Teaching and Learning Science through the Five Senses

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Teaching and Learning Science through the Five Senses

By Sophia Espinoza

Our new song, “The Senses/Los Sentidos,” is full of vocabulary and teaches children all about how we use our five senses every day. 

To teach preschoolers new science concepts, it’s important to make learning as hands-on as possible! You’ll see that it’s easy to teach the senses through fun observations. Additionally, research shows that sensory play is a very important part of early childhood learning because it helps children remember and understand new information better. 

Here are some fun activities you can do at home or at school for each sense:

Sight 

  • – Play a game of I Spy in different indoor and outdoor settings
  • – Use a magnifying glass to observe interesting objects, or reexamine everyday objects at home like coins and buttons
  • – Create a small frame, from popsicle sticks or other arts and crafts materials, and use it to try to capture live “photos” of the things around you

Touch

  • – Make a Mystery Box by cutting a hole into the side of a shoebox, and have the child guess what the different mystery objects are that you place inside 
  • – Play a game of Opposites, where the child holds an object and describes how it feels, then have them search for an object around the house that has the opposite texture

Taste

  • – To expand children’s palates, have them taste unfamiliar spices or herbs in new dishes, and describe what they are tasting out loud
  • – When eating their favorite dishes, have them describe what they love about the taste, and use it as an opportunity to teach them new taste words like “savory.”

Smell

  • – Use something fragrant to see if the child can identify the ingredients or elements while closing their eyes and only using their sense of smell
  • – Infuse scents into other fun arts and crafts activities, such as making scratch-n-sniff stickers or candles

Hearing

  • – Do a mindful listening activity by sitting still and taking in sounds, while listening to music or simply being outside
  • – Have children record everyday animal sounds, either as digital audio clips on a device or as written observations in a notebook, to pique their interest in animal behavior

One last tip: to tie in new vocabulary a child is learning in a second language, have them practice saying that word out loud. For example, “I spy a mariposa,” or even better, “yo veo una mariposa.” 

You probably noticed that any one of these activities can be used for multiple senses, so the possibilities are endless. Let’s get learning! ¡A aprender!

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Four Tips to Make Days at Home Fun (and Educational) With Your Preschooler

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Four Tips to Make Days at Home Fun (and Educational) With Your Preschooler

by Nuria Santamaría Wolfe, Encantos Co-founder

Have you, like many other parents, found yourself at home with the kids for the next few weeks and don’t know what you’ll do to keep them learning (and entertained) for the rest of the summer?

Take a deep breath and get ready to do a little bit of planning. With a bit of preparation, you and your kids will get through this – learning and having fun, one day at a time.

Here are four tips to help you plan fun and educational days at home with your preschoolers.

  1. Start with your child’s teacher: Begin by reaching out to your child’s teacher and ask for sample lesson plans, materials, books, or any other tools they can share with you. They are the experts after all. Also, this is a great opportunity to ask if there’s any specific area where your child needs additional support so that you can focus on helping them prepare for the fall.

  1. Check out your library’s free digital resources: Most local libraries provide free access to myriad resources including e-books, audiobooks, magazines, movies, and TV shows. Check out a few items for them – and a few for you!  The best part? No need to sign up to yet another service – it’s all part of your library membership!

  1. Take inventory of what you have at home: Go on a hunt around the house for forgotten educational treasures! Recruit your little treasure hunters to dig up those electronic learning toys in need of new batteries, coloring books with intact pages, half-used sticks of sideways chalk, and so many more riches lost long ago. You’ll discover that you have so much to fill their days without having to go out to buy anything.

  1. Create a schedule to fill your days: Develop a daily schedule that includes learning time, free play, outdoor time, and chores.
    1. Learning: Use a combination of books, apps, videos, music, and toys to create varied learning experiences that will keep your little one engaged in small bursts of time. Switch between the different media to hold their attention and keep them engaged.
    2. Free Play: Kids learn while they play! Give them tools and time to let their creativity guide their activities – building blocks, wooden toys, pillow towers, etc. Let their imagination run free and they’ll surprise you with the things they’ll build and the things they learn along the way.
    3. Outdoors: Plan outdoor time every day – a walk with the dog around the block, a bike ride around the neighborhood, or some time in the garden watering the plants. Use it as an opportunity for a nature lesson as you point out the blooming flowers, the bees buzzing, or the rolling clouds. There’s a science lesson waiting to be taught all around us when you’re outside.
    4. Chores: This is a great time to remind your little ones about the importance of community and the fact that we need everyone to pitch in and help. Assign chores throughout the day to empower your kids to contribute and feel like a valuable member of the family. Chores for preschoolers can range from helping to set the table at meals, putting all toys away in the playroom at the end of the day, helping to sort and fold laundry, and putting out food for the furry members of the household. They’ll feel proud to help out and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

Most important of all: take it one day at a time. No one expects you to continue to work, take care of your family, and become a full-time teacher overnight. Remember to schedule some time for self-care so that you can stay at your best and can continue to be there for your kids to keep them learning and having fun at home.

Don’t forget to check out all the Canticos digital and print resources in English and Spanish, including videos, and the Canticos Learning Hub.

About the author:

Nuria is an entrepreneur and mom raising two bilingual children. She joined forces with another mom, Susie Jaramillo, and founded Encantos – a family entertainment and education company for today’s multicultural families.

Together they launched Canticos – a bilingual baby and toddler brand with books, apps, and sing-along videos.

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Best Practices for Teaching Vocabulary

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Best Practices for Teaching Vocabulary

By Sophia Espinoza

As a parent raising bilingual children or a teacher of bilingual students, you likely find yourself searching for ways to effectively teach children vocabulary words in a new language. There are a lot of great research-based best practices out there, but sometimes it can feel daunting to know where to begin. Below are some curated strategies that will work great at school and at home. And on the theme of our new song, “The Small Little Plane/Había una vez un avión”, we are highlighting fun suggestions for teaching opposites.

1. Make a real-world connection

While flashcards might be the way you were taught vocabulary words, the reality is that they are not the most effective way to help children retain knowledge long-term. Whenever possible, tie a new word to something a child can experience, like an object they can hold or an emotion they can feel. Connecting it to something experiential is more powerful. 

One good basic strategy is to label things around the house in both their native language and their new language. You should also take advantage of “teachable moments,” or opportunities to pausing and teach right then and there. This is especially good for abstract concepts like emotions. Finally, have children hold or touch objects while they are learning the corresponding word. 

2. Engaging repetition is key

Every time a word is practiced a stronger connection is made in the brain. However, rote repetition is terribly boring. This is why teachers often use songs and rhyming books to teach new words. 

Have a child create a playlist of songs they like in their new language they and play it often. You’ll see that sometimes they can listen to songs on repeat more than is tolerable for adults! Their young brains love taking in familiar, predictable music, lyrics, and stories.

While playing “The Small Little Plane” have your child do the same hand or body movements every time they hear the song. The opposites featured in this song are up-down (subía-bajaba), in-out (entraba-salía), flew off-came back (iba y volvía).

3. Incorporate interests

Instead of focusing on random topics, teach vocabulary relevant to children’s interests. They will be more willing to listen and speak if they care about the topic or activity at hand.

A fun way to teach opposites is to have them act them out in Simon Says or charades. In addition to the examples in “The Small Little Plane”, some great words for this are hot-cold (caliente-frío), big-small (grande-pequeño), or happy-sad (feliz-triste).  

It’s not always easy, especially in the beginning, to get children to speak words in a new language. Don’t give up, keep trying different strategies, and whatever you do don’t push it! A gentler approach is always better than “forcing” children to do something they find unpleasant. Learning new languages should always be fun!

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Making the Most of Screen Time

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Making the Most of Screen Time

By Canticos

The current pandemic has led to the creation of an abundance of resources for online learning. It has also ushered in a dilemma for parents over how to appropriately structure “screen time”.

Technology is unquestionably the medium of this generation and technology can play a pivotal role in healthy development as a tool for learning, entertainment and communication. However, it can also be a source of distraction and a socially numbing activity if left unregulated, especially in teens and children. Parents are left with the unenviable task of creating and regulating a healthy home technology environment. I have included several useful tips that will help ease the burden of monitoring your child’s screen time.   

  1.   FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE RESEARCH. 

Fortunately, there is a growing body of credible research that is easily accessible on the internet. The key for parents is to gain a working knowledge about the positive and negative impacts of screen time, as well as identify best practices for navigating technology usage with young children. Find an online tutorial or TV news segment on healthy technology usage and have the entire family watch it together.   

  1. SET THE BAR EARLY

Establishing early healthy guidelines and expectations regarding screen time with children will pay off down the road. Communicate that screen time is a privilege that is earned and screen time behavior is subject to review. Be clear and establish healthy family screen time routines and straightforward DOs and DONTs involving technology usage. Also, be sure to model positive practices in your own screen time behavior.

  1. EMPHASIZE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

Avoid the trap of quibbling over minutes and hours of screen time and emphasize the identification of quality activities. While schoolwork is a given, identifying enriching activities such as communication with family members abroad, online chats with friends, and organizing virtual field trips to museums can help transform screen time into valuable growth opportunities. Be sure to build the screen time schedule around activities, not time periods.         

  1. PROVIDE QUALITY DOWNTIME

Competing with video games and technology is not easy. It is especially difficult if you do not provide children with enjoyable alternatives. Mandate tech-free down periods in your home where your family spends time together engaging in fun activities such as board games, arts & crafts or group meal preparation. By providing enjoyable interaction-based alternate activities, you are reinforcing the intrinsic reward related to socialization and family.

  1. DO NOT VILLAINIZE TECHNOLOGY

Avoid the inherent tug of war associated with debating screen time with children and teens. Transform it by portraying it as a friendly tool that requires training and practice to utilize effectively. Emphasize the user, not the use, as the main focus. Teach kids to have a healthy respect for the medium and help educate them on the many advantages associated with healthy screen time usage, but also emphasize that it can never serve as a substitute for human interaction.

Finally, always remember that they are just innocent kids. Our job is to teach and nurture their development through both success and failure. We are their role models and exemplars for setting their life standards. Let your mantra as parents always remain—SMILES ARE FREE AND LOVE IS PRICELESS.   

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Music and Dancing in Early Childhood Development

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Music and Dancing in Early Childhood Development

By Canticos

In celebration of our new dance-packed song “Dum Dum” we’re excited to share the benefits of incorporating music and dance into early childhood development. Did you know that they help your child learn more than just motor skills and vocabulary? 

There are many additional benefits, including the development of social skills, literacy, numeracy. In music class, children gain social-emotional skills, like listening to others and following instructions. Learning to follow a beat or read music teaches counting while helping improve memory and attention. And of course, singing along to lyrics in their native language, or even a new language, introduces them to new words. 

Music and dancing go hand in hand. Dancing helps a child develop their coordination by building connections in the brain. As these connections are made, a child’s fine and gross motor skills are improved. Physical play has various health benefits and promotes learning in toddlers and young children. It also decreases the risk of developing harmful health conditions like obesity.

Here are some tips for including music into your child’s everyday schedule:

  1. You can use music to indicate playtime, sleep time, or another important routine. This is especially helpful for children who struggle with transitions.

  2. When you see your child dancing, give them a toy drum or other homemade musical instrument and dance together.
    Your child will try to mimic your moves, which can help with his/her hand-eye coordination. 

  3. To help your child learn new words and identify the story in a song, try singing their favorite nursery rhymes and inserting their name into it. You can also encourage your child to change words in a song to stimulate creativity.

Finally, parents develop a stronger bond with their children when they enjoy music together. Music is not only a tool that contributes to a child’s development, but it also provides more quality time for the whole family.

Here is a Canticos playlist in Spanish perfect for singing and dancing. We hope it gets your family moving!

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