Independence

This week in the Gallery, Tara asked gave us the theme: One Day in August - not any day in August but more specifically Sunday 29th August... it could be a photo of anything just it had to be taken on that day. The reason for this challenge is that on that Sunday threee UK parenting bloggers Josie, Sian and Eva flew to Bangladesh for a week to help raise awareness of the work Save the Children is doing with mothers and children there. 

So my photo:

This was taken as I took my eldest to Beaver camp for the first time. It was the first time he has been away from home staying with people who are not family (he wasn't a bit phased) and the first time he had responsibility for organising his own belongings for a whole 24hours! So I left him (in his uniform) with his bag of clothes and his pillow, sleeping bag and mat (and teddy). He now has to organise the independent living skills or self-help skills as they are called for himself; he needs to dress (buttons, zips and velcro - I wasn't mean enough to make him learn to tie his laces!) himself, he needs to brush his teeth, wash himself (ok so I am not entirely sure little boys at Beaver camp do that!), comb his hair and of course I am hoping he eats using his cutlery!

Anyway, I have written about dressing skills before and maybe I should teach him to tie his shoelaces sometime soon.



On Wednesday take a look at the Gallery and see the other posts and photos we will all have taken part in one giant Blip for that day - a journal for a Sunday in August.

Starting School

It's that time of year again when talk on education / parenting blogs turns to the issue of starting school or going back to school - we've written here in the past about planning for starting school / class transitions.

So what are our top tips for preparing for school?

• Encourage your child to speak clearly and ask for what is needed, using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
• Check they can go to the toilet alone and flush the toilet
• Get them to answer the question "what is your name?"
• Practice tidying up toys after use and sharing things and taking turns
• Leave them in the care of others for a few hours
• Make sure they answer questions with words rather than shrugs and nods
• Practice doing up and undoing fastenings on clothes (buttons etc.)
• Check they can open their lunch box / unwrap food or use cutlery
• Share lots of stories - get them to sit and listen to a story and encourage them to handle and enjoy books
• Start to get them to hold a pencil / crayon and do 'mark making'
• Encourage your child to know the names of lots of everyday items and understand their uses
• Talk to your child whilst things are happening and encourage your children to ask questions
• Tell stories about what you enjoyed at school and the fun things you did.
• Use colouring activities like these printable school colouring pictures on Netmums to encourage your child to start thinking about school.
• Build a school with your child from cardboard boxes or play-bricks, and role play schools (or get them to teach their teddies)
• Read some books about starting school, including Topsy and Tim Start School, Starting School, First Experiences: Going to School, Do I have to Go to School? and (the ever popular Charlie and Lola) I Am Too Absolutely Small for School
• Walk or drive to school together so your child gets to know the route (note how long it takes so you leave in plenty of time on the first day!)

Is your child starting school this year? Please comment and tell us about your experiences.

New Articles!

I've written another article for Treehugger Mums, this article is about the use of puppets to support children’s learning and how to make some of your own.

There is also a new article at Littlesheep Learning. This article is the first in a series of new articles looking at Self-Help / Independent Living Skills. The Dressing Skills article is full of helpful information and tips to help you help your child learn to be indpendent in the task of dressing themselves.

Our top suggestions for encouraging your child to learn dressing skills are:

Start with simple clothes without fastenings, for example jogging bottoms and t-shirts.

And Keep it fun - using teaching aids such as the Fabric Skills Book.

I hope you find these articles useful.

Learning to Tie Shoelaces

Our nearly four year old was helping me sort some parcels the other day and he spied the Tie Me Shoe and declared that he needed it as he can't tie shoelaces yet! At the moment he has velcro shoes but as he seems keen, we are going to give tying laces a try this afternoon.

From a quick internet search it would appear that most children have the fine motor dexterity to tie their laces between the ages of four and six, but as with all skills different children will learn at different times. It is important to ensure your children learn this skill, even though alternatives are available as whilst velcro shoes and elastic "no lace" laces may be fun for your children they will need to learn how to tie their shoes eventually.

My previous post on Tying Shoelaces has a link to a site that has clear diagrams showing the different methods of shoe lace tying.

When teaching your child to tie their shoelaces there are several things that you can do to help. First, choose one method of lace tying, and teach it consistently. Make sure that everyone who may be trying to help your child learn this skill is demonstrating it in the same way otherwise they may get confused. When you are demonstrating the lace tying make sure that you and your child are side by side rather than opposite each other, that way he'll be able to copy your movements rather than mirror them. Lastly, remember to give your child lots of encouragement and praise and if they find it too difficult this time leave it for a few weeks and try again.

At Littlesheep Learning we have a range of products to help teach self-help skills including tying shoelaces - the Tie Me shoe, Tie-a-bow Book and a Dressing Skills Book.

If you have any top tips for teaching shoe lace tying please let me know!

Dressing Skills

Does your child need help with dressing themselves? Are they struggling with zips, laces, buttons, poppers velcro, snappers, buckles? If so this is the book for them.

This lovely fabric Skills Book is great for practicing independent dressing skills. Tie up the shoelace, unzip and zip up the sleepsuit, undo and do up the poppers on the blouse, buckle and unbuckle the belt on the shorts,button and unbutton the shirt, practice pulling apart and sticking together the velcro on the glove and pressing and pulling apart the snapper on the purse.

Tying Shoelaces

I've just found this Ian's Shoelace Site which contains everything you ever wanted to know about shoelaces including step by step instructions for tying shoelaces. It has lovely clear illustrations drawn as though looking down at your own shoes whilst tying, and are colour-coded to make it easier to follow where the lace runs. The standard way can be foud here and the other popular two-loop "bunny ears" version here.

If you are looking for a practice shoe don't forget that we have them here at Littlesheep Learning.