Playskool “More Than Play” campaign answers these questions, and more, via these fun videos.

Additionally, the Playskool Play Panel answered a series of questions from Audrey McClelland of Mom Generations, several of which I thought some of you might find interesting, such as:

Q. If the brain can have only one thought at a time then how does a child do more than one thing at a time?

Whether adult or child, no one can do more than one thinking task at once. When we first learn to do something new, we concentrate on that task and shut out everything else that is going on around us. We have to focus. Then, as we do the task over and over, refining the skill, we can eventually do it without thinking about it. We call this automaticity. That’s one reason why kids say “again” and “more”. They love the experience, but they are also practicing the skill to the point where it becomes automatic and they no longer have to think about it! So…when something becomes automatic, your child can do more than one thing at a time!

Q. How do I encourage my child to problem solve through repetition rather than getting frustrated and giving up?

Everybody needs to feel the joy of success. Sometimes, the tasks we set for our children are too difficult, and involve doing more than one thinking task at once and can make children feel like the challenge is too frustrating. So, doing it over and over, when there is no “payback” doesn’t seem like a great outcome. Breaking each part of the problem down into achievable parts and doing each part over and over can encourage your child to feel a sense of accomplishment. Often this feeling leads to naturally wanting to try challenging herself to do more once she has mastered part of the problem.

Q. What is my baby learning when playing the baby drops it and mommy picks it up game?

Baby is learning so many different things. She is learning her hands can be used as a manipulative tool helping her get what she wants. She is developing strength in her finger muscles that will help her push, pull, grasp and hold, release and eventually control a writing tool. She is developing important foundational movements that help with all the movements our fingers do for us! She is also developing a tripod (three finger grip) and pincer grip (thumb and first finger). Both important grips that later allow us to hold and use writing and other creative tools as well as manipulate fasteners and tie shoes. She is learning how to pick up, hold and let go at the appropriate time and if mommy is happy to pick it up each time, well she is learning a new game too!!!  As well, she is learning about cause and effect, experiencing and observing gravity and how it works! While interacting and playing with her parent, she is bonding and learning her mommy and daddy are there to help her as she plays. It’s all part of how families cement and work together!

Q. Are the left and right sides of the brain different?

Yes. The left hemisphere is responsible for organization. It is the details side of your brain and talks to you on a constant basis…”remember to pick up the cleaning on the way home”; “if I do the ironing before the meeting I may be late”. It categorizes detail and associates information with prior knowledge. It’s also the side of your brain that helps you understand what symbolic representation is (i.e., that the symbol “5” represents five fingers, etc). The right side is more concerned with creativity, emotion, and learning through doing (play and experience) rather than symbols. It thinks in the present moment and helps us feel the environment we are in through processing sensory information. Information travels between the two hemispheres via the corpus callosum and when this happens and we are using both sides (as we need to) we call this whole brain thinking.

Q. Does messy play develop fine motor skills?

It is one of the developmental foundational activities that help prepare the fingers for manipulative skill development. When kids engage in messy play it helps develop touch discrimination and an awareness of the joints and muscles in our hands and fingers, which assists with fine motor manipulation. Sensory experiences are necessary for the brain to learn and can help grow strong muscles in the fingers. It is also a trigger that can ignite creativity, is foundational for sophisticated problem solving later on, and helps develop skills that later will be used in the beginnings of learning how to write, and above all is lots of fun. Kids need messy play every day.  

Q. Are there certain textures I should be exposing my child to at an early age?

As many different sensory experiences your child can have in the preschool years will help the development of fine motor skills. Some children prefer some textures and not others, however, different consistencies provide different learning experiences, so vary it all if you can. Feeling the fall leaves crumble in your hands, baking at home (with hands and fingers immersed), drawing with fingers and not the paint brush, playing in water, rubbing ice blocks on feet and hands, pulling wool or string between your little ones toes, making  mud pies…anything you can think of that is gentle and enjoyable is great. And…its best to do it every day!!! As well as feeling all these wonderful sensory happenings remember to talk about them as well.(e.g., ” Wow those cookies smell great”; “How do they taste to you?”; “What sound do they make when you crumble them?” New language can be discovered at the same time!

Playskool’s More than Play campaign site offers information on what skills different Playskool toys can help your child learn. And if you want to learn more about how to facilitate your child’s learning, and how to be your child’s “First, best teacher,” then check out Parents as Teachers.

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Leapfrog has long been a leader in creating educational but FUN toys, and now they’ve gone and created one that even a two-year-old can enjoy. The Tag system makes it fun for toddlers to connect words with pictures and other thoughts. By pressing the Tag Junior Book Pal onto the pages of specially designed books, the words and pictures come to life.

 The Tag Jr. is easy for a toddler to use because all she has to do is touch the  book pal (which fits perfectly in a toddlers chubby little hand) anywhere on the page and she will be rewarded with a response. Each Tag Jr. book has a theme and focuses on a skill.

The Tag Jr. system is geared toward young preschoolers ages 2-4. Leapfrog
also lets you create an account at LeapFrog’s Learning  Path site where you can track your child’s learning progress online and download and print free activities to compliment your child’s Tag Jr. books.

LeapFrog toys are always fun-forward and engaging with educational benefits and skill-building fundamentals that last well beyond the holiday season. In other words, they’re invaluable.

Upsides:

• Easy for a toddler to use
• Great learning tool
• Encourages reading
• Portable – great toy for road trips and hotel stays
• Reasonably priced

 Downside:

• The process of downloading the audio from the Leapfrog site to your Tag Jr. Book Pal was a little tricky for me, but there is lots of online support on the site.

You can buy the Tag Junior here for $24.99 and it comes with a book. You can buy extra books here and here.

Also from Leapfrog is the Text & Learn. Tech-savvy preschoolers on your shopping list can imitate Mom and Dad (Big Sister in our house) with this durable, just-for-kids learning PDA.  Games focus on letter recognition, shape matching, and QWERTY keyboard skills, allowing preschoolers to exchange text messages with Scout, check Scout’s planner, and explore in a pretend browser mode. You can buy it  here for $21.99.

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Playskool recently launched a “More Than Play” campaign, which is an educational initiative to share how play lays down important foundational skills needed for advanced learning like reading, writing, mathematics, critical problem solving, and conceptual thinking, to name just a handful. 

You can learn more about child development facts and the benefits surrounding the skills associated to different Playskool toys at the Playskool More Than Play Web site. And the More Than Play campaign has developed several videos demonstrating the toys and their play benefits. Here is one for Helmet Heroes, which is the toy I’m giving away below:

You can buy Playskool Helmet Heroes here. , but one lucky Lipstick to Crayons reader can win one for free by entering the contest below.

Giveaway Guidelines:

Tell me in the comment section below why you want to win Playskool Helmet Heroes and what you think your kids have learned from their toys. 

Receive additional entries by doing any/all of the following, but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Blog about this contest
2. Subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed
3. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can tweet daily if you want, but make sure you leave a comment each time you do).
4. Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
5. Stumble this post
6. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
7. Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook
   

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time Dec. 16. Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Contest open to United States residents only. Winner will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If winner does not claim prize by Dec. 18, 2009, he/she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner.

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• Why Do Kids Stick Their Tongues Out?

Because of the hundreds of times we’ve “played puzzles,” my toddler can recognize EVERY letter in my 14-year-old’s name. I’m afraid she’s going to have a serious “hand-me-down” complex. Can’t you just hear her whining to her therapist someday, “I didn’t know how to spell my own name until I was 10 because the letters in MY name weren’t in the hand-me-down puzzle I had to use.”

So, I decided it was time for her to have her own name puzzle, and I also wanted to have a full alphabet puzzle because she’s starting to show some real interest in letters (Did I mention that she’s very bright?)

Anyway, one of the problems with letter puzzles is that so many of them have funny-shaped or fancy letters. Those are pretty, but they’re not the best puzzles to use if you want your child to learn his or her letters. However, the educational puzzles from Puzzle Man  ARE shaped properly. Plus, the puzzle pieces are thick and the puzzles are sturdy. In fact, they will probably last long enough for my toddler to hand them down to her children someday.

Ed (the puzzle man) and his wife, Suzanne, have been making wooden puzzles and selling them at craft fairs and through the mail for more than 20 years. All of their puzzles are individually hand-crafted with quality and education in mind. They use only the highest quality, furniture grade plywood that is domestically made from replenishable forests. Each puzzle is cut one at a time, then sanded and stained using a non-toxic, water-based stain. The puzzle is sealed with a clear, non-toxic finish so that it is BABY SAFE and may be cleaned using a damp cloth.

Now get this: they offer FREE REPLACEMENT PIECES for all of their puzzles. That’s amazing! All you have to do is send a tracing of the missing space, type of puzzle, color if known, and $1 for shipping.

Their puzzles are more substantial than most you’ll find on the market, and  they are stained and not painted, so the color penetrates the wood and won’t chip.

They offer educational puzzles such alphabets, numbers and maps, personalized puzzles, plus a host of other adorable items. Prices start around $20 ($15 for a name puzzle, plus $1 per letter), to up to $65 for a map of France and Italy puzzle. You can order the puzzles here, and if you want to talk to Ed or Suzzanne, call the number on their site and they’ll answer the phone personally!

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Until Nov. 25, LeapFrog is offering 20% off all products using this code: HOLIDAY20 (and there is free shipping on orders over $50).

From Nov. 25 to Nov. 30, LeapFrog.com will host a sitewide sale, offering 25% off this season’s hottest gifts.

For Cyber Monday (but beginning on Nov. 25)  LeapFrog.com will offer extra deals on holiday favorites and bundle packages including  select Leapster Games as low as $5, select Tag Books as low as $5.49, FLY Fusion Pen for $14.99 and up 75% off total savings on gift packs, such as the ultra-popular Tag, Tag Junior and Leapster.

Speaking of the Tag Junior, I will be posting my review of this very popular toy for toddlers in the coming week.

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Dean Mandis, a father of two students in the Rockwood School District (also the school district of my children) addressed the district’s school board last week regarding his concerns that his daaughter was being taught the concepts of B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) as alternatives to the dating system that has been in place for HUNDREDS OF CENTURIES!

“Introducing B.C.E./C.E. in conjunction with B.C./A.D. in the classroom is to deny the historical basis of the dating system and ultimately leads to confusion,” Mandis told the board. Mandis said this teacher’s decision was “irresponsible” and possibly “a dangerous and slippery slope.” (quoted from Tim Townsend’s article in the Post and on stltoday.com.)

Apparently, according to a source in the article, the movement to use C.E. and B.C.E. in western academia began in the 1980s. When something similar happened in Kentucky in 2006, Christians fought it and the effort to use the new dating system disappeared. Gotta hand it to you, KY! (that’s for my husband and his relatives.)

Not surprisingly, the same textbook companies that have been re-writing history for the last few decades to make it more politically correct and less offensive are at least partially to blame for this effort. Craig Larson, Rockwood School District superintendent, wrote this explanation  on his blog:

“Within the last 10-15 years, CE/BCE has started to appear in student textbooks, usually along with AD/BC and sometimes with just one or the other mentioned. Teachers make sure that students are aware of both designations so they are literate when they encounter either notation.”

I understand the textbook companies desire to sell textbooks. When I was a newspaper reporter, people used to accuse us of writing things “just to sell newspapers.”  I’d say, “We need to sell newspapers, folks. This isn’t a not-for-profit operation.”  But that didn’t mean we had license to write things that were false. I understand that you can probably sell more textbooks if your books are vanilla enough to not offend ANYONE, that doesn’t make them accurate.

I’ll never forget when my oldest came home from kindergarten telling me that the pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving to thank the Native Americans (see, I can be PC) for helping them survive in the new country. Seriously? While the pilgrims may very well have owed a debt of gratitude to any Native Americans who helped them learn to live in this untame land, it was NOT the Indians who they were thanking that first Thanksgiving. Still, when I investigated, that was the message of the book my daughter’s teacher was reading to her class. No mention of thanking God on Thanksgiving — just the natives.

As Larson pointed out, Rockwood School District doesn’t write textbooks, and the district has a responsibility to help our students understand dates in any way they may be presented. But I’m with Mandis — it’s a slippery slope. I think the district should reject any textbooks that teach an inaccurate history of Thanksgiving, and then the textbook companies won’t print falsities about that holiday.

Our dating system shouldn’t offend anyone. B.C. doesn’t stand for ”Before Christ, the one true God, Son of Man, Risen Savior.” And the newer system of dating doesn’t change anything — the calendar is still measured in terms of the birth of  Jesus Christ. So let’s stop erasing God from our history.

Larson says the school district doesn’t have a “policy” on dates. Maybe we should have a policy and that policy should be that we will continue to teach our children the principles upon which this country was founded in regard to everything, including the dating system. If you are a Rockwood parent and you feel strongly about this, a group of parents have started a petition on the topic. You can sign it here.

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Michael Rebando, a Long Island locksmith of two decades, experienced a near-tragic incident in which his four-year-old niece was rushed to the hospital after unknowingly consuming over-the-counter medication accidentally left on the kitchen counter.  After conducting his own research, Rebando discovered that in addition to the alarming number of toddler incidents, a reported 2.1 million teens are abusing prescription drugs annually and more than a third of the prescription drugs illegally obtained by teens come from their own homes.

Plus, according to a recent report by the CDC, each year in the United States more than 71,000 children age 18 and younger are seen in emergency rooms for unintentional overdoses of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.  It also reported that about one out of every 180 two-year-olds visits an emergency department for a medication overdose each year.

In an effort to help parents keep their meds safely secured and their children out of harm’s way, Rebando developed an electronic lock-box called MedSafe, which debuted this week. Fitting easily into most existing medicine cabinets and holding up to 15 bottles of prescription medicine, the state-of-the-art lock-box features 19,500 changeable combinations and is the perfect tool in keeping potentially harmful meds out of the hands of children. The MedSafe can be easily affixed to the inside of any medicine cabinet with four self-tapping screws included with each unit, and can also be stored in a dresser drawer, kitchen cabinet or closet shelf.

A portion of each unit sold will support teen prescription drug abuse awareness programs through non-profits such as D.A.R.E. The product is presently available at www.helpsaveourkids.com for $49.95, and will soon be available in retail outlets nationwide. But one lucky Lipstick to Crayons reader is going to win one for free by entering the contest below.

Giveaway Guidelines

To enter this contest, tell me why you’d like to win in a comment below.

Receive additional entries by doing any/all of the following, but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Blog about this contest
2. Subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed
3. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter
4. Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
5. Stumble this post
6. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time Oct. 20, 2009. Be sure to include a valid email address. Winner will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If winner does not claim prize by Oct. 22,  2009, she/he will forfeit the prize to alternate winner who will be drawn at random.

This contest is closed. Congratulations to Bridget G., you are the winner. I’ll be sending you an email shortly.

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Parent: “What day will the spelling tests be?”

Teacher: “We won’t be doing spelling tests. Rockwood (School District) has mandated that spelling tests be eliminated by next year, and many teachers are opting to phase them out this year.”

What!!!??

The teacher went on to explain that:

• Spelling will be graded and assessed as part of the students’ everyday work.
• Many students simply memorize the words for the spelling test, but continue to spell the very same words incorrectly on everyday written work.
• Rockwood has research to indicate that weekly spelling tests do not improve students’ spelling mastery skills (or something to that effect).

As I looked around the room, these are the reactions I interpreted from the looks on the faces of other parents:

• Many were surprised, like me, and hadn’t heard this information.
• Many were displeased, like me.
• Some were nodding in agreement.
• Some smirked. I’m not sure whether they were smirking because they were thinking, “This is so typical” or “I knew it” or “This is yet another example of the dumbing down of America” or something else. I have yet to master mind-reading, I guess.

When I got home, I fired off an email to the Associate Superintendent for School Leadership and Curriculum for the Rockwood School District, Dr. Scott Spurgeon, inquiring about the mandated elimination of spelling tests. Within 24 hours, I received an informative email from Kathy Ryan,  Curriculum Coordinator, Language Arts K-12. (Note: this is one of the many things I love about our school district — administrators are not only accessible, but they respond quickly to parent inquiries.)

Ms. Ryan shared the following information with me:

1. The Rockwood Curriculum states that assessment of spelling should take place primarily through each student’s writing.
2. Weekly tests are not required.
3. In order to be consistent in all buildings and for all children, the district has determined that spelling pre- and post-tests will be discontinued during the 2010-2011 school year.
4. Research on writing asserts that students need more time for authentic writing tasks, and spelling pre- and post-tests take nearly an hour of instructional time each week.
5. Dozens of elementary teachers field-tested this approach during the last school year and found that spelling ability did not diminish, but student willingness to check for spelling errors in all tasks increased.
6. Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, teachers will give a spelling inventory test at the beginning and end of each year to identify strengths and weaknesses so instruction can be designed to meet student needs.

“We believe that this change in spelling assessment practices will allow students more time to study words and more time to develop spelling through writing,” Ms. Ryan wrote.

Ms. Ryan also shared with me some of the research upon which this decision was based. I won’t quote all of it now, but I will say it looks solid. If you would like to see this document, email me and I’ll forward you a copy.

HOWEVER, I’m still bothered by the idea of no spelling tests. Spelling tests have worked for decades. They’re part of the BASICS! I think the new approach of assessing spelling in daily writing is a great idea. In a school district with high standards like Rockwood, a student should not be able to get an A on his/her weekly spelling tests, only to then misspell the same words in daily writing assignments. But I don’t think the time required for weekly spelling tests is wasted time. According to the “spelling letter” that was shared with parents, weekly spelling pre- and post-tests take about 40-50 minutes and that time can be put to better use for writing instruction and practice. Seriously? I’ll bet with a little effort, we could identify 40-50 minutes in the elementary school’s weekly schedule that could be used for those spelling tests without taking away from writing instruction or practice — i.e. extra recesses, assemblies to motivate for fund-raisers, “Pickle-puppet” sessions that cover topics probably best addressed at home.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my school district and I’m very impressed with the assessments on standardized tests and the ACT and SAT. I’m a huge fan of my son’s elementary school and believe the teachers and the principal there are doing an amazing job educating our students. Plus, I’m sure the district had multiple “committee/parent” meetings before making this decision, and I somehow missed the process while staying busy in my duties as a mom, part-time writer, etc. But I am alarmed by the trend away from some of the more basic learning techniques that have worked for so long. Don’t even get me started on the way my son is taught to add, subtract, multiply and do long division. That’s a whole other post.

At the very minimum, a weekly spelling test requires these elementary students to practice the skill of studying and memorization. I know that memorization isn’t the best learning technique or skill in most cases or in most subjects. I also acknowledge that learning spelling patterns and principles is vitally important and probably more effective in creating life-long good spellers and solid writers. However, memorization IS a skill and learning technique that we all use everyday. And studying for a weekly test IS a valuable practice. I vote that we bring back weekly spelling tests, and when I mentioned this last week on Facebook, it seems there were lots of other parents who felt the same way. What are your thoughts on the topic?

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Obopay is a comprehensive mobile payment service  that enables users to instantly get, send and spend money anywhere, anytime, from anyone and it’s just perfect for parents. 

Via text messaging with Obopay’s “Family Account” service, parents can send money to their teens instantly and securely with any cell phone for a fee of 25 cents. (And it’s free to receive and spend money with Obopay). Teens receive the money on a prepaid debit card, which can be used anywhere that accepts MasterCard. Additionally, with this service, parents have an additional way to teach financial responsibility by tracking their payments and seeing exactly how their teens are spending the money sent to them. Moms and Dads can even schedule “allowance” payments into the account for food, shopping and entertainment. Obopay isn’t a bank so there’s no minimum balance or potential for overdrafts.

Here’s how it works:

• Buy the Prepaid MasterCard here.
• Add Moneyto your Obopay account from your bank account, existing credit or debit card.
• Send Money to any U.S.mobile phone number or the Mastercard via text message. You can also request money via text.
• Withdraw money.You can withdraw money from your Obopay account directly to your bank account.
• Spend Money.You can even use Obopay to buy stuff directly from your phone, like movie tickets and ringtones. 
• With Obopay, parents can:
   
  Monitor spending, set up recurring allowances, or add money anytime.
• Manage everything right from a cell phone or online.
• Send emergency money in just a few seconds, directly from their phone.

Now, if Obopay can just help me figure out where to GET the money that I want to give my kids, I’ll be all set.

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In February, a letter from a 14-year-old girl to her congressman resulted in a beautifully re-supplied classroom for eighth-grader Ty’Sheoma Bethea and her classmates. Walmart was watching. Today, the retailer is inviting teachers, parents and students to write their own letters for the opportunity to have their classrooms re-supplied this coming school year. Eager to deliver help to other classrooms, Bethea will participate as a judge for the program along with a panel of educators.
 
The “Write to Change the Classroom” program is a natural extension of the efforts expressed by Ty’Sheoma Bethea of J.V. Martin Junior High School in South Carolina. With a carefully crafted letter and a lot of determination, her voice was heard as she detailed the dilapidated state of her school’s current learning conditions. As a result, a movement began, a student’s life was changed and a community was united.
 
Entrants can submit their 500-words-or-less letter at the contest site, outlining their school supply needs (e.g. basic educational materials, classroom furniture, technology, etc.) and explaining how these materials will be used throughout the school year. Supply needs might include everything from new computers, to replacing aging, broken or depleted classroom supplies. All entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Any state-accredited elementary (K-6), junior high (7-8) and senior high (9-12) and traditional school is eligible to receive the supplies. 

Essays will be judged on level of need, creativity and the positive impact these supplies will have on the school.

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