As a speech-language pathologist and parent, I'm always looking for fun ways to practice basic concept skills with children. Parents often ask me what vocabulary they need to focus on and how they can help their toddlers and preschoolers at home. There are so many great ways to practice basic concept skills and two of my go-to choices are simply puzzles and board games. Puzzles and board games provide many language opportunities and afford children the attention they need to promote verbal communication. The Learning Journey offers a wide variety of fantastic ready-made, hands-on activities specifically created to encourage mastery of concepts such as shapes, colors, quantities, spatial relationships and more. This week, I'm targeting shapes and colors with many of my little ones, so I thought I'd share three of my top picks: Lift and Learn Colors and Shapes Puzzle, Play It! Race to the Rainbow game, and Match It — Fun with Shapes puzzle game. Check them out below!
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Friday, January 29, 2021
Building Literacy Skills: A Hands-On Approach with Junior Learning CVC ToolBox
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Developing Basic Questioning Skills in Young Children #TheLearningJourney
Understanding and answering basic questions is an important skill for language development, social skills, information collection, reading comprehension, and more. You may hear teachers and therapists refer to some of these basic questions as 'wh-' questions: who, what, when, where, and why. Modeling and practice are critical and it's never to early to start introducing these concepts to your toddlers and preschoolers through play-based activities! One of our favorite sets that we are highlighting this week is the Match It! Match My Ride puzzle card set from The Learning Journey.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Baby Shower Gifts: Binxy Baby Shopping Cart Cover #babygifts #MomtoBe
Friday, January 1, 2021
Baby Shower Gifts: Arabella Baby Just the Basics Bundle #showergifts #MomtoBe
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Explaining Adoption through Storybooks: 'ABC Adoption & Me' by Gayle Swift #adoptionpicturebooks
Sunday, December 13, 2020
2020 Holiday Gift Guide: First Concepts Board Books from Flowerpot Press #earlyreaders
This season, give the gift of reading to the little ones in your family! Early literacy skills begin with book exploration and shared discussion between you and baby, making board books the perfect gift choice for the holidays. Flowerpot Press has a wonderful collection of books for early readers that focus on first concepts to support early language development. We've selected a few of our favorites to share with you, and recommend taking some time to browse their full selection of books for school-age kids as well!
Saturday, December 12, 2020
2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Inspirational Fine Art for Kids #OopsyDaisy
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of art to the children on your list! We whole-heartedly agree with the people of Oopsy Daisy who believe that a child's environment matters. We love the idea of providing kids beautiful, inspirational art to build their self-esteem and values, while allowing them to develop their own appreciation of art in the process. Our favorite pick for the children in our family is the 5x7 Great Love Mini Framed Canvas by Bethany Joy. We absolutely love the bright, engaging colors and uplifting message that we try to instill in kids each day. Oopsy Daisy has an incredibly wide selection of art to choose from and you're sure to find the right piece to fit your child's personality as well. Check out our canvas below and take some time to browse their selection!
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Lasting Freshness for the Holidays! #GIVEAWAY #Disposablebottles #vacuumsealfoodstorage
This year, Lasting Freshness has fantastic high-quality gift ideas to bring safety and convenience home for the holidays. Their disposable Steribottles and 11-piece Vacuum Seal Food Storage Container Set are perfect for both home and travel.