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How To Handle Picky Eaters

Posted on June 11, 2018 | by KD Novelties

How to Handle Picky Eaters and What May Help Them Get Over It

Many kids are known for being picky eaters, and there may be reasons for that. Certain vegetables or greens can taste bitter to a child’s hypersensitive taste buds.

Other foods, like cilantro, can taste soapy to certain individuals while it may taste delicious to others. In other cases, however, picky eating may just come down to preferences and experiences. Kids who are not exposed to other foods may become cautious eaters and grow hesitant to trying something new. However, other kids may have a legitimate issue with texture and taste.

Hows and Whys

The first step to understanding your picky eater is to figure out where their pickiness comes from. If it’s a matter of taste and texture, you can try and work around these issues by sticking to foods that do not have these features. For instance, if broccoli is too bitter, sweet peas may be a better tasting alternative. If it all comes down to fear of the unknown, then there are some other things you can consider.

A Head’s Up

Giving kids options, or letting them know what is available, can help them eat what’s in front of them. If they are conditioned to believe that you’ll whip up some macaroni and cheese anytime they don’t like or refuse to eat something, they may begin refusing to eat certain foods outright without even trying.

You can let them know ahead of time what to expect when it comes time to eat. Letting them know that if they don’t like what’s on the menu is fine. But you can also emphasize that there are no other options.

Allowing kids to know what to expect and giving them a window can help mentally prepare them for the meal to come. This will also help prevent a tantrum, especially if they might otherwise be surprised by a new or unfamiliar food. Another option is to get kids involved in cooking so that they are more likely to eat if they were a part of the process.

Keep it Fresh

Spicing things up a bit can help, too. Keep in mind though that taste buds are sensitive in children. However, exposing them to different flavors, spices, and other ingredients early on can help make new foods more familiar to them. If they have something to refer back to, they may be more adventurous and willing to try new dishes.

Make it a Group Activity

Eating as a family certainly helps, too. When you eat as a unit, it becomes more of a family activity rather than a chore, especially for kids who would much rather play than eat a meal. Plus, plenty of studies show that kids who eat dinner with their families have healthier diets, better vocabularies, and much more.

You can still expect kids to get squirmy after a while and not finish everything on their plate, but by making dinner and other meals a sit-down family affair, it can help coerce them into being a part of the activity itself and come to really appreciate family meals together.

A Little Bribery Can Go a Long Way…

If all else fails, you can always promise them ice cream. While you shouldn’t allow them to replace a meal with a treat, the idea of a treat afterward, or when a good portion of the food is gone can help. You can also apply this to seconds, as well. However, if your child prefers one part of the main course over another, no seconds will be allowed. Once they’ve eaten a good amount of their vegetables or other healthy side also included in the meal.

How Coloring Can Help Your Child’s Development

Posted on May 8, 2018 | by KD Novelties

Benefits of Coloring

There are many benefits of coloring that can help your child’s development in more ways than you can think. For many parents, a set of coloring books and crayons is a great go-to for any rainy day or time you want your kids to stay occupied. While coloring can be a good option for keeping kids quiet, they can be extremely advantageous for their overall mental and even physical development.

Handwriting and Hand-Eye Coordination

In order to improve handwriting, children need to build up certain strength and familiarity with holding objects like pens or pencils. A child’s first set of crayons is a great way to introduce them to writing utensils and their use. It can also help with the motor skills needed to execute good penmanship. As kids use crayons effectively to color within the lines, they are building up the dexterity needed to move a pen or pencil on paper.

Patience and Relaxation

For many kids, making it through a coloring page takes a great deal of patience. However, doing so can help them exercise this skill in other areas of their life, too. For many kids, and now adults, calmly coloring can prove to be an effective stress reliever and provides relaxation.

Focus

Linked closely with patience, coloring can help kids develop their ability to focus on a single task. The goal of finishing a picture provides them with the motivation to completely color the image. It has been proven that children who spend their time coloring have better concentration and focus skills.

Visual and Spatial Knowledge

Coloring a picture can help your children to recognize lines, perspective, color, hue, shape and form. Visually it helps them select colors for the image and begin to see the picture as a whole even before it is completely colored. Depending on the images they are coloring, kids can also become more familiar with and better able to recognize patterns.

Creativity and Imagination

Coloring sparks a child’s ability to make and create things. Coloring inside the lines and using the proper colors can demonstrate an understanding of the world around them. Even kids who use untraditional colors or go outside the lines are expressing themselves and unleashing their imagination in unique ways.

Color Recognition

Coloring is often a child’s first active experience with identifying and using color. It can help introduce them to different shades and hues, as well as other complexities of the color wheel. By deciding on what color to use next, kids are exercising their creative or critical thinking skills.

Language and Vocabulary Development

Whether your kids are actively coloring or just talking about it, coloring will give your kids an opportunity to learn new words and sentences. Using descriptive words to convey different styles of coloring sheets or variations of color, can help with language and vocabulary development.

Personalized Coloring Books

KD Novelties can take coloring a step further by providing personalized coloring and activity books. Starring the child’s name throughout these custom-made coloring books, can make coloring an even more immersive and interactive experience. Visually exciting, personalized activity books are full of funny characters, educational fun and has an emphasis on creativity. These amazingly awesome activity and coloring books are great for developing basic problem solving skills and entertaining children.

Make Book Reading a Sensory Experience

Posted on April 25, 2018 | by KD Novelties

Ways to Make Book Reading a Sensory Experience

Making book reading a sensory experience can be fun when you involve the kids. We all use our senses to engage with and understand the world around us. The way that people interact with the world is different from person to person, and it can be especially particular for those on the spectrum. When it comes to special needs children, sometimes one or more senses are either over- or under-reactive to stimulation. Understanding how your child operates, what they respond to, and what they like can help make learning much more tangible for them. Reading a picture book aloud can be an active and engaging activity for children. It can be even more effective with the use of some simple strategies. Here are some ways how you can make reading a book aloud to your child more of a sensory experience.

Texture

Many children’s books might already have this ingredient, especially baby books. However, for children on the spectrum, the addition of texture, fabrics, materials other than paper, and even props can help them engage with the story. If you have picture books, you can add your own textures with materials from any arts and craft stores such as felt, cotton balls, fur etc. where appropriate. You can customize books to be more interactive and encourage your child to interact with the book and the story even more.

Props and Visual Aids

Props and visual aids can be useful in many ways. It can help kids understand the story and recreate scenes and retell the story on their own. Thus, helping them retain information and develop a closer understanding of the story. Items like stuffed animals, toys resembling characters, felt board sets, sequencing cards, miniature objects and more can all be helpful and enriching.

Sounds

Adding sounds while reading can do a lot for kids, too. You can ask your child to imitate farm animal sounds or any other actions that are included in the story like trains and cars. For kids who are minimally verbal or non-verbal, you can consider augmentative and alternative communication in place of sounds. This can include actions, miming, or pointing to certain things as they happen in the story.

Smell and Taste

Creating a more engaging atmosphere can be fun for reading, too. Adding candle scents or going outside to recreate the setting of the story can help your child with their imagination. They can get a better grip on the characters are and what they are doing. If food or candy is mentioned, having some of the same on hand can be fun, and tasty, too.

Moving Around

This is a great way to not only add some exercise to your day but can make reading a far more active experience. You can get up and engage in the same activities as the characters in the story. You can also reenact entire scenes straight from the book. This encourages children to think about what the characters would do or what the story is about. By approaching stories in different ways, you may find the one that reaches and affects your child the most.