For the messier activities in your busy bags keep a small plastic pool or inflatable pool available just for indoor use. You can set it up in the kitchen or the bag porch and let them paint, write in shaving cream, play with Playdoh etc. When finished simply take it outside and spray it off. Voila! No messy kitchen!

Here are some busy bag ideas to get you started. The ideas are really limitless.

Measuring Bags

* Place several plastic fishing worms in a bag. Cut out several different sized fish and have your child measure them using the fishing worms.
* Place a set of measuring cups and a few different sized plastic bowls in a bag. Give them water and let them sit in the pool and measure it into different containers.
* Put a tape measure in the bag and pictures of various things in the house. Let your child choose one picture at a time and measure it.
* Trace and cut out their feet on different color card stock. Cut out a dozen or so. Write a different number on each foot. They are to find something in the house that is that many foot-lengths.

Sorting Bags

* Place an egg carton in the bag. Fill several bags with small things they can sort. You may use tiny shells, beads, beans, rocks, etc. Let them sort the manipulatives as they see fit.
* Cut out circles of different colors using cardstock. Have the children sort the objects by color.
* Collect 10 small plastic butter containers. Write a different number in permanent marker on each lid. Have fun items like rubber bugs for them to sort into the containers by number.
* Cut out one of each shape using cardstock: triangle, circle, square, rectangle, and oval. Buy a bag of foam shapes for your child to sort.

Letters Bags

* Place a small toaster oven sized pan and magnetic letters in a bag for your child to make words with.
* Draw each letter in the alphabet on cardstock. Place a bag of Wikki-stix in the bag and let them make each letter. This also works with Playdoh or clay if they roll it.
* Print out large empty letters, onto cardstock. Place the letters in the bag along with letter stamps. Have them stamp the letter all over the correct letter.
* Place a small dry erase board, markers and letter stencils in a bag for them to trace.
* Fill a bag with shaving cream and let them trace their letters on the bag. Make sure to duck tape the bag before they start.

Books on tape

* Place a tape recorder, headphones, tapes and books in a bag. Let them tell the story into the tape recorder as they ‘read “it. They can then listen to their story.
* Download books from the library on their iPod or checkout books on CD. Place them in a bag along with a small personal CD player and headphones for them to listen to.

Art Bags

* Fill several bags with paper, glue and different mediums like feathers, pom-poms, yarn, etc. Let them make their own creations!
* Fill a bag with different cut outs of blank faces. Place glue, googly eyes, yarn for hair, different noses, mustaches, etc. Let them make faces.
* Place coloring books in a bag with crayons, markers, or colored pencils.

Sand Play

* Purchase a bag of colored sand. Place funnels, cups, basters, colanders, and strainers in a bag. Let them sit in the pool and play with the sand.
* Fill a small plastic shoe box with sand and very small toys (artifacts) along with a plastic spoon. Let your child be an archaeologist and ‘dig’ for the treasures.
* Place sand in a plastic sandwich sized container. Place the container and a spray bottle and alphabet flashcards in a busy bag. Your child can spray the sand and trace their letters in it.

Homeschooling with a multi-age family can keep you on your toes. Hopefully your toddler’s busy bags will help during those moments when you need a few extra minutes!

Irene Reardon provides an easy to follow program for Educators of children in the K-7 years in the homschooling learning area. This program has helped many homeschool parents reduce their stress, improve their skills, promote active learning and improve their children’s outcomes. All this from the comfort of their own home. Find out more at http://www.howtoforhomeschooling.com.

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Mind games: How does music and movement affect the child’s brain?
Recent research into early cognitive development has unearthed the substantial impact that music and movement has on a child’s mind. Both activities work to stimulate different areas of the brain, subsequently combining to provide long-term benefits for a wide range of cognitive functions. This stimulation also encourages connections between the brain’s neural pathways.

Listening to music actively engages both hemispheres of the brain, meaning that left-sided language functions such as grammar and vocabulary are stimulated in tandem with right-sided functions, including intonation, accentuation and processing of audiological stimuli. This comprehensive stimulation enhances language development. This development is complemented by the effect of movement and rhythm on the brain’s frontal lobes.

Music, movement and learning: A wide range of educational benefits
In addition to the advantages for early language development, integrating music and movement has a number of distinct benefits for any young child. Research has shown that integrating music into teaching can have dramatic effects on memory, mathematical achievement, and reading ability. Hearing words being sung has been shown to improve a child’s ability to distinguish linguistic patterns and develop auditory discrimination.

Activities which regularly involve movement can help kids improve their balance, coordination and spatial awareness. It serves as great physical exercise, which helps release endorphins, thus making kids feel happier and healthier. It’s also especially important in developing a child’s basic motor skills, as well as helping build self-esteem and improving social relationships with other children.

Combine the two and you’ll see music and movement complementing each other in wonderful ways. Kids will start to develop their natural rhythm and will actively engage different senses in their learning. What’s more, these types of activities are naturally enjoyable for children and can help to engage those who favour the kinesthetic learning style.

Easy ways to introduce music and movement into the classroom
To a certain extent, music and movement has always been a feature of early learning. For example, young students learn the alphabet through song or create their own dramatic productions. But there are so many other ways to increase engagement through these activities. You could have music playing in the background during lesson time or use dance to learn about other cultures. You could even encourage each child to learn an instrument – the perfect way to combine music and movement.

E-learning software also allows easy integration of music and movement into daily learning, with many offerings using sounds on the computer to complement interactive lessons while demanding quick physical reactions.

Hannah McCarthy is Schools Marketing Manager for Education City, a leading supplier of eLearning software to the preschool and school markets in the US. With online Pre-K games, a comprehensive package of school games covering the Stig and Sten’s fun adventure games for kids aged 4 to 12 to play at home, Education City is the future of interactive learning in the US.

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Therefore, parents seek out one to one tuition for their children when they are at KS2 and 3 and when they are approaching their SATS or 11+ exams. One to one tuition gives their children the valuable support they need, whether they are catching up on activities they missed at school due to absence or whether they simply need that little extra one to one support to understand elements of the English or Maths curriculum. I knew a parent who was convinced her daughter would gain a free place at a private secondary school if only she could have extra tuition after school. For very little outlay, certainly when compared against her future potential earnings, her daughter gained the knowledge and confidence she needed to sit those all important exams and win a place at the school of her choice. Home tuition can be money well spent!

Students taking their GCSE and A level English and Maths exams tend to panic when they are disappointed to receive poor mock exam results. Fortunately, there is time for most students to spend a few months filling in the gaps in their learning with the help of one to one sessions designed specifically with their needs in mind. A personal tutor can fit in around the student’s busy schedule of school, work and socialising, and help give the student support with school assignment work and GCSE and A level exam coaching, using a range of activities to suit their individual learning needs and styles. This personal approach really benefits the student because it gives them the time and space to develop at their own pace outside of the classroom.

Surprising numbers of adults also pay for home tuition because they simply did not receive the education they need to be successful in the job market. Some adults don’t realise how much they have missed at school until they have children of their own! The findings of an NRDC Report (2006)* conclude that ‘Learners’ confidence in writing tends to be higher at home than in the classroom or a public place, and confidence tends to increase most as a consequence of attending a course’. Many adult learners, particularly students of English Literacy, find it useful to pay for one to one English tuition at their home. The specialist tutor identifies areas to focus on and give the student the confidence he or she needs to later join a public class.

This article outlines just a few reasons why people consider paying for tuition in their homes, but there really are many, many more.

* NRDC (2007) Effective Teaching and Learning:Summary Report: London: Redlin

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