Monday, August 13, 2012

Bilingual Books

  It's been a long time ago since I've been reading bilingual books.  Since I was a 6-year-old child, to be more precise, and... believe me, that it has proved to be really good for my language development. 
My mother tongue is Spanish, but I've started learning English as a child. My father used to buy fairy tales or fabules which they brought a casette (lol a casette people, that WAS a long time ago). So, while I was reading I listened to the narration on the casette. Believe it or not, I was incredibly hooked by this kind of books. 
As I told you before, these books were bilingual. That means, one side of the casette contained the Spanish version (my mother tongue), whereas the other side had the English version. Wasn't it awesome? For me it WAS,  because once I've listened to the spanish version I listened to the english one. But... Where was the text in english to follow? you may wonder... It was in the bottom part of the page, in lower case.
Today, I know that there are books which bring two versions, that is, one page in english and on the other side page the spanish version (or other languages). If I had to recommend these books, I would highly suggest parents buying at least one of them, because they expose kids to two languages at the same time. Pictures also help them distinguish among meanings and analogies, which you may know, it's not easy work. Nowadays, market offers books with cds, containing both language versions (as casettes used to be). So, getting one of these books for kids, would be a nice way of introducing abother language to them. They'll discover they can read the same story they already know in their mother tongue, in another language. And that, in the long run will be really profitable.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Happy Child's Day!


 

We wish you a happy child's day! We hope you'll enjoy this day, as many others, surrounded by those who love you.
Our warmest regards from Argentina

Argentina at the Olympic Games, London 2012

Congratulations to all athletes who took part in the Olympic Games, especially to the Argentinian ones. We are proud of them! 
Argentina medals 

  Taekwondo – (gold)
Sebastián Crismanich

     Hockey - (silver) 
 Las Leonas

    Tennis - (bronze) 
 Juan Martín del Potro

    Sailing - (bronze)
 Calabrese - De la Fuente

Our regards to the leading countries named USA, China and Great Britain as well!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Scrapbooking the walls?

  Kids are fascinated by the idea of sticking photos and little notes on every surface they find at hand, So, Why not making a scrapbook, but o hang on the wall? You may have noticed that there's a certain age when children start haging not only posters or pictures, but also phrases or small papers with phrases written on them on the walls. And of course this damages the house walls!!! So I think that making a scrapbook is a good alternative for those who like posting things and decorating their rooms. 
Remember that Kids scrapbooking can be a wonderful family activity, and you can make use of different materials you have at hand. That means, ribbons, carboard, stickers, paper flowers, photos, etc.
Steps
First, get a flat surface like a thick carboard or wood plaform which then you'll hang on the wall.
 
 
Second, tell kids to start collecting all the things they might use for decorating that surface. They can be the things we've mentioned before. They can use tape or nails to stick the photos or pictures on the platform.

Then, make children decide what to stick on the surface, so that the design would be totally theirs. You can also encourage them to use the platform as a memo, in which they can stick "things to do" notices. They can also add a calendar anr mark days as they pass by.
Finally, they will come up with their personal scrapbooks on the walls, and your house walls will be free of scoth stains!

 
I almost forget! Encourage them to stick their school awards and badges as well, they'll love it!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Packing a child's suitcase

  A good idea for packing your child’s suitcase is letting him/her be part of the process. For this, I hereby give you the following useful tips:
 1) It’s always useful to prepare matching outfits in advance for each day of your trip. In this way, you’ll avoid debate on what to wear each day. Always be sure of having extra outfits, in case she/he stains it with some food.
2) Explain how the weather is going to be, and let the kid choose what he/she will wear. In this way, he/she will take a leading role in choosing the clothes and will be happy once he/she has to dress up. Although the child will be in control of choices, you may also decide what’s more appropriate, though.
3) It’s always a good idea to put each outfit in a different plastic bag. This prevents the clothes from getting stains and from mixing with other non-matching outfits.
4) Remember to sew the child’s name inside all the clothes, so that in case he/she loses an item, they can find it easily.
5) If he/she is allowed to take candies or snacks, pack some in an extra bag, and put it in one of the pockets of the bags.
6) In case the child wants to take toys, he can put them inside a plastic bag, in one of the corners of the suitcase. Be sure, you include a list of the toys he/she takes, so that once back home, you can check whether something is missing or not. Avoid putting toys with small parts, because they can get lost easily.
7) Make sure the child’s backpack is not too heavy, since this is not good for their back care.
 

 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Are video games dangerous?

  Most of the people believe that video games are bad for kids, while there are others who think just the opposite. Video games can teach kids many skills, which can be useful in the long run. Video games help children to develop eye coordination. That is to say, while they are concentrated on pressing the joystick button, they are looking at every corner of the screen. They can see EVERYTHING! I don't know how, but they develop this strategy of being alert to what happens on the upper corner, while their character is in the other corner. Secondly, some games teach children to get involved into cooperative activities. That means, some games demand kids to become part of a team. The team's goal is to defeat their opponent, and for that purpose they must "gather" their powers and abilities. This teaches youngsters, that being part of a group, is very important when you want to achieve a difficult goal, which otherwise it would be impossible. Moreover, they learn to respect turns, since in this kind of games, one member plays at a time. 

As we said before, while we find these advantages, there may be others who think video games are really dangerous for kids. These people claim that playing too much video games, causes kids to avoid playing outside which is both fun and healthy. traditional games such as hide and seek, or jumping the rope, may alse be interesting at a certain age, and they may also bring about benefits in kids' health, since they are using their bodies to get engaged. Then, there may be virtual games which ONLY concentrate on shooting and killing, and this is seen as a total drawback. Kids tend to believe that, as in video games, l engaging in violent situations in the only way to solve problems, and this belief leaves aside the idea that "talking" can be a good alternative for sorting  obstacles. Lastly, the fact of being too much into video games, make kids "forget" about their homework and duties, and this may result in serious and poor academic results. Morever, children who spend long hours using their game consoles, may oversleep and turn into school late comers. As a conclusion, parents should be the ones who supervise the relation children-videogames, since they are the grown ups who know what's right and what's not. Kids are kids, and if you let them be all day long in front of the computer, they will definitely be there ALL DAY.

What's your opinion? Share it with us!


Monday, August 6, 2012

Who's got the best look?

Celebrities kids in their most fashionable clothes. Whose look is the best one? 
Make your choice!

The adorable girl is famous for her great and expensive wardrobe  
Suri Cruise

Second son of Gwen Stefani, Zuma Rossdale, wears a skull-and-bones emblazoned sweatshirt and paints an eye to attend a children's party in April, 2011. Four months later, the three-year-old boy dons a colorful costume on his way to a nail salon 
Second son of Gwen Stefani
 

Singer-turned-designer Gwen Stefani’s son, Kingston Rossdale, looks like a cute seafaring pirate as vacationing in the south of France. The five-year star also dresses as a Tiger Boy at an April birthday party 
 Gwen's Stefani's son

 Jessica Alba’s three-year-old daughter Honor celebrates her birthday in June with a princess gown
Jessica Alba’s three-year-old daughter
 Kourtney Kardashian’s 16-month-old son Mason dons a striped suit and matching fedora for an April trip to church in Calabasas, Calif. 
Kourtney  Kardashian’s 16-month-old son Mason 

Tori Spelling’s daughter Stella, 3, looks fashionable in a feathery white coat, oversized shades, a hot pink beanie and de rigueur black boots as she hits New York's Serendipity  
Tori Spelling’s daughter Stella