Left-brain art activities don’t have to be boring – they can be filled with exciting ways for enticing kids to tap into the benefits of combining both sides of the brain into one fun creative machine.  Kids often let the dominant left-brain take charge forgetting the beneficial creative right-brain completely, leading to comments such as, “I can’t draw.” Encouraging creative left-brain art activities promotes self-confidence and the child’s brain to work together when getting creative and problem solving.

Toddlers 

Young kids greatly benefit from activities that engage the left-brain in creative art projects. Introduce kids to shapes along with the math concept of pattern through a fun water resist art activity.

-Look at patterns with the child and discuss how they are created. The left-brain is encouraged when the big picture is looked at instead of the small parts of a project.

-Offer your child a sheet of white drawing paper and a set of crayons. Younger children can enjoy the process of engaging the logical left-brain through creating simple shapes, while older toddlers can attempt to create patterns using both colors and shapes. Or, if you’ve got a real young one, help them out by creating a few shapes together.

-Remove the crayons once he’s finished making patterns. Your child can now paint all over the paper using watercolors, practicing dipping his paintbrush into the paints on his own, which develops fine-motor skills. Invite him to paint without concern for staying within lines or following any set directions, allowing his creative right-brain to coordinate with his left.

-Discuss the finished artwork together further engaging the child’s visual cortex and his creative development. Talk about what he liked about the art making process and encourage him to explain his finished patterns.

Children Aged 5 to 7

As kids age and become more critical of their artwork, encouraging left-brain art reminds them that artwork doesn’t have to solely rely on creativity but can be accomplished through using left-brain skills, too. Create a geometric design with your child, which encourages basic math knowledge as well as artistic skills.

-Discuss geometric shapes with your child, having him draw pictures of as many as he can and then write the names of the shapes, further engaging his left-brain.

-Invite the child to select three shapes to use for his geometric design.

-Give the child a sheet of white drawing paper and have him draw the first shape he selected with a marker so that it almost touches the sides of the paper. Offer him the use of a ruler to help create his lines. Then he can draw the second shape within the first, and the third within the second shape, making his three shapes all within each other.

-The child can now use markers to color each shape in, using a different color for each shape.

-Discuss how the finished creation is an abstract masterpiece, full of shape, line, and color.

Children Aged 8 to 13

Older children begin to lose interest in art as they age, which is also partly due to art classes not always a part of many middle schools and high schools as a required subject. Preteens are at risk of missing out on honing creative skills and finding ways to remind the brain that merging right and left-brain talents helps form a complete human being. Challenge kids by creating a 3D sculpture from a piece of construction paper.

-Provide the child with an 8 by 10-inch piece of construction paper and invite him to figure out a way to create a freestanding 3-dimensional form using solely the paper and a pair of scissors.

-Look at modern sculptures by the American artist David Smith, and discuss how he came up with the motivation to make the interesting forms. Discussing artwork stimulates the visual cortex and promotes use of the right brain.

-Brainstorm ideas for how your child can create the sculpture. Working through the problem to find a solution kick starts the left-brain, making it ready for the challenge.

-Encourage the child to fold, cut, and shape the flat paper into a form that is able to stand on its own without support.

-Once finished, display the folded and cut marvel in a location for the whole family to enjoy.

Young Adults

Once kids hit young adulthood, they become aware of their inabilities in the area of the arts. Most feel they aren’t creative, where in reality creativity is hiding out in the right-brain just itching to get out.  By creating a mathematical grid drawing, your child is able to easily and comfortably recreate an image without fear of mistake or disappointment – and pulling out that hidden creativity.

-Chuck Close is an American artist that uses mathematical grids to recreate photographs into larger than life portraits using pointillism. Look at examples of his work with your teenager and discuss his techniques.

-Invite your child to find an image from a magazine or an actual photograph to recreate in the style of Chuck Close.

-Using a ruler and some basic math, he can figure out how to enlarge the small image onto a larger piece of paper. For instance, if the photograph selected is 4 by 6-inches, he can create a grid with marker lines every 2-inches around the image. The small 4 by 6-inch image can be enlarged onto a 12 by 18-inch piece of paper with a grid drawn lightly in pencil every 6-inches around the paper.

-Your child can use markers to recreate the image using large and small dots of color, encouraging the left-brain to work methodically from one square to the next in the grid formation.

-Due to the left-brain not feeling challenged to create a realistic image, the right brain is able to offer a helping hand, which allows your teenager’s artistic abilities to shine through without him even realizing it.

-Display the finished grid drawing alongside the picture, sharing with others how the artwork was created.

By encouraging kids to use their left-brain and their inner creativity, they will feel confident about their artwork and also feel ready to share their creativity with others.

There are days that being a parent is really hard. Hey, there are lots and lots and lots of days when parenting is challenging. As an educator (before having kids), I had a very different style of behavior management than I do as a parent. I’ve also had the opportunity to learn about and test out different educational concepts, styles, and philosophies. And I’ve realized that it goes out the window when I’m desperately trying to leave the house and the tot is frustrated because I won’t let her wear what she wants (no matter the weather).

Yeah.

But, I often do reflect on those educational concepts and philosophies to remind myself of those amazing people who explored and exposed others to the wonders and specialness of the developing mind, reminding us all that even in those tough moments, things will get better. And, Jean Piaget was one of those guys.

The early years of life are full of colors, sounds, experiences and experiments. Children learn through their senses along with interactions with others, which are sometimes good and sometimes not so great. Jean Piaget, a Swiss born biologist and psychologist, felt that every interaction establishes cognitive structure in children. Sure makes you think twice about using that cookie as a bribe for some good behavior, right? (which I totally did during potty training…)

So, here we go…

Piaget and the Child Developmental Model

Piaget came to his conclusions after spending time observing children while they were learning and playing. His research in the 1920’s was groundbreaking in the understanding of the workings of young minds. His ideas offered insight to adults as to the developmental stages of children creating opportunities to enhance learning in the classroom and adult interactions with children. His renowned child developmental model is based on the idea that the developing child builds structures or maps in response to understanding physical and cognitive experiences within her environment, which include:

Sensorimotor stage: (from birth to 2 years of age) During this stage the child is internally motivated to interact physically with her environment, building an understanding of reality and how it works. A child at this age is not aware of object permanence yet, which means she has not figured out when something is out of sight, it is still in existence.

Preoperational stage: (2 to 7 years of age) The child is yet to understand abstract reasoning and thinking and still needs concrete physical situations. This means using bribes to achieve desired behaviors may have negative consequences later in development, as the child does not understand the reasoning behind the process – just the result. And, like I stated above, I used bribery during potty training. Oops.

Concrete operational stage: (7 to 11 years of age) By this time the child has gained important knowledge through physical interactions with her environment and is starting to conceptualize and create logical structures from her experiences. The child is able to understand abstract reasoning and is ready for advanced learning concepts such as arithmetic.

Formal operational stage: (11 years of age and beyond) The child is now able to fully function as an adult as far as conceptual reasoning and understanding. She is ready for challenges and new experiences that will encourage her brain and understanding of the world around her.

Encouraging the Piaget Model

Through these stages, there are several ways adults can positively influence learning through Piaget’s concepts. Either within the classroom or in the home, the child greatly benefits from added support and encouragement. By taking a look at each stage of learning and actions that the child begins to master, the adult can find ways to offer positive reinforcement.

Sensorimotor – During this stage, the child is limited by her abilities. Basic characteristics include grasping, reaching, and reflexive behaviors. Adults can motivate a baby of this age to grasp by putting small toys outside of her reach or hanging a mobile over her crib. Reading with the child encourages language through listening to inflections and watching movements of the face. As a baby ages playing simple games such as “peek-a-boo” or hiding an object just outside a child’s reach encourages the understanding of object permanence and cognitive development.

Preocupational – Speech is one of the main advancements during this stage, with language taking up a large part of development. Along with figuring out the world through experimenting and asking lots and lots of questions, the child is also working out moral dilemmas and becoming less egocentric. This means that wonderful lack of object permanence will soon be gone, causing the child to become attached to a special blanket, toy, or parent – which can lead to extreme melt-downs. No joke.

This is a great time to play board games with simple rules or offer experiences for the child with basic steps. Taking turns and following directions is challenging at this age, but the more experience the child has leads to greater cognitive development.

Concrete operational – A child is ready for challenges at this stage. This means her cognitive development is motivated for advanced tasks that encourage multiple ways of thought, multi-tasking, and logical sequencing. Other models are essential to her cognitive development, with teachers, friends, and other adults encouraging her learning and evolution. Offering opportunities for advanced learning through educational or recreational activities is a way to hone skills and encourage individuality. If a child is excelling in the arts, encouraging classes in an area of interest is beneficial to her development and self-esteem.

Formal operational – Abstract thought has fully developed and the child is now ready to take on adult concepts and is able to demonstrate knowledge through proper use of symbols and abstract concepts. This does not mean the child is a fully functioning adult, but that her brain is honed to take on greater tasks and learning. This is a time for conversation and debate along with doing. The child’s thinking is less focused on concrete reality and is able to take on conceptual thoughts. Spending time talking through foreign concepts and problems encourages development and build cognitive growth.

Piaget’s model is one that offers insight and understanding of child development, which benefits teachers and parents alike. Encouraging kids during these stages provides much needed support and nurturing, and offers some wonderful opportunities for healthy bonding.

Now that the tot is three, so many things have changed. She can talk her way through temper-tantrums explaining to us specifically why she is screaming and ranting, run that much faster away from us while we yell her name (desperately), and determine for herself if she’d like to nap or not (which is not so great for any down time for me). Sure, she’s also developing in amazing ways and exploring all the new things her brain and body can do, but it really seems so many of those things turn into a reason to have a toddler/parent show down.

And, during those moments, I try to take a few deep breaths and remind myself she’s a toddler and her behavior is typical. She’s also learning from the world around her, so setting a positive example is essential. It’s also pretty important to take a step back as the parent and give the child a chance to explore and learn from mistakes.

Through the concept of constructivism, a child is encouraged to learn through determining his own path of knowledge and individual process. Each child is different and special, just like their learning, and constructivism supports the idea that we construct our own understanding of the world we live in through generating rules and ideas based on individual experiences and trail and error. With the learning theory of constructivism, there are no flash cards or standardized tests. Instead, the child is supported to follow her instinct and create her own knowledge and strategies for understanding and learning.

Um, what the heck is constructivism? Don’t worry, it’s nothing to freak out about – and you might find learning about constructivism benefits you and your child. So, here are some facts…

The history of social constructivism leads us back to Lev Vygotsky and his social theories of learning. His studies found that a child often successfully accomplished new tasks while working in collaboration with an adult instead of on his own. This does not mean the adult is teaching the child how to solve problems, but through the act of the adult engaging with the child the learning experience improves and offers the child the ability to refine thinking and perform effectively. It is the idea of “can do” versus “cannot do,” and offering the child opportunities to change to the “can do” attitude with supportive, individual adult input.

By combining the idea of social and cognitive constructivism, the child is able to develop in positive ways. Social constructivism emphasizes the learning a child accomplishes through interaction with others and outside experiences. Cognitive constructivism is based on a child’s developmental stages and individual learning style. As stated before, each child is different and when her specific learning style is determined, her ability to learn is enhanced, especially when adults are able to fine-tune teaching to fit her specific learning.

Teaching with Constructivism

The educational system is not conducive to comfortably support constructivism in the mainstream classroom. But, there are small things educators, and parents, can do to support a child’s learning and development through constructivist theory. It is thought that most educators view learning as an objectivist theory, with the belief that learning exists outside of the bodies of learners residing in books and other educational documents. This leads to curriculum being based on teaching the child through textbooks instead of through experience. Through constructivism, the main way of learning is the senses, causing the brain to build a full understanding of the surrounding world. This leads us back to the understanding that each child is an individual creating separate unique responses and experiences.

With testing being the popular way to determine a child’s knowledge base, constructivism encourages the concept of experience and interaction. The process of learning through doing and engaging is the goal. Also, understanding each individual child’s prior-knowledge is key, used to build and grow adult interactions and teachings. This encourages greater bonds between adult and child and deeper educational experiences resulting in higher knowledge and self-esteem.

Ways to Integrate Constructivism

Introducing constructivist theory may seem like an unattainable goal for the classroom, but educators can make a difference through making simple changes and a bit of extra time. Parents can benefit from doing the same thing, creating a positive environment where the child is encouraged to explore and build his knowledge base through constructive ideals.

Take time to talk: It’s challenging in a bustling classroom to cover topics required by state standards of learning and maintain requirements of the school, but shortening lectures and book study and adding more interaction and discussion is one way to offer each student the opportunity to take part in learning. Including activities that encourage the student to apply their existing knowledge and real-world experiences promotes constructive learning. A healthy class debate is always a wonderful way to talk things out and hypothesis new ideas and problem solving.

At home, take time to talk through problems and encourage conversations at the dinner table, discussing new and exciting topics. And, don’t forget to ask lots of open-ended questions!

Doing is learning: Get out of the classroom and use those senses for learning! This goes for the home environment, too. As a population, we get caught up with the Internet and other social media as ways of entertainment and education. That big, heavy textbook has been replaced with surfing the interwebs. Turn to the great outdoors, along with real-life social interactions for learning and growth. Taking students into the real world to test their ideas and knowledge benefits constructive learning and understanding. Encourage a group discussion to finish the lesson after the out-of-classroom experience. And, parents can do the same by getting out of the house for a simple nature walk.

Ditch your expectations: Constructivism is not about test results and rote learning but about developing the child’s senses and understanding of the world around her. Find ways to encourage that learning through doing activities that are free of set limits and end results. Allowing a child to experiment with open-ended activities encourages creativity and self-esteem. If talking about weather systems, have students create a colorful weather collage. When discussing architecture, brainstorm as a group ways for building better covered bridges. Not only is the child developing her brain in amazing ways, she is pushing her senses to the limits learning more about his strengths and weaknesses and then making adjustments. Offering pre-tests allows for the teacher to gain understanding of student’s existing knowledge, aiding in creating educational lesson plans.

At home, direct open-ended questions without pressure on expectations. Use language focused on learning instead of results, such as grades, to instill confidence.

Introducing constructivist theory into the home or classroom is easier than one might think and offers fantastic benefits for both child and adult. So get out there and do some open-ended activities!

This week has been awesome. The weather has been amazing, the tot has been well behaved (as well as the adults), and even with the itty-bit of bad weather, there’s been fun things to do. We’ve been here before, which really makes it feel like we’re hangin’ at our beach house. Along with some serious beach time, there has been some extra-long walks around town and along the boardwalk.

Not much time for chatting on Twitter or posting on Facebook.

I’ll admit. At first my fingers twitched every time something awesome happened, wanting to grab the hubs’ camera to update via Hipstamatic. And I totally had to hold back from tweeting through our tasty lunch in La Jolla. And then there was that totally awesome moment with the tot in the sand and the birds and the surfers and the food and the farmers market…..

I turned off.

I put the laptop away and left the husband’s phone to the husband.

And, then, it happened.

I tuned in.

I started noticing things. Like wearing a swimsuit really isn’t the worst thing ever. And I’m the kind of girl that actually does like wearing big floppy sun hats – and they look pretty okay on me. I’m also all good with eating fried fish and chips every day for lunch and not spending the rest of the day worrying about if my thighs look fat. And that hanging out in the sand with your child really is super fun even though that sand ends up in areas not so desirable (which is what showers are for, right?).

And I discovered that sometimes putting away all the gadgets and just tuning into what makes you really happy without sharing it every 10-seconds kicks some serious ass.

Here are some more pictures of surfers and stuff.

Enjoy.

I’ll see ya on Monday.

We decided to head out on an adventure because the weather wasn’t going to be too wonderful, which meant it wasn’t going to be a vacation beach day. Just down the way is the town of La Jolla, and we’d heard good things. With a museum, an aquarium, cute shops and restaurants, plus cliffs and beaches, it seemed like the perfect destination for a rainy day in Southern California.

When you have a toddler, things always take a bit longer than you expect. After loading up the car, getting everyone and everything together, we got a later start than planned. So, once we actually found (yes, we got lost along the way) La Jolla, it was time for some lunch before attempting any sort of adventure. We stumbled upon The Spot amidst the wind and looming clouds and cozied up in a corner booth.

Um, yum.

This place was perfect for a family lunch, with reasonably priced options and a friendly atmosphere. I ordered the blue cheese covered lamb burger (medium rare, thank you very much) and it was amazing. After we had all noshed down our food, we made our way through town – quickly – before the rain started coming down. Then we jumped in the car and enjoyed from there.

All in all?

Great day.

And, we’ll be heading back for another fun-filled time in La Jolla to check out the aquarium – on a day when it’s not going to rain…

It’s been a long week. The tot came down with a pretty nasty sick ick and the husband was super busy. On top of all that, the hubs had something going on tonight (Friday), which meant I would be on my own all day and evening with the tot. Yeah, yeah. I know some of you are rolling your eyes. But, after being with her all week, and the husband only seeing her for about two hours total each day, I was a wreck.

Last night the husband had a crazy idea. What about a date night – with the tot in tow? She and I could take the ferry into the city, rendezvous with him at the Ferry Building to enjoy a quick dinner (and a sampling of other tasty goodies), and then the tot and I could return home on the ferry with the hubs following behind an hour or so after.

At first I thought he was joking.

Load up a sickie, drag her onto a ferry, and then try to have a tasty meal out in the city?!

Yup.

I did it.

We had an awesome time. Sure, she yelled the entire time on the ferry that she was going to see her dada. Sure, she wasn’t wonderfully behaved while we were eating – but we sat outside and it didn’t matter. And, yeah, I forgot to take a picture of our dinner (but we can partially blame that on the margherita I had with the meal).

But, here are a couple of other pics…

Happy Friday!

After a long day I want things super simplified when it comes to dinner. I try to cook a homemade meal every night, but sometimes I need a bit of help.

There’s nothing wrong with using a boxed or canned item to make dinner easier.

I’ve also got a budding chef that’s really into helping right now, so while cruising up and down the aisles at the grocery store, something caught my eye.

Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese. Already made in a can.

Sure, I’ve loved Chef Boyardee products forever with their saucy good pastas. But this? Mac & Cheese in a can had to come home with us.

Cooking with your kids encourages them to try new things and also introduces essential kitchen skills. Even young tots like mine can do lots of things to assist with making dinner.

I had a tasty idea for using that Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese, and she could totally help.

After getting out a cutting board, butter knife, and a handful of mushrooms, she got busy cutting away while I had time to prepare the rest of the meal without her attached to my leg.

The thing is, Chef Boyardee is running a contest right now (December 29 through March 11, 2012) with a final winner getting a year’s worth of groceries and ten weekly $500 cash prizes.

If that’s not encouragement to get in the kitchen and get creative with the Chef, I don’t know what is!

While prepping our dinner I kept finding myself distracted while watching my daughter cut her way through those mushrooms. I was so proud of her and her budding knife skills.

She helped me mix things together and then was more than excited to sit down to dinner and enjoy what she had helped to make.

Cheesy Chicken Florentine!

This recipe is so good, super easy-and healthy (for real-under 300 calories per generous 1 cup serving and full of vitamin-packed spinach)!

This dish, that easily serves six, can be on the table in less than 30 minutes and uses one pan, which makes clean up a snap.

Serve alongside garlic toast and a few sliced tomatoes for a complete meal.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 lb chicken breast tenders, cubed

1 c chopped mushrooms

1/2 t pepper

1/2 t dried rosemary

10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach at room temperature and drained of water

2 15 oz cans of Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese

1/2 c reduced fat sour cream

1/2 c shredded mozzarella

Directions

Place a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat and add the oil, chopped onion and garlic and stir.

Add the cubed chicken tenders along with the pepper and rosemary and let things brown for about five minutes stirring as needed so the chicken doesn’t stick to the pan.

While you’re stirring the kids can chop the mushrooms and squeeze the water from the spinach by pressing it in a colander.

Once the chicken has started to get toasty around the edges, add the spinach and mushrooms to the mix and stir.

Go ahead and turn off the heat under the frying pan and crank the oven to 400 F.

While it’s preheating, mix in the Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese along with the sour cream to the chicken.

Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella and pop into the oven for about 20-minutes or until the top is all bubbly brown. Dinner!

What’s your favorite Chef Boyardee product? Use it to create your own unique recipe and then share on the Chef Boyardee Facebook page for a chance to win!

Enter Chef Boyardeeís Make It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest from December 29, 2011 through March 11, 2012 for your chance to win free groceries for a year as well as one of ten $500 weekly cash prizes. Then visit Chef Boyardeeís Facebook page from March 26, 2012 through April 8, 2012 to vote for your favorite recipes from the ìMake It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest.î Each day, one voter will be selected to win a $100 cash prize.

Be sure to visit the Chef Boyardee Roundup page on BlogHer.com to check out other bloggersí recipes!

The rains have arrived here in Northern California, which means re-discovering old toys and finding  fun things to do. I’m always looking for new ways to re-use stuff, and the corner of the room where the tots toys are looks like a big blow up of itty-bitty parts of puzzles and games (which no one is putting away).

We need some organization.

I pulled out a couple of egg cartons and knew they could be transformed into something useful and entertaining – at least for the day. With the help of some tape, tempera paint, and the creativity of the tot, we turned an egg carton into hours of color organizational excitement.

This is a perfect project for introducing color recognition to your kiddies – or for the older set, color theory. I offered some assistance helping to mix the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) so the tot could paint green, orange, and purple cups, but older kids can be on their own to experiment and explore creating their own unique colors for painting the inside of the egg cups.

Simply cut the side off the egg carton, leaving the side with the egg cups, and use masking tape to section off the cups to encourage the kids to remember to paint each individual cup – instead of creating a big ol’ mess of color – and then let things dry.

While the paint is drying, invite your child to look through her collections of things for small items that are similar in color to the egg cups (which might also include a bit of cleaning up – yay!)

Once the paint is dry, offer your child the painted egg cups and invite her to organize her colorful items in the appropriate cups. She can see how many small toys she can fit in each cup, counting along the way, also encouraging her budding math skills.

Even if the egg carton color fun only lasts one day, it didn’t cost anything to make and was a fun and exciting way to organize (and maybe clean) your child’s toys – and encourage some color and math skills!

Now that the tot’s three, life is totally different. Really? No, it’s not. Things are moving and grooving in pretty much the same way other than she can say more words and sometimes figures out how to put them together into interesting sentences, such as, “I am so not good with being okay now,” or “You that now for me, right now, right now.”

Awesome.

I’m also spending a bit more time observing her play rather than directing it. She’s starting to be old enough to go off on her own and create her own emergency care center for her stuffed animals. While watching her (and also getting some of my work done) I’m finding she’s definitely leaning toward certain ways of learning, which is super exciting and a bit overwhelming.

How can I make sure she learns to her best ability?

Understanding that each individual child is different and special in her own way and also learns in her own way. Along with using her right and left-brain in combination, she has to make split-second decisions and tap into her emotional intelligence. But, along with all that, she has a special learning style that works best for her, and connecting with her multiple intelligences only boosts abilities to greater lengths.

Wait, what?

Yeah, that’s a bit of a chunk of information, but really, multiple intelligences aren’t as scary as you think…

Defining Multiple Intelligences

Multiple intelligences are the concept and understanding that individuals learn in different ways and are more apt to retain knowledge when information is presented in a certain way. Howard Gardner, a leading expert in the area of multiple intelligences, finds intelligence is the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings. According to Gardner there are multiple intelligences that can be valued and encouraged, creating a stronger and smarter individual, or ignored, stunting potentially important growth.

As parents, or educators, we want our kids to be smarter and think to their greatest capacities. Understanding and appreciating the different ways that kids learn and taking the time to encourage their abilities is an essential step to promoting positive life skills and development. Our brains are born pre-wired to lean in one learning direction more than another. And then, through experiences, our intelligence is increased. Multiple intelligence theory taps into the child’s intrinsic levels of motivation through natural talents, which encourages learning and development in a comfortable way.

The Multiple-Intelligences

So, what are the nine multiple intelligences? Some are interrelated and overlap a bit, but each child possesses each of these nine intelligences in varying amounts, and some are more dominant than others. They are:

-Verbal-Linguistic – This includes the ability to use words and language. If your child has a knack for picking up languages, understands and uses language properly, he probably has leanings toward being a verbal-linguistic learner. Your child may prefer to read a book than finish his homework, but finding a balance is key. Offer rewards, such as a trip to the bookstore, once academic goals are met.

-Logical-Mathematical – For children this includes the capacity to understand and recognize numbers and abstract patterns. A kid that enjoys concentrating on challenging math or logic questions and engaging in exciting science experiments has logical-mathematical leanings. You might have the next great mathematical genius on your hands, so find ways to encourage those skills through playing games such as Sudoku or tangrams.

-Visual-Spatial – This is the ability to visualize objects and special dimensions and to create internal images and pictures. It is thought that left-brain dominant learners also learn concepts best through visual-spatial activities. Your budding artist may have a completely disorganized room, but actually know where each important item is located. Find ways to encourage his skills by challenging his logical right brain, such as using toothpicks to construct a building.

-Body-Kinesthetic – The ability to use the body in a controlled physical way. Just because your child has a hard time sitting still does not mean he is a challenging learner, but that he finds moving his body an essential part of his learning experience.  Find ways to tap into your child’s bodily abilities by encouraging participation in sports that promote problem solving and quick thinking.

-Musical-Rhythmic – Recognition of musical patterns, sounds, and rhythmic beats. Kids that are excited to pound away on the piano or want to spend hours practicing the viola are learning through all that music. In fact, playing an instrument may encourage your child’s understanding of math concepts.

-Interpersonal – The ability to create personal relationships and engage in person-to-person communication. Often, children that easily empathize with others or want to help and lead others are interpersonal learners. Your interpersonal child probably loves talking, sharing and working with others, so encourage her skills by offering a video camera to use for making a movie collaboratively with friends.

-Intrapersonal – When a child has the ability to understand self-reflection and inner being. Children that are able to identify and regulate their emotions and behaviors are intrapersonally intelligent. Although it may seem that your child is withdrawn or quiet, she has a busy inner-life. Offer your child lots and lots of journals to keep important notes – and remember to respect her privacy if she does not feel like sharing.

-Naturalistic – The ability to understand, recognize and categorize items in nature. Kids that are all about digging in the dirt and exploring nature around them many have a stronger naturalistic intelligence. So head outdoors with your budding naturalist and take a trip to your local zoo or museum. She will love the experience and feel nurtured to explore the nature around her.

-Existential – Understanding and striving to learn more about human existence and question and learn about life, death, and what happens after. Children that like to question and have deep inquisitive thoughts are existentially intelligent. It may be time to hit the library or explore researching together on the Internet when you grow tired of the questions. But, teaching your existential child research skills will only benefit her for years to come.

Encouraging Multiple Intelligences

Now that you have an idea what multiple intelligences may be stronger in your child than others, what to do?

-Understand that teaching children with blanket educational styles will not promote positive learning. Getting to know each child individually offers the ability for educators, and parents, to tap into children’s intelligences and adjust learning and teaching experiences.

-As a parent, take the time to educate yourself on the multiple-intelligences concept through reading and learning more about your own learning style and intelligences. When you as a parent understand a concept, ideas are easily implemented in the home.

-In the classroom, allow students to take part in their own assessment and grading to encourage their own intelligences and self-motivation. Along with taking part in assessment, students can be included in lesson planning and encouraged to offer their opinions and ideas for teaching and learning certain topics.

-Learn more about your child’s special area of expertise and encourage it. Like earlier stated, this means that if your child is showing signs of being the next Mozart, find ways to encourage her musical talents. Even if it is not an area you are fluent in, find ways to connect and further educate the child to help promote her way of learning.

Multiple-intelligences are just another great way to expand your child’s learning abilities and learn more about the wonders of the brain.

Since my parents have left I’ve had to get back to doing all that stuff I used to, like putting away the dishes, doing my own laundry, and playing with the tot. Needless to say this week kicked me hard in the tushi and I was in need of some serious help keeping things together – including my daughter from having a complete and utter boredom breakdown.

In the gift-opening panacea that was the holidays blended with the tot’s birthday, we got several small containers of play dough, which were played with for hours and hours while Gamma was here. The thing is, all that play dough blended together into an unappealing looking green blob – and left this chemical-ick smell on our hands.

Blech.

So the other day we tossed together some of our own handmade play dough – with a spin. Instead of going through all that work to heat and stir and cook, I simplified things by adding hot liquid to the flour and salt. And, to combat that wallpaper paste smell of flour and water, we added some fresh grated lemon zest and juice to the hot water.

What’s really fun about this play dough is you can add food coloring and some scented oil to make things different. We tossed in a few drops of lemon food coloring to add to the already yellow tinged dough. Once your child gets tired of squishing with the play dough, the finished creations can be left to air dry, or baked in the oven on low heat for about an hour, creating a nice, hard little sculpture they can paint or put on display for everyone to admire.

We used a few cookie cutter to make fun shapes, which we then put together into a mobile….

Ingredients

4 c flour

1 c salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 to 2 c hot water

Zest of one lemon plus its juice (optional)

Food coloring (optional)

Scented oil (optional)

Directions

Measure and add the flour and salt to a big mixing bowl.

Bring the water to a boil along with the zest and juice from the lemon.

Add the hot water to the flour and salt mixture, along with the vegetable oil (along with the food coloring and scented oil), and give a good stir. If things feel too stiff, add a bit more water. Or, if things are too watery, add a bit more flour.

Dump the dough onto a work surface and knead until everything is nice and smooth without being sticky.

It’s that simple!

*To bake finished items, place in a 250 F oven for an hour.