I am on a mission of helping build a more mindful, gender equal and kind world for our children. A world where they are inspired to become life- long learners and their best versions. Raising children is a big responsibility and we parents can’t leave education only to the schools. Our young children are in school only for 5-6 hours a day and this duration of their school time is decreasing even more in these Covid19 times. The time children spend at home (which is a bigger part of 24 hours in a day) ,is more critical and that is why, providing them with a stimulating home environment becomes extremely crucial.
The home learning environment refers to a child’s learning and development in everyday life with the family at home. A positive learning environment in early years is the single most influential factor in children’s future success in school.A growing number of studies have provided researched evidence that the home learning environment (HLE) is an important predictor of differences in children’s academic, cognitive faculties, social and emotional competencies. Children’s participation in learning activities, screen free time used in bonding with family, the quality of parent–child interactions, and the availability of learning materials are four key features of the home learning environment that help to support children’s educational development as per Bradley & Corwyn, (2002).
Stop for a few seconds to think ” HOW CONDUCIVE IS YOUR (HLE) HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR KIDS?”
The early experiences should be full of play, exploration and activities that build neural pathways, essential for life- long learning. A lot of parents understand this and are conscious about working with children at home .But the thought of planning and organizing right educational fun activities can be very overwhelming for them. To make it easier to get developmentally mapped purposeful engagement activities, there are a few companies in the market which are doing a good job of addressing this pain point of parents.
I recommend Toddle Boxes, a brainchild of @www.toddle.ae, a company based in Dubai which is doing a fabulous job of creating educator led home engagement resources keeping in mind the early learning framework. They are catering to age groups from 2-5 years and have unique monthly theme boxes which are curated by educators, packed with activities designed for effortless learning at home and include all supplies needed which are delivered to your doorstep.
The Toddle theme boxes have variety of activities which will help develop all early learning milestones of your children. They are a great choice as all the activities in these boxes are developmentally appropriate, meaningful, screen free and enhance skills for the holistic development. The boxes and all other resources are designed to inspire and encourage parents to bond, chat, play, learn, do craft and read with their children keeping in mind the over all developmental needs. Check out the kind of boxes and skills these boxes will help you develop in your children in the following skill chart, which the Toddle educators lovingly call Toddle Superpowers. Each activity in the boxes indicate the skill/s it is designed to develop.
Remember the environment matters, what we say to our children matters, how we live our lives matters, how stimulating is our house for our kids matters, how mindfully and purposefully they are engaged at home matters. The quality of the home learning environment which should have limited screen usage especially in early years, is a key predictor of a children’s early cognitive ability , social emotional competencies & language development which are all tied to their future success.
Your children’s positive learning experiences at home have lasting and life changing impact on them. Make their early years count Moms & Dads. Make your Home Learning Environment stimulating!
SAAKSHI SINGLA
Child Development Expert