The importance of toys in a child’s development
Plenty of evidence shows how playing with toys is an essential aspect of children’s development. Children of all ages enjoy playing with toys and the different roles toys play in their make-believe games and fantasy worlds. But toys are much more than simple playthings. Many studies have shown that children learn through interaction and toys […]
Are letter reversals a sign of dyslexia?
During the phase of learning to read, children sometimes mistake certain letters for similar ones, especially ones that can easily be reversed. For example, the child may read “bear” as “dear” or look at the word “dog” and read it as “god”. These types of errors are referred to as “reversals”. But are word and […]
What are executive functions and why are they important?
Our brains perform several tasks that are necessary to think and act. During early childhood, it is important develop some of these tasks. Some of the most important ones help us learn new information, keep new information in our minds, and use it to solve problems of everyday life. These tasks are performed by the […]
What is working memory and why is it important?
To do an activity, children depend on both incoming information and information stored in working memory. If they have poor working memory skills, it can become difficult to do both these tasks. As a result, it can become challenging to follow multi-step directions. Children with poor memory skills also find it difficult to think about […]
Why counting on fingers is important in the foundation phase
It is very well known that, during the early stages of development, kids’ hands play a major role in their interactions with their parents, peers and teachers. Specifically, the importance of their fingers in the early development of numerical abilities has been proven extensively. Learning and practising finger counting has been demonstrated to be essential […]
The Importance of Early Childhood Education
The ways in which children develop in the early years have major effects on their physical, social and emotional well being in the future. Therefore, it is incredibly important to understand the role that early childhood education (ECE) plays in children’s lives. During the period of birth to eight years old, the brain develops the majority […]
Poverty as a barrier to learning
Many factors influence how children learn and develop, both in the classroom and at home. One of the major challenges is poverty. Unfortunately, in South Africa, poverty affects millions of households. But how exactly does it impact children’s ability to learn? Let’s delve into the topic of poverty as a barrier to learning: Children from […]
Learning to read: how to introduce more complex sounds
Welcome back to our series on Early Learning and a special welcome to all our new followers! We have many new people who have joined our little community this week. In last week’s video I showed you the basics on how to teach your child to read. And we focused mainly on phonics and words […]
Early Learning: How to teach your child to read
Today we discuss a topic that is probably one of the most exciting within Early Childhood Development. Because during this video I am going to be showing you how to teach your child to read. As exciting as this prospect is though, I do want to caution you. Teaching a child to read is NOT […]
Teaching basic Arithmetic to young children
What is basic Arithmetic? Welcome to this 8th video article in our Early Learning Series. In this video I’m going to show you how to teach your child the functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. (This is known as basic arithmetic). Because once you child has mastered these concepts he will have a very […]
