Fun Website With Songs and Games

 

            Today's Snack: A clementine "cutie" is small, neat, tasty citrus fruit with good vitamin C.

 

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They say a child's work is play. They may not know it, but when children are playing, they are listening, thinking, discerning meaning, planning what they're going to say or do, matching thoughts to actions, and expressing themselves. Those are all the elements of the academic disciplines that you need to do well in school, and those processes all get their start in the sandbox years.

 

            But you don't pick up many of those skills by watching TV. Smart parents already know that their children shouldn't be planted in front of the television and video games day after day. It doesn't do much for a child's mind. They need to be actively playing and, as much of that playtime as possible, learning while they're at it!

 

            But it's soooo hard to compete with electronics. They're colorful and bright, the pictures move quickly, and it's no work at all to sit back and let the images fly in front of your face.

 

            Teachers have little doubt that for many children who can't read or write very well, a key reason is that they've been watching too much TV. Remember how Grandpa said it would rot your brain? Well . . . he was right.

 

            The answer is good time management. Limit the amount of time your child spends "plugged in." A lot of parents limit the child's daily exposure to TV to one hour. That's a very good idea.

 

            The rest of the day can be spent with everything else under the sun: friends, blocks, marbles, mud puddles, art, piano, the swingset, pets . . . and judicious use of that other electronic tool most families have, the Internet.

 

            Start making a list of websites that are OK for your child. Here's a really great one with stories, songs, games and much more that would be fun for a parent or babysitter to do with your child before he or she can read, and for young readers to do alone, too:

 

http://pbskids.org/