but for our family (and so many others) it was extremely difficult.

My 6 year old has special needs, some of which we’re still in the process of screening and figuring out. These make it very hard for him to process and regulate the flow of sensory input and how his body reacts to those stimuli. The first Zoom meeting we had with his teacher this spring ended about 30 seconds in when she un-muted all the students so everyone could say hi. He slammed the laptop down and ran away with his hands over his ears and needed about 30 minutes to regain his composure and talk about what had happened. We didn’t attend anymore Zoom meetings after that. The other struggles of simply getting him to do the assignments seem to be echoed by so many parents that I actually felt a smidge better. We didn’t know what e-learning was going to look like until kids could return in person, but we knew we didn’t want him in school quite yet. Sensory issues were going to make so many things more challenging and I didn’t want to put that on him or the teachers and staff.

Less than a week before e-learning was to begin for this school year, a schedule was released that included quite a few Zoom meetings everyday, and that set my panic mode and my mom mode into overdrive. I needed to find the best solution for my son and our family. This schedule wasn’t going to work for him with me at work full time, but I also really love my job and didn’t want to have to leave to make this work. Zoom meetings were a nightmare and his ability to work independently has been historically disastrous. It looked like a lose lose situation for quite awhile. I think I must have googled “can you home school and work full time?” 3 or 4 times before it really started to look like a viable option. I know I annoyed my poor co-teacher talking myself from one decision to another, then to yet another. It’s like I felt if I could convince her it was going to work, then it was going to work. Really though, I was trying to convince myself.
We attended back to school day and left even more confused and uncertain and the next day we sat down to talk. Our options were to push forward with e-learning and hope that someone could convince him to do his work and get through the zoom meetings, or I could pull him from school and home school. Ultimately we decided to pull and home school. I found an amazing curriculum for core subjects and have the flexibility to supplement with other subjects like STEM, art and music in ways that I know he’ll enjoy. It’s actually been a huge relief going this route and connecting with many more families who have done the same thing. An amazing bonus is that I still get to come to my amazing job every day.

None of this is to say that I appreciate the teachers, staff and administrators any less. This entire situation has been insane and everyone is getting through it the best way they know how. Ultimately though, giving myself the permission to make the hard decisions that are in the best interest of my son was amazing. There isn’t just one right way to educate children. One child may learn a different way and won’t fit in to one mold. While we prove this everyday at YSA, once the kiddos are older it’s hard to see there are other paths. A very big piece of the puzzle is having the support to carry out those plans and to figure things out. So, while things are still uncertain and hazy going forward, know that YOU are going to be the best one to make decisions about what to do for your family. It’s so true that there isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to school right now, but supporting each other and our kids is the first step.

Thank you for reading.

Ms. Amy
Infant Nursery Supervisor
Parent Connection Coordinator

Summer Scavenger Hunt

July 2, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

While trying to think of ways to keep your preschooler engaged during the summer, consider planning a summer scavenger hunt that could be done in your neighborhood! This could be accomplished all in one weekend walk or spread throughout many walks over the month. As a family, work together to create a one of a kind list. Get materials to create your list, such as poster board or paper, markers, and stickers to decorate. Depending on the age of your kiddo, allow them to help as much as possible. The more they are involved with creating the scavenger hunt list, the more they will want to do it!

Some of the items on the list could be things youd like your kiddo to work on that you would see in your neighborhood such as numbers, colors, shapes, and animals. For an extra touch, ours also is going to include random acts of kindness! I think it is a great way to have fun with the kiddos and spread some joy within our neighborhood. To start, I explained what a scavenger hunt was to my preschooler. We then talked about the different things he thought he would like to add to try and find within our neighborhood. You may even need to explain what a neighborhood is to your kiddo if they do not know or need a refresher. As we began to explore colors, numbers, shapes, and animals to find on our hunt, the list grew pretty quickly! He was able to come up with some neat things to try and find all on his own! One of the items he came up with is trying to find a big dinosaur! Maybe he will! 😊

I then told him I wanted to also include kind acts which we could add to our list to spread kindness in our neighborhood. Some of the acts of kindness we came up with include: Draw 3 chalk pictures or kind words in front of a house, Leave a happy picture/note on someone’s door, pick up 5 or more pieces of trash (gloves and sack needed that day), find a neighbor walking and give them a compliment, share some chalk with neighbor kiddos, and say hello to 3 people on the walk. He was thrilled to add these to the hunt and I was excited he was so involved with coming up with the ideas to create the entire list.

By having the conversation of kind things we could do in our neighborhood, it led to a bigger conversation of how to be kind in daily life to others! The activity of forming this scavenger hunt really kept my preschooler engaged and eager to start! So we started right away!

He was so excited to go on his hunt, we picked a few things off the list to search for on our first walk. While we were out we got to talk to new neighbors, met a few new kiddos, and overall had a great time! I am excited to see how much fun he will have with this throughout the rest of the summer and how proud he will be when it is all finished!

Ms. Whitney

Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

4 Activities that Promote Social and Emotional Learning for Kids

June 20, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

There is no doubt that children learn to consume different information very quickly on a day-to-day basis. While cognitive and fine motor skills are important in improving a child’s growth, social and emotional learning (SEL) plays a critical role in how a child copes with feelings, peers, and resolving conflicts. Recognizing and taking the initiative to nurture a child’s social and emotional skills can help better equip them for today’s society. Here are few activities that can help improve your child’s social and emotional learning:

Checking in With Your Child

Start the day off by checking in with your child. It could be as simple as asking them how they are feeling.

Using a “feelings board” can be very useful when interacting with young children, as they are able to point to an image that best reflects their mood.

Giving big hugs and/or warm greetings can change their mood from one that is dull to a more joyful one.

Make it a habit to start the day off by checking in with your child and identifying what their mood is like for that day.

Group Activities/Games

Make activities group or partner related. Working with others helps children develop their social and emotional learning as they will have the opportunity to talk with each other, listen to each other, and interact with each other throughout the activity.

Working with a partner improves a child’s learning ability by helping them build better social connections and collaborations. Here are three social and emotional learning games that require group participation.

Ring Around the Rosie

Children will hold hands and stand around in a circle. While singing the song ‘ring around the rosie’, the children move around the circle. When the song ends, ‘we all fall down’, the children fall to the ground.

Bouncing Ball and Boxes

While everyone is collectively holding a very large box, they will roll the ball around inside trying to keep it in the center. By working together and holding the box steady, they will be able to balance the ball in the right direction.

Large Group Murals

Children work together to either paint or color in the mural to have a complete picture. Children will be interacting and communicating about each space that needs to be colored. They make group decisions about such things as which side of the mural needs more or less color. As children work together to complete the mural, they build a sense of accomplishment as well as tap into more social and emotional learning.

Breathing Exercise

While recognizing the importance of a child’s social and emotional skill, it is also imperative to know how to handle the lack thereof. Children at times find it hard to express themselves.

Coping mechanisms, such as breathing and stretching exercises, can help in releasing emotional stressors. These exercises help improve children’s physical and mental health as well as managing anxiety, emotions, and/or self-esteem.

Breathing and stretching exercises can be done at any time of the day and can be an interactive practice between children and parents. You can help your child with social and emotional learning by taking part and encouraging your child constantly.

Story Time

Using this time to interact with children can be a useful tool, allowing a child to express their thoughts and feelings about a story. This is an opportunity to ask children questions and listen to their thoughts.

Reading aloud is a perfect tool for exploring a child’s social and emotional learning skills. Choose a book that is interactive and developmentally appropriate for children. Have children help pick out books.

If the book has illustrations that include vehicles and/or animals, have children make the sounds or act out how the animals would. Make it fun so that they will want to talk about the book with you or their peers.

Children are born to understand and develop a sense of themselves and of the world around them. With social and emotional learning, they are better suited and equipped to handle change, make genuine connections, and demonstrate social and self-awareness.

These are significant benefits in assisting the makeup of a child’s entire future. Providing an outlet for a child to develop these skills can be impactful. They will feel good about themselves and feel confident enough to interact with others.

These activities are here for you to try and take part in the social and emotional learning resources that are available to the betterment of your child.

Young Scholars Academy provides a positive environment where your child can improve and make progress in their social and emotional learning in the early stages of life. To learn more about Young Scholars Academy and what we have to offer, feel free to call or visit our website at youngscholarsacademy.com .