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It is with a touch of sadness that we have come to the end of Chuckle Talkers 2. This has been a project with our Smart Talkers pre-School Communication groups in conjunction with Chuckle productions with the fantastic Sara Christie and some lovely families from Silkmore Children's Centre in Stafford. We started in June to look at communication and how to incorporate communication opportunities into everyday activities. The course since September has looked at how to develop children's physical development and address other issues which the parents had requested. The parents report that have leaned so much which in turn has a knock on effect on their children. They feel that they have improved knowledge about how to help their children’s communication and physical development which has given them more ideas to help at home. They also say it has made them feel more confident to talk to other professionals.
They have put together their own tips for other parents, which I can share with you:
1. Through play encourage all types of child development
2. Give your child opportunity
3. Encourage independence skills e.g. walking, dressing
4. Give children time to practice their skills
5. Encourage gross motor skills in conjunction with fine
motor e.g. catching a ball before they write
6. Encourage co-ordination skills by dancing, swimming and
other physical activities
7. Core stability must be strong (tums, bums, back and shoulders).
Improve with games such as bridges, big arm movements with ribbons, mark making
on easels, row row the boat and other action games
8. Encourage fine motor control by threading activities,
drawing, sticking, cutting, ripping, different textures e.g. rice,
pasta,play dough
9. Spatial and motor planning are important for development
to encourage by jigsaws, inset puzzles, sticker work, throwing, catching balls,
shape sorter
10. Be aware of the amount of fat, salt and sugar in foods
especially ready meals and drinks!
It's been a privilege to work with them and a delight to see how far they've come. We'd love to do a third course but with all the cut-backs this is probably un-likely. They would love the outcome of the project to be a book for other parents to share what they have learned.
So keep your fingers crossed or find us a wealthy sponsor!
You can read more about Chuckle at http://chuckleproductions.com and Smart Talkers at www.smarttalkers.org.uk
Libby and Nicky
I love the give chiddlren an opportunity as sometimes we dont and doing their thing gives them a chance to experiment and try new things on their own.
ReplyDeleteThe realised that they were doing far too much for their children so that opportunities were limited. As we are busy it's easy to put on their coat & shoes, carry them to the car, push them in the pushchair etc They carried out what they had learned and the change in the toddlers was amazing! Fantastic project, I loved every minute of it.
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