education - Parenting Healthy

Maria Montessori developed the Montessori educational philosophy in 1897. This philosophy emphasizes hands-on age-appropriate activities for your child to nurture their physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development. And although this child-focused educational technique was meant for classroom settings, it’s now possible to introduce it to your toddler or baby through play. And the best way to do this is by buying your little one a few Montessori toys.

Montessori Toys That Will Grow With Your Child — Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

What sets a Montessori toy apart from other toys?

You may be wondering what you need to look out for to know that a toy is Montessori friendly. Well, here are a few pointers that will help you know what to look out for when buying a Montessori toy.

Toys made from natural materials – Maria Montessori emphasized using natural classroom materials that a child can touch, explore, and connect with. Thus, toys made from natural materials such as ceramic, metal, cotton, wood, and wool are the best. These materials are also safe for your child, and their different textures help define your child’s senses.
Purpose-driven and realistic toys – The Montessori philosophy emphasizes the use of realistic toys that are purpose-driven. The toys should be a representation of something real. For instance, if you were to choose between a unicorn and a rhino figurine, you should go for the rhino figurine. Further, the toy should allow your child to engage in meaningful play.
Simple but engaging toys – Toys that are free of distractions are the best. Think toys with no bells, batteries, or whistles. The toy should be passive, encouraging your child to manipulate it to make a sound. They should also be simple but encourage your little one to explore and engage in self-directed creative play
Toys that hone a skill – Montessori toys should teach your little one a skill or build on one. This helps create a good foundation for advanced learning in your child’s later years. A good example is a shape puzzle that teaches your little one concentration or shape recognition.

Now that you know what to look for when buying Montessori toys let’s look at a few amazing Montessori-inspired toys you can get for your child.

Grabbing toy for babies who are starting to reach for things

Manhattan toy Skwish natural rattle

This rattle and teether toy is perfect for your little one who is yearning for something to hold and touch. The toy is lightweight, making it ideal for tiny hands to grab, plus its unique shape makes it easy to reach. Besides, it produces a gentle rattling sound that allows your little one to explore sounds and understand cause and effect.

The fact that it’s made from wood with a smooth and baby-safe water-based acrylic finish makes it safe for your little one who is teething. This is also a toy that won’t break when banged as it’s made from quality and durable wooden material.

Rattling roller for crawling babies

PlanToys wooden rainbow baby roller with sound

Is your little one just starting to crawl? Then, it would be best if you got them a toy that encourages their gross motor skills.

This wooden rainbow baby roller from PlanToys is perfect for tiny hands to pick up, plus it’s beautiful when it rolls, keeping your little one interested.

Moreover, this toy has a rattling sound that ensures your baby doesn’t give up crawling even when the roller rolls away. The wood sound is soothing and not distractive.

The rainbow colors further stimulate your baby’s sight, and since this product is made from quality chemical-free rubber wooden material, you can rest easy knowing it’s safe and it will serve many generations.

A memory toy

Montessori and Waldorf Inspired Sea Life Matching and Memory Game – 18 Piece Set

This matching sea life matching and memory game from Playskills Toys is perfect if you want to encourage your child to concentrate or focus on a task.

This game also improves your child’s short-term memory and nurtures their creativity. Since this memory game is based on linking two related images, your child’s visual discrimination will also improve.

The 18 piece set of sea animal cards are made from non-toxic wood, so you don’t have to worry about your child getting sick after putting one or two cards in their mouth.

Letter writing toy

Montessori Safari Animals

These wooden safari animal figurines keep in line with the Montessori principle of giving your child lifelike playthings to spark their creativity and interest.

With a realistic-looking lion or giraffe, you allow your child to experience what a real lion looks like before visiting the zoo. It also becomes easy to name all the animal body parts if you’re homeschooling. Besides, since your child is also supposed to match the figurines with similar-looking flashcards, they learn to concentrate, which improves their memory.

This sturdy set of safari animals and matching flashcards is made from natural wood with a non-toxic child-safe paint finish. It’s best suited for children who are age three and up.

Final thoughts

In closing, this isn’t a comprehensive list of all the Montessori toys available in the market. But these five toys and games are some of our highly recommended Montessori-friendly ones. Besides, they are suitable for different age groups, making them ideal if you have children of different ages in your home. Get your child one of these toys, and we can bet they will fall in love with it.

Education

The Top Tips for Teaching Students About Math

February 9, 2021February 8, 2021 Erin Sluka

If you have a child or student who is struggling to learn math, understand that you are not alone. Math is one of the most challenging topics for children to understand. It takes a dedicated teacher or caregiver to effectively communicate challenging topics in math to their students. No matter whether you are working with elementary school students, middle school students, high school students, or even college students, it is important for you to take a comprehensive approach to your students when it comes to math classes. Fortunately, there are a few tips that you can follow to better communicate math topics to your students.

Take Advantage of Technology

First, you need to take advantage of all of the resources at your disposal. Even though there is always going to be a place for the chalkboard, there are other resources available as well. For example, you may want to take advantage of i-Ready math and i-Ready answers that can make it easier for your students to remain engaged with challenging topics. Furthermore, there are even games that your students can play to learn some of the most challenging topics in math classes. Particularly for younger students, they may pay attention better if they think of math as a game. By holding the attention of your students, they will better understand the topics at hand.

Try to Leverage Hands-On Lessons

It is also a good idea to use a hands-on lesson. There is only so much that students are going to learn if all of their lessons are placed on the whiteboard. Even though there is a time and place for the whiteboard, it can also be helpful for students to learn math topics in other ways as well. For example, you may want to use food to communicate addition and subtraction. You can even roll a math lesson into snack time. Ask the students how many pieces they have. Then, ask them to subtract a few pieces by eating them and ask them how many pieces they have left. This will keep your students engaged and help them understand an important concept.

Try To Use Math To Tell a Story

One of the most common criticisms that students have is that they feel like they are never going to actually use math in the real world. Of course, they are young, and they do not realize just how integral math is to their everyday life. Therefore, think about using math to tell a story. That way, you will be able to provide students with a real-life example of just how important math can be. When they understand that they are going to need to use math to make it through their everyday life, they are more likely to pay attention to the lessons at hand.

Always Provide Quick Feedback

Your students are going to have a hard time paying attention if they do not understand if they are doing well or not. Even though you probably have a lot of students to teach, try to provide your students with instant feedback. If there is something that they are doing wrong, try to correct it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your students are going to carry these errors through all of their problems, leading to a significant source of frustration. Let your students know when they are doing well also. Sometimes, students feel like they are only noticed when they are doing something wrong. Make sure to keep their spirits up by complimenting them when they do something right.

Use These Tips To Teach Students Effectively

Even though it can be challenging teaching students about math, they are among the most important concepts that they are going to learn in school. Take advantage of all of the resources at your disposal and try to keep your students interested. When you provide your students with regular feedback regarding how they are doing, they are more likely to be persistent. It can be challenging to get students to enjoy math. Don’t give up. Take a well-rounded approach to your lessons and watch your students excel.

Education

How to Invigorate Your Nursing Career

September 9, 2020February 1, 2022 Erin Sluka

As a nurse, you have dedicated your life to helping and supporting others. This direct impact on the lives of others can be fulfilling and meaningful in a truly life-changing way; however, after years on the floor addressing the critical care and support of your patients, you may be looking to invigorate your nursing career by taking on new challenges. While directly overseeing the care of your patients can be incredibly rewarding, if you are looking for a change, here are a few ways that you can invigorate your career.

Advanced Degrees and Education

If you find that your brain could use a jumpstart, you may need an outlet for mental stimulation. Consider going back to school for additional education where you can stimulate your mind and love for learning. You can explore an advanced degree option that best suits you to take you to the next step of your nursing career. Whether you want to go back to school to refresh your brain or you want to use your degree to take your next step, education can be a great option.

Getting a higher level of education means that you expand your knowledge, learn additional techniques which help you to provide a higher quality of patient care. It can not only help you to make better healthcare decisions and optimize operational efficiency, but also advance your career at any level. You may want to explore a range of nursing job career options and find out the requirements that the position can offer.

Teaching and Learning

If you value education but don’t see yourself going back to school, you have other ways to infuse knowledge and education into your life. Instead of being the recipient of the knowledge, if you prefer to share what you have learned, educating others may be the right step for you. Exploring a professorship role and career profile can help you understand the responsibilities of the role, salary and expectations.

Leadership and Supervising

If you have a lot of guidance, expertise and experience to offer, you may be well suited to manage others. Providing overarching vision, supporting staff and offering your leadership to a team can be an exciting next step. If you are interested in exploring a supervisory role in nursing, talk with your manager and the leadership team to see what would be necessary to explore that path of your nursing career.

Mentorship and Coaching

Mentorship in nursing is a critical component of success in this sector of healthcare. While many skills are learned and experiences had during nursing school, nothing truly prepares you for the daily grind. Having a support system that can offer mentorship, coaching and sponsorship can prove critical and necessary for new staff. This may be a good outlet for you to embrace new challenges and energize your professional life without a formal step.

Future Paths and Possibilities for your Nursing Career

If you are a nurse who has significantly more experience, you may want to explore your executive career options. Whether you are ready to take on significantly more of a leadership role within your organization or you want to be a part of the strategic vision, you can take on more of a leadership role after pursuing executive career options. If you are someone who is a natural-born leader, this may be the perfect fit for you. You may also consider learning kore about traveling Nurse careers.

Nursing can be one of the most rewarding and enriching professions; however, that does not mean that you will want to stay in the same role forever. If you are someone who is searching for your next chapter, consider how these options can shake up your life and leave you with the results and next steps that you are searching for.

Education, Tips and Tricks

How we became debt free with tools like Pigly budget calculators

July 23, 2020July 25, 2020 Erin Sluka

Comment: Proud to partner with Pigly. Story and opinions are 100% my own

How to plan finances, manage budgets, and plan for retirement with Pigly

14 years ago my husband and I had started a family together. He has 2 boys and they were young then and we had his mortgage and both of us had debt for cars, student loans, credit cards. We would often talk about starting to consolidate as we tackle our debt with grand images of a debt free future. Then we added a third boy as we had our son together.

Then notices we didn’t recognize began arriving in the mail. Someone opened a checking account up in my husbands name and had written very large checks to several retailers. We felt so defeated.

As we began to repair the fraud (this was 2006 so it was done mainly by mail as the internet wasn’t as inclusive back then for banking), we learned a lot. We had been on the phone with claims and the bank and had been in to our branch enough that we started asking questions and they were noticing our debt. We realized that there is a way to get out of our debt and with time it looked promising. We did it all by ourselves. We did not hire anyone or pay for a service, we just busted out budget calculators (a lot) and bought a notebook and spent nights communicating and keeping on the same financial page as a couple.

How we became debt free with tools like Pigly budget calculators

Budget Calculators are the best tool

Today we have a mortgage and have been able to pay our middle son’s college expenses without loans and have begun saving for the youngest’s college. We own all of our cars and only keep 1 credit card for airline miles that we pay to a $0 balance each month to avoid interest. Credit companies actually hate us-lol. I have had friends approach asking advice and I can now send them to the websites hat did not exist for us but would have made things so much easier. Pigly is one of the best I have seen lately as a fantastic budgeting and savings tool. Pigly is a calculator portal where you can use their calculators for any planning or saving.

Whether you are starting a home buying or selling process or need to save for a child’s college you will find the budget calculators to help you plan. Best of all the site is free and ad free!

Pigly has a wide range of tools from budgeting, home loans, mortgages, savings, retirement planning and so on, so there is budget calculators relevant for just about everyone.

I can tell you for certain that if you are committed and patient you will also be debt free in time and when that time comes there will be no greater feeling. If someone would have told me 15 years ago we’d own 3 cars, an RV, a home with only 11 years left on the mortgage and enough savings to retire (not ready yet) and put 2 children through college loan-free. If you were to tell me we’d have all that without credit card or loan debt, I would have chocked on laughter. But, here we are!

Start by gathering information and low interest, no balance transfer fee cards to consolidate onto. Pay off the lowest debts first to knock the amount of debt items down (I started in 2006 with my 8% student loan at 6K by taking our tax return to pay it off rather than a fancy trip with that money). Then meet weekly if you are a couple or take time by yourself if single with tools like a notebook and budget calculators and log into Pigly as you change/update your plan if anything new has hit or to discuss and plan for holidays and big events. Good luck!