Dear Family Time Parents,
How many words do you think your children learned this week? The answer varies. While babies are in a recessive language stage and take in every word and label, toddlers are in an expressive stage with a vocabulary that grows to several thousand words by the age three. Preschool-aged children are in a storytelling stage and love to learn and express new words that way. Your picture book series, Bouncing on the Bed, promotes language growth at every learning stage. By reading together, your children will internalize basic skills and concepts important for true literacy, such as expanding vocabulary, promoting critical thinking, and providing predictability.
As you read together, ask specific questions about the characters and the actiontivities of the story and the colors and shapes of the illustrations. Then try leaving out key words or phrases, allowing toddlers and preschoolers to “help” by contributing the missing words while toddlers can assist in turning the pages. Keep your baby engaged by “bouncing” to the repeated phrases through out the book. There is something in this book for everyone.
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Kindermusik’s Foundations of Learning – some of the benefits your child received from today’s activities are:
Repetition – Children learn through repetition. Each time a child is exposed to a new object or experience, new neural connections are made in his brain. Through repetition, these connections are strengthened and learning occurs. Each Kindermusik curriculum, including Kindermusik Family Time, is designed to repeat certain activities – such as the Hello song – in part because of this important connection between repetition and learning, and also because repetition of activities helps to create the Kindermusik class community. Ritual and repetition at home are important components of a predictable and nuturing home and family life as well.
Ball Play – To a child`s imagination, every object has unlimited possibilities. Ball play enables children to investigate rolling, bouncing, passing, and tossing, exercising their imaginations as well as their grossmotor skills.
Imagination – Imaginative play in childhood prepares the child to think creatively in later adult settings. Using the imagination helps children develop the ability to think abstractly, to use language to describe things others cannot see, and to empathize with other people.
