Littlies telling the time.

Children's learning always becomes more noticeable when there has been dedicated input into it. It's like starting a new dance class or swimming lessons, over the weeks you can really see that they are learning and developing in a good way. Since Raph started school he has become really good at pointing out numbers and letters around the house or when we are driving somewhere. I suppose, Rob and I now find lots of moments or give Raph more opportunities to learn the phonics or count objects. I have 'P' written on chalkboards shaped like pumpkins dotted around just to have them there which he points out most days. He has also started calling Rob "Rob" instead of dad every so often to point out that he has the same "R" sound at the beginning of his name.

I know that time is a concept which will be taught at such a basic level at the moment. Children learn about the concept of time in the early years; before/after, yesterday/today/tomorrow and they work on understanding a daily routine; getting up, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, going to school, eating lunch, etc. by way of organising pictures of each action into the right order. I always think that if there is any option to give a child an opportunity to aid their development and understanding then you should take it. Raph was given this watch recently and it is a fantastic tool in supporting his learning. Obviously, Raph can not tell the time, he uses it most of the time as a way of "Communicating" or to shoot with (as most of us probably did) rather than to read the time, but it offers great opportunity to read and recognise numbers. 

This Limit Active watch is great for this kind of learning. It is clear and simple and for optimum enjoyment whilst playing, it also has a light up face!

As far as encouraging opportunities to learn, this watch is one of the little things that is helping with our home learning. With Raph having a space station in the ''role-play area'' at school, this is also helping us practise our backwards counting in the countdown to blastoff!

What other tools do you like to use to help your children learn?

Emily

 *Thanks to the Watch Shop for giving Raphael this watch.