Play Time...
‘Play equals learning’ It’s not a brand-new cause — two years ago it was endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. But social changes and new demands on kids’ spare time confront free-play advocates with an ever-moving target.
Among the speakers at last week’s Wonderplay conference Y was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education “could be the next global warming.”
Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America’s children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.
“Play equals learning,” she said. “For too long we have divorced the two.”
Some of the factors behind diminished play time have been evolving for decades, others are more recent. Added together, they have resulted in eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time per week for the average American child since the 1980s, experts say.
Among the key factors, according to Thompson:
The consequences are potentially dire, according to Thompson. He contends that diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.
‘It gets them thinking’ Many families turn to organized sports as a principal non-school activity, but Thompson noted that this option doesn’t necessary breed creativity and can lead to burnout for good young athletes and frustration for the less skilled.
Vivian Paley, a former kindergarten teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and now an author and consultant, argues that the most vital form of play for young children involves fantasy and role-playing with their peers.
“They’re inventing abstract thinking, before the world tells them what to think,” Paley said in her speech to the conference. “It gets them thinking, ‘I am intended to have my own ideas.”’
She worried that preschools, in the drive to prepare students for the academic challenges ahead, are reducing the opportunity for group fantasy play — and thus reducing children’s chances to learn on their own about fairness, kindness and other social interactions.
“The theater of the young receives the least attention from those planning the curriculum of our nation’s schools,” Paley said. “This very activity is being dismantled in our schools to make room for early phonics. ... Preschoolers are being asked to practice being first graders.”
Fretta Reitzes, director of the 92 Street Y’s youth and family center, which serves more than 6,000 children, says many of the parents she sees are struggling to find the right balance for their kids’ schedules, asking “How much is too much?”
Preschool teachers need to lead by example, Reitzes said.
“Bringing play back into the lives of children, it’s not just OK,” she said. “It’s really good for them.”
Among the speakers at last week’s Wonderplay conference Y was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education “could be the next global warming.”
Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America’s children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.
“Play equals learning,” she said. “For too long we have divorced the two.”
Some of the factors behind diminished play time have been evolving for decades, others are more recent. Added together, they have resulted in eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time per week for the average American child since the 1980s, experts say.
Among the key factors, according to Thompson:
- Parents’ reluctance to let their kids play outside on their own, for fear of abduction or injury, and the companion trend of scheduling lessons, supervised sports and other structured activities that consume a large chunk of a child’s non-school hours.
- More hours per week spent by kids watching TV, playing video games, using the Internet, communicating on cell phones.
- Shortening or eliminating recess at many schools — a trend so pronounced that the National PTA has launched a “Rescuing Recess” campaign.
- More emphasis on formal learning in preschool, more homework for elementary school students and more pressure from parents on young children to quickly acquire academic skills.
The consequences are potentially dire, according to Thompson. He contends that diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.
‘It gets them thinking’ Many families turn to organized sports as a principal non-school activity, but Thompson noted that this option doesn’t necessary breed creativity and can lead to burnout for good young athletes and frustration for the less skilled.
Vivian Paley, a former kindergarten teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and now an author and consultant, argues that the most vital form of play for young children involves fantasy and role-playing with their peers.
“They’re inventing abstract thinking, before the world tells them what to think,” Paley said in her speech to the conference. “It gets them thinking, ‘I am intended to have my own ideas.”’
She worried that preschools, in the drive to prepare students for the academic challenges ahead, are reducing the opportunity for group fantasy play — and thus reducing children’s chances to learn on their own about fairness, kindness and other social interactions.
“The theater of the young receives the least attention from those planning the curriculum of our nation’s schools,” Paley said. “This very activity is being dismantled in our schools to make room for early phonics. ... Preschoolers are being asked to practice being first graders.”
Fretta Reitzes, director of the 92 Street Y’s youth and family center, which serves more than 6,000 children, says many of the parents she sees are struggling to find the right balance for their kids’ schedules, asking “How much is too much?”
Preschool teachers need to lead by example, Reitzes said.
“Bringing play back into the lives of children, it’s not just OK,” she said. “It’s really good for them.”
~ Sports on Kids ~
Children in Sports: How it Affects the Development
Children are always engages in physical activity. Sports are on such recreational activity. In sports, childhood involvement is the strongest predictor of adult involvement. Adult athletes often find themselves having participated actively at ages 8 & 9. Early participation is due to experiences of great deals of success. Receiving positive support from family, peers and teachers influence participation in sports. Of these persons, peer groups and coaches appear to be the most influential.
Youth sports participation have important psychological consequences for children. Motivation for participation can be enhanced, stress can be managed and productively used, and self-worthiness can be developed through positive coach communication. This is as far as it goes as character formation is concerned.
In the book, Lesson from the locker room: The myth of school sports, authors Miracle and Reese (1994) cite instances where athletic participation can inhibit character formation. Negative youth sports experiences can erode motivations for participation, produce excessive stress, and destroy feelings of self-worth. It can even condone negative behaviors such as cheating and violence. Legitimate, therefore, is a concern about the harmful effects of completion on the developing child.
An element promoting positive participation for children is based on the premise that sports participation is not automatically beneficial or detrimental. Sports, whether it is for competition or recreation is not automatically a redress to idle minds. The quality of experiences determines whether beneficial or rimental affect will occur. Young athletes who benefit from positive outcomes associated with sport will enjoy increased motivation to achieve and will continue sports participation.
Some studies prove that the biggest factor for children who chose to continue participating was paternal support. Eight percent of elementary participants continued getting involved in program. This attributes to high rate of continuing participation to the fact that the children find a place of belonging where they can enjoy simple games and experience simple achievements,
The quality of the adult leader contributes greatly to sport participation in children. Coaching behaviors are related to the players’ liking of the coach, liking of the sports, liking of their teammates, and to their self-esteem. Coaches must make the effort to become aware of their behaviors and adopt a positive approach to communicating with young athletes. Suggested are a number of important components to positive communication:
It has been observed that the kids from grades five to seven starts taking games seriously. Winning is a “must” for them and during competitions they have a hard time taking losses. It must be emphasized that winning isn’t everything in the game and sports but the best should always be given. In this manner, it molds a performance orientation in the young athletes. They learn to enjoy performing the tasks on hand to overcome the stress of worrying about winning or losing.
It is a mistake to think that winning is the only objective young athletes have for participation. Most young athletes would rather participate in losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team. Adult leaders should help youth athletes define winning as exceeding their won goals is viewed in terms of effort and improvement, youth sports can be a positive experience. In this manner a greater number of young athletes will experience success and reap the benefit of participation (excerpts from Mick Perez Children in Sports)
Youth sports participation have important psychological consequences for children. Motivation for participation can be enhanced, stress can be managed and productively used, and self-worthiness can be developed through positive coach communication. This is as far as it goes as character formation is concerned.
In the book, Lesson from the locker room: The myth of school sports, authors Miracle and Reese (1994) cite instances where athletic participation can inhibit character formation. Negative youth sports experiences can erode motivations for participation, produce excessive stress, and destroy feelings of self-worth. It can even condone negative behaviors such as cheating and violence. Legitimate, therefore, is a concern about the harmful effects of completion on the developing child.
An element promoting positive participation for children is based on the premise that sports participation is not automatically beneficial or detrimental. Sports, whether it is for competition or recreation is not automatically a redress to idle minds. The quality of experiences determines whether beneficial or rimental affect will occur. Young athletes who benefit from positive outcomes associated with sport will enjoy increased motivation to achieve and will continue sports participation.
Some studies prove that the biggest factor for children who chose to continue participating was paternal support. Eight percent of elementary participants continued getting involved in program. This attributes to high rate of continuing participation to the fact that the children find a place of belonging where they can enjoy simple games and experience simple achievements,
The quality of the adult leader contributes greatly to sport participation in children. Coaching behaviors are related to the players’ liking of the coach, liking of the sports, liking of their teammates, and to their self-esteem. Coaches must make the effort to become aware of their behaviors and adopt a positive approach to communicating with young athletes. Suggested are a number of important components to positive communication:
- Give plenty of praise and encouragement
- Give praise sincerely
- Develop realistic expectations
- Reward effort as much as outcome
- Reward correct technique, not just outcome
- Employ a “sandwich approach” to error correction
It has been observed that the kids from grades five to seven starts taking games seriously. Winning is a “must” for them and during competitions they have a hard time taking losses. It must be emphasized that winning isn’t everything in the game and sports but the best should always be given. In this manner, it molds a performance orientation in the young athletes. They learn to enjoy performing the tasks on hand to overcome the stress of worrying about winning or losing.
It is a mistake to think that winning is the only objective young athletes have for participation. Most young athletes would rather participate in losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team. Adult leaders should help youth athletes define winning as exceeding their won goals is viewed in terms of effort and improvement, youth sports can be a positive experience. In this manner a greater number of young athletes will experience success and reap the benefit of participation (excerpts from Mick Perez Children in Sports)
~ Toys on Kids ~
All kids want to explore this new world. When they play and are challenged, they learn and grow by leaps and bounds. That is why children's educational toys, learning software, waiting room toys and kids' crafts offered by Anatex, Galt, Elenco, Toobeez, Maxim, Young Scientists and more encourage your children's natural curiosity and sense of discovery.
4 the Kids Toy Store is dedicated to your satisfaction. Offering your children enjoyment while learning more everyday with our educational products. Also allowing them to create and use their own imaginations so that you will enjoy your kids more too! Fun can be educational and education can be fun!
4 the Kids Toy Store is dedicated to your satisfaction. Offering your children enjoyment while learning more everyday with our educational products. Also allowing them to create and use their own imaginations so that you will enjoy your kids more too! Fun can be educational and education can be fun!
~ Adventures and Exploring the world with families and kids~
Sharing all that the world has to offer with your children is one of the most amazing blessings of parenthood. Plan your simple travels, adventures and funs with kids can be the most precious quality time that will fill each memories forever...whether its a simple dine out, a stroll or food trip, it will be the best time to spend with your love ones the stories you have enjoy every single second.
Happy Travelling!
Happy Travelling!
~ My Hobbies ~
A hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, typically done during one's leisure time.
Types of hobbies:
Collecting Main article: Collecting The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. These collections of things are often highly organized, carefully cataloged, and attractively displayed. Since collecting depends on the interests of the individual collector, it may deal with almost any subject. The depth and breadth of the collection may also vary. Some collectors choose to focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interest. There are also individuals, who take up collection of coins as their hobby; in both the cases the people try to hold on to the identities. Some collections are capable of being completed, at least to the extent of owning one sample of each possible item in the collection. Collectors who specifically try to assemble complete collections in this way are sometimes called "completists." Upon completing , they may stop collecting, expand the collection to include related items, or begin an entirely new collection. Many completelists are also referred to as date sets, and can be stored in a number of coin holders. The most popular of the coin holders for date sets are coin albums.[5] The most popular fields in collecting have specialized commercial dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related accessories. Many of these dealers started as collectors themselves, then turned their hobby into a profession. Someone who has the financial means to collect stamps might not be able to collect sports-cars, for example. One alternative to collecting physical objects is collecting experiences of a particular kind. Examples include collecting through observation or photography (especially popular for transportation, e.g. train spotting, aircraft spotting, metrophiles, bus spotting; see also I-Spy), bird-watching, and systematically visiting continents, countries (and collecting stamps in their passports), states, national parks, counties etc.
Games
A game is a structured or semi-structured recreational activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment (although sometimes for physical or vocational training). A goal that the players try to reach and a set of rules concerning what the players can or cannot do create the challenge and structure in a game, and are thus central to its definition. Known to have been played as far back as prehistoric times, games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration. Because a wide variety of activities are enjoyable, numerous types of games have developed. What creates an enjoyable game varies from one individual to the next. Age, understanding (of the game), intelligence level, and personality are factors that determine what games a person enjoys. Depending on these factors, people vary the number and complexity of objectives, rules, challenges, and participants to increase their enjoyment. Games generally involve mental and/or physical stimulation. Many games help develop practical skills and serve as exercise or perform an educational, simulational or psychological role.
Games come in many different forms. Many children like to play outdoor games that involve physical activity such as cops and robbers and hide and go seek. Adults play games in more conventional setting, such as in the form of card games, board games, and in recent times, video games.
Outdoor recreation Outdoor pursuits can be loosely considered to be the group of sports and activities which are dependent on the great outdoors, incorporating such things as hill walking, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, skiing, climbing, caving, and arguably broader groups such as watersports and snowsport. Outdoor sports most often include nature in the "sport".
While obviously enjoyed by many as a bit of fun, an adrenaline rush, or an escape from reality, outdoor sport is also frequently used as an extremely effective medium in education and team building. It is this ethos that has given rise to links with young people, such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and PGL, and large numbers of outdoor education centres being established, as the stress on the importance of a balanced and widespread education continues to grow. Depending on the persons' desired level of adrenaline, outdoors can be considered a type of hobby.
As interest increases, so has the rise of commercial outdoor pursuits, with outdoor kit stores opening up in large numbers and thriving, as well as outdoor pursuits journalism and magazines, both on paper and online.
The increased accessibility of outdoor pursuits resources has been the source of some negative publicity over the years also, with complaints of destroying the landscape. A widely-seen example is the destruction of hillsides as footpaths are eroded by excessive numbers of visitors.
Performing Arts Many hobbies involve performing by the hobbyist, such as singing, acting, juggling, magic, dancing and other performing arts.
Creative hobbies
Some hobbies result in an end product of sorts. Examples of this would be woodworking, photography, moviemaking, jewelry making, playing a musical instrument, software projects such as Photoshopping and home music or video production, making bracelets friendship bracelets, artistic projects (such as drawing, painting, etc.), creating models out of card or paper called papercraft up to higher end projects like building or restoring a car, such as a Jowett or building a computer from scratch. While these may just be for the enjoyment of the hobbyist, they sometimes have potential to be a small business.
Scale modeling/dioramas
Replicas of real things in a smaller scale go all the way back to prehistoric times, as small clay "dolls" and other children's toys have been found near known population areas. Greeks, Romans, and Persians took the form to a greater depth during their years of world domination, using scale replicas of enemy fortifications, coastal defense lines, and other geographic fixtures to plan battles.
At the turn of the Industrial Age through the 1920s, families could more often afford things such as electric trains, wind up toys (typically boats or cars) and the increasingly valuable tin toy soldiers.
Model engineering refers to building functioning machinery in metal, such as internal combustion motors and live steam models or locomotives. This is a demanding hobby, requiring a multitude of large and expensive tools, e.g. lathes and mills. This hobby originated in the UK in the late 19th century, later spread and flourished in the mid-20th century. Due to the expense and space required, it is becoming more rare.
Scale modeling as we know it today became popular shortly after World War II. Prior to 1946, children as well as adults were content in carving and shaping wooden replicas from block wood kits, often depicting enemy aircraft to help in identification in case of invasion.
With the advent of modern plastics, the amount of skill required to get the basic shape accurately shown for any given subject was lessened, making it easier for people of all ages to begin assembling replicas in varying scales. Superheros, aeroplanes, boats, cars, tanks, artillery, and even figures of soldiers became quite popular subjects to build, paint and display. Although almost any subject can be found in almost any scale, there are common scales for such miniatures which remain constant today. The most popular scales for each subject are (in order of popularity):
- Cars (1:24, 1:25, 1:32)
- Railroads (1:87/1:76, 1:160, 1:220, plus ridable "backyard railroads", 1:8 and smaller.)
- Planes (1:48, 1:72, 1:32)
- Armor (1:35, 1:72: 1:48)
- Soldiers (1:32, 1:35, 1:48, 1:6)
Figures are probably the most variable of all subjects in terms of scale, and are often referred to as their metric equivalent... for example, a 1:32 scale figure soldier is more commonly described as "54mm". Likewise other popular sizes are 90mm, 120mm and almost every increment in between. An example of a Diorama hobby is Warhammer 40,000, from Games Workshop
In addition to plastic kits, resin has become a popular material for "short run" productions. The level of detail is often quite exquisite, and while more expensive than the typical plastic soldier, is much easier to work with and modify than White Metal or Pewter figures.
Scale modeling is no longer a high growth industry as it was during the 60's and 70's, but there are still thousands of retail shops selling kits, supplies, paints, and tools to support both the new and established hobbyist. There are certainly more companies producing more varieties of kits on various subjects than ever before, and the levels of detail has become unbelievably accurate with the advent of modern drafting and molding equipment, and digitized CAD software to drive accuracy to the 1000th of an inch.
With the increased costs of good kits moving upward, and entertainment competition for youth moving more towards computers and video gaming in the home, the average age of the avid hobbyist is now much older than ever before - with adults making up the vast majority of enthusiasts. At the same time, there are probably more people building now than ever, and there is a large selection of supportive magazines such as Fine Scale Modeller, Military Miniatures in Review (MMiR) and Tamiya Magazine to please almost every niche and taste of interest, from every imaginable era. There are also several modeling clubs in most cities, with the largest and best known International Plastic Modellers' Society (IPMS) supporting chapters and contests around the world.
Cooking Cooking is an act of preparing food for eating. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to improve the flavour or digestibility of food. It generally requires the selection, measurement and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Constraints on success include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools and the skill of the individual cooking.
The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural and religious considerations that impact upon it. Cooking requires applying heat to a food which usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. Cooking proper, as opposed to roasting, requires the boiling of water or oil in a receptacle, and was practised at least since the 10th millennium BC with the introduction of pottery. There is archaeological evidence of roasted foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable, in human (Homo erectus) campsites dating from the earliest known use of fire some 800,000 years ago.[citation needed]
Gardening
Residential gardening most often takes place in or about a residence, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden typically is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located in a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a patio or vivarium.
Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), amusement and theme parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.
Indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated as part of air conditioning or heating systems.
Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require special conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist solely of a tub containing the water and plant(s).
Container gardening is concerned with growing plants in containers that are place above the ground.
Fishkeeping
This hobby can be broadly divided into three specific disciplines, freshwater, brackish, and marine (also called saltwater) fishkeeping.
Freshwater fishkeeping is by far the most popular branch of the hobby, with even small pet stores often selling a variety of freshwater fish, such as goldfish, guppies, and angelfish. While most freshwater aquaria are set up as community tanks containing a variety of peaceful species, many aquarists keep single-species aquaria with a view to breeding. Livebearing fish such as mollies and guppies are among the species that are most easily raised in captivity, but aquarists also regularly breed numerous other species, including many types of cichlid, catfish, and characin Fishkeepers are often known as "aquarists", since many of them are not solely interested in keeping fish. Many fishkeepers create freshwater aquascapes where the focus is on aquatic plants rather than on the fish. These aquariums include the "Dutch Aquarium", in reference to the pioneering work carried out by European aquarists in designing these sorts of tanks. In recent years, one of the most active advocates of the heavily planted aquarium is Japanese aquarist Takashi Amano. Marine aquarists often attempt to recreate ocean habitats, by starting with plants and mollusks are added later on, once the aquarium has matured, as well as a variety of small fish. Such aquaria are sometimes called reef tanks.
Garden ponds are in some ways similar to freshwater aquaria, but are usually much larger and exposed to the ambient climatic conditions. In the tropics, tropical fish can be kept in garden ponds, but in the cooler regions temperate zone species such as goldfish, koi, and orfe are kept instead.
Reading
Reading, such as reading books, magazines, comics, or newspapers, along with browsing the internet is a common hobby and one that can trace its origins back many hundreds of years. A love of literature later in life may be sparked by an interest in reading children's literature as a child.[6] One of the great benefits of reading as a hobby is that it can be taken up and put down whenever a free moment presents itself. When reading paperback books, it is easy to take the reading material on holiday or on public transport with very little inconvenience. One great advantage is that it allows the human mind to create its own view of the world portrayed in the book.
