Category Archives: child development

How to Build a Solid Understanding of Numbers

How to Build a Solid Understanding of Numbers Learning to count from one to ten, and later to a hundred, is an important milestone in early math development. However, it’s equally important to learn to understand the “how manyness” or the value that every number represents. Teachers and therapists refer to this important school readiness skill as number […]

Why it Helps to Think of Parenting as a Three-Wheeler: Part 3

Why it Helps to Think of Parenting as a Three-Wheeler: Part 3 Practica Parenting Wheel #2: The Parent as Teacher. Effective parents instinctively know that young children need plenty of one-on-one attention for them to flourish. Recent research findings confirm that children who have more one-on-one conversations with loving adults develop brain wiring that makes […]

How to Launch Better Behaviour (and Better Learning) in your Child

How to Launch Better Behaviour (and Better Learning) in your Child Children of all ages develop, learn and behave better when their parents are warm and nurturing. All parents function somewhere on a continuum, with positive “warm and nurturing” at one end and negative “cold and unapproachable” at the other. And, regardless of how much […]

What to do When Your Toddler Hits or Bites.

  What to do when your toddler hits or bites. Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of a toddler’s punch or bite – especially if the behaviour seems to be growing into a habit and the nipper doesn’t respond to discipline. What’s more, the display of aggression can be quite unsettling when a […]

BABY SIGN LANGUAGE: How, When and Why?

  Teaching babies and toddlers to use gestures for specific words before they are physically able to speak makes a whole lot of sense on many levels.   Will baby sign language delay my child’s speech development? Studies have shown that children who use this kind of early “sign language” show no delay in speech […]

How to use Instructions to Develop Self-control in a Toddler.

  Children who have learned to follow instructions typically exhibit more self-control than other children, because learning to follow instructions involves practising to act with intent, which is the exact opposite of acting impulsively. That brings us to the question: “How do I teach my toddler to follow instructions?” The answer is: “By physically showing […]

How Toddlers Develop Food Preferences.

Have you ever wondered exactly why nutritionists cringe when they see one year olds eat chocolates, cheese curls, macaroni cheese, potato chips and chocolate mousse? It’s because these foods are addictive. Their high-carb-high-fat content triggers the dopamine reward system in our brains to shout for more. And, after a while, they dominate our preferences. They […]

Teach Nursery Rhymes Early for Better Reading Later.

Photo Credit: http://mattnerphotography.com Researchers studied a group of 64 children when they were 3 years old, and the more rhymes they knew then, the better they were able to read 3 years later. They have concluded that this is the case because rhymes train children to be more sensitive to the speech sounds within words. (Read […]

Practica Programme Apparatus Blog Post Series – Wooden Block Set

The Practica Programme provides more than 4000 age-appropriate activity ideas for children from birth up to 7 years of age. The kit is packaged in a wooden toy box that includes a set of 8 User Guides and 28 sets of carefully selected sets of educational apparatus.   It’s the most comprehensive educational home programme […]

The Magic of Instructional Play

“Instructional play is an enjoyable activity or game that results in learning.” ~ Dr Donalyn Heise in “Dare to be Positive!”   We’ve recently had a look at how important it is to intentionally create learning opportunities for our children in which they can practise their ability to remember instructions, focus their attention, complete tasks […]

Why we like Disney Books

Watching television dulls babies’ brains. In 2009, France’s broadcasting authority banned the airing of all television, including advertising, aimed at babies and toddlers. They warned: “Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration, as […]

Games for Practica Parents

For Practica Parents with 2 to 7 year old children: Do you routinely ask questions like “Can you name this colour?” or “How many ducks do you see?” when you’re around your child? If the answer is yes, you may be slipping into the role of a test administrator instead of having fun as a […]

How to Discipline Like a Therapist

How to Discipline Like a Therapist   The very first thing to keep in mind is that discipline is not something that is done TO a child, but rather something that a parent helps to develop WITHIN a child. To do this, we need to constantly work at teaching our children to learn to understand […]

Top Tips for Good Behaviour

Why is it that some people bring out the best in children? What is so different about them that little ones seem to genuinely WANT to please them and enthusiastically do what they say? Inborn temperament certainly plays a role. Consistency and self-confidence also make a difference. Yet, the crucial factor is that these special people have learned to think about and talk to children in a special way. Luckily, these ways of […]