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Wondering what to do with your socks that have lost their matches? Let your child transform them into puppets! Outcome: This activity stimulates self-expression as children create their own puppets, stories, and imaginary adventures. Children choose their own materials to create the puppets' features, name their puppet, and think of things that their puppets can do (like singing, dancing, cooking, reading, etc.). How: Gather the socks, craft supplies, and glue. Let your child take the lead on how they want their puppet to look: even if their puppets start looking a bit abstract, go with it! Since this craft is all about exploring creativity, there’s no right or wrong way to piece together a puppet! Materials: 1. Socks 2. Googly eyes or buttons* 3. Markers 5. Pieces of string or yarn 6. Glue Once the puppet (or puppets) is ready, ask your child to put on a puppet show, act out their favorite book, or sing and dance along to their favorite songs with their puppet(s).*You can also help your child sew their chosen pieces to the puppet if you like.

How: 1. Take a bag or container and go on a nature walk with your child. 2. Collect items like rocks, sticks, leaves, and pine cones. 3. Use what you collected to create a self-portrait, an animal portrait, a family portrait, or portrait of any kind. Materials: 1. Natural loose parts from the nature walk. 2. Loose parts like bottle caps, yarn/ribbons, beads, fabrics, and straws from around your home. 3. A mirror that your child may use to see their faces if they decide to do a self-portrait. They can also place the loose parts on the mirror while creating their portrait. Outcome: Setting up opportunities for children to play with interesting materials like loose parts provides children a chance to explore, invent, and imagine in all kinds of ways. This creative play experience focuses on the process of creating something instead of the end product. While product-based art focuses on how the result should look, process-based creation values the child's experience as they create a unique piece of art, explore the materials, and try different techniques.

Planning a party involves organization, memory and attention to detail! The outcome of this activity is to help your child think and act on tasks in a certain order (planning, recalling, and processing new information), building their capacity to make decisions as well as finding alternative ways to accomplish goals (problem solving). What: Hosting a tea party. How: Let your child take the lead. Ask what they will need to set up a tea party. Together, make a list or draw the objects you'll need (depending on your child’s age). Go around the house to look for the objects and utensils (toy version or real-life objects) needed for the party. After finding all the elements, set up together and enjoy the tea party! Materials needed: Utensils, tea pot, teacups, table cover, props (if you and your child want to make it fancy), and whatever else your child plans to add to the tea party. Let their creativity flow!

Shape sorting games help children solve problems all on their own by trying to work out which shape fits where. These games also help children practice patience! What: Exploring and manipulating toys and objects using both hands. How: Child picks up objects/shapes in hand. Child transfers objects from one hand to the next. Child puts objects in an empty container or through a lid with matching shapes cut out. Outcome: Children are using executive and mindful skills to accomplish tasks using fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, emotional regulation, and thought processes. This activity promotes adaptability for life.

What: Let's play a game called, 'What is missing?' Materials needed: A small blanket or a scarf (not see through). Some small toys or objects that your child is familiar with -- for example: a small car, a block, a small rock, a leaf etc. How: 1. First, show your child each item and name them. Make sure your child knows all items. 2. Cover items with a blanket. 3. Ask your child to cover her/his eyes and then take one item out without your child looking. 4. Open the blanket and ask your child which item is missing. Tips: For young children, start with three items and add more when your child masters noticing what is missing with three. For older children, let them lead the game and you guess what's missing. Outcome: This game helps your child improve their working memory and impulse control, and teaches them how to follow rules. These executive function skills build self-control and flexible thinking, which will benefit your child later on in life including during planning, studying, and working.

Hello July, and hello summer! What is better than fresh air, sunshine, and outdoor adventures with our little ones? Here at Norwood, we are ramping up our summer programs, going on community walks, catching bugs, playing with bubbles, learning new games on the playground, and soaking up all the vitamin d we can get before winter rolls back around! As we start this new month, we also start a new discussion. This month we will be talking about... drum roll please.... Intellectual Development! Before we start, let’s quickly recap what we have learned since January so far. In January, we learnt that YOU are your child’s first and most important teacher. In February and March, we talked about just how important play is for our children, and some of the science behind those earliest years. Then in the following months we started discussing the first few domains of S.P.L.I.C.E. Can anyone remember what S.P.L.I.C.E stands for? You got it! Social development, physical development, language development, intellectual development - which is this month's topic - and then our last two domains are creative development and emotional development, which we will explore in the coming months. So, what is intellectual development? Intellectual development is a child's continuous growth in their cognitive abilities. This refers to how they organize their minds, ideas, and thoughts about the world they see around them. During the first few years of a child’s life is when they begin to do this through observation, interaction, and engagement. We will explore this topic through a few different categories: The stages of intellectual development Learning through play The social influences on intellectual development Multiple intelligences Executive function and intelligence Watch our Facebook and Instagram accounts for posts on intellectual development throughout July. We look forward to learning alongside you and sharing everything we know with you!

1. Puppet Play! How: Using an animal puppet or stuffed animal (even an old sock on your hand!), describe the noises/sounds those animals make, for example, “Cow says MOO, dog says WOOF, WOOF, frog says RIBBIT, RIBBIT…" You can extend the activity by making statements like: “Cows eat grass, munch, munch; frogs eat bugs; crunch, crunch; dog eats treats, crack, crack,…) Materials needed: Animal puppets, stuffed animals, or; a sock, glue, markers, googly eyes and any other materials you choose to create your own puppets. Outcome: Speech is making sounds that become words. By introducing words and sounds to your child/ren, they will begin to mimic sounds for word formation, so providing reasonable response time encourages your child to use more complex language skills and vocabulary (expressive language – the ability to communicate). 2. “I Spy” Game How: “Spy” for objects around your house or in your community. Start the game by telling your child you want them to find a nearby object. Next say, “I spy with my little eye something that is ” Then ask your child if they can guess what the object is. Examples: “I spy with my little eye something that is red.” “I spy with my little eye something that is round.” Be creative by identifying different concepts like color, shapes, size, texture, or letters and numbers if your child is older. Materials needed: You, your child, and objects you can find in your house or community! Outcome: “I Spy” uses descriptive words (descriptors). Processing descriptors as clues to what object they are looking for supports children's development of listening skills. They enhance children’s ability to follow directions as they need to look for objects in different parts of the house or community and supports children’s capacity to comprehend what they are being asked to look for. 3. Reading Picture Books (no words) How: Spend time looking at picture books with no words so you and your child can make up the story from what you see in the book. Model language for your child that produces the story and ask open ended questions (a question in which the response is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’) to help develop the story. You and your child can share different thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Materials needed: Age-appropriate picture books with no words such as A boy, a dog, and a frog by Mercer Mayer. Outcome: Wordless picture books benefit children's emerging language and literacy skills. They also help develop creativity and storytelling skills. Wordless picture books help in exercising both expressive and receptive language development, building listening skills, vocabulary, comprehension, and an increased awareness of how stories are structured.

What: Sing a simple song with your child: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Materials needed: You! The words for the song: Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are Music: Don't know the tune? Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wpbbShFIms Want to hear the words too? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjJyiqpAuU Outcome: Engaging children to sing is a fantastic way to support them to build their vocabulary, vocalization, and literacy skills. As children sing, they use their tongue, lips, and teeth together to articulate their words. Other Benefits: Children are also developing skills such as memory and concentration, while your time spent together builds their emotional wellbeing!

In Canada we have a special gift: four distinct seasons—seasons that are truly different from one another—and in each one, children can learn, grow and develop in different ways. So let’s take a walk through the four seasons and look at the opportunities for learning in each of them. Winter The first season is often the most challenging for parents (especially those who have moved here from warmer climates). Winter is cold, but it brings us the fabulous substances of snow and ice! There are many different types of snow, like the soft fluffy snow that we can throw in the air, or the wetter, stickier snow that falls in gentle mounds on warmer days. Throwing light, dry snow upwards into the air is a large muscle movement that builds children’s gross motor control while putting joy all over their faces! With the wetter snow, children can also use their whole bodies to roll big snowballs, pick them up, and stack them into snow people or a snow fort. They can also use their hands and imaginations to see how the snow can stick together into all kinds of shapes. Winter also brings ice. As adults, we’ve learned that ice is a dangerous nuisance, and we often tell children not to walk on it. Or we pick them up and carry them because we're worried that they're going to fall. But really what we need to do is teach children how to walk on the ice: to walk slowly when there may be ice on the sidewalk and if you have to walk over an icy patch, walk with small, shuffling steps (walk like a penguin!). When we teach this to children when they are young, they build brain pathways for this skill and grow up to be adults who can walk on ice without falling! Spring After we've had a chance to experience winter, we all look forward to spring—that magical time for warmer walks around the neighborhood looking at changes in nature, like how the trees are budding and flowers (especially dandelions) are starting to pop out of the ground. Walking is a great form of physical activity! We can work our large muscles while also learning how to move safely through neighbourhoods by staying on sidewalks and crossing streets carefully. A child does not have the skills to safely cross the street until they are nine years old due to their still-developing depth perception. Before that age, children cannot properly judge the distance between themselves and a moving car. Another wonderful thing that happens in spring is that snow melts into puddles. Often adults tell children to stay out of the puddles, but puddles are for jumping into! Jumping is a physical skill that children learn—we can jump on one foot, we can jump on two feet; the force with which we jump creates a small splash or a big splash! Children are attracted to water and wet clothes will dry, so puddles present an opportunity to talk about actions, consequences, and decision-making. For example, tell your child it is okay to jump in puddles, but point out that they may get wet. Or, tell them they can walk in the puddle up to the line on their boot, but if they go past that line their feet will get wet. Some children will take the information and just dip their toes in the puddle, while others will jump full force using all of their strength to make the biggest splash possible! They get to consider information, make a decision, and accept the consequences of their actions, which supports development in their brain! Summer After spring comes summer, the season for spending lots of time outdoors! It’s time to climb trees, run in grass, watch bugs, and, of course, play on playgrounds! A tip for safe playground play is ensuring the equipment is the right size for your child’s size and skill level. The rule we tend to follow at Norwood is simply that we don't lift children onto equipment: if a child cannot climb up onto a piece of playground equipment on their own, the equipment is too big for them and could be a fall hazard. We encourage children to try and teach them how to get up on equipment independently, and once they have the physical ability to get up on their own, it’s safe for them to do so! Safety is always very important, but so is letting children take some risks in their physical play. Risk taking in the early years involves recognizing physical strength and limitations (how high can I climb, how far can I jump?) and testing physical boundaries (how else or where else can I try this activity?). It increases children’s confidence by helping them understand what they can and cannot do just yet, how to set boundaries (how far they are willing to challenge themselves), and how to judge the physical challenges in their various environments. Autumn Autumn, or fall, is that magical time of year when outdoor colours change and the leaves fall from the trees, covering the ground with that wonderful crunching texture! Now we can spend our time using our large muscles to rake up leaves and to jump in those piles of leaves and to throw leaves in the air! All of these activities support physical development. If you don’t have leaves of your own and want to build community, take your rake and lawn bags and offer to clean up a neighbour’s yard, or go to a local park and rake up the leaves there. Doing this supports social development as we care for our environment and our community. All you have to remember is to put on a light jacket and head out for some fun active play! Outdoor play is very important for children’s physical development, particularly in the area of gross motor skills. It is also a wonderful way to learn about the world around us and how to navigate through it safely!

It’s May already? Where has the time gone?! As we make our way into this month, let’s recap all that we have learned about since January. First, we learned that YOU are your child’s first and most important teacher, then in February we discussed just how important play is for our children. In March we learned about the science of early childhood and those first 5 years, and last month, April, we talked about all things social development. Any guesses on what we will be talking about this month? You guessed it! Physical development! Here at Norwood, we get so many questions about physical development. Is my child developing typically? What is typical for my child’s age? What does physical development look like? That is why this month, we want to support YOU – your child’s first and most important teacher – to not only further your understanding of physical development, but also how you can support your child in this growth. Physical development is the way your child’s body grows and increases their skills specific to how the body moves. This includes whole body coordination, muscular control, balance, fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and so much more! The Stages of Physical Development: All children develop at different rates and in their own unique ways, but we do know that most development happens in sequences with children reaching specific milestones around the same age. Knowing these stages and milestones can help you recognize where your child is in their physical development, so that you can support them in the exact way they need! Health and Well-Being: Health and well-being includes everything from getting enough sleep to eating a well-balanced, nutrient rich diet, to how much physical activity our children need at all ages, to getting proper vitamin D from the sun. Healthy Boundaries and Risk Taking: Children learn how to move and coordinate their bodies through taking risks and experimenting with how they move their bodies. Without healthy risk taking a child may never experience climbing to the top of the slide or getting to the top of the stairs all by themselves. Children also need to learn how to set boundaries and to recognize their limitations and how to ask for support in trying new things that may be scary sometimes! Learning Through our Senses: Children experience the world through their physical movements and the stimuli to their senses when they do so. When a child crawls, they feel the ground below their hands, they see a change in perspective, and they can hear the soft taps their hands make on the ground, or the sounds their pants make as their legs move. We are so excited to use this month as a way to build on the knowledge you already have of this topic, and take this opportunity to learn together and come up with new ways to support our young children! From head to toe, one centimetre at a time!

All children grow and change at their own pace through a set of Developmental Domains: social, physical, language, intellectual, creative and emotional (it can be helpful to use the acronym “SPLICE” to remember them). In April, we explored the social domain: what social development is, how it develops in the early years, and how caregivers can nurture children to enhance their development in this area. It is hard to imagine, but social development, or the ability to build and maintain healthy relationships with others, begins at birth. Your first kisses, touches and words impact the secure attachments, bonds, and social relationships that are built and maintained throughout your child’s life. This makes sense since we know that 90% of the connections in the brain are developed by age five. During the month of April, we will be examining the social domain-how it develops and how it is impacted through interactions and experiences. We will be exploring topics such as: Relationships: Serve and return’ interactions in the early years build the foundation for social development through the formation of healthy and secure attachments–allowing children to develop trust in their environment and the other people they share spaces with. These interactions also allow children to build a positive self-image. Social interaction focuses on the responsive and trusting relationships built between the child, their parents/caregivers, other family members, and their peers. Play provides opportunities for children to make social connections with others, allowing them to expand their learning, build confidence in their abilities, and grow in other areas such as in their use of language. Social Behaviors and Cues: The way we engage with others is based on our interpretation of verbal and non-verbal cues such as tone of voice, facial expressions and overall body language. Human communication is mostly non-verbal: only 7% of our communication focuses on words, 38% focuses on the vocal quality and tone of our words and 55% is on non-verbal cues such as body language and facial expressions. Social awareness is the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Caregivers can model social behaviour and actively guide children through their interactions with others. They can also provide opportunities for their children to be around their peers. Isolation and technology Human beings require connection with others and when this connection is absent, social isolation (a lack of connectedness and relationships) occurs and various cognitive functions are impacted such as planning, higher level thought, and ability to interact with others. While technology can be a useful tool used to maintain connection and attachment with others, it should not be a replacement for face-to-face social interactions. Parents/caregivers should monitor the amount of time spent using technology or screen time (amount of time spent in front of electronic devices for entertainment). Prolonged screen time impacts our ability to engage in social interactions which is critical in building our capacity to develop social awareness, communicate well with others and sustain healthy relationships. Sharing and turn taking Sharing and turn taking are essential to social development, and both are voluntary. Sharing is when a child decides to give part of something they have without expecting to get it back (e.g., a snack). Turn taking happens when a child is ready to move on from a toy or activity and let someone else play. Stages of social development Children progress through stages in their social development – from the time they build trust and secure attachments during infancy, building independence as toddlers, to gaining more autonomy and control over their choices from three years and onwards. Social development happens through the various stages of play - progressing from unoccupied to cooperative play. Social development involves progress in a child’s ability to: Take turns (using things alternately with others); Empathize with others (the ability to put themselves into someone else’s shoes) Negotiate (reach an agreement or compromise with others); Cooperate with others (the ability to work with others toward a common goal); and Accept differences (understand that people and things may not be the same all the time) Follow along with us on Facebook or Instagram and learn all about optimal development for your own child or any children you interact with. Or, you can subscribe to have the blog posts delivered to your email inbox via our monthly e-newsletter, which also provides information on upcoming parenting classes, parent and child drop-in play groups, and special events at Norwood Centre.

When families come to Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre, one of the main goals they have for their children is to develop socially and be able to play well with others. This is after all, one of the most important aspects of being able to grow and thrive as a healthy citizen of the world! So let's explore how you -- as the parent or primary caregiver -- can set the stage for success in your child’s social development because you are your child's first and most important teacher. Children are not born with any social skills, or the ability to form and maintain relationships with other human beings. However, social development begins the moment that your child is born: from the first time you hold them, healthy attachments that influence social development and brain architecture begin forming. Around 90% of the brain's architecture is formed by age five; the social interactions experienced in this period heavily influence adult social skills and your child's future relationships. There are five key areas that we can have significant influence on in young children. These are: relationship building, stages of social development social behaviors and social cues sharing and taking turns isolation and technology Relationship Building How can you as a caregiver help your child develop socially? We know that having a strong, healthy, and positive self-image helps a child progress through the stages of social development toward creating and maintaining social relationships. Caregivers can help children build a positive self-image through 'serve and return' (back and forth) interactions like comforting them when they cry, smiling at them, making eye contact while speaking to them, and encouraging them when they try something new. Children begin to build their self-image based on how they are welcomed and accepted by others -- including their own parents! Providing opportunities to play with peers is also an effective way to help children build relationships and build a positive self-image. The caregiver is supporting the child by remaining physically close, making eye contact and verbally encouraging her to test her limits. When a child feels encouraged, they see themselves as strong and capable. Stages of Social Development Children progress through distinct stages of social development that begin in infanthood, starting with building trust and secure attachments and moving towards building independence as toddlers and making their own choices during the pre-school years. As children progress through the various stages of play, they are refining their social skills and learning to: Take turns (using things alternately with others) Empathize with others (the ability to put themselves into someone else’s shoes) Negotiate (reach an agreement or compromise with others) Cooperate with others (the ability to work with others toward a common goal) Accept differences (understand that people and things may not be the same all the time) Children can use play to help them move confidently through the stages of social development. Children can use play to help them move confidently through the stages of social development. Social Behaviors and Social Cues Having a certain degree of social awareness is critical to functioning well in our communities. Citizens need to be able to see and empathize with perspectives that differ from their own to be able to create and sustain healthy and diverse communities. Parents/caregivers can help build children’s social awareness through modelling appropriate behaviors in social settings, guiding children’s understanding of personal boundaries and how each person may be different. If your child notices the adults around them accepting each other regardless of differences, they will carry on and echo that same behavior. Parents and caregivers should also provide opportunities to be around others so children can practice their budding social skills. These opportunities can range from organized sport opportunities to spending time at local parks and playgrounds. Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre offers a wide range of children’s activities and parent and child drop-in programs, check out Norwood’s Programs and Services Guide for upcoming opportunities. Did you know that most human communication happens without words? Social cues are how we express ourselves without words: how we use facial expressions, tone of voice and body language. Social cues help guide our interactions with others: being able to read social cues helps us interpret other people's emotions and understand different situations. Sometimes being able to read social cues occurs naturally, and sometimes it has to be taught. In either case, it is an important skill because most of human communication is non-verbal. You can help your child learn to interpret social cues by: Practicing: notice facial expressions with your child “that person is frowning, maybe they are feeling sad.” “What makes you feel sad, happy, frustrated? Etc. Practice eye contact when appropriate: being on the same physical level when having a conversation with someone. Role playing different situations: role play problem solving situations with your child for example, how to ask for a turn with a favorite toy. Being able to identify and interpret social cues leads to more successful communication, which in turn builds self-confidence. Being able to read social cues in context allows us to interpret the intentions of others. Children can use play to help them move confidently through the stages of social development. These children are joyfully making silly and scary faces while playing together. Sharing vs Turn-Taking Sharing and turn-taking may seem like the same skill, but they are fundamentally different. When a child decides to share, they share a resource without the expectation that they will be getting any of that resource back (giving another person a piece of my candy is sharing). Sharing is a very sophisticated skill and is not easily understood or mastered by young children. Turn-taking on the other hand is a more developmentally appropriate skill for very young children. Turn-taking follows a give-and-take pattern: for example, a child can play with a toy car and when they are ready, they can give the toy car to a peer to play with. When we take turns, we understand that once something is given up, it may be returned, or our turn will come around again. Turn-taking involves being able to wait for a chance to use the desired toy. How to teach your child about turn-taking > Isolation and Technology Human beings are wired to interact with others. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many people discovered how important our natural support systems (the people we rely on in our everyday life for support) are. Most of us experienced, to varying degrees, feelings of isolation and renewed appreciation for how important a healthy social life is. The way we are connected to others, especially in our early years, impacts the way our brain develops. It has an impact on higher level brain functioning such as planning, thought, and the ability to form relationships. It is common in Canada to turn to technology to stay connected to others both at home and around the world, and technology can be a useful tool for people to stay connected to each other. However, technology is not a replacement for person-to-person interaction. Technology can become detrimental. Have you ever found yourself scrolling through Facebook or Tik Tok videos just to realize that you have been scrolling for more than hour? Have you handed your toddler your phone to watch a short video while you wait in line at the supermarket, then suddenly a half an hour has gone by and they are still watching? It happens to all of us! Caregivers should monitor the quality and length of screen time because too much screen time can impact a child's long-term capacity to develop social awareness, communicate with others, and sustain relationships. Relying on technology too much can lead to physical problems with eyesight, sleep, trouble paying attention, and sedentary lifestyles. When screen time becomes the norm for childhood entertainment, social development is negatively impacted because children are not playing with friends and practicing human-to-human social skills. Did you know that the Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years recommends less than one hour a day of sedentary screen time for children between one and four years old, and that for babies under one year old no amount of screen time is deemed appropriate? Opportunities for physical play and social development abound even in our sometimes-harsh Alberta climate! Remember, YOU are your child’s first and most important teacher! Anytime that a caregiver takes the time to intentionally engage with a child in or demonstrates social skills by modelling appropriate social skills and reactions, they are helping influence healthy social development! Follow along with us on Facebook or Instagram and learn all about optimal development for your own child or any children you interact with. Or, you can subscribe to have the blog posts delivered to your email inbox via our monthly e-newsletter, which also provides information on upcoming parenting classes, parent and child drop-in play groups, and special events at Norwood Centre.