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Early childhood activities can be an absolute joy if you are an involved parent educator. Unfortunately, if you’re not into early childhood games and not willing to take the time to engage your child’s mind while they are growing, It can be difficult for both you and your child. The lack of early childhood activity can result in huge problems, some of which last a lifetime. Kids who are under-stimulated often suffer from learning problems, behavioral problems, and emotional problems. Taking the time to plan out some great early childhood activities is not only a great thing to do as a mother or father, but an investment in the life of your family and your child.

The great thing about early childhood education activity is that it includes almost every game you play with your child. You see, for a child, play is work. The best early childhood activities are designed not only to entertain children, but also to stimulate their growing minds. Every early childhood activity recommended by educators, whether it is storytelling, playing with bricks and blocks, or team building games, teaches the child an important skill. One early childhood activity might help them to understand how to play with others. Another one might help them to understand how different shapes go together,  and thus to improve their spacial reasoning skills.

There are all kinds of experts on early childhood activity, and they all have different opinions. My advice to you as someone who has raised three children myself is to see what your children like. It is very easy to get caught up in set early childhood games, but the fact is that every child is different and will like different early childhood activities. Some of them like very spatial activities. Other ones like to do a more imaginative early childhood activity, such as make-believe or storytelling.

Some parents try to expose their kids to every single early childhood activity that they can get their hands on, but I don’t think this is the right approach. The important thing is to keep your child intellectually stimulated and engaged. If they are given interesting early childhood activities, they will begin to learn on their own. Letting them choose the early childhood activity allows them to start making decisions at an early age, which is the first step towards teaching them responsibility and independence. There is no better way to work on early childhood development than that!

Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls. There are various medicines like Phentermine, Adipex etc. which aid in the weight loss for adults but these medicines are definitely not meant for children.

Causes of Childhood Obesity:

- Family: A child whose both parents are obese has a higher chance of developing obesity as compared to other children. This can happen for a variety of reasons like genetic factors or may be the sedentary lifestyle of the parents or the lack of exercise in their daily routine. This can make the child born with obesity.

- Inactive Life: Children these days spend more of their time on playing video games and watching T.V. This has prevented the children of today to engage in some healthy ground activities like sports. Hence children are gradually becoming couch potatoes. Leading an inactive life has made them grow into an obese from just being overweight.

- Heredity: Since not all children leading a sedentary lifestyle, watching more of television, and eating just about anything does not make every child obese therefore researchers are working upon the reasons that why it is so. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding. In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy.

- Lower income and education levels correlate to lower physical exercise levels in developed countries.

- Television advertising of food and beverages directed towards children are usually for products that are high in calories, sugar, sodium, and fat.

Being overweight can cause:

1.    Low self-esteem and bullying

2.    Behavior and learning problems

3.    Stress and anxiety

4.    Comfort eating

5.    Depression

6.    Type 2 diabetes

7.    High blood pressure

8.    Asthma and other respiratory problems

9.    Sleep disorders

10.    Liver disease

11.    Early puberty

12.    Eating disorders

Prevention of Childhood Obesity:

Obesity is easier to prevent than to treat, and prevention focuses in large measure on parent education. In infancy, parent education should center on promotion of breastfeeding, recognition of signals of satiety, and delayed introduction of solid foods. In early childhood, education should include proper nutrition, selection of low-fat snacks, good exercise/activity habits, and monitoring of television viewing. In cases where preventive measures cannot totally overcome the influence of hereditary factors, parent education should focus on building self-esteem and address psychological issues. Childhood obesity is an increasingly difficult problem. Action, if taken early, can change the outcome for obese children or even prevent it happening in the first place. An appropriate exercise problem is one tool that can alter the outcome for such children.

Are you eager to jumpstart your child’s early schooling? You are right to assume that at an early age your child can start learning. His or her mind is ready to soak up new experiences and information. Since children are impressionistic, the right educational method and learning environment should be selected in order to maximize the effectiveness of schooling in the early childhood phase. Give Your Child the Edge Evidence shows the importance of education during the early phase of childhood is unquestionable. It is through education that a child can achieve his whole potential and be whatever he/she desires to become. Early childhood is the right time to spur him along. The effectiveness of schooling in the early childhood phase is also unquestionable, especially as it relates to the child’s personal development. However, it is correct to question the effectiveness of early educational programs or tools used, and how it suits the child’s learning style. Does your child learn faster by doing? Listening? Or observing? Researchers on the issue have established that not all educational tools for early education are equally effective in the advancement of development and learning of young children. It is safe to say that the effectiveness of schooling in the early childhood phase is greatly dependent upon the following: Environment, quality staff, appropriate curriculum & teaching tools, appropriate grouping practices, parental involvement, and enforcement of consistent schedules. Key Areas to Consider Studies show that long term benefits of early childhood education are only evident in high-quality programs. Thus, you have to look into certain areas such as trained teaching staff, the style of administrative leadership, curriculum, ratio of class to teacher, competency of teaching assistants, and rapport between parents and teachers. As a parent, play it by ear. Talk to the teachers and get the feel of the school and find out if the learning environment involves the children in meaningful and active learning. Find out if their program is developmentally appropriate for different age groups and different learning styles and temperament. Talk to parents of young children already enrolled to find out what opinions they have on the effectiveness of the schooling provided for their child. If you receive the answers you need to hear, then you may have found a school that can effectively teach your child in the early childhood development phase. In many cases, early childhood learning in a classroom setting will prepare your child for the future, both emotionally and academically.

According to developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, he suggests that the logic of children is completely different from that of adults. He believed that children move through four stages of development between infancy and adolescence. The four stages incorporated in his theory are sensorimotor stage, perioperational stage, concrete operation stage and formal operation stage. The domains associated with these stages are the child’s physical, social, intellectual, creative and emotions which influence the way the child thinks and talks.  

Early childhood care and education was introduced to help parents better understand their children’s developmental skills; by this we mean their motor and cognitive skills coherently. The programme aims at exploring the child’s learning and developmental capabilities, as well as it builds a stronger foundation of the skills that they possess.

This programme is vital as it allows the child to build and form new relationships with their peers and family members rather than be quiet and shy. Secondly, exposing the child to various stimulants encourages them to ask more questions for a better understanding of how the world works.  

Apart from that, it is important for the child to be able to differentiate what is right and wrong, as these days there are increasing events of children being abused and neglected by adults. In most of these cases, the child is unable to speak up because of fear of their parents and their lack of education. Hence, this will help curb and reduce the incidence of child abuse in the country because the child will have moral and ethical values inculcated.

This level of education has been emphasised by the education authorities in many countries around the globe. Parents should be responsible to enrol the child for early childhood education, so that the transition into primary school will be much easier for the child. The child will be able to cope better in school and they will be able to do well in their exams. This in turn will improve the socioeconomic development of the country.  

In a nutshell, early childhood education and care is necessary for the improvement of the child in everyway. Apart from the preschool teachers, parents should be involved in their child’s development in order to create a conducive environment for the child and improve the understanding between the parent and child.

Over the last four decades, there has been a myriad of studies on early childhood brain development.  All of these studies have produced astonishing results in regards to how children learn, how their brains develop from infancy.  These studies also revealed the negative impact on children not receiving adequate childhood brain stimulation.

One of the studies that had really caught my attention is the Carolina Abecedarian Project.  The Carolina Abecedarian Project is an intensive early childhood intervention program.  The Abecedarian Project focuses on low-income, at-risk children between the ages of six weeks and five years.

The Abecedarian Project came about as a result of a small group of scientist in 1966, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who were committed to improving the lives of children and their families through research, teaching and other social services.  The Abecedarian Project initially started with a group of preschoolers.  The program enrolled 111 infants between 1972 and 1977.  Fifty-Seven of these infants were randomly assigned to receive center-based early educational intervention.  The remaining Fifty-Four infants were placed in a control group.

The curriculum entailed educational “games” that emphasized development skills in cognition and language. For example, infant games were age appropriate adult-child interactions that included talking to the child, showing pictures or toys, and offering infants a chance to react to their environment. Activities were individualized for each child. As children aged, the “games” became more conceptual and skill-based, but the program always emphasized individual development. Children also received their healthcare on site from a staff pediatrician.

The Astonishing Results of the Abecedarian Project:

The infants that participated in the program received treatment until the age of 8 years old.  In order to properly assess the program’s benefits the children were monitored and received follow-up assessments at age 12, 15.  At all three ages (8, 12, 15) the children who received the treatment from birth to age five had higher I.Q. scores.  These children also scored higher on achievement test in math and reading during elementary and middle school years.  They also had lower levels of grade retention and placements in special education classes.

Additionally, the children who received the intervention scored 1.8 grades years higher in reading and math as young adults.

Thirty-six percent of these children were more likely to attend a four-year college, compared to only 14 percent of the children who did not receive intervention.

Twenty-six percent of the children who received intervention were less likely to have had their first child at age 18 or younger, compared to forty-five percent of the children who didn’t received intervention.

Forty-seven percent of the intervention children were more likely to have a skilled job versus only twenty-seven of the children who did not receive intervention.

Other notable benefits of early intervention are that these children were less likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to smoke marijuana than those children who did not receive treatment through the intervention program.

The Cost of the program versus the Benefits of the Program:

The project cost approximately $10,000 per child, per year.  The project was financed using federal, state, and local public education dollars. The children that participated were evaluated periodically through age 21 for cognitive, academic, and social effects of early childhood education.  These children received early childhood education for five days a week, year round.

The following is the surprising results of this comprehensive study:

A conservative estimate of $100,000 in savings to society can be produced per child by an investment of $10,000 per year per child. Savings accrue through reduced spending on special education, welfare, and juvenile crime. Special education services for those in the program were half as much as those in a comparison group at age fifteen (24 percent versus 48 percent). Children who participated earned significantly higher scores in both reading and math.

The age-21 follow-up found that young adults who received the early educational child care consistently scored higher on tests of cognitive development, fared better on reading and mathematics achievement tests, and were more likely to attend college.

Forty percent were still in school, compared with 20 percent of the control group, and 65 percent were employed, compared with 50 percent of the control group. Thirty-five percent had graduated from college or were enrolled in college, compared with 14 percent of the others. Members of the study group were an average of 19 years old when their first child was born, compared with 17 for the control group.

The projected cost-benefit ratio was 2.5:1.  This ratio states that this project doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything.  In fact, it actually saves taxpayers money.  The projected ratio means that for every dollar spent on the program, taxpayers save approximately $2.50.  This is savings is realized through fact that there would be less of a need for educational and government services, and reduced health care costs.

I plan on doing much more research on the topic of early childhood development.   If the results are as promising as they seem, then the African American community must make a serious effort to have early childhood development programs implemented in their respective communities; not only for a few children, but for all children.

It is not easy to teach a child to read; one must know how to speak his wordless language and return to that simplicity of mind from which, with proper instruction, even greater words can come about. Neither is it simple to teach a child the nature of numbers, how they work, how they could work for them, and that these are the underbellies of human thought. However, these are not the limitations of early childhood lessons; there is infinitely more of what we as adults deem to be simple, but as children think to be puzzling.
With the ever progressing nature of human knowledge and research, there is greater emphasis placed upon the beginnings of thinking: early childhood education. This facet of human study is concerned wit the foundations upon which we build upon our lives—the base from which endless possibilities can come about. There are, pitfalls, however; early childhood education is of a subtle and fragile nature, and as such requires intense study. A single misstep in this field where both parents and educators are concerned can send the child through a lifetime of misconception and misdeed.
This is where Earlychildhoodlessons.com steps in.
Earlychildhoodlessons.com is dedicated to this delicate stage in human development. By providing its followers with general information about childhood education and studies in childhood development, the educator and the researcher are armed with the tools to effectively carry out their tasks, greatly contributing to human civilization. With articles on early childhood teaching, and research done on the child’s cognitive and psychological growth, Earlychildhoodlessons.com becomes an easy portal into this complex and highly consequential world.
There is simply too much at stake in the soft mind of the child to not at least come and take a gander at Earlychildhoodlessons.com; future societies depend on such simple steps taken in order to ensure not only the survival but also the progress of our species.
Whether you are a parent wanting to give your child the opportunity to develop in the best way he can,  or a teacher wanting to know more about techniques and ideas about the profession, Earlychildhoodlessons.com is the inevitable portal into the field.   

For more Early Childhood Lessons and Development information and tips visit, earlychildhoodlessons.com

Today, online colleges for early childhood education are at the forefront of meeting the increasing demand for specialists in this growing field. The fact is that those who work in educational research as well as child psychology are finding just how important the first five years of a child’s life really are when it comes to intellectual and psychological development. Increasingly, public and private institutions are putting a greater emphasis on the education and nurturing of very young children; if you have ever considered working in this field, distance learning over the World Wide Web can help you in getting prepared.

By getting a degree in this field from one of the many online colleges for early childhood education, you will be prepared to take part in what promises to be a revolution in education and actually help to shape the future.

The Advantage of Early Childhood Education Online Schools

Early childhood education online colleges are ideal for someone who is already employed and working in a particular field and wishing to change careers. The reason is that online colleges for early childhood education offer flexibility that brick-and-mortar institutions cannot. You are ably to complete early childhood education classes on your own schedule and at your convenience. There is no hard-and-fast scheduling and no semester system with which to contend; the only requirement that early childhood education online schools generally impose is that requirements (including exams) for a given course be completed within one calendar year.

Earn Your Degree For Less

It is also worth considering that early childhood education online colleges do not have the costs that brick and mortar colleges do (though most such “virtual” online institutions are administered through “real” colleges and universities and thus are fully accredited). These costs can include parking fees, building maintenance fees, computer lab fees, library fees and many, many others. Students at early childhood education online schools do not use these facilities; thus, all you would pay for is tuition, books and materials.  

It is yet one more reason that early childhood education online classes are a smart way to go.

All Kinds of Online Degrees

Early childhood education is only one option when it comes to furthering one’s education online. Online colleges for early childhood education offer many advantages, but so do online colleges in a variety of fields – and since they are all accredited, you’ll have the same rights and privileges as someone who attended in person. Get started in a new career today by checking out some of the many online colleges for early childhood education.

s a saying that we should teach our children in the way they should go, so when they grow up they will not depart from it. The reasoning behind this is that we ingrain into a child’s mind a right way of doing things that becomes natural to them. Their good habits produce profitable results in their adult years in the form of certain accomplishments.

Can we begin to teach children, at the preschool age, relationship-building skills, that will give them a head start on how to deal with others? Even before a child enters a classroom setting there are many opportunities to teach them how to interact with others in a positive way. Playing with siblings and neighborhood friends can give parents the times and places they need to foster collaboration skills in their children. When a child learns to share time and space with another child he or she learns collaboration skills at their most rudimentary level.

Children who attend daycares can benefit from having a proper teacher who is a role model and guide for their social development. A positive relationship with an early childhood educator/teacher bodes well for a child in their elementary years. Here they will have a basic set of social skills, which will allow them to interact in a mutually beneficial way with their fellow students.

Children who had closer relationships with their child care teachers had better classroom behavior and social skills (greater cognitive/attention skills and sociability, fewer problem behaviors, and better peer relations) through early elementary school (Feinberg, Clifford, Burchinal, Yazejian and Byler, 1999).

It is obvious from the above that early childhood development in social skills pays great dividends throughout a child’s academic life. These efforts at team building in a school environment will help an individual greatly in their personal and work life as they progress into adulthood.

The benefit in all of this is less confrontation in any area of life where a person must deal with others. When collaboration takes place between people who understand the benefit of smooth working relationships then greater creative achievement and productivity is accomplished. Healthy cross-functional teams working in concert for the greater good mean efficient operations, whether in an academic, work, or home environment. In the end, society benefits from groups performing productively and in harmony with one another. Of course, teaching the basics of all of this at the preschool age means a greater likelihood of children continuing positive collaboration skills as they progress in life.

Proper social development of children means they need to learn the proper social skills at an early age. Focusing solely on cognitive skills at the expense of collaboration and teamwork skills will not promote healthy personal relationships.

Parents often think it’s the academic skills that are critical to their children’s success when they enter kindergarten but if you talk to a broad sample of kindergarten teachers, as researchers have done, the social skills turn out to be more important at that age (Ellen Frede, 2007).

A child entering kindergarten already needs important collaboration skills as they now will deal with different personalities on a daily basis in a more structured learning setting. Positive social skills instilled at an early age are a hedge against personality disorders of the disruptive behavior kind. When a child learns to share and communicate in a friendly way with other children there is less chance of combative and anti-social behavior.

It is never too early for parents to begin to teach their children, through proper childhood education, the collaboration skills that will serve them well throughout their entire life. Whether it’s in early childhood education at a daycare or preschool, or in the home, relationship-building skills are the foundation for academic and career achievement later on.