What Our Parents Say

Dear Lizette and the Practica Team,

Practica is a life saver! Daniel is still crazy about the wooden blocks and Alexys just cannot get enough of the animals. The picture book has been handled so much that it’s coming apart!
When we became parents we wondered how we are going to stimulate our children. We actually felt quite overwhelmed!
The fact that Practica breaks everything up into age-groups and stages is great. The ‘exercises’ are so easy to do that we all have a great time, while the kids are learning at the same time.
Thank you for your support and help along the way. We definitely encourage all mommies with new babies to go the Practica route.

Regards,

Theo and Maryke Symington

Ps. The picture attached is of the boys in the cardboard box that Practica advises us to keep around for them to play in. They love being pulled around in it!

I was asked at the Baba Indaba Expo to send a picture of my son while using the Practica Programme.
Aidan is now 34 months. He has always played with the Practica equipment and is used to handling it.
It was easy for him to learn colors and shapes with the equipment provided. We often make up our own games as we go along. In the pictures we are using the Wooden Block Set. Aidan has already mastered card 1 to 10, which is advanced for a child of his age! He loves to choose one of the cards before using the blocks to copy the construction printed on the card.
We have lots of fun at every stage of my son’s development! And, as a teacher, it is clear to me that we will still be using the set even later on, after the pre-school years, when more formal learning will take place

Thank you for a great product.

Cathy du Bruyn

Table View, Cape Town

Dear Practica

I would like to compliment you on this FANTASTIC system you developed! I’ve been using the Practica system with my daughter from the age of 3 months! It has been astounding.

Not only does the programme assist me on what I need to do to develop all the different skills to have a stunning future but it really helped me in the early developmental stages on when I can expect crawling, sitting and even smiling (First time mommies tend to want to know these things!) Not only that, with the help of Practica we have a well-balanced, HAPPY daughter (Practica advises on how to discipline and incorporate changes in their little lives!) that is willing to take on anything in life.

If I compare my daughter (which we should NEVER do!!!) to her peers she is MUCH more inquisitive and eager to learn and adapts to changes easily and without fret. Her language abilities astonish us each day and this is due to the fact that Practica teaches you from day one to incorporate language skills in their daily routine. Even as small babies you learn to speak in a way that will help them build sentences and read later in life. She would, at age 3, use sentences like: “Don’t you think this perfect turquoise sky needs fluffy clouds and a rainbow”.

Attached is a photo of a book she has been playing with at 30 months. We have been playing with her and teaching her she can wipe it of when done. She came strolling into the kitchen two nights later: “Look what I wrote Mommy!” At two and ½! I was dumb smacked!!! We learned that in grade 1!

Only one thing left to say:

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A PRACTICA – GET ONE!!!!!!! It really makes the world of difference. If you don’t believe me, mail me and I’ll talk to you about what it has taught me and my child and my family!

Greetings
Esti Erasmus

Maderi was born on the 22nd of November 2003. We bought the Practica Programme when she was about 5 months old.

Our entire family lives together on a farm so we did not put her in a pre-school or playgroup until this year when she went to Grade 0. At that stage I was working from 9 to 3 every day and felt that the time

I spent with Maderi needed to be used in the best way possible. I needed to do the right things and Practica really helped me with that!

We didn’t purchase any other educational toys, except the odd computer programme later on. To tell the truth, except for a doll or something similar, we didn’t purchase any other toys; Grandma and Grandad bought most of them. She also knew that the chest of toys was her ‘special toys’ and she took very good care of them.

I used to make copies of the activities which were appropriate to my child’s age at the time, and placed them in another file in the house. I then highlighted the activities which I had already done with her so that when my husband did activities he could easily see which activities our daughter had already done. He used to do the more practical games.

I definitely think this programme helped her in an incredible way in all her developmental areas because she is doing wonderfully in Grade 0 and the report that we received after her school readiness test said that she is above average in almost everything.

Growing up on a farm, the biggest adjustment that she is making this year is to get used to the large number of children in her class.

In the end, it wasn’t as important to us to have a ‘clever’ child. We just wanted a balanced child who doesn’t struggle at school.

Practica also creates play time opportunities between parent and child. You don’t just shove a toy in your child’s hand and say “play”. As a parent, you definitely learn to understand your child better and you build a special relationship with your child!

Practica was definitely a good investment. The “profit” outweighs the “costs” by far! My husband and I will definitely recommend the Practica Programme to every parent out there!

Deidrè de Meyer

Dear Lizette,

This is why Practica works for us:

My husband, Jannie and I have always felt a child’s upbringing is primarily the parent’s responsibility. Ten years after Jannie and I got married, our daughter Janke was born early at 34 weeks. After spending two weeks in Neonatal, we could take her home. It felt to us as if we had received the most precious jewel and we wanted to give her the best that life could offer, especially since entering this world wasn’t easy for her to start off with!

Janke was 4 months old when we started with the Practica Programme and a whole new world opened up to us. We were able to see the world through the eyes of our daughter. We learnt how she develops and how she was discovering the world around her. To this day Practica gives us the insight we need to handle our child in the best way possible.

She is now an excited, energetic and creative little 5 year old that takes on the world with curiosity and awe. We realized that being born so early could have a huge impact on her development and the reassurance that Practica gave use about her milestones during the first years was very valuable to us. Now, as we are at the point where we are focusing on going to school, Practica is once again giving us peace of mind – this time that she will be prepared for this new challenge.

Since our second child, Ruben, was born in January 2008, we are once again discovering the world through the eyes of a child, and what a privilege it is! He is a totally different little person.

Practica showed us how to laugh and play using everyday things while teaching our children at the same time! Every few months I read the relevant age appropriate activities in the guide and make little notes for myself in my diary: just one little thing to do with each of my children every day.

It doesn’t sound like much, but since I’ve been doing it for so long I’ve learned by now how to turn just about any situation into a learning opportunity, so I often spontaneously do something special with my kids every now and then!

I appreciate that Practica makes it possible for me to not get caught up in the hum-drum of life. It is important to me that I connect with my children every day. We believe that Practica is a great help and we definitely recommend it to all parents.

We are never too old to learn!

Susan Sander

Hi Lizette,

Thank you so much for the regular newsletters that you send to me. The information helps me a lot with J-Me Lee and also with my Grade 1’s!

It is my pleasure to say thank you for an outstanding programme. As soon as I had heard about the Practica Programme I bought one! Even to this day, I have no regrets because I love doing every single activity with my daughter, J-Me Lee. She is almost seventeen months old now and she truly enjoys the toys in the box. In fact, I have to keep the box locked! We have a little ritual during which we pack the toys neatly back into the box after we’ve played. The toys are really special and as a teacher I am very impressed with the quality.

J-Me Lee is daring and confident. She is crazy about other children and she loves to play with them.

Even though I am a Grade 1 teacher, I have learned so much from Practica. I even try to do as many of the activities as possible with the kids in my class who are struggling. It’s exciting to see how much they benefit from it – even at their age!

I just want to say again: thank you so very much. I can’t imagine what my life as a mother would be like without Practica. We as parents run out of ideas when it comes to stimulating our children. The programme makes my life a lot easier.

Thankful Mom

Jomarie Nel

Dearest Lizette,

It is my pleasure to write a letter of recommendation to all prospective and existing Practica moms and dads. When our eldest daughter was born 5 years ago, I felt completely helpless and overwhelmed because of the incredible responsibility that I faced to help shape and develop this new little being to reach her full potential one day. As a Language-and-Speech Therapist, I am well aware of the importance of early stimulation, but I felt completely unprepared with regards to many areas of child development.

Thank goodness for Practica!!! Ever since my daughter was a baby and also later when her sister joined the family, Practica has provided us with our special mommy-and-daughter time and we have gained so much from those special times!! To me, as a task orientated parent, it was a relief that I didn’t have to try and figure out which milestones needed to be reached at every age and which activities to do with my children at their respective ages.

I felt a bit overwhelmed initially when I saw all the information in the Activity File! But then I realized that it’s a curriculum that is spread out over seven jam packed years!!

I found it less intimidating after I took out each of my daughters’ age appropriate activities from the file, placed them into separate files and stored it between my recipe books in the kitchen. That way I was able to take a quick peek at which activities we can do for the day while I was cooking.
Play time does not come naturally for me, but thanks to Practica, we were able to enjoy hours and hours together having fun. And to top it all, we were enriching our children in a balanced way in all the necessary areas of development at the same time!

To any prospective couple who are thinking of purchasing Practica but feel that it may be too expensive, I just want to encourage you to look at the big picture and take the following into account: at the current price of a play-group you could pay for a Practica Programme in a year or less if you would keep your little one at home just a while longer. Trust me; there is no way that a child will benefit more, even from the best of playgroups, than from a mommy armed with her Practica set!

Furthermore, the value of the Advisory Service which Practica offers is also a great bonus. Our eldest daughter has recently been evaluated for school readiness and it was completely paid for by Practica.

Thank you Practica, she is only five years old, but completely school ready. In fact, she is a year ahead of children of the same chronological age in almost every area of her development!

Did we push our children? Did we not allow them to be kids? We just simply made best use of the opportunities we had to play with them in a way that makes more sense.

Just so you know, the Kwick Pick workbooks are very handy to keep children busy on road trips. To tell the truth, it’s probably the only time we ever use them, but it creates a wonderful association with learning and relaxing together as a family.

Warmest Regards,

Zelda, Wolmarans (Thank you from Henk, Charle and Johanni Wolmarans as well!)

Dear Practica Team,

What I love most about Practica is the interaction between parent and child and the many ideas to keep the kids busy.

Megan was born 9 weeks early on 31 weeks. She will be turning 4 next year in March and it’s absolutely wonderful to know for sure that she is on par with other children of her age. She talks non-stop!

We’ve moved to Langebaan since we bought the programme and little Tiaan is now already 6 months old.

Thank you for Practica. We see it as a wonderful gift that we were able to give, not only to our children, but also to ourselves.

Nicolene Nel

Hi Vanessa,

I refer back to our conversation on the telephone this morning. I just want to give you feedback about Practica; it is a wonderful product. I bought a set when my first daughter was about a year old. She is now 11 years old and my second daughter is 8. I was incredibly passionate about Practica and played the games with them almost every day. I even did the locomotive programme with them. Today, I reap the benefits of the time spent with my children. It was wonderful to see how they master each set of activities. I have to say, it really strengthened my relationship with each of my children. They were always happy and content because they always got enough attention. I am a full-time working mom, but every night and on the weekends I took out the time to do the activities with them.

My eldest daughter, Chavonne, is in grade 5 and her school marks are excellent. She achieves 80 to 90% in almost every subject. Best of all, her listening skills have been incredibly developed thanks to Practica. Her teacher spoke to me last term and told me that Chavonne is the only child in her whole class to always get full marks or have only one question wrong in her listening and comprehension tests.  I was very proud, but wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own, it’s Practica which gave me the information I needed and showed me the specific games I needed to play. Her marks are high without lots of effort. She also has a great love for reading, which I am very thankful for.

My youngest daughter of 8 years, Audine, came home last term with a report which completely bowled me over. She got a 4 for her Numeracy, 4 for Afrikaans and 4 for English. She got a 3 for Life Skills, but I’m not sure if you can get a 4 for Life Skills in grade 2. I was very happy about her good report seeing as though they are 30 children in a class and the teacher works at a very past pace. She does most of her homework on her own and just brings the book for me to sign.

Practica teaches your children to grow a healthy love for learning. Through playing the games, they also learn new skills and they feel a big sense of achievement when they get it right.
My daughter’s teacher made me realize again what the other thing is that makes Practica so unique. She said that Chavonne is one of the few kids in her class who are doing well in all her subjects. She said she usually sees children doing well in only 3 or 4 of their subjects and then they get an average for the rest.

She said that my Practica child is incredibly well developed in all the learning areas, and that is what makes Practica so outstanding.

One thing I would like to emphasize is that parents should try and do the activities with their child every day or at least 4 to 5 times a week. It’s so easy! Just open the file, read the activity and play. Your child learns new skills and he gets your attention, which is very important in the world today.

Greetings

Zene Kaye