Encourage Your Child to Create, Explore, and Pretend with Dozens of Nurturing and Easy-to-Do Activities This lively volume from the man described on National Public Radio as "the best friend America's families ever had" is packed with more than 80 entertaining games and activities through which parents can encourage children ages 3 to 7 to learn and grow -- and have fun doing it. It offers clear, accessible illustrations along with stimulating activities to help kids explore dramatic play, creation, sensation, self-expression, nature, feelings, science, helping, sharing, and other areas. It also presents helpful parenting advice and explanations of the skills developed through each activity.
This book explores the nature of play, why children play, and why play is such an important part of their development. Also includes more than 300 activities, games, and projects to help children and adults play together and encourage children's self-expression, curiosity, and creativity. 251 pages
Intended for both childcare professionals and parents, this book lists activities from episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood television program, and can be used with or without watching the program. Each activity is assigned a number which corresponds to the television episode in which the activity is featured, and a national PBS Broadcast schedule is provided that allows users to determine what will be featured on a daily basis. This book includes activities from programs 1001 through 1685, with the individual activities organized by week. At the beginning of each week's activities are thoughts for the week's programs and a listing of featured songs. Each day's activities begin with the goals of the day's work and what the day's work can help children learn. A listing of required materials is also provided. The activities are fully explained, and further questions and areas of investigation are suggested. Several appendices include recipes for homemade modeling dough, toothpaste, finger paint, and pastes. Directions for play props, children's food recipes, and a listing of songs and their lyrics are also included. The book contains a full index to assist users in locating specific types of activities. (SD)
From Fred Rogers Productions, comes a delightful gift book that shows how the wisdom of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is as relevant for adults as it is for children. With colorful illustrations and quotes that touch on themes of kindness, empathy, self-care, respect, and love, this is the feel-good book for our times. More than just a children's television show host, Mister Rogers was the friend who helped us appreciate the good things in ourselves, in others, and in the world around us. As soon as he stepped through his front door to change into his cardigan and sneakers, we knew we would meet new people and discover new things. Revisit some of Mister Rogers' greatest guidance that we learned alongside Daniel Tiger, X the Owl, King Friday the XIII, Henrietta Pussycat, and more, including: -You are special -Be generous with your gratitude -Feed the fish -All kinds of feelings are okay -Don't forget the fun And other caring thoughts!
When our children are born, we do everything we can to make sure they have love, food, clothing, and shelter. But despite all this, one in five children today suffers from a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and countless others suffer from anxiety that interferes with critical social, academic, and physical development. Dr. Donna Pincus, nationally recognized childhood anxiety expert, is here to help. In Growing Up Brave, Dr. Pincus helps parents identify and understand anxiety in their children, outlines effective and convenient parenting techniques for reducing anxiety, and shows parents how to promote bravery for long-term confidence. From trouble sleeping and separation anxiety to social anxiety or panic attacks, Growing Up Brave provides an essential toolkit for instilling happiness and confidence for childhood and beyond.
In this eye-opening book, the first to investigate the explosion of the multibillion-dollar preschool entertainment business and its effects on families, Dade Hayes -- an entertainment expert, author, and concerned father -- lifts the veil on the closely guarded process of marketing to the ultra-young and their parents. Like many parents, Dade Hayes grabbed "me time" by plopping his daughter in front of the TV, relaxing while Margot delighted in the sights and sounds of Barney and the Teletubbies. But when Margot got hooked, screaming whenever the TV was turned off, Hayes set out to explore the vast universe of this industry in which preschoolers devour $21 billion worth of entertainment. Going behind the scenes to talk with executives, writers, and marketers who see the value of educational TV, Hayes finds compelling research that watching TV may raise IQs and increase vocabularies. On the other side, he brings in the voices of pediatricians and child psychologists who warn against "babysitter TV" and ask whether "TV trance" is healthy -- in spite of the relaxation that the lull affords exhausted parents -- as recent studies link early television viewing with obesity, attention and cognitive problems, and violence. Along the way, Hayes narrates the fascinating evolution of Nickelodeon's bilingual preschool gamble, Ni Hao, Kai-lan, from an art student's Internet doodles to its final product: an educationally fortified, Dora-inflected, test audience-approved television show. At the show's debut, jittery experts hold their breath as the tweaked and researched Kai-lan faces Mr. Potato Head in the battle for a three-year-old's attention. Anytime Playdate reveals the marketing science of capturing a toddler's attention, examining whether Baby Einstein and its ilk will make babies smarter, or if, conversely, television makes babies passive and uncritical, their imaginations colonized by marketing schemes before they even speak. It tells us why the raucous Dora the Explorer has usurped Blues Clues for preschool primacy, why the Brit hit In the Night Garden won't follow Teletubbies into American tot stardom, and why the comparatively quiet and wholesome Sesame Street has reigned for decades. Hayes vividly portrays the educators, psychologists, executives, parents, and, lest we forget, kids who have shaped the history of children's television, uncovering the tensions between the many personalities, the creative foment that combines story, music, and message in this medium to produce today's almost dizzying array of products and choices. In the end, Hayes gives readers a provocative but balanced portrait of an age in technological transition, and shows that what's at stake in the "Rattle Battle" is nothing less than the character of the next generation.
The beloved host of PBS’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, subject of the acclaimed documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and the forthcoming biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks, offers warm words of advice and encouragement, along with reflections on his own childhood For more than fifty years, Fred Rogers and his enchanting neighborhood have educated, comforted, and influenced millions of people, both young and young at heart. Organized by themes—relationships, childhood, communication, parenthood, and more—this touching collection gathers his signature sayings and wise thoughts, all of which he enriches with his own memories of being a child and growing up. His ability to understand all kinds of people will inspire viewers past and present, and his straightforward, compassionate guidance will help show you how to get the most from life.
