Category: KD Novelties

Free Apps and Websites to Teach Kids While Having Fun

Posted on | by KD Novelties

With the increased popularity in mobile devices, almost everyone is constantly on their phone or tablet. Whether you are checking Facebook, your email, watching a show or playing a game, almost everything can be done from the comfort of a mobile device of some sort. As this becomes more and more of a popular practice, kids are getting hooked too. While it is important to make sure that kids do not spend too much time in front of screens, there are ways to make their screen time valuable to their education. With the accessibility of mobile technologies and development software, many companies have created fun and interactive apps that can actually help teach kids about a variety of different things while also having fun.

There are thousands of apps out there, and it can be difficult to keep track of them all. When downloading an app, a lot is taken into consideration, but price probably factors in more than most other attributes, especially for parents. Luckily, there are plenty of different free apps out there that can be fun as well as educational for kids to interact with. Kids can learn a great deal, about math, reading, chemistry, geography, engineering, languages or even coding and outer space.

Here are some apps that may be worth looking into – and it may not hurt to try, especially since they are free!

● Math Playground can help teach math to kids from a first to sixth grade level. It offers activities that involve logic puzzles, math games, and arcade-style number games, as well as interactive tools for teaching fractions, functions, percents, and more.

● Kodable is an app available on more recent Apple iOS devices that teaches elementary-aged kids how to code. This growing field is becoming more and more in-demand, and your child can learn basic concepts of modern computer programming from quite an early age and get a head start.

● Kid Science: Chemistry Experiments, a kids app that features videos of simple chemistry experiments as well as full text descriptions that explain what is happening in the video and why. Once each video is complete, kids can take a short quiz to test just how much they’ve learned.

● Duolingo is a great app for kids and adults alike who are interested in learning a second language. Duolingo features a variety of short game-like exercises that teach vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. Duolingo has over 20 languages you can choose to learn from including Spanish, French, Chinese, and Arabic among others.

● The NASA Kids’ Club website is a fun and interactive place where kids can learn about space through games and simulations.

There are so many free apps out there that can be both fun and educational. Even companies like Khan Academy have become popular with kids, teens and adults alike, and many of these apps can be used to help supplement school-work or your own personal sense of curiosity.

For more free resources and parenting tips please visit our website at KDNovelties.com or the KD Novelties Blog.

Keeping Kids Active

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Obesity is a serious health concern in the United States and it is a growing threat to children, too. Due to sedentary lifestyles and poor dieting habits, more and more children are diagnosed as being clinically overweight every year, and an increasing number of these children are diagnosed as obese. Activity is important and it is incredibly beneficial to your overall health. By encouraging kids and teens to be active from a young age can help set good habits early on and will most likely help them stick with such habits as they get older.

There are many ways to help foster and develop skills that will encourage activity, while making sure that your kids are healthy too.

1. Be a good role model. Kids learn a lot by example and they easily pick up on things that their parents do, especially when they are younger. By being active yourself, your children are more likely to follow suit.

2. Be their cheerleader. Being positive or making activities fun can definitely be helpful. Many people, especially adults, see working out as a chore but if the idea of staying active is established and understood as a fun activity early on, this association may not exist and kids may be more likely to be and stay active.

3. Buy them “active play” gifts. Every kid wants a tablet or handheld device these days, but no matter what you end up getting your children for birthdays or during the holidays, make sure to get some things that encourage active play such as a bicycle, sports equipment, jump rope, etc.

4. Limit sedentary activities. You don’t have to be moving all the time in order to be fit, but with more and more people opting to sit in front of the TV or with a mobile device in hand, it can be easy to feel dissuaded from doing any other sorts of activities, especially ones that are more physically involved. Sure, it’s fine to watch a show, movie, or play a game, but it is important to limit screen time for a variety of reasons and can help open up opportunities for children to choose more active ways to pass the time.

5. Make time! And make sure there is time. Families are busy these days, and it can be difficult to schedule much of anything, but try to make sure that your family has some time to move around, too. Check in with your child’s school to see if they are active during the day and if there are any opportunities to participate in a sport or other active extracurricular after school as well.

6. Make sure that nutrition plays a role. Being active is important, but so is eating healthy, too! Make sure that your kids are hydrated, that they have access to healthy snacks and meals wherever they are prepared whether they are at home or at school.

There are so many ways to better incorporate activity into a daily routine, and the more a habit is positively enforced the more likely it will stick. There are so many benefits to eating well and staying active, especially for children who are still growing and developing constantly.

For more ways to keep kids active and creative parenting resources visit the KD Novelties blog.

8 Ways to Help Your Struggling Reader

Posted on | by KD Novelties
Struggling Readers

Reading is an essential skill, and it is important that it is taught early on. In order for children to do well in school, it is imperative that their literacy skills are adequate or at least measured before they begin any academic training or instruction. It is common for children to struggle when it comes to learning new things, but some struggles are more significant than others. Some children may be reluctant readers and may simply need encouragement, whereas other children may have other problems that prevent them from reading at the level that they should – and it is vital that parents figure out why their children are struggling with reading as soon as they possibly can.

Did you know that about 40% of children struggle with reading? Luckily, with early help most issues can be addressed and overcome, but unfortunately many parents wait a year or more before getting help. This is usually because parents may not be fully aware of why their children are struggling with reading or they believe that their kids simply just don’t want to read. Whether your child does not wish to read and needs to be nudged in the right direction, or whether your child has dyslexia or other related reading disorders, it is important that it is addressed early. In either case, your child may suffer as a result and fall behind. The longer a reading issues goes unchecked, the more difficult it will be to reverse and correct. There are some ways you can help struggling readers.

1. Acknowledge Your Child’s Successes. As a parent, it may be difficult to look at anything other than your child’s reading skills especially when they factor in so much when it comes to other skills and abilities. But by focusing on your child’s other strengths, you can help instill a powerful sense of self-esteem that will help them develop the confidence to get better at reading and any other skills they may need to learn along the way.

2. Set realistic goals. If your child has problems reading, they are not going to overcome the difficulties overnight. It is important to set realistic goals and milestones and to celebrate each one as they come.

3. Don’t limit your child. Poor reading skills can affect other skills as well, namely spelling, but even if your child is a bad speller do not let this setback keep them mute. It is important that children learn to express themselves and communicate, and it is an important skill that they need to learn early on. Waiting around for their reading or spelling to get better will not change things, so it is important that you help them write in any way that they can. You can use a dictionary, practice self spell-check and other skills that they can apply to their writing afterwards. It is important that kids learn to get their thoughts on paper and that they understand how to properly express how they feel.

4. Share your own difficulties with your kids. If your child is feeling down on themselves for their reading problems or disabilities, it can be discouraging, even if you keep encouraging them to improve or if you congratulate achievements in other areas. They want to hear how you overcame your difficulty, make it real for them so they can associate with the problem.

5. Read aloud. Even if your child has issues reading on their own, reading along with them or to them can be incredibly beneficial. Reading aloud can help bolster their language skills and it could also help spark interest and creativity as well.

6. Take care in the small strides. Having a struggling reader is not easy and the journey may be a long one. Kids who have trouble reading do not usually get better all of a sudden, but they can develop skills slowly over time. Help your child with these smaller steps, help them go over the alphabet, help them sound out words, play games with them including the labeling of your groceries to the signs on the road.

7. Remember that it is okay to read slowly. Kids who have a hard time reading, especially those with disorders, may be especially slow readers, but slow reading is not a bad thing. Remember that your child is working at their own pace, and that the way in which their brains process and understand information is what is best for them. If your child needs a little more time to read or get through a sentence, it’s okay.

8. Make sure that you’re a team. Reading problems and other learning disabilities don’t have to be private affairs. By letting family members and teachers in on the struggle, they can help form a supportive team for your child. By working at home and at school, your child can make huge improvements and can feel better about themselves and motivated to improve.

SPECIAL NOTE: With struggling readers let them choose the books they want to read to entice them to read more and help with the situation.  Books personalized for kids can boost their motivation and even forget that they have a problem to begin with since they will be so engulfed in reading about themselves.  It always helps to take their mind off their problem while still working on it without them really noticing.  Get creative!