Kids still learn to write when they go to school, but these days, just as important now is learning to type. For me, all the way through school and university, my assignments were handwritten. During my last couple of years at Uni, I submitted a couple of pieces typed and printed on the computer - but this was still a novel thing to do, and I didn't really start using computers regularly until a few years later.
Now, however, our daughters use computers a lot at school already in their first few years, and by the time they reach grade 6, they have to have their own laptop as part of their school equipment!
In year 1, our daughter came home and told us about a great website they'd been shown on the computers at school called "Dance Mat Typing". When she showed us this site we were very impressed, and now have it in favourites on our computer, for both girls to 'play' now and again to help them learn to type!
Basically each level has a different animal who tells you where to put your fingers (there's pictures on the screen too), and then to type away doing various exercises for the particular letters in that level. The animal pops up every now and again to offer encouragement, and once you've completed that level they come out and do a song and dance to celebrate!
Our girls love it, and are becoming quite good little typers through using this website quite often.
We were so impressed with this website, we tried to pass it on to family members in New Caledonia for their kids to use. Unfortunately they have some (but not all) of the letters on their French computer keyboard in different places, so this website is no good for them! If anyone knows of a fun alternative to this Dance Mat Typing tutor that suits the French keyboard we'd love it if you could share the link with us!
Are your kids learning to type? Do you think it's important that they learn to type 'properly'? Do you type 'properly'? I learned touch typing, and am pretty fast, but still not as fast as my brother, who types in his own way, but works on computers and always has - so he's very speedy indeed! Maybe it's just a case of learning your own method of typing? Whatever works for you personally?
What do you think? Should touch typing be taught in schools alongside handwriting nowadays? Do you think that eventually the need to learn handwriting will disappear as gradually everything is done on computers?
Please note, this is not a product review! It is our genuine opinion of a website we use lots!
Daughter: "Mum, can we play battleships when we get home?"
Mum: "Sure! That sounds like a great idea!"
once home and settled, I began to get out some paper and pencils
Daughter: "What are you doing Mum?"
Mum: "You wanted to play battleships didn't you?"
Daughter: "Yes, but you play it on the computer!"
Mum: "No you don't, you play it on paper."
Daughter: "I played it at school on the computer."
Mum: "Oh! Well would you like to know how to play it on paper?"
Daughter: "Yes, please!"
I think that shows the difference in our generations! I never even thought about playing Battleships on the computer - not having played since I was a child, and that was always on paper!
However, our daughters were both happy to play on paper - and we found they really enjoyed this simple game.
I drew the grids and explained about what ships you have to draw in your own grid. I couldn't remember the exact names we used to give each sized ship, so I made it up a bit here - but I don't suppose it matters all that much! You draw all your ships into your own grid, but none may touch each other, even diagonally.
Once we started to play, I found our 7 year old had no problems at all - I guess she had played it at school earlier that day, but the concept was fine for her to understand.
Our 5 year old however hadn't seen a grid like this before - with numbers down one side and letters across the top, so all of that had to be explained. She had to run a finger down from the letter at the top, and across from the number at the side, to find the square she was looking for, whereas the 7 year old could do it just with her eyes! Interesting difference!
Basically you take turns, 'orally' firing bombs into squares on each other's grids to try and hit their ships. Once you hit all the squares that make up a ship, that ship is sunk.
By the end of one game, both girls understood the game completely and were having a great time; especially making the noises of bombs exploding as they hit various ships, and then the 'Glug Glug Glug' sound as ships were sunk!
This really is a great game to play with your kids. For a start, you can play it anywhere so long as you have a couple of bits of paper and pencils.
It gives kids great practice using a grid with basic number and letters. It also helps them use their logic - when they've hit a part of a ship - to guess where the rest of the ship lies. From our experience with our daughters too - it looks like it could be a good eye-tracking exercise too!
Battleships as a pencil and paper game is around 100 years old. Nowadays there are various other versions, such as board games, PC games and internet versions, like this one I found, where you can play against the computer:
There was even a movie (Battleship) released in 2012 loosely based on this game!
Do you remember playing battleships as a child? Does anyone else still play the pencil and paper version? or do your kids play online?
I also made a set of Battleships folders for my girls which they enjoy using to play this game - with paper and pencils!)
The tutorial also has a link to a free downloadable Battleships grid!
My interest in skipping was renewed as an adult when I went to help out at my daughter's prep class at school. I was helping with the PMP (Perceptual Motor Program) class where the children work on such things as balance, coordination and gross motor skills.
On this particular day I was asked to turn the rope for the kids to skip. I was suprised to find that none of the 5 year olds could skip! They did all however thoroughly enjoy trying.
That afternoon I stopped at the local hardware store and bought a length of rope for $6, then after school finished I took my girls into our yard and we skipped!
The girls already had smaller skipping ropes and had been trying to skip on their own for some time, managing a running skip but still not quite making the standing on the spot and jumping skip. With me turning the larger rope for them (the other end tied to the fence) this gave them the opppourtunity to learn the rhythm of jumping over the rope without having to worry about turning the rope with their arms at the same time (which does require a good amount of coordination!)
They learned this very quickly, and soon they were each challenging themeslves and each other to see how many skips they could count before they tripped on the rope. We also tried running in and running out while the rope was turning. Vague memories began to return to me of skipping rhymes, but I couldn't remember anything complete, so that evening I googled skipping rhymes and found many old favourites that I could then try with my girls.
My favourite, and the one I remembered most was:
"Not last night but the night before,
Twenty-four robbers came knocking at the door.
As I ran out (skipper runs out of the jump rope)
They ran in (someone else runs into the jump rope)
And this is what I heard them sing.
Spanish dancer turn around
Spanish dancer touch the ground
Spanish dancer give a high kick
Spanish dancer get out before you miss (skipper runs out!)"
We've also tried Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn around - together with the actions!
There are so many great rhymes, with actions, counting or just a little story! Making skipping an even more fun activity for kids, and a great way to exercise!
That first evening of skipping, I was itching to have a try myself. My girls are too small to turn the rope for me, so I had to wait until Euan came home. OH MY GOODNESS! It's hard!! You forget what a strenuous form of exercise skipping is when you get involved with all those rhymes, counting and actions. As a kid, I skipped endlessly, singing away as I did so. Now, however, I could barely catch my breath, and my leg muscles were burning after just a few jumps!
Skipping is an excellent form of exercise - it is great for your heart, and, being high impact, puts stress on your bones, which in developing bones is great as it encourages optimum bone mass formation and so reduces the risk of osteoporosis in later life.
As with any form of exercise, it is good for your brain, as it increases blood flow to your brain and so increases alertness and concentration levels. With the addition of rhymes and songs, your memory also gets a good workout. Rhythm and balance also come into play, and as with bouncing on the trampoline (see here for more about that!) it works both sides of your brain at the same time.
Skipping is fun, and also a great way for kids to learn about mastering new skills and achieving goals. Watching my daughter's class at school, and my girls at home wanting to try skipping again and again, was just brilliant. They were never discouraged by the rope catching their legs, or when they mistimed a jump, or even when they fell over. They were all having so much fun, none of that mattered. They persisted, and when I helped with the same activity a few weeks later, they were all skipping really well, and now practicing running in and out of the turning rope.
Skipping can also foster good team work skills, when kids turn ropes for each other. They must learn to work together, and take turns.
There is a more complex form of skipping called "Double Dutch" where two ropes are turned at the same time but in opposite directions. We recently watched a great Disney movie about this called "Jump In". It was all about a young team who decide to skip competitively. There are some amazing skipping scenes in there, and it certainly inspired my girls to get outside and skip some more!
In the movie there is a teenage boy whose friends tease him for skipping - because is seen as a girls sport, but historically, skipping was practiced by men! Australian Aboriginals used to skip over bamboo, and Egyptians jumped over vines. As skipping became more popular in modern times, kids skipped through wooden hoops, and even Mum's clothesline - which was better when wet, as it hit the ground and swung better! And speaking of boys skipping - we all know those tough-guy boxers skip as part of their training! You wouldn't want to tease them about skipping being a girlie thing to do!
Skipping is definitely one of those childhood fun activities worth revisiting as and adult and encouraging your own children to do.
A friend's child learnt to skip whilst bouncing on the trampoline. The whole skipping movement was slowed down and exaggerated as she bounced, enabling her to learn the action of jumping and moving her arms in time a little easier!
As a kid, skipping is fun, great developmentally, improves balance and co-ordination and is of course, good exercise. As an adult, skipping for 10 mins is equivalent to a 45 mins hard run! So next time you say you don't have time to exercise, why not grab your kid's skipping rope? It's good for your heart, blood pressure, muscle tone, promotes fat loss, increases flexibility....need I go on?
There is an Australian website called "Jump Rope for Heart" It has an annual fundraiser for schools, run by the Heart Foundation to raise awareness about exercise and healthy eating, and also raise funds for the fight against cardiovascular disease. It has been going for 27 years and more than 90% of all Australian schools have participated! Sounds like a great thing to do!
Have you been involved in this? or a similar event? Do you or your children skip? Do you remember skipping as a child?
And how long do you think it would take to learn how to do this.....
Amazing huh!
Please leave a comment, and tell us about your skipping memories or experiences!
I love this game.It is amazing just how simple and fun a game can be with only pen and paper.The real trick is to make sure the hangman frame is not too small- the worst thing is when you complete your man and he can touch the ground!!
If you don’t remember how to play, it is simple.
Choose a word and don’t tell the other players.Usually the word comes from a set, eg vegetables.
The person who has thought of the word should draw the hangman’s frame and write dashes which match the number of letters in the word.I am using capitals to make it clear but this game would normally be done in lower case letters.
eg._________
One of the other players then guesses a letter eg A
A__A_A___
Have you guessed yet?
The next player, especially if a kid may guess Q.As this is wrong, the other person would draw a head and below the simple diagram show Q (letter with a strike through).This is really important for beginners as they easily forget which letters they have said.At a more advanced age, a body part can be added for the stupidity of saying a letter you have already said, eg not paying attention!!
The game continues…A player guessesS
AS_A_A__S
Every wrong guess means another body part is drawn, first head, then body, one arm, a second arm, a leg and finally a last leg.When the last body part is drawn the game ends- you are DEAD!!!The person thinking of the word is the winner and they think of a new one and the game starts again.
If the people guessing chose P and G …
A_SPA_AG_S
You are right, it is ASPARAGUS!!
This can also be played online in a huge amount of different sites.Our of our kids' favourites is Hang Mouse.
The girls love hangman and it can be played almost anywhere and any time!In the car, outside on the table, inside leaning on a book are just a few of the endless opportunities.
It reinforces spelling, letters, lexical sets, phonetics and all within the format of a game.It can even be done with misspelt words as a sneaky but fun form of testing.I think though, that the most important part is that it remains fun, no matter how often it is played.It really is one of those timeless games.
Are there any similarly simple games that you are still happy to play?
As our daughters have grown up, they have become more and more interested in hanging around at the dinner table beyond meal times to hear and join in with the adult conversations!
Since they have begun to show such an interest, I thought I would make up some 'conversation coasters' to help make dinner time a bit more fun and also to help develop their conversation skills.
We always have asked them questions at meal times, for example about what they have done that day; but now they are in school, we often get the response 'nothing', (which I understand is quite common amongst school age kids!) So by putting the questions into a different form, and making it more like a game, we've found our kids actually want to tell us things!
Conversation skills are a difficult thing to teach your kids. Thinking of topics to talk about, knowing when to interject to make a comment, how to change topics etc.
These coasters have proved to be a big hit with our girls. Each night they are happy to set the table for dinner - as they then get to choose who gets which question - or sometimes they do it randomly - placing them upside-down so nobody knows which question we all have until they have been turned over.
We then choose somebody else to ask that question of, and usually it sparks more of a discussion, and sometimes others want to answer the same question too.
Here are the questions I made up on this first set.
I do plan to make more conversation coasters now and again, to add to the selection. As the girls grow older, I'm sure the type of questions we have will grow with them. I have also made a set of ones for dinner parties, which are more 'grown up', with 'big questions' like 'Is there likely to be another World War?'! Well, why shouldn't we join in on the fun too!
Do you have any different ways of starting conversations with your kids, or teaching them conversation skills? What do you think of this idea? Do you think it's too artificial? or do you think it is a valid method to encourage dinner time talk? What other questions do you think might be good to add to our selection?
If you're interested in how to make these fabric conversation coasters - and maybe would like to make some for yourself - click here to go to the post on my other blog 'Creating my way to Success' where I've posted a tutorial for them.
Over the years we've tried to teach our daughters about money and savings, trying different methods and ideas. This post brings together our views, experiences and posts over several years and what we and our kids have learned. What is money? When do children begin to understand the concept, value and use of money?Paper (or plastic paper in Australia’s case) along with small metal circles that you can swap for toys and sweets is a pretty far out idea.Equally, understanding more than the fact that mum and dad go out every day to work to get this thing called money falls into the same category.What a crazy concept and I often question how early and how do kids internalise the use of money?
In my mind, money only becomes a concern when there is a need or want.Today’s society is such a throw away one where kids seem to have everything.What they see, they get and if something breaks, it seems to be ‘not to worry, we’ll just buy a new one.’It certainly didn't used to be like that.The days of stitching on a button or glueing together a cracked item seem long gone. The idea of Pocket Money
As parents with young kids, a common Saturday afternoon conversation topic with friends is the idea of pocket money.Our girls still don’t seem to have the ‘need’ for money and don’t ‘want’ anything enough to ask for money or try to save seriously.
Pocket money needs to be something that kids have complete control over, with guidance regarding use but not orders.If a child wants to blow their ‘savings’ on a sweet or a toy which you know will be out of favour before the end of the week, so be it.As a parent we will always hope that the general education we provide will help the child make a better choice.In saying that, the best lessons are learnt through mistakes.
Our feeling is that pocket money at an early stage should be a small amount.Giving large chunks of money to a young child only seems to send the message that money grows on trees!By saving slowly and negotiating due to a child’s perception of ‘need’ there is always education and balance between giving money and using pocket money.
It is also an interesting option to give a child a slightly larger amount and introduce the idea of savings, tax and superannuation to immediately show how money works in the bigger adult world from an early stage.
As a child grows up, pocket money takes on a different role and providing chores to supplement money a child receives should help teach the value of money and begin to instil a work ethic.I am interested in others ideas regarding giving small or large amounts of money to kids or whether people put money in the bank and don’t even broach the subject of pocket money at a young age.
Do you give money to your child, do they have to earn it and how and when did your child come to understand the value of money?
Euan Our kids' first Pocket Money When our girls were aged 6 and 8, we started giving them pocket money. Just a small amount, but we wanted them to start to learn about the value of money. Our idea was that they would get a little money each week from us, and also have the opportunity to earn more by doing some extra jobs around the house - like vacuuming, weeding or cleaning the car. Each week when the junk mail arrived in the letterbox, the girls looked through the toys and stationery for sale. This was part of our plan - the girls would see something they wanted, then save up to buy it. However, there really wasn't anything that they wanted enough to save up for (apart from the giant trampoline for the back yard which would have taken them about 10 years to save up for - too long to really contemplate!). When their birthdays came around and with them extra money from relatives for birthday presents, I took them to the shops to look for ideas of what they might like to buy themselves. Before we went, they counted the money they had so far - but didn't take it with them, as I told them it was better to wait until after their birthdays to buy something for themselves, as they may receive the toys as gifts! At the shops, both girls found things they wanted to buy - but for less money than they had, so there was no need for them to save up their money - or incentive for them to do any extra jobs to earn more money. Since they'd been getting pocket money, they had bought themselves things - but always within their means - just buying what they had enough money for there and then. How can we teach our kids to save?
So I began to wonder, how could we teach our kids to save, when they did't seem to have anything they want to save for? They're just generally content with what they have and when they do see something they want, when they see how much it costs and that they can't afford it, they just shrug and forget about it. One thought I had was that perhaps we weren't leading by example in this case. We don't buy ourselves a lot, and the girls had never seen us 'save up' for anything. So, I came up with a plan. We were off on a family holiday to Bali later that year, and had decided that for spending money, we'd take what I could manage to earn with my extra jobs here and there as extra spending money (Being a full-time mum I just had casual work here and there). I did have a target I wanted to reach, so I made myself a chart, with that target on, and gradually coloured it in as I earned money to show how I was working my way towards a goal, and saving up for something. I hoped that this visual chart, would demonstrate to the girls that you can set your goals high, and work or save towards them. Using a Savings Chart
Here is the chart I made for myself to show my savings progress.
I printed a table of blank squares from the computer. Each square represented $10 I wanted to save, so I coloured them in as I earned each $10. The girls then came to see what I was doing when they saw me using their coloured pencils at the table - colouring in!
Mostly they were curious as to why I chose the colours I did -and why so many different ones. They seemed rather uninterested in the whole chart and savings idea - but I stuck it up on my wall anyway - for me!!
Then, the next day I noticed our younger daughter had her money box out at the table, and was drawing. When I went over to see what she was up to, I found that she'd drawn her own savings chart and was counting her money to colour in the squares! I was so pleased that she had taken on the idea and was using it herself.
On my chart I used each square to represent $10, she had chosen each square to represent 10c, and only wanted to save her 10c coins for this particular item. I helped her find how much the baby Zhu Zhu pets she wants to buy would cost, and check the number of squares she needed. then we found a separate money box for her to save her 10c coins in! As you can see on the chart - she almost had enough saved for one at this point! (that was after a mammoth effort helping us mulch the garden at the weekend, for which she was well rewarded!)
She also decided to make another chart showing what she was saving her 20c coins for and our eldest daughter also made her own chart to start saving.
It just goes to show how important leading by example is. Our kids want to be like us, so we also should strive to be the best we can be, if we want the best from them too! Teaching by example can be very effective indeed!
First Savings Success.
The plan worked!
After a while saving, our younger daughter reached one of her target goals! She saved all the 20c coins she got from pocket money and small chores, until she had $10.
Then we went to the shops to buy what she had saved for.........
Very cute!
What an achievement for a little girl to stick at a savings plan and watch her progress and ultimate success!
What have your kids saved up for? How have you helped them?
Saving for something bigger
After the success with the savings chart, it took a long while before our girls found anything more they really wanted to save for again. It wasn't until a couple of years later that a good friend of the girls got a Nintendo 3DS for her birthday, and after seeing that and having a play on it, they decided they wanted to save for one for themselves. (Our girls were now aged 8 and 10).
Now at $169 - this was a large ask and was going to take them a long time to save for - but we decided to try again to encourage them to save.
Where to start with such a large goal?
We sat down and looked at what money they had in the bank, how much pocket money they got, and a list of chores for money which we created at the beginning of the year.
Together we worked out a manageable plan that would allow each girl to save up for a 3DS over the next 6 months!
They each made up a book to keep a record of money earned in, and I made them special covers for these books. The younger daughter decided she wanted a pocket on hers to put in pictures of things she cut out from junk mail catalogues that she might like to buy. (She wasn't completely sure if she wanted to buy a 3DS or more smaller items!)
After one week they had saved over their target for that week and were still keen. They were taking some encouragement to do some chores for cash sometimes, but at their age, to stay focussed on a long term goal is a difficult thing to learn to do - particularly when you're aiming to save $169 - and one job only gets you 10c!
But they could already see their money growing, and the more it grew, the more motivated they got!
We also told them that if they stuck to their goals and worked hard to earn and save this money, then we would help them out.
Smaller targets and constant encouragement
With weekly targets to aim for - and the long term goal of the 3DS, the girls were set to learn plenty over the following months. Goal setting, breaking things down into more manageable portions, the value of money, and the ability to stay focussed.
In order to help them learn these skills and achieve their goal, we as parents needed to help them stay on track and keep them encouraged.
Have your kids saved for anything big? How did you keep them focussed for a long term savings goal?
Big Success!
As our girls neared their savings goal for each buying a Nintendo 3DS, we as parents decided that we would rather our girls bought themselves something with more uses and possibilities than just a gaming machine, so we offered that once they had saved their target money, we would pay the extra needed for them to get tablets instead.
They were both beginning to use tablets in school, and we thought it would be great for them to have their own to explore and get used to.
At the end of the school year, they had both saved more than enough money and so we went out on a shopping trip and came back with the above snazzy tablets! Two very lucky girls!
Since the tablets were new, and the girls really did work hard to save up for them, we let them play with them whenever they want to explore and learn how to use them.
The fact that they saved over several months to buy these tablets themselves, really gave them an appreciation of the hard work that goes into working for something they want - and they certainly saw the rewards of all their hard work and dedication. And just the week after they bought their tablets, they were continuing to do chores week and so continuing saving for who knows what next. So good habits were formed!
How about you? Do your kids save? Do you? Do you think it's an important thing to teach them? and do you have any alternate methods for doing so?
4 Key things we've learned 1. Lead by example. Whatever you're trying to get your kids to do, if they see you doing it, they will be more likely to try it for themselves. 2. Desire is the driving force. Kids can understand the value of money and save for things at a young age if there is something they desire. 3. We all need Motivation and Encouragement. Words, charts, pictures and written records are all ways that can help kids to stay focussed on a savings goal. Some kids, just like some adults, are more self motivated and disciplined than others. Kids, just like adults need help to stay motivated. 4. Saving for something helps teach the value of money. When kids see, understand and most of all experience the hard work of earning money to buy something they need, they do learn to appreciate the value of what they are spending their money on more and choose more wisely.
So where are we now? Our girls are now aged 11 and 13. They recently saved up money for a family holiday to Japan. They saved their pocket money and birthday money, and also did chores here and there to earn extra. We also recently found another way to help our girls with chores and earning money. Our eldest daughter now has a fixed 'job' and time of week to do it. Each Sunday morning at 9 am she cleans my car inside and out and so has a regular weekly 'pay'. From memory I was about her age when I started my first 'job' as a paper girl - delivering the Sunday papers each week. I think the discipline of having a fixed time and job certainly helps and she's stuck to this now for several months, enjoying having that regular small income. We're also now trying to teach our girls a little more about savings by getting them to put away 10% of all their earnings, including pocket money, into their long term savings accounts. 10% doesn't seem that much to them and if we can get them into this habit early, it will hopefully set them up for good long term financial money and savings habits when they leave school and start to earn a full time wage. How about you? Do you give your kids pocket money? Do you encourage them to save for bigger things they want? How do you teach your kids about money?
Growing up in the 70s and 80s in the UK, Top Trumps was a popular game. Mostly with boys, but having a brother, I got to play it lots. We had a version of army vehicles - from Jeeps to Harrier Jump Jets and everything in between.
It's a simple enough game - you have a pack of cards with facts on each one, and you play them off against each other to see which card 'trumps' the other. For example you may pick 'speed' as the fact to play on - and your car may go a maximum 280km/hr -but unfortunately your opponent's card is a plane that can travel at 900km/hr so the plane trumps the car and that player gets to keep both cards, and choose what 'fact' to play on next.
I used to love playing this game - and I remember there were the really good cards that you always hoped you would get, as they could beat pretty much anything.
Last year I found this game again and bought it for our girls for Christmas.
Apparently Top Trumps were relaunched by a new company that had bought the rights about 12 years ago, and there are now all kinds of versions of the card game, and also online versions and computer game versions!
The one I found was from Australia Zoo, and has a lot of animals from the zoo on the cards.
The girls LOVE it!
They have played endless times, and through this have learnt lots too! The facts given are weight, length, maximum number of young, year they came to the zoo, and threat level. So the girls have learnt how to read all those values - years, and measurements, and get endless practice comparing numbers - large and small. Each card also has some information about the animals on them, so they can also learn some interesting facts.
Of course they have their favourites - which are the strong, long and prolific breeding animals!
Like Agro here, who with a weight of 600kg is tough to beat!
Then there's Casper, who can lay up to 80 eggs at once! More than most animals !
Not to mention Lilly, who is 680 cm long - which I think beats them all in that category!
For such a simple game, it provides great entertainment for the kids - at any time, any place, and they can play for 2 minutes or 20 minutes.
While they are playing, they are reading, practicing their numeracy skills, working their memories, learning animal facts, and also getting better each time at the whole winning-losing business.
There are many different packs out there now - brand names to match the latest toys - but also ones about animals, the wonders of the world and sports - a great way to introduce your kids to some general knowledge facts in a fun way.
For a small and simple game, to work literacy, numeracy, memory, and general knowledge all in one is pretty special!
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