Your Child’s Journey

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  • 3-year-old girl bites into a large slice of watermelon. Creating healthy eating habits in your child early will set them up with a lifetime of good health.

    Teaching Your Toddler Healthy Eating Habits

    There's tons of information out there for parents about "good" food and "bad" foods and, frankly, it can be a bit overwhelming! With all the (sometimes conflicting) literature, advertisements for "organic" or "whole" foods, and tons of social media posts about "clean" family lifestyles, what is the modern, busy parent to do? Read on to discover a few simple tips and tricks that will help you to develop healthy eating habits in your child without overthinking!

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  • A pair of child's hands plays with a set of square blocks. At 3-years-old, your child will begin to recognize and sort shapes.

    5 Shape Sorting Activities Your 3-Year-Old Will Love!

    As children develop and grow, they start to understand and recognize the world around them in new ways. One of the key areas of development for young children is their ability to recognize shapes. It's fascinating to observe how 3-year-olds start to notice and identify the basic shapes that make up the world around them, such as circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. As they become more aware of these shapes, they can start to categorize and differentiate them, which lays the foundation for more complex learning later in life.

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  • Mother sits her 1-year-old daughter in her lap and reads her a book. Even though your 1-year-old isn't able to read yet, reading to them interactively at this age is hugely beneficial to their future literacy.

    Interactive Reading with Your 1-Year-Old

    Even though it will be a few years before your child can start reading on their own, having your 1-year-old spend time with books is integral to their future literacy. By reading with your child regularly (we recommend daily) you will help them develop pre-literacy skills such as print awareness, phonemic awareness, and print motivation. Furthermore, it's fantastic for parent-child bonding and will help progress language development!

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  • A father gleefully tosses his 3-year-old daughter in the air. Creating a safe a nurturing environment is one way to build honesty in your little one at this age.

    Building Honesty in Your 3-Year-Old

    Honesty is a fundamental value that is highly valued in every society. It is essential to instill honesty in children from a young age to help them become trustworthy and reliable adults. This virtue is not only about telling the truth but also being sincere, reliable, and accountable. Children learn honesty through modeling, praise, and consistent reinforcement.

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  • 4-Year-Old boy listens to an audio book with headphones. There are many fun ways to practice active listening skills!

    10 Activities to Practice Active Listening

    Listening is an essential communication skill that is crucial for success in both personal and professional life. The ability to listen actively and attentively helps in understanding others, responding appropriately, and building strong relationships. Naturally, it is important to start developing listening skills from an early age.

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  • 1-Year-Old boy squats down and plays with water at a sunny lake. At this age, your child will be engaging in functional play, which is an important part of their development.

    Functional Play in Your 1-Year-Old

    Functional play is an essential component of a child's development. At one year old, children are typically engaging in functional play, which involves using toys and objects for their intended purpose. Functional play is different from symbolic play, which involves using objects to represent other things, such as using a block as a phone.

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  • A kindergartener's hand holds a crayon while coloring a picture at a desk. As your child starts school, it's important to set up a consistent after-school routine that reinforces the concepts that they're learning in the classroom.

    5 Steps to the Perfect After-School Routine

    Your 5-year-old has likely just started school and is learning all sorts of new things, from their letters to how to sit at a desk for extended periods of time. They may also start getting homework for the first time. As a parent, it's your job to support them in their learning journey and reinforce these concepts at home. A strong after-school routine will help them to not only solidify what they've learned, but will also provide the structure and organization that they will need to be successful students and adults in the future.

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  • 5-year-old boy walks in nature alone, holding up an autumn leaf. By this age, children should be able to perform several self-care skills independently.

    What Self-Care Skills Should My Child Have at 5 Years Old?

    Five is a big year, as many children will be starting school for the first time! With this huge milestone looming close, now may be a good time to reflect on the self-care skills that your child has and work on those that they haven't yet mastered. Kindergarten teachers often refer to a child's ability to do things independently as being a big factor in their success in the classroom. In fact, being able to take care of themselves independently can really have an impact on their self-esteem. Little ones who can dress and groom themselves, know where to find items they need, and can clean up after themselves beam with pride when they show the adults in their lives all they can do!

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  • Wooden blocks lay scattered at a child's feet. Stacking blocks is a simple activity that encourages problem solving skills in young children.

    6 Simple Games That Encourage Problem Solving Skills

    From being able to accomplish goals to overcoming frustrating social interactions, problem solving skills are essential to move through the ups and downs of life. As with most things, consistent and regular practice is necessary to strengthen these skills so that they can be utilized with ease when the situation calls for it. At 3 years of age, children learn a lot from play. When it comes to problem solving, they practice patience, thinking outside the box, and trial and error.

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  • Six-year-old girl and her brother play with a Storypod and Craftie Plane. Singing songs and reciting rhymes is a great way to support vocabulary development in your 6-year-old.

    Vocabulary Explosion! How to Encourage Your 6-Year-Old's Vocabulary Development This Year

    Six is an amazing age for your child's language development. At this stage, your child will speak around 2,600 words and will understand around 22,000! In fact, they'll be able to put together sentences of around 9 words, so their ability to converse and express themselves will be better than ever. Take advantage of this fruitful time by encouraging vocabulary development through consistent and intentional activities!

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  • 1st grade students sit a table working using colored pencils and paper. In the 1st grade, your child will be learning to write simple sentences accompanied by a drawing to express their ideas.

    What Will My Child be Learning in the 1st Grade?

    Most 6-year-olds will be attending the 1st grade this year and you'll notice their skills progress exponentially! Whereas they were learning their letter names and sounds in kindergarten, 1st grade will teach them to write simple sentences and how to read sight words. It's an exciting time and knowing what they'll be expected to learn this year will help you to support their learning at home.

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  • 1-year-old boy plays with a Storypod and Carfties at the coffee table with his father. It is important to engage with your child at this age in order to encourage social development.

    4 Games to Play with Your 1-Year-Old to Encourage Social Development

    Playing games with your 1-year-old can be a fun way to bond and help them develop socially. At this age, children are learning about the world around them and how to interact with others, so it's a good idea to create fruitful interactions that will allow them to learn about and practice these skills. Think any activity that encourages sharing, turn-taking, talking, or stretching the imagination.

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