Parenting

6 Educational Activities at Home for Kids

written by Joy

Educational activities for kids at home, improve your child’s memory, creativity, and motor skills.

Kids will be spending more time at home, so it’s a good time to expand their knowledge and teach them some valuable life skills, too!

Here are six educational activities that are fun and easy to do to help kids learn while they’re stuck at home.

Entertain kids with easy crafts

Kids love to get their hands dirty and create something new. They are naturally curious, and with the right materials, they can be entertained for hours.

Here are some easy crafts that you can do at home with your kids:

Paper plate crafts

Paper plate crafts are one of the easiest activities you can do with your kids. All you need is a paper plate; craft supplies and some imagination! You can use this simple craft to make anything from butterflies to birds to flowers. If you want to get really creative, try using different colored plates for different colored animals or insects.

Paper bag crafts

Paper bag crafts are another fun way to keep your kids entertained while still teaching them about recycling! You don’t need any fancy supplies or tools either; just take an old grocery bag and let your little ones decorate it however they want! They can paint or draw on it or even cut out shapes from magazine pages to add some color and interest. You can even use these bags as gift wrapping paper for birthday presents or holidays if you don’t have any other paper lying around the house!

Educational Activities: Play learning games

Learning through play can be fun, engaging and educational for kids of all ages.

Here are some educational activities at home for kids:

Play online money games. Learning about money is a great way to teach kids about the value of a dollar and how to manage their own. Have your child play online games related to finance like Grocery cashier. This game will help young children understand addition and subtraction as well as money by operating a virtual cash register.

Use flashcards to learn new words or ask them to spell a random word and ask what it means, so they’ll be exposed to words they don’t already know.

Create a treasure hunt to find items around the house. This will help get your child accustomed to the items in his or her home and how they are used.

Teach them a new skill

It’s important to teach kids new skills while they are young so they can get the most out of their childhoods. You can teach them anything you want, but here are some ideas:

Cook or bake something delicious together. Teach them how to cook and make simple meals. They will love helping out in the kitchen and eating the food they made themselves. If you have an older child, let them help you make a meal for your family or friends.

Art: Let your child draw, paint, sculpt or do whatever they want with art supplies. Encourage creativity and have fun with it!

Sports: Sports can be a great way for kids to learn about teamwork and encourage physical activity in their lives. A sport like tennis, basketball or soccer is perfect for an active kid who wants to keep moving all day long!

Watch a movie marathon together, classic and new favorites alike.

Kids love movies. They’re colorful and fun, and there’s nothing better than curling up with a movie marathon on the weekend.

Read!

Reading is the best way to keep your child’s mind active and one of the best ways to keep children engaged and interested in learning. It can be difficult to find quality time to read with your children, but you should make the time when possible. Read books together as a family and discuss them afterward. Let your child choose which books they want to read, as well as what time of day they want to read them.

Set up a Garden

The benefits of gardening are endless, from learning the names of different plants to nutrition and environmental awareness. So, if your kid is into plants, why not set up a garden in your backyard or balcony?

You can start with any size of the container – from small pots to large planters. Then, choose the plants that your kid will love. For example, if he loves flowers, you can choose colorful flowers like lilies or tulips. If he prefers vegetables instead, try planting tomatoes and cucumbers.

If you have limited space at home, try planting herbs instead of vegetables or flowers. They are easy to grow and they don’t require much care so they are perfect for kids!

Remember, the point of these activities is to keep your kids engaged and having fun while learning and creating some valuable family time together. Building on the skills your child has learned at school will help maintain the sense of accomplishment they feel once they are back in their environment with other children and caught up in their daily schedule. Allowing them to return to school with a positive feeling about themselves as learners will further encourage and entrench them in their learning environment. Keep it fun, silly and add plenty of love and family bonding time so your kids know that these activities were truly meant just for them.

November 16, 2022 0 comment

home and family Parenting

Five Must-Have Baby Hygiene Essentials

written by Joy

“Baby Hygiene Essentials with Unicare, you never have to be worried about your child’s hygiene essentials, safety and protection. Take it up a notch with the New Uni-love Milk Detergent Bottle launching exclusively on Shopee this May 19!”

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding experiences in life. But it also comes with many responsibilities, one of which is caring for your child. This includes providing them with the necessary items they need to be clean and comfortable.

Below are some of the baby hygiene essentials you will need to keep your little one happy and healthy:

Baby wipes

These disposable wipes are perfect for cleaning up baby messes, wiping down surfaces, or even giving yourself a refreshing face wash after a long day. You can also use them to quickly freshen up your little one before nap time or bedtime.

Check out UniLove Chubby Baby Wipes (Sumo) 80’s Pack of 3 – It prevents unnecessary leaks and is free from any harsh substance like paraben and alcohol.

Check it here: https://shope.ee/4zuNe2bqlN

Baby laundry detergent

This type of detergent is designed specifically for babies’ sensitive skin, so it won’t cause any irritation or discomfort when they come into contact with it. It also contains ingredients that can clean up even the toughest stains and odors on baby clothes. One of the best baby laundry detergent in town is UniLove Baby Laundry Detergent 1.2L Bottle (Milk Scent) Bottle of 1. It is made of natural ingredients, and essential oil, making it best for sensitive skin.

Check it here: https://shope.ee/6zfS4WmDcR

Baby soap and shampoo

This is perfect for giving your baby a thorough wash without causing any burns or irritating their skin. Most baby shampoos and baby bath soaps are specifically made for baby’s sensitive skin and will not cause dryness and irritation. It will leave your little one’s skin soft and shiny hair.

Baby lotion

The baby’s skin is too sensitive, thus, do not apply lotion unless your baby’s skin is dry, or has been advised by your pediatrician. Some lotions contain ingredients that can be harmful for babies, so it is advisable to consult first your pediatrician before using one for your little one.

Diapers

As a parent, you want what is best for your child. That is why it is important to know the different types of diapers that are available. Cloth diapers have been around for a long time and have been used by generations of families before you. They can be made at home from natural materials like cotton or purchased from stores that sell cloth diapers specifically. They require more work than disposable diapers but they also provide many benefits including being less expensive in the long run, better for the environment, and cuter than disposable ones!

Disposable diapers are an option that many parents choose because they are convenient and can be found in many stores and online shops like UniLove Airpro Baby Diaper 30’s (Newborn) Pack of 1. It has a super absorbent core, keeping your babies’ skin comfortable and dry.

Check it here: https://shope.ee/6zfS1UMlFI

It is easy is it to stock up on baby essentials when you can get them easily on Shopee and even enjoy freebies or discounts. Watch out for New Uni-love Milk Detergent Bottle up to 40% off on May 19 only at Shopee’s Brand Spotlight!

May 17, 2022 0 comment

Education Parenting

5 Ways to Help Your Child Become More Confident

written by Joy

Confidence is crucial because it what allows us to step out of comfort zone, try new things, and feel comfortable in certain situations, like when meeting new people. Essentially, it’s what allows us to feel more prepared for life’s experiences, no matter how big or small. Children who are confident in their abilities are also usually more independent because they don’t feel the need to rely on others. With this in mind, it’s a good idea for parents to try and help their child become more confident using various tactics. I have teamed up with a sixth form in London to share some ideas of how you can help.

Encourage Them to Try New Things

A confident child is one who isn’t afraid to attempt things they have never done before, and this takes practise. With that said, don’t do everything on your child’s behalf, like introducing them to a new person or tying their shoelaces for them; let them give it a go on their own. Don’t try and rescue them every time something isn’t going to plan, because they will never develop problem solving skills or have the self-assurance to go it alone. As a result, they are more likely to panic when you’re not there to hold their hand through a new experience. Eventually, they will realise that nothing is as scary or as difficult as it first seems, and they won’t be afraid to try new things going forward, with or without you.

Give Them Chores

Asking your child to help you with the household chores will give them the opportunity to learn a variety of key skills that will help them with their independence and serve them well throughout life, such as cooking or hoovering, setting the table, or sorting laundry into coloured piles. As they become increasingly more proficient at these tasks, they will start to feel more confident in their abilities and feel more in control. What’s more, asking them to complete tasks that you would normally do shows them that you trust them, which will further boost their self-esteem and make them feel good about themselves.

Encourage Extra-Curricular Activities

Extra-curricular activities are great for a child’s confidence and general wellbeing. They are a chance for your child to meet new people and make new friends, so they will become better communicators, and feel comfortable in the knowledge that they have a strong support system. In addition, they will develop skills like teamwork, perseverance, and time management, to name but a few. Again, this will help them feel more self-assured and positive and they can use their newfound skills to help them in other areas of life.

Embrace Mistakes & Failings

Your child won’t get everything right every time. They will make mistakes and things won’t go to plan; they are only human after all. Try to help them see these mistakes and failings as a chance to learn. If they are worried about failing, they will feel insecure and will be afraid to try in the first place. So, don’t be too hard on them when things go wrong.

Be an Optimistic Role Model

Try and focus on a glass half full approach around your child by looking on the bright side and showing them that things aren’t always as bad as they first seem. For instance, if you have to cancel plans with their friends due to sickness, say something like “As long as your friend is ok, that’s all that matters, we can do something else exciting today instead”. You should also encourage them to set realistic goals that they can work towards, so that they can approach the future with a confident, positive mindset.

April 13, 2022 0 comment

home and family Parenting

5 Ways on How to Get Your Kids Interested in Cooking

written by Joy

This Covid-19 pandemic takes a toll on mental health not only with adults but with children as well. One of the best ways to escape and battle your kid’s boredom at home is to teach them to get interested in cooking.

Meal preparation will not only give them a significant lifelong lesson of being independent and self-reliant but can help them with other valuable lessons like how to make delicious food even with what is only available ingredients on hand.

You can teach your kid about the importance of eating right when you prepare healthy meals together.

There are simple ways on how to motivate them to get interested in cooking:

Watch cooking videos together

Spend time watching cooking shows with your kid. They will develop their cooking interest when they see videos or tv shows featuring little kids cooking.

Play Food Education Games

Let your kids play food education games that can get them to familiarize themselves with food, farming, cooking, and learn about healthy foods versus unhealthy foods. This way they can achieve two things in a single action, that is they enjoy playing at the same time learning.

Veggiezilla is a gardening game where players help Molly grow award winning vegetables in her garden. Water plants, add fertilizer, and block bug invasions.

Cooking together

Start by giving your child small tasks he can do to help prepare dinner. This way he will not be overwhelmed that can discourage him to proceed to help you in the kitchen.

Teaching meal preparation and supervision depends on your child’s age. For children 5 years old and below, a simple sandwich-making can do for a start.

Encourage creativity when baking cookies or decorating cakes. Ask for their suggestions and input.

Teach them to enjoy food

Children will develop their interest in cooking if they enjoy what they are eating. Most kids nowadays are picky eaters, so be a good example. Introduce them to eat fruits and vegetables while they’re young. Let them see that you enjoy eating what you buy, cook, and serve them.

Do grocery time together

Bring along your kid when you do grocery shopping. However, make sure that you choose the best time that there are fewer people in the supermarket as we still have to be cautious of being safe not to contract the Covid-19 virus.

Make a list of your menu’s ingredients before going to the supermarket and let your child pick out the needed ingredients. This way he will get acquainted with different vegetables, meat, and even condiments and spices.

December 22, 2021 1 comment

home and family Parenting

Fun Indoor Games to Play with Toddlers

written by Joy

Keeping a toddler entertained when it’s too wet or cold to go out can be a challenge. It’s not easy to keep a toddler in for long periods, especially when they have a lot of excess energy to burn off! Here, we take a look at five great indoor games and activities to do with toddlers, sure to keep them amused for hours.

1. Board Games

There are a range of great, easy to play board games for preschoolers which are perfect for those rainy days when you can’t get out and about. Toddlers will love to sit down with mom or dad and enjoy a few matches of their favorite game. Something like simple picture dominoes or a lotto matching style game is perfect for a child aged 2 or 3 years old.

Building jigsaw puzzles is another great activity for parents and toddlers to enjoy together indoors. Games and puzzles are great for promoting cognitive development, as well as being a lot of fun! You can read more about great board games for different ages at whooopsadaisy.com. Of course bigger kids have games they can exhaust their energy and thinking in, like the Rubik’s cube, chess, and such minds games.

2. Make a Sensory Box

This is a great activity to keep your toddler happy when they have to stay indoors. Get a large cardboard or plastic box and fill it with polystyrene pellets, shredded paper or other similar materials. Then, choose a range of small objects or toys with different shapes and textures. Toddlers can have fun rummaging through the bin and trying to guess what’s inside before they pull it out. Alternatively, have your child put on a blindfold and pick items out of a box and try and guess what they are. You could even make it a competition to see how many they can correctly guess!

3. Indoor Bowling

This is a great game for toddlers who love to be active even when they are stuck indoors. Save some old water or soda bottles and line them up. Then, your child can use a small, soft ball to roll (or throw!) at them to see how many they can knock over. To make it more challenging, put some water, sand or uncooked rice into the bottles to weigh them down a bit.

4. Homemade Play Dough

Making play dough is a fun activity for parents and children to enjoy together! Kids will love getting involved in making the dough – they can help mix ingredients and they can choose which color to make it. You can even make the dough scented or add glitter to make it even more fun to use! Dough will keep for a few weeks as long as it is tightly wrapped or kept in an air tight container.

5. Have a Dance Party

Toddlers love music and dancing, so a great way to help them stay active indoors is to pop on some of their favorite tunes and let them dance like crazy! It’s even more fun if mom and dad or older siblings join in too. Let your toddler decide what music they want to dance to, and you can show them some moves. You could even find a children’s music video such as the Wiggles, which toddlers can sing and dance along with!

September 3, 2018 0 comment

home and family Parenting

How to Teach Your Child to Be Responsible The Easy Way

written by Joy

As parents, it’s one of our biggest duties to raise our children to be responsible. We want our children to grow up to be responsible citizens when they’re adults. This means we must teach our children to understand the consequences of their choices and their actions so that they understand the impact that they may have on the world around them and be responsible for that.

We’ve put together our list of three of the easiest ways you can teach your kids responsibility, even from a very young age:

Responsibility is a joy.

You must put it across to your child that being responsible isn’t a burden from life, it is a blessing. By nature, children model themselves on the adults around them, and they can see that these grownups are responsible. Children want to be like the adults that they see, but they have to see that responsibility is a gift to them, and something they must respect and take pleasure from.

You can teach your children to try and make a positive contribution to the world, that way they will be able to see from early on that being responsible is a gift that has been bestowed upon them, and they can use this to the best of their ability. They can take joy from the benefits that being responsible brings them.

In other words, all you need to do is show your kids that they have the power to contribute something positive to the world, and this will help them to be responsible for their actions.

Irresponsibility is a non-starter.

Another way to easily teach your child about the value of being responsible is to reverse it and teach them the negative aspects of irresponsibility. You can teach them that responsibility is rewarded, whilst irresponsibility is frowned upon. This simple logic will help your child understand that being responsible has positive value, whilst not taking responsibility for themselves will have negative knock-on effects.

This is a valuable lesson for the wider world. You can also ask that other care providers follow these kinds of instructions so that your children are taught good values. At the day care centres in Melbourne, the staff always does its best to instil a sense of responsibility in children. The staff can guide the children away from irresponsibility by providing an example of how to clean up after themselves.

Let children do it themselves.

We all know that things would get done much quicker if we – the adults – do them ourselves. As much as our young children want to take command, we know that they’re not very dexterous or otherwise skilled to complete the tasks. But your child saying that they want to do something by themselves is them desperately trying to tell us they want to learn how to be responsible.

Next time your toddler screams out that he or she wants to “do it myself”, try letting them, even if it takes longer. Give them a helping hand if need be, but try to let your child complete the task themselves. That way they can learn that being responsible isn’t straightforward or as easy as it looks, but it can be rewarding once they’ve mastered how to do it. Children will take pride in being responsible if only they’re allowed to do so.

We could think of several other ways to help your child to begin to learn responsibility, but these are three of our easiest recommendations. Try following these first to see if you can instill the value of responsibility within your children.

June 14, 2018 0 comment

Education Parenting

What To Look For In A Day Care Centre

written by Joy

If the very thought of leaving your baby somewhere while you are at work every day makes you never want to leave home, rest assured you are not alone. But, there are plenty of excellent options for day care out there, especially when it comes to day care.

The Benefits of Day Care

A good program will offer significant benefits for your baby:

Education
Continuous care
Reliability
Cost-effective
Licensed and trained staff
More than one caregiver

How to Choose a Day Care Facility

If you are going to send your child to day care, the best time to start looking is about two months before you go back to work. If you live in a bustling city, you may want to start checking out options before your baby is even born. Here’s how to choose day care centres in Brisbane or in your local area:

Do Your Homework

Get loads of recommendations from the paediatrician, other parents, and anyone else you talk to. Also head online for referrals and to check out reviews.

Conduct Interviews

Screen day care centres over the phone or visit them to ask questions.

Visit the Facility

Speaking of visiting the centre, head over in person so if your desired facility checks off the basics. Always trust your gut: if something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not going to be right for your baby.

Ask Questions

Once you have a few options, ask the facilities the following questions:What is your schedule and cost? The centre should be in line with your own schedule and budget.
Is there a waiting list to get in? Some facilities have long waiting lists, which is why it is better to start looking as early on as possible
What accreditation do you have? While a license may not guarantee loads of attention for your little one, it does boost the odds and means that there are strict health and safety standards for the centre to follow.
How many children do you look after at once? Toddlers and babies require a great deal of attention. Ideally, the centre should have a maximum of six babies or even eight toddlers per group and one member of staff for every three babies or every four toddlers.
What is your day care philosophy? You should be comfortable with the centre’s policies on discipline, feeding, soothing, and early education.
What experience and qualifications do staff have? Caregivers should have CPR training as well as First Aid experience at the very least. Ideally, the director will have a degree regarding early childhood education.
Do parents get involved? Will you be able to participate, and is there a parent board?
What is your policy on immunizations?
What are the health requirements for caregivers?
How do you handle sick kids?
What do you give kids to eat? Snacks and meals should be nutritious, safe, and age-appropriate.

Finally, when you visit the centre, look out for happy staff and children, a stimulating environment, and separation of age groups, as well as a clean and sanitary setting. Click here to learn more about Toddle and how it can help you find the perfect daycare centre for your little one.

Image credits: Fairfax County – https://flic.kr/p/aBNGLj

October 16, 2017 0 comment