April 2014:
What we’re doing and why we do it!
TOYS I MAKE
By role playing with our stuffed animals to give them voices, movements and more, your child got a chance to develop her empathy skills.
Preschoolers tend to see the world only from their own point of view. They can have trouble recognizing others’ feelings and ideas and often think only about how events affect themselves. In play and at school, they may only want to follow their own plans, rather than sharing ideas and taking turns in leading games.
Seeing the world through the eyes of an animal friend gave her a chance to think about someone else’s feelings in an imaginative and unthreatening way, increasing her lifelong social skills.
Ahh. The ballet. Although Tchaikovsky composed this lovely music of the Nutcracker Suite well over 100 years ago, it continues to be a timeless favorite of adults and children. While the Nutcracker was written to tell a specific story, knowing the story is not necessary to enjoy this great classic, for both listening and, of course, dancing.
This week look into finding a recording of the entire Nutcracker Suite at a music store or your library. Listening to world-famous music together is a beautiful way to spend time and could be the start of your preschooler’s lifelong classical music collection.