The New Baby - Preparing for a new sibling

Any parent with more than one child has had to help that child through the transition of being an only child to having a sibling or more siblings and help prepare them for the new baby's arrival. The arrival of a new baby can cause lots of sudden change in a family and before the baby is born, parents typically spend a lot of time on preparations and then after the baby arrives a lot of attention involves meeting the newborn's basic needs. This change can be difficult for older siblings to handle and it is not uncommon for an older sibling to resent the newborn for getting the attention and to react by displaying negative behaviours.

To try and minimise the upset to your existing child(ren) there are steps you can take to prepare your child for all the change, by discussing the pregnancy in terms that make sense to them, by carelful planning and including your child in the care of the newborn, you can make the transition a little easier for the entire family. This post will hopefully give you some good ideas to help your toddler / pre-schooler understand what is happening and help them to look forward to the new baby as much as you are.

To start with, at some point you need to tell your child that you are having a baby, when you do this is up to you. If it is important to you that you tell them rather than them finding out from someone else this may need to be sooner rather than later, we told our four year old after the 12-week scan, mainly because we didn't want him telling people before we did! Young children find it hard to understand the length of a pregnancy so it is a good idea to frame the baby's expected arrival time around fixed events - luckily for us we had our eldest's birthday, then our youngest's birthday and then the baby is going to be born; our four and two year old both seem to have accepted this and are now aware the baby could be born 'any day'. Talk to your children about the new baby by calling him "your little brother or sister" / "our baby" instead of "mummy's new baby" or even "the new baby" so that they know that they are not being replaced but that the baby is someone special to them.

Some activities for during your pregnancy that can help your child prepare for their new sibling are:

• showing them their baby pictures and how they've grown
• reading books about new babies; for example - The New Baby
• visiting friends who have babies
• letting them sort out baby things
• asking their advice about potential baby names
• letting them come to antenatal appointments and involving them in measuring the bump / listening to the baby's heartbeat
• making a scrapbook of baby pictures from magazines, showing nappy changing, baby feeding, sleeping, crying etc
• making a 'birth' day cake

You may find it helpful to involve your child in the decisions about what is going to happen to them during the time you are having your baby. Explain to them what will happen if/when you go to hospital, who is going to look after them and when they will be able to see you. Also discuss the fact that the midwives and doctors will look after you and the baby so you will be ok, in talking to our four year old we found he needed reassuring that these people worked at night so it was ok if the baby was born at night time.

Try to keep your older child(ren)'s routine as regular as possible in the days and weeks surrounding the baby's arrival. If you plan to make any room shifts to accommodate the baby, do it a few weeks before the baby's expected due date. If your older child is approaching any major milestones, like potty training or moving from a cot to a bed, you may want to make those changes well in advance of your due date, or put them off until after the baby has been at home for some time. Some children regress after a younger sibling is born, the best way to deal with this is to give your son more attention for positive big brother / sister acts, than for the baby acts - even negative attention can be motivation for acting "like a baby," so make sure you only reward the behaviours you want to continue. It is important to encourage your older child to talk about feelings they may be having about the new baby. If your child cannot articulate his or her feelings, don't be surprised if he or she acts out by knowingly breaking the rules or reverting to whining or speaking in baby talk. If your child misbehaves, don't bend the rules, but understand what feelings may be motivating that behaviour. It may be a sign that your child needs more one-on-one time with you. Let your child know that although his or her feelings are important, they have to be expressed in appropriate ways.

You might want to plan for your child(ren) to visit you in the hospital as soon as possible after the baby is born and to 'bring their baby' home to show other visitors. The first introduction of the new baby is very important, you might want to have your son choose a present to give to his new sibling and have presents from the baby for the big siblings to exchange the first time they meet. When you introduce the new baby, plan for his new little brother or sister to be in the crib and not in mummy's or daddy's arms so that you can cuddle your older child.

Once the baby is born there are some things you can do to help your older child to adjust to all of the changes. First, it's a good idea to include your child as much as possible in the daily activities surrounding the baby, so that they doesn't feel left out. Your child may be willing to help take care of the baby or they might enjoy role playing with a doll. There will be occasions, for example during breastfeeding, that your older child can't be involved with the baby, and you may find it useful to have toys on hand (last time we had a special box of books and toys that were just for feeding times) so that you can feed the baby without being interrupted or worrying about your older child feeling neglected.

Also remember to try and take advantage of any opportunities for one-on-one time with your older child(ren). Spend some time together while the baby is sleeping and if possible, set aside some time each day for your older children to get one parent's undivided attention. If your child knows that there is special time exclusively for him or her, it may help reduce any resentment or anger about the new baby. You may also want to remind relatives and friends that your older child might want to talk about something other than the new baby!

Have you got any other ideas to share? Please let us know!

Changes / Transitions

Things are constantly changing and there are lots of changes that children experience during their lifetime. Either positively or negatively our four year old is going to have several changes over the next few months; first he's going to gain a new sibling, then he is going to move house and then he is going to start school.

Over the next few weeks there will be a series of posts on this blog about these transitions and how to prepare children for the changes they will experience - do let me know if you have any experiences / information to share!

The changes will also be affecting us here at Littlesheep Learning due to the maternity leave and relocating, your orders maybe slightly delayed from our usually quick despatch. We will also be having a Sale over the next month or so to reduce stock for our move. Unfortunately this move means that some items will be out of stock for longer than usual, please contact us if you need something that is out of stock and we will try and let you know an expected restocking date.

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Down Syndrome Awareness Week

This week (2nd-8th June 2008) is Down's Syndrome Awareness Week, organised by the Down's Syndrome Association.

Awareness Week this year will focus on empowering families and carers of people with Down's syndrome by providing them with knowledge about their rights so that they may demand appropriate services and treatment. The Down's Syndrome Association are producing an easy-to-read guide about the Human Rights Act and how to use it. We will also be asking our members to find out whether their local authority is paying sufficient attention to the Disability Equality Duty and the Human Rights Act.

Every year Awareness Week gives all our wonderful members and supporters the opportunity to stand-up and shout-out about Down’s syndrome and the Association. It is the perfect chance to raise awareness of the work of the DSA and to champion the rights of people with Down’s syndrome.

This video clip was put together especially for this week by Stepping Stones Down Syndrome Support Group, I'm sure you will agree the children are all gorgeous.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

To celebrate this week the code DSAW08 will save you 10% at Littlesheep Learning (offer ends 9th June).

Are the School Holidays too Long?

Everyone in the UK is used to us having an academic year that starts in September with three terms (September-December, January-March/April and April-July) of 10-14 weeks with a half-termly holiday week in the middle - October, February and May, two weeks holiday at Christmas and Easter and a six week summer break, but The Institute for Public Policy Research has said studies suggested pupils' reading and maths abilities regressed because the summer break was too long. Instead, the think-tank said the school year could have five eight-week terms, with a month off in the summer and two weeks between the rest of the terms. You can see more details here.

I'm not sure where I stand on this - I can see the point that a six week break is a long time if children are left to 'stagnate' but this is assuming that children only learn at school and we know from experience with pre-school children and those who are home educated that learning can occur anywhere at anytime.

There are always books, educational toys and games available to support children's learning in fun ways during holiday times and although the article suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds do not get the same opportunities during the school holidays I think that better advertising and targetting of the 'free' activities / resources that are available to everyone through libraries (both the traditional type offering books, DVDs and computer programmes plus toy libraries where you can borrow toys, games and other play equipment), plus local councils often run subsidised playschemes and activities during the summer holidays.

Another practical reason for needing a six-week summer break is family holidays, if the Government are going to continue their crack down on parents taking children out of school for family holidays reducing the 'window' in which families can take a holiday will mean that the 'peak' holiday price will increase, employers will have to juggle more employees wanting exactly the same two weeks off to go away and children will spend less time at home learning about local atractions and taking part in local activities.

Lastly I'd be concerned that having a ten week block without a holiday break would be exhausting for younger children. They are often becoming ill and tired towards the half-term / end of term especially when it is an eight week half term so parents may end up spending the whole of the 'holiday' weeks looking after an exhausted / ill child - not much fun for anyone.

What do you think?

Spring Competition Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered Littlesheep Learning's Spring Competition to win a set of 10 in the Bed Song Mitts - it certainly seemed popular.

The answer to the question "What number is shown on the dice?" is Five

And the lucky winner is - Ruth from Chesterfield.

Look out for more Competitions coming soon.

Spelling

It doesn't take many words to demonstrate how tricky the English language is when it comes to spelling; try: accommodate, commitment, bureaucracy, diarrhoea , psychologist for starters. Then there are all the words with similar sounds spelled in different ways for example, the 'eez' sound (breeze, cheese, knees, fleas, tease, these, seize) and the words spelled the same way but sounding different, for example the 'ough' letter combination (bough, cough, dough, enough, though, through).

Spelling is not just a case of identifying sounds in a word and being able to relate them to letters, though this is a big help in many cases.

Being a good speller also involves:

• breaking words into component parts and writing each one correctly
• remembering some spelling rules
• being able to see the word in your head and 'read it off'
• learning some 'word families'
• having good visual recall and being able to tell if it 'looks right'

There are many ways to help children learn to spell:

• encouraging them to 'have a go' if the word they want to use is regular: 'Well let's see, there are five letters in that word let's put five dashes on this bit of scrap paper. I'm sure you know what the first letter is..'
• supporting them to build up the word as appropriate; the middle bit is often the tricky part − fill in this part for them if necessary
• praise for trying 'that's nearly right, well done'
• providing the word straight away if its irregular and can't be 'built up' eg 'two'
• give a visual model of the word rather than just spelling it out verbally , then encourage him to do LSCWC (Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check) to help them remember the word next time
• encourage children to look at the words carefully − 'take a photo' in your head; notice its shape and any double consonants, or any small words inside the bigger word
• say it aloud − using a mnemonic for tricky words can help
• identify word families; for example, fight, light, might, night, sight, tight
• make use of word banks, use a (spelling) dictionary / word book or other dictionary and look it up
• play word games for example, hangman, wordsearches, crosswords or games such as Pass the Word

3 - Stories, Songs and Rhymes

Welcome back to our number rhyme series - so far we've had 1 - Hickory Dickory Dock and 2 - Two Little Dicky Birds.

Three is a bit more tricky as most of the counting songs are to five or ten, however three is a popular number in fairy tales with Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Billy Goats Gruff to name but a few stories that include three. So here are some ideas linked to those popular tales.

As with one and two, practice counting - 1,2,3! Again play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to help children learn to recognise the number and practice drawing / painting or chalking the number three. The number three also is great to start sequencing numbers, and investigating other properties / adjectives; for example big, medium and small.

The Three Little Pigs

Activity Ideas

• share the story of the Three Little Pigs
• building with a variety of materials
• make a three houses collage, sticking on straw, sticks and printing bricks
• make pig masks using paper plates
• play with Three Little Pigs puppets and act out the story
• huff and puff like the big bad wolf and practice blowing games - blow football, blow painting or just blow whistles!

Songs and Rhymes

• Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (Frank Churchill and Ann Ronell)
  

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Activity Ideas

• share the story of Golidilocks and the Three Bears
• make porridge
• investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
• playing with Goldilocks and the Three Bears puppets to act out the story

Songs and Rhymes

• When Goldilocks Went to The House of the Bears (listen here)

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Activity Ideas

• share the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff
• go for a walk and find a bridge to 'trip trap' over
• investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
• play with Three Billy Goats Gruff and act out the story

Happy Birthday Littlesheep Learning

We hope that you had a good Bank Holiday weekend - we certainly enjoyed the sunshine!

Yesterday Littlesheep Learning celebrated it's 3rd birthday and to celebrate we have three special offers for you:

For THIS week only you can SAVE 10% by using the code 'happy', or you can claim FREE POSTAGE by using the code 'birthday', plus with every order over £15 (after discounts) we'll send you a FREE GIFT.

So hurry and place your orders today - all these offers end on Monday 12th May.

Triangular Pencils

Littlesheep Learning has just taken delivery of some new slim triangular pencils alongside our popular jumbo triangular pencils. We started stocking the jumbo triangular pencils as a replacement for the Berol Handhugger Pencils which unfortunately have been discontinued by the manufacturer and are pleased that they have been as popular among our customers.

Several customers with older children who still require a triangular pencil commented on the thickness of the jumbo triangular pencils which led us to look at other options and we are now pleased to stock the slim triangular pencils. These slim triangular pencils are preferred by the Handwriting Interest Group and are ideal for writing and drawing activities - they have a standard thickness break-resistant HB lead.

Case Study Requests

I have some friends who are writing a book about how to look after your relationship when your child has special needs and they are in need of people to complete questionnaires and be case-studies. Here is the full request if you feel that you can help them:

Antonia Chitty and Victoria Hill are looking for parents to help with their research for a book is about how to look after your relationship when your child has special needs.

If you have had a baby (without special needs) in the last few years, we have a short questionnaire to help us find out about the impact of having a baby on parent's relationships. Please email mail@antoniachitty.co.uk with BABY in the title.

If you have a baby or child WITH special needs, we want the book to be packed full of case studies of parents talking about their experiences, good and bad, and how parenting a child with special needs has impacted on their lives. If you don't mind sharing what you have been through, to help other parents, please email mail@antoniachitty.co.uk with SEN in the title.

Thank you very much for your help: we hope this book will be a really useful resource in a neglected area.

I hope that you can help!

2 - Two Little Dicky Birds

For the second of our number rhyme posts we are featuring the rhyme 'Two Little Dicky Birds'. This is a very short and simple rhyme - if you don't already know it, here are the words;

Two little dicky birds sat on a wall,
One named Peter, One named Paul,
Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul,
Come back Peter, Come back Paul.

Some activity and learning ideas based on this rhyme - looking at the number two, birds, walls, and the entire rhyme are featured here:

The Number 2
Now we've got past one we can start counting - 1,2! Again play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to learn to recognise the number and practice drawing / painting or chalking the number two.

It is also a good place to start to look at teaching children quantities in relation to the number - so look for things that come in pairs; for example, socks, shoes and gloves or just collect groups of two objects - two teddies, two cups, two toy cups etc,

The Birds
There are many activities involving birds.

Firstly spend time looking in your garden or a local park - see how many birds you can see, older children might enjoy identifying magpies, pigeons, sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, bluetits etc. You could also look at what birds eat and start having a bird table in your garden so you can feed the birds.

Draw or colour pictures of the birds you see - there is a FREE bird colouring page available at Littlesheep Learning (drawn as a robin but could easily coloured as a sparrow, bluetit, blackbird or whatever takes your fancy!).

The Wall
Build walls using different types of bricks - Lego, wooden blocks, cardboard boxes or anything else you can think of! Look at the overlapping pattern needed to stop your wall falling down.

Look at house bricks and make rubbings using paper and wax crayons.

Use a wooden block, a Lego brick or a sponge to paint a wall - dip your item into the paint and then print the bricks onto your paper - don't forget to make the bricks overlap!

The Rhyme
The rhyme is a very simple finger play - teach your children the following actions;

Two little dicky birds sat on a wall [use the index fingers on each hand to bend and flex like bobbing birds]
One named Peter [wiggle left hand finger], One named Paul [wiggle right hand finger],
Fly away Peter [put left hand behind back], Fly away Paul [put right hand behind back],
Come back Peter [bring back left hand / finger], Come back Paul [bring back left hand / finger].

Also, enact the rhyme by covering a small box with the brick rubbings / printing and stick two bird pictures on cardboard tubes and move them on and off the wall (you could use finger puppet birds if you have them).

Or just make a Two Little Dicky Birds collage by making a wall of your printed bricks / brick rubbings and sticking two bird pictures on the top.

Customer Feedback

As always it's lovely to get feedback from Littlesheep Learning's customers - I arrived back from a weekend away to an e-mail from a recent customer with this feedback:

"I just wanted to say what a brilliant service you provide. Being emailed the status of the order is a fab idea. The goods were received within a few days which is great."

Feedback like this makes it all worthwhile!

Do let us know what you think about our services or add your reviews of our products to the site.

Carnival of Family Life

This week Littlesheep Learning has had a one of our blog posts accepted into this week's Carnival of Family Life - check out this Carnival for lots of exciting links.

If you didn't already know a Blog Carnival is a blog community with Blog Carnivals typically consisting of a collection of links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic or theme. They are like a magazine; with a title (topic), editors (weekly hosts), contributors, and an audience. Each edition is itself a blog article that consists of the links to all the contributions submitted, often accompanied by commentary, remarks and/or opinion offered by the editor (host). As the title suggests, the Carnival of Family Life features family-related articles on a weekly basis.

Blog carnivals are great for discovering other blogs you might find interesting - if you have a family related blog, why don't you consider submitting your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Family Life.

Number 1 - Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock is a popular nursery rhyme that contains the number one so it seems a good place to start for this series of number posts.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the rhyme it goes like this:

Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one (DONG!)
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock (tick tock tick tock)

There are lots of activities that you can do using this rhyme as a theme. You can focus on the number one, the mouse or the clock. Here are some ideas for you:

The Number 1
Obviously as this is the first number we don't need to practice counting up to 1 but it's a good place to mention that counting and number recognition starts here! Play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to learn to recognise the number. Draw / paint / chalk the number one - as a straight line down it's also one of the easiest numbers to learn to write.

The Mouse
Make a finger mouse puppet - make a cone from a piece of card and add ears, eyes, a tail and whiskers. Talk about mice generally - what noise do they make, where do they live, what do they like to eat etc.

The Clock
Make a pretend clock - use a paper plate or a circle of card to make the clock face, write on the numbers, make some hands to turn using some card (don’t forget the minute hand is longer than the hour hand) and attach them with a paper fastener. Look out for clocks - how many different ones can you spot?

Check out the range of telling the time items available at Littlesheep Learning if your child is older and interested in learning more about the the time.

The Rhyme
Attach your pretend clock to a box and make a grandfather clock and use your mouse finger puppet to act out the rhyme.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five - Stay and Play with Numbers

I thought I'd do another series of posts based on the Stay and Play sessions I have recently attended with my children. Last term the sessions were based around numbers so this series of posts will be looking at number songs and rhymes - I hope you find it useful and get some great ideas to share numbers, counting and other numeracy skills with your children.

Reading

I've just been reading a report about some research into the role of dads in bedtime reading by the National Year of Reading.

According to their research less than half of dads (42%) say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children, while mums are twice as likely (76%) to do so, despite bedtime reading being one of the best ways of establishing the reading habit in children. The main barrier (58%) cited by dads was work pressures including stress and long hours, while a lack of confidence meant one in ten felt the role was better suited to mums.

The study of over 2,000 adults was conducted by the National Year of Reading and YouGov as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the pressures dads face and the impact this has on children’s reading habits.

39% of dads think a better work / life balance would help them read more to their children
33% of dads think employers should do more to help parents read to their kids

A recent report conducted by the National Literacy Trust also found that while three-quarters of children said their mum encouraged them to read, only half said the same of their dad. Sadly, nearly a quarter of pupils stated that no-one in their family encouraged them to read.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, Director of the National Year of Reading, said:
“Reading has never been more important, but we know boys lag far behind girls when it comes to reading. Boys need to see their dads enjoying reading if they are to become readers themselves as they grow up. Football programmes, blogs, newspapers and sports magazines are just as valuable reading as fairy tales. Reading is the best private investment you can make in your child’s education, it’s free and makes you feel like the best parent on earth. Just spending ten minutes a day reading something you enjoy with your children can make a real difference.”

Secretary of State for Schools, Children and Families Ed Balls said:
“Reading opens doors to everything in life, from applying to jobs to enjoying your favourite hobbies. Getting your children - both boys and girls – to be passionate about reading is something all parents can do. Reading to your children for ten minutes at bedtime is the best way of improving our kids’ chances when they get to school.”

The National Year of Reading is calling on all large employers to make their workplaces more reader-friendly. There are a host of simple, practical challenges for businesses including:

• Turn old smoking rooms into a staff reading area
• Adopt-a-book for all staff to share
• Create a book swap shelf for children’s books at work
• Encourage staff to join a library
• Encourage night shift workers to pre-record bedtime stories for their children

For more information about the Year of Reading, and to find out more about how your business can support reading both at work and at home, visit: http://www.yearofreading.org.uk

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.

Spring Competition

Enter Littlesheep Learning's Spring Competition to win a set of 10 in the Bed Song Mitts.

Designed to fit an adult’s hand, song teaching mitts are perfect for using with young children and will provide hours of fun. This pair of glove puppets feature the popular counting song '10 in a bed' will help children join in the rhyme and learn counting skills.

To enter, simply email us the answer this question about one of the products sold in our shop:

What number is shown on the dice?

Competition closes at midnight on 18th May. See our Competitions page for full terms and conditions.

April's Special Offers

To celebrate the winning entry in our 'Write a Review' Competition this month's special offer at

Littlesheep Learning means you can save a third off the RRP for all the Usborne First Experiences books. Unfortunately stocks of some titles are getting low so this offer is only available whilst stocks last - check out your order today!

The collection of First Experiences stories, are fantastic for introducing young children to situations they might find themselves in for the first time. They feature Stephen Cartwright's illustrations full of things for children to look at, learn from and talk about.

Competition Winner - 'Write a Review' Competition

The winner of a copy our 'Write a Review' Competition is Stephanie, who wins a copy of The Usborne Book of Everyday Words for her review of review of the Going to the Hospital book from the First Experiences series.

Stephanie says:

"I have bought a few of these books because I do find they help my son before a new situation. He had to go into hospital for a little operation and this book helped him know what was going to happen and what to expect."

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

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!

Incidental Learning

I forgot to post the other day to highlight an article I have had published at Treehugger Mums looking at Incidental Learning - But I didn't teach them that.

Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities and is the way many children learn whilst they are playing. The article gives ideas as to how children learn through everyday activities, take a look and see what learning you can incorporate into your daily life.


Treehugger Mums - is a website written by mums for mums with pregnancy and parenting-related information, articles and the Treehugger Mums Shop where you can buy baby slings, real nappies, breastfeeding accessories and natural toiletries.

Developing Imagination / Story Skills

I was reading a post on a parenting forum yesterday about encouraging children's imaginative development and there were some great ideas so I thought I'd share some with you.

Make sure that you spend time reading and sharing a variety of different books, stories and rhymes because the more ideas your child comes into contact with the more ideas they have to build on when creating their own stories. Ask questions when sharing stories; for example, why do you think that happened? how did he feel? what do you think will happen next?

Try to think imaginatively yourself when showing you child stories, use story sacks to develop story ideas. Gather props relating to stories for example puppets and games and use these to enact the stories. Make props such as wooden spoon puppets, playdoh food and cardboard box houses to help you.

For children who really struggle with writing / drawing / thinking imaginatively the Nonsenses puzzle. These puzzles encourage reading and building sentences; each card has a character, place or an action and by mixing the beginning, middle and end pieces you can have hours of fun as you try to compete to come up with the silliest sentences possible!

Make stories up co-operatively; depending on your child's drawing / writing ability there are several ways you can do it. The most simple way is to do it orally, you start a story and then take it turn to say a sentence or part of a sentence and see how silly it can get and how much detail you can put into it. If your child likes drawing you can make a story board by drawing squares on paper (start with just a few squares and then build up to longer ones as your child gets more confident) and taking it in turns to draw the next picture in the story. If you child struggles with drawing you could ask them to tell you what to draw and draw if for them. Lastly you can create stories by writing ideas down, take a strip of paper each and write down a character, fold it over and swap and add a location, fold and swap again and add an activity, fold and swap etc building up ideas and then open them out to see what has happened.

Draw random shapes / lines on a piece of paper and see what your child can make them become, for example a square could become a house, a circle could be made into a pig and a triangle could become the sail of a boat or the top of a rocket a wavy line could become the sea or turned into a caterpillar. This a great game for children who need to practice their fine motor and drawing skills too.

As with all learning activities the key is to keep it fun.

Dyslexia in the News

I've just been reading this article which reports on some new government-funded research into children who did not achieve expected levels in SATS tests. The study by Hull University academics of 1,300 children said dyslexia was a major cause of failure with over half of those who did not achieve expected levels in SATS tests displayed all the signs of being dyslexic.

The research has led to calls for more specially-trained teachers in schools as well as better diagnosis. The study, commissioned by dyslexia charity


Campaigners say the research shows many such children are being let down by schools as they could overcome the reading disorder if they received a diagnosis and specialist teaching. They claim the reading disorder could affect as many as one in five children and that too often it is ignored in the classroom. The government is piloting a scheme using specially-trained dyslexia teachers, but says it will not roll it out nationally until it is sure the teachers make a difference.

So what should you do if you think your child may be dyslexic? The British Dyslexia Association has a number of factsheets that can help; Indications of Dyslexia and Getting Help for your Child.Xtraordinary People, claims to be the first to firmly identify dyslexia as a major cause of underachievement in primary schools. It looked at seven and 11-year-olds who failed to reach expected levels of reading and writing in national tests.

Fun Fine Motor Activities

I've just had my weekly email from Play Activities and it had two fun fine motor activities I thought I'd share with you.

Activity ~ 3-D squeezey chalk

Materials:

• 1/2 cup of cornflour
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup of water
• food colouring
• glitter
• bowl
• ziplock bag

Instructions:

• Mix the flour and cornflour together.
• Add water and 3-5 drops of food colouring
• Add the glitter.
• Mix until it looks like paste.
• Pour mixture into the Ziplock bag and seal.
• Cut a small hole in the corner of the Ziplock bag and squeeze the chalk out to make patterns / write words / draw pictures.

Activity ~ String picture

Materials:

• sheets of paper
• different coloured paints
• string 40cm or longer
• old newspaper

Instructions:

• Lay a sheet of paper onto a newspaper covered table top
• Dip the string into some paint until it's covered.
• Place the string in an interesting shape on top of the paper.
• Make sure small part of the string is off the sheet of paper.
• Carefully put on a second sheet on top of the string.
• Parent: hold the sheets paper together.
• Child: hold string and gently pull it out from between the paper.
• Remove the top sheet of paper and you will see a pattern.
• Try another colour and repeat.

Play-activities is a free and fun educational e-mail for parents of children under 5. It is run by Melitsa Avila who is a qualified teacher. Melitsa wanted to create a source of activities for parents and children to enjoy, which offered a balance of gross and fine motor activities, social & personal activities, and problem-solving and language activities all in one easily accessible place. If you sign up you can gain access to a wide range of activities to help your child develop a balanced play life, have fun, and enjoy a good mix of the early childhood skills identified by child health professionals. They also have a blog with lots of other ideas and links to other sources of ideas to keep your children busy!

Are you receiving our Newsletter?

Littlesheep Learning's monthly newsletter has been on hold for the last few months as we have been looking into various newsletter service providers because our mailing list was getting too big for us to manage ourselves. We are pleased to have now registered with Vertical Response - all our existing subscribers have now been transferred over, however if you haven't been on our mailing list before please sign up today! If you haven't seen a copy yet, our newsltter contains news about our products, special offers, competitions and special discount codes!

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New Products - Shopping List Game Booster Packs

Following on from the success of the Shopping List game, we are now pleased to announce that we are stocking two Shopping List extension packs; Fruit and Veg and Clothing.

These lovely Booster Packs add value to the original Shopping List game. Increasing the range of items available by adding these packs allows you to fill your trolley with even more familiar, everyday items.

As with the original game, these packs are great for teaching children turn taking, matching and labelling skills. Packs contain an additional two trolleys and shopping lists with the matching cards.







Be first to fill your trolley with all the items on your shopping list - Happy Shopping!

Write a Review Competition

Don't forget to enter the 'Write a Review' Competition at Littlesheep Learning.

Simply choose a product, add your review and you could be in with a chance of winning a copy of The Usborne Book of Everyday Words - Each page in this first words book has a scene or category with labelled objects to discuss, an excellent resource to encourage the direct association of words with objects and reinforce known words.

You get one entry for each review you write - so get writing!

Here are some of the reviews we've received so far:

Dotty Dinosaurs

by Joanne Rivett

Date Added: Monday 18th February, 2008
An excellent game for little ones to learn there shapes and colours without even realising it, 2 different games in one so a great price!

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Going to the Hospital
by Stephanie Moore
Date Added: Thursday 14th February 2008
I have bought a few of these books because I do find they help my son before a new situation. He had to go into hospital for a little operation and this book helped him know what was going to happen and what to expect.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Cock-a-doodle moo!

by Stephanie Roberts
Date Added: Thursday 14 February, 2008
I have been playing this fantastic game with my 3.5yr old son. He loves it and will play it over and over again!! I bought it because I thought it would help him learn to listen a bit more and it worked!
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Miss Face Cube

by Anne Ritchie
Date Added: Tuesday 12 February, 2008
Excellent item - really big cube in gorgeous bright colours all kept clean in a poppered see through bag. Great for using with small groups as a game or individually as a discussion point around emotions. Fantastic!
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Jack and the Beanstalk Game

by Karen Frost
Date Added: Tuesday 12 February, 2008
My kids (age 2 and 4) love this game. Simple pictures and simple instructions, perfect for young children. It really has helped my younger one especially to differentiate between shapes.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Triangular Writing Grip
by Arianna Helm
Date Added: Tuesday 12 February, 2008
I purchased 2 of these items several months ago. As a bookkeeper I need to do a lot of writing and my fingers were starting to get very sore. The pencil grips made things a lot easier and I found that I was able to do more work at a time as my fingers were not getting sore. I will definitely be buying more.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

Writing Difficulties

Many children with writing difficulties have dyslexia and / or dyspraxia (developmental coordination difficulties) − these conditions often occur together and affect all aspects of a child's life, both in school and outside. It is vital therefore, that schools and early years settings are able to identify difficulties in this important area and put in place appropriate interventions where necessary.

Some things to look out for are children who difficulties with:

• throwing and catching
• dance/music and movement
• manipulating small objects (building bricks, jigsaws)
• getting dressed/undressed
• using cutlery / scissors
• handwriting
• organising themselves and their work
• sequencing
• laterality (knowing left from right)
• following multiple instructions

Children with motor coordination difficulties may also have poor posture and limited body awareness, moving awkwardly and seeming clumsy; this can be especially noticeable after a growth spurt. They may also tire more easily than other children.
For children who find writing difficult the following things should be thought about:

• the sitting position: ideally both feet on the floor with the table and chair at an appropriate height
• the possibility of using a sloping writing surface
• anchoring the paper / book to the table to avoid slipping
• providing a 'cushion' to write on can be a help, for example, an old magazine, used paper stapled together
• the writing implement − try triangular pencils or different pencil grips, for example standard triangular pencil grips, Tri-go grips or Grippy grips
• avoid the use of a hard-tipped pencil or pen
• providing opportunities for practising handwriting patterns and letter formation in alternative mediums for example sand, cornflour gloop or playdough
• providing lines to keep writing straight
• limiting the amount of writing required − think of other ways information can be recorded including making use of computers

The formation of letters is a very specific area of skill development and providing opportunities for practising, without making it a chore is important. Precision teaching is a good example of distributed practice and may include exercises such as a one-minute daily exercise to see how many b and d words the child can successfully write. This type of exercise provides the child with instant feedback and always focuses on success. Progress can be easily monitored by keeping a daily count or by using a weekly probe sheet.
Practising holoalphabet sentences, for example 'the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' or 'the five boxing wizards jumped quickly' are useful, as these contain the 26 letters of the alphabet and make it easy to monitor progress on letter formations.

Other ways of encorporating writing are drawing / painting patterns (a wet paintbrush on dry concrete slabs) and encouraging incidental writing for example writing names in birthday cards, writing shopping lists, keeping a diary, writing out recipes. It is important that these activities are fun, and always praising the child for effort.

World Book Day

Today (Thursday 6th March) is World Book Day, all over the country children will be taking part in special book activities this week, including dressing up as their favourite book characters.

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. The origins of the day we now celebrate in the UK and Ireland come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day – a tradition started over 80 years ago. There is more international information about World Book Day on the UNESCO website.

World Book Day 2008 in the UK and Ireland takes place on Thursday 6th March as the initiative is so well established in schools in the UK and Ireland it is important that it happens in term time to help children really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading. Most other countries hold World Book Day on 23rd April every year. This year World Book Day is a great part of the National Year of Reading.

World Book Day is a partnership of publishers, booksellers and interested parties who work together to promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all. A main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd and numerous participating booksellers, children are entitled to receive a World Book Day £1 Book Token (or equivalent €1.50 Book Token in Ireland). The Book Token can be exchanged for one of the nine specially published World Book Day £1 Books (where stocked and while stocks last), or is redeemable against any book or audiobook of their choice at a participating bookshop or book club (terms and conditions apply).

To celebrate World Book Day, this month you can save at least a third off the RRP of all the books stocked at Littlesheep Learning, check out our First Words Books, First Experiences Books, First Numbers Book, plus self help skill books including telling the time and tying laces