by Carissa Rogers from www.goodncrazy.com

With 3 kids and also as a Foster parent I’ve had my share of teaching very young kids their ABCs and 123s. And believe it or not I’ve always found the best way to approach phonics is in the car!
I know it sounds a little crazy but especially with my younger kids we end up spending large chunks of time in the car with the after school run-around for the older kids. Plus summer road trips, holiday trips and everything in-between means logging a lot of miles for a 4 year old.
Car time is perfect to encourage your emergent readers and help them get ready for Kindergarten. And when you’re busy in the car, navigating (or sleeping on long trips!) handing them a tablet or smartphone with pre-school educational apps will keep the learning fun and interactive.

4 GoodNCrazy Tips For Teaching Pre-Schoolers Phonics In The Family Wagon:

1. Use What They Know
Keep to the things in their life they know and love. Daddy’s name starts with ‘Da’. Mommy starts with ‘Ma’. Name other siblings, friends, grandparents etc. see if you can come up with REAL people they know to fill up the whole phonics alphabet!

2. Simple Engagement
Ask your kiddo to name the things around him or her. (Inside the car, outside the car and in their brain.) Ask them to repeat the beginning sound of each item they name. Repetition wins here. The more they can repeat all those sounds the faster they will connect those sounds with the actual letters.

3. Use Technology
No it doesn’t make you a bad mom to hand your kid your SmartPhone in a restaurant or plan for a few new apps on the family iPad for a long road trip! I’m amazed at what my 5 year old has learned from a few well-placed moments using my iPad.

My current favorite phonics app is TeachMe: Kindergarten from 24x7digital. For more Pre-school educational app ideas check out Famigo.com, a great family app review site. Other apps we love include: Sid the Science Kid (especially the jokes area!), All Bob Books apps and Spanish Language apps like Little Pim. I find that the comparison of another language in an easy app form like InstaSpanish Kids Lessons helps them learn English phonics and they don’t even know it!

4. Recruit Older Siblings
My older kids are experts in teaching their sibs small lessons leading up to being big readers. After all they were in the same boat only a few years earlier! I find that a younger sibling will sit and listen to an older kid read sometimes longer than they let me read to them!

by Jeana Shandraw from www.SurfandSunshine.com

Introducing technology to children at an early age seems to be a hot topic these days. Most experts sternly frown upon any tech exposure at all before the age of 2, with a consensus of 2 hours per day being the max allowed thereafter. While I agree that these generalized guidelines may be appropriate for “mindless” technological entertainment, I don’t feel they can or should be applied to early education technology.

Now, “what is this early education technology you speak of?” you ask. My personal definition would be “any type of technology or advancement that is introduced to children at an early age to enhance or further educational learning or skills”. (Yes, I just made that up. Please feel free to add it to Wikipedia for me.) As with all things in life, to me, it is what you make of it. When parents make a conscientious choice of the programs their children are exposed to, they are able to actively cultivate a lifetime enjoyment and thirst for learning. (Woah folks, I’m on a roll!) I not only embrace technology in early education, I would, like totally, marry it if I could.

Having been brought up with a techie geek for a dad, I was constantly immersed in every new electronic gadget we could acquire. We went from the Atari (800, 5200 and ST) to the Commodore (64 and 128) and then made the leap to our first personal computer – a Tandy (Zork anyone?).

Fast forward to 10 years later and I’m now teaching my dad about this cool “internet” that I used daily as a Physics Assistant at USC – years before it became commercialized into the WWW in 1995.
The point to my history lesson here was that it was inevitable that I would also unabashedly throw computers and technology at my first born! Cut me open and I will probably bleed binary 0s and 1s. I readily admit that my son has received countless hours of technological exposure since he was just a little guy, and I would not change a thing.

It, of course, started with my father. He didn’t let me down and gave my son his very own iPad when he was just 10 months old. By the time he was one year old, he could recognize the upper case letters of the alphabet. With the help of a Baby Sign Language DVD (yes, that he watched on the evil television), he also knew over 100 words and was “speaking” in sentences to me. At 18 months old, Whistler could recognize all upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. At 20 months old, he could say all the letters of the alphabet and numbers 0-9. I whole heartedly give credit for this feat to this iPad app.

I’m not a certified instructor or accredited teacher, but I do know that repetition is key in learning new things, especially for children. The iPad is a wonderful tool that accomplishes this task while also engaging and encouraging its users. (When was the last time a flash card said your name and sang you a song for getting the answer right?) I am, however, very picky about what he watches on TV and plays on the iPad. All shows and apps must have an educational value, so shows like Tom and Jerry or apps like that stupid cat that records and repeats back what you say in a high pitched voice are NOT allowed.

I can remember early on, when the other women at Mommy and Me would look at me in disgust as I handed over my iPhone to my son after class while I spoke to another mom. They close mindedly assumed that I was merely handing him a distraction and didn’t bother to look and see what was really going on. He was learning. He was creating words from the letters on the screen. He was naming animals that most adults didn’t even know existed. That “thing” that the other moms were so petrified of exposing their children to “too early” had placed my child leaps and bounds ahead of theirs intellectually, which meant he was also able to communicate with me more effectively.

My son has a sweet disposition by nature, but I am certain that without his advanced communication skills (acquired from exposure to a ton of technology from mom) we would not have been able to “skip” things like temper tantrums and inconsolable crying. We luckily learned to communicate with each other very early on and this, I feel, has created an incredible blanket of confidence and security that has only strengthened our relationship. I have found that when used in moderation, and not as a replacement babysitter, early exposure to technology can provide some amazing benefits to both you and your children.

by Deanne Shoyer from www.smallbutkindamighty.com

Both my children are autistic, and like a previous blogger in this series, Rebecca, I’ve been amazed at how many therapeutic applications there are for my children on the iPad. You may have seen the 60 Minutes piece which featured the research currently being conducted at the Beverley School in Toronto. This research seeks to quantify exactly how iOS devices can help children with special needs and preliminary results are showing an increase in communication of 20%.

But can general educational apps also be helpful for children with special needs? My answer to that question is a resounding, yes! I find them particularly useful for my children and I’ve outlined below some of the reasons why. High quality, educational apps do the following:

• They engage. Another previous blogger, Julia, wrote about how much fun kids have playing apps. My son Owen has very narrow interests and so teaching him play skills has always been a challenge, but he loves his iPad. He would play apps like Zoo Train for hours if I let him.

• They teach diverse skills. Unlike television, which also engages my children, when my kids play with apps on their iPad they learn a variety of skills. Take an app like i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures for example – the primary benefit for me in playing with apps like these is that they improve my children’s motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. If they also pick up information on letters, sounds and words along the way, well that’s a bonus.

• Generalize skills. For my children, the iPad has been a gateway to more experiences, a safe place where they can play, try new things and gain confidence. For example, Owen loves Eric Carle and so I downloaded My Very First App for him. He quickly became a maestro at the matching pairs game and with that new-found confidence he developed using the iPad, I was able to get him to play ‘real-life’ matching games.

• They make abstract concepts concrete. It’s tough for all children to learn abstract concepts like sharing but when the penguin game in i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures requires them to literally share the iPad in 2-player mode, they not only understand the concept more readily but they learn a valuable life lesson too – that sharing doesn’t necessarily lessen their experience, sometimes it means double the fun!

by Julia Gabriel from www.nugglemama.ca

I admit that I am no expert when it comes to early education, but with 5 kids, 2 who have been regularly exposed to apps, I have seen first hand how apps have helped my 2 youngest children get a head start for school. My son and youngest daughter have started reading earlier, are able to do math long before their peers and have an uncanny ability to transfer skills learned from educational apps into real situations. When used correctly and in conjunction with traditional mediums educational apps for kids can help provide educational paving stones for children of all abilities. Below are the 5 benefits I have found for app use for kids ages 3-8.

#5 Apps are interactive: Children enjoy learning more when they receive regular feedback as to their progress. With learning apps, like Planet Boing, there is a system of rewards that encourage children to complete each level and earn rewards. Think of it as the new version of a sticker chart.

#4 Apps help prepare kids for the future: Technology isn’t going anywhere. When children use age appropriate apps on devices such as the iPad they are learning to use the tools that will become more and more part of daily life in the future.

#3 Track Your Children’s Progress: Some apps offer a way to track your children’s progress as they use them. With progress reports you can actually see how each app is helping to improve skills like reading, math, phonics and more.

#2 Portability: I love that I can take our favourite learning apps, like i Learn with Poko: Fun Counting and Addition!, where ever we go and fit in a fun lesson anytime. Standing in line at the grocery store? Waiting for an appointment? Sit down and practice science, math or reading for 10 minutes. The classroom can go where you go and no heavy book bag to carry.

#1 Fun! Who says learning can’t be fun? Apps for kids are specifically designed to maximize engagement and keep little ones learning without even realizing they are. With the right apps you are support the learning and development of young minds in an entertaining way.

by Rebecca Solis-Autry from www.momssavingmoney.com

I appreciate all the wonderful apps including the iLearnWith apps that have assisted in helping my kids with their delays. I have two boys ages 4 and 5 with delays in speech; one has expressive and the other has responsive delays. Both are getting services from a speech therapist at their school. I was introduced to apps that can be used on the iPad to help assist them.

My son, who is 4, and has expressive speech delays, enjoys i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures because he likes being able to hear the sounds and blends of letters and is encouraged repeatedly to say them. I’ve seen in the short time we’ve started using iLearnWith apps and others introduced to us by the speech therapist how vastly both of them have improved. Both of my kids have a long way to go but the apps have certainly been a great asset to their learning.

Our biggest problem now is that I have 3 kids and they all like playing on the iPad but we only have one and it’s mostly for mommy’s work! We now have the interesting and messy arguments whose turn and how long each one of them has been on the iPad. I like being able to use the games for a learning purpose.

I used to not like the idea of introducing our kids to video games until they turned 10 but when we learned about the delays the kids had I was a little more open to the idea. I didn’t want my kids to be consumed by video games and learning to shoot or pick on a bad guy, but with the learning apps they are learning their letters, sounds and seasons, numbers and many more. I am more confident now that the kids are using their gaming time in an educational way.

So would you introduce your kids at an early age to games that are educational? What age do you think is appropriate for kids to start playing games?

by Suzanne Keith from http://revolutionarymarketingideas.com

Keeping young children properly stimulated is often an adventure for moms especially when you need a few minutes to do work or are waiting at the doctor’s office. While we don’t want to be “Tiger mommies”, we do want to make sure that our children get the educational stimulation they need for success in life. However, sometimes when moms have multiple children, tasks and even the need to go to the bathroom alone, we need something to occupy our children without feeling guilty. We were all raised that the TV cannot be the babysitter, but how are we to get dinner on the table, the carpool confirmed and the work project sent?

To be honest, we have often used our smartphones and tablets as a way to keep the children busy. However, the SubwaySurf game App does not cut the mustard in enriching the lives of our children. So we have been struggling to find age appropriate educational Apps. Luckily, we recently discovered wonderful new Apps that provide a fantastic learning experience for both our seven-year old daughter and our 4-year-old niece. iLearnWith from Tribal Nova the developers of PBS KIDS PLAY! has introduced a series of educational games exclusively for the family touch screen tablet.

The girls really enjoy Planet Boing. While both girls can take turns playing the App, they are introduced to levels appropriate for their age. Planet Boing features games that focus on four key skill sets critical for early learning: math, science, language and literacy. What makes this game revolutionary is that it analyzes and reports your child’s progress along the way. In fact, it even creates a personalized learning path for your child. What a win for us moms to have an educational learning tool that keeps our angels occupied while we make their dinner. Meanwhile, between their squeals of delight, the children are challenged to build their essential skills while earning fun rewards. The girls just love playing Planet Boing.

Now, we have to work hard to coax our children away from the game and join us for diner. One successful coaxing technique we are using is: if they are good helpers we can download the next series, i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures!