"To talk to a child....

to fascinate him, is much more difficult than to win an electoral victory. But it is more rewarding."
--Colette (1873-1954) French writer

In our fast-paced world, we often neglect to take time to "smell the roses." We're so occupied with our careers and our computers, that we sometimes overlook the all important face-to-face communication with our kids. Did you know that the children whose families have dinner together (and talk over dinner), have higher SAT scores? Playing word games like ABSeas, Pick Up Words, Zingo, or Brain Game, or reading books like Puzzle Island, gives you an opportunity to communicate with your child and engage her. Playing with construction toys, like Marbleworks, gives you an opportunity to converse, too. Try it and experience the results!

I can't get my child to talk

Q: Our 7 year old son is not very talkative, and when we ask him about his day at school he tells us he doesn't want to talk about it or he doesn't remember. We want him to share his feelings and learn how to communicate with us, but are not sure of the best way to handle this. Do you have any suggestions?

A: Most experts recommend playing board games...talk just seems to flow over a good game. Your child is old enough to play Clue, Jr. Scrabble, Monopoly...you'll find him talking in no time...and then he may casually weave in what you're really wanting to know. You can find more games like Wiz Kidz, Think-it-Through Tiles or Marbleworks at www.toysofdiscovery.com

"Loving a child....

doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult."
--Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) French musician and teacher

Rose Kennedy:

"I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it.
--Rose Kennedy, born 1890, mother of a U.S. President, an Attorney General, a U.S. Senator, a Navy aviator, a marchioness, an ambassador and 3 other children

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

"Play is an expression of our creativity, and creativity is at the very root of our ability to learn, to cope, and to become whatever we may be."
--Fred Rogers, pbs.org/rogers

Maria Montessori:

"Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it -- but a child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear."
--Maria Montessori, educator, physician, philosopher

The importance of your child's environment

"Absorbing a host of impressions through his senses is almost the exclusive task of the infant...Often the whole life of a person is not sufficient to efface the impressions absorbed in childhood, because his whole being, like a large eye, was open and wholly given to them. For this reason the care of an infant is so important."
-- Friedrich Froebel, educator, founder of the Kindergarten

Brain Development in Babies

"Babies are busy 'wiring' their brains. They are born with all the brain cells (neurons) they need, but they are not 'intelligent' as we understand that term...they perceive but don't think the way we so because they can't retain images or symbols in their minds. Babies construct intelligence through experience, welding sparsely connected neurons into densely interconnected pathways."
-- Jim Greenman, educator

Rotate your toys

"Babies and toddlers usually play most happily with a few toys that are changed frequently. When a toy that has been put away for a short time reappears, it again captures the child's attention because it seems new and exciting."
--Dr. Thelma Harms, Director of Curriculum Development, Research Professor, UNC-CH School of Education

Read aloud

Read-aloud experts tell us that you should read to your children even after they know how to read on their own.....even until they go off to college! It sends them a message of love, that you've taken the time to stop your busy life to spend quality time with them. In addition, children are able to understand books several grade levels above their own reading level if a book is read to them.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) American biologist:

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."

Happy Mother's Day!

click to enlarge and see special offer for you, Mom!

Turn old sports shoes into places to Play

We love recycling and think it's the way to go!
Did you know that Nike has 300 locations where you can drop off your old, beat up sneakers? They will give them new life by grinding them up into surface material for basketball courts, tracks and playgrounds. You can find a map of drop-off locations for sneakers here.

Walk to school

Did you know that in 1973 60% of school age children walked to school?
In 2006 that percentage had declined to 13%.
What a dent we could make in childhood obesity (not to mention improving our environment) if we walked our children to school!

Read to your baby starting at birth

Thanks to research over the last decade, we now know a lot about how babies grow and develop their early language and literacy skills. Here are some of the facts:

• Babies begin to learn language from birth. Reading aloud exposes children to the sounds of human speech.
• By the age of two, children know between 300-500 words. Children who are spoken to and read to frequently have larger vocabularies and develop into better readers.
• Sharing books with your baby lays the foundation for learning to read.

Discovery Toys has some great board books for you to add to baby's first library: Baby Bear's Bedtime, Ladybug's Lesson and Rough and Tough Tractors and Diggers books. Visit your local library where you can find many more titles.