After a lovely holiday away in Surfers Paradise with my family I am back into Polkadots action . . . well, I’m trying to  anyway! I am of the firm belief that you need at least two days to recover and get back into routine after a holiday,  especially when a child is involved. Unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on e-mails, you name it… there are a million things to do and in amoungst it all, trying to entertain your child so that he knows he is still the centre of the your world!

All of this sparked my BLOG thoughts for today. . .  because as I was going about my business, trying to get life back in order, Ashton’s baby chatter calls for attention were getting louder and louder. It was at this point I reaslised how quickly our babies and children get caught up in our crazy adult lives. They have no choice but to go with the flow . . . of course we can’t stop doing everything and just play with our children 24/7 – BUT! we can stop every now and then to give them pockets of quality time. And if we really think smart we can work our role as teacher to our children in with our role of ‘whatever else’. You could take a 15 minute walk (exercise) with your child and stop to smell the flowers. While preparing afternoon tea, talk with your child about the seeds you discovered inside an apple. While reading a bed time story stop half way through the story and ask them to make up a new ending using their imagination. Make the every day ordinary adult crazy daily life moments… extraordinary. You just need to take a few seconds to think “How can I make this moment a teaching moment?”

We are meant to be teaching our children about our world, preparing them to take on the world and enjoy it. Kids are all about having  fun, so if you can find ways to teach your child in ordinary day to day tasks, your crazy day will become a lot more FUN!

Ashton explores the flowers

Polkadots Newsletter ~ Volume 1

What is a Podule?

The question is on everyone’s lips. Polkadots Podules are a new and innovative approach to teaching and learning for pre-schoolers and their parents. All of the music, books activities and activity materials, based around a specific curriculum area, are in one place, ready to use at your convenience. Podules can be bought in a downloadable or hard copy format.

You often want to have meaningful and educational interactions with your children but the ideas aren’t coming to you, or you don’t have the time to organize everything! Polkadots has done a lot of the preparation for you by assembling learning resources on a specific topic, in the one place (a Podule), so that precious time with your pre-schooler can be more interactive, more fun and more educational, giving them a real head start on their formal education.

At first glance, there is so much material available in a Podule that some might shy away from it with the thought of “too much to take in!” What parents using the materials have found, and is our intention, that you can use small amounts like songs or just the storybook when convenient or use the entire lesson plan for really comprehensive learning. It’s as relaxed or as intensive as you want it to be . . . or as your child demands. You might be surprised at how they respond to a complete lesson with your full attention and at what they talk to you about afterwards as you continue to play songs and build on activities. Repetition lends to retention and children actually will say and do extraordinary things . . . when they are given extraordinary things to do.

Watch our PODule Promo video at www.polkadots.co.nz then follow the link and instructions and you will be up and running in no time!

You can also click on the Tell a Friend button and let your friends know there is a great free Podule they can get!