How to entertain and educate at home - Parenting

BELIEVE it or not, there are times when parents find themselves indoors with their children--with time on their hands. It could be a rainy, weekend day or a school vacation or your son or daughter staying home with a cold. Whatever the reason, these are perfect opportunities for parents to participate in activities that reinforce bonds with children, as well as entertain and educate them.

"[These activities] not only provide enjoyment between parents and children, but it's an opportunity for them to bond," says Dr. Truddie Darden, medical director of the Morehouse Medical Associates and an associate professor in pediatrics at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Darden is also an advisor to the Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute. "Early interaction in child development is crucial," she says. Parents need those opportunities so that they can keep those avenues of communication open. And you can make almost any activity educational."

Experts agree that children learn best through playing, making the time parents spend interacting with their children doubly important. By completing activities with children, parents help reinforce basic learning skills such as comprehension and problem-solving, skills children need in the classroom. "This way the child feels comfortable using those skills outside of the home," says Dr. Thomas Moore, a Charlotte, N.C.-based early childhood consultant and a children's recording artist.

Many of these activities can be done during the rigors of everyday life. Activities can be done as parents cook dinner, prepare their children for school, even get them ready for bed. In many cases, children enjoy these activities even more because the attention the child receives is unexpected and spontaneous, which forces children to initiate their learning skills, says Dr. Moore.

But the greatest benefit children receive is spending time with their parents. Experts say children learn a lot more when they have experiences with the people who are closest to them. Fortunately, many parents already understand the importance of forming these bonds early.

"These activities are very inexpensive; the investment is your time," says actress Ameila Marshall, who appears on the NBC soap opera Passions. She has a 4-year-old son named Marshall. "The most important thing is that young children just want to spend time with you. I used to paint animal faces on my son with my makeup. I finally invested in a $6 face-painting kit. Now we are always ready with all the colors, even green."

The following are everyday activities that parents can do at home with their children. They are recommended by institutions such as the Sylvan Learning Center, parenting specialists and the true experts, the parents:

1. PLAY BOARD GAMES THAT REQUIRE BASIC MATH SKILLS. Games like Chutes and Ladders help develop numbers sense while Yahtzee helps computation speed and accuracy. Longtime favorite Connect Four is great for problem-solving. For older children, games like Monopoly and The Game of Life teach life skills like saving money and making a budget.

2. ASSEMBLE PUZZLES WITH YOUR CHILD. Puzzles help children learn visual organization skills, one of the basic building blocks of geometry.

3. CARD GAMES ARE GREAT MATH TOOLS. Card games like "War" and "Blackjack" teach lessons of probability while reinforcing addition and subtraction lessons.

4. RELATE MATH TO YOUR CHILD'S FAVORITE SPORT. If you're watching a sporting event with your children, ask them to calculate the number of points needed for their team to win.

5. IF YOUR CHILDREN RECEIVE AN ALLOWANCE, use it to formulate math problems teach them about saving. For older children, relate percentage problems to their allowance.

6. SHARE SONGS WITH CHILDREN. They can come from your childhood or be your favorite folk, classical, jazz or rhythm & blues selections. Dr. Moore recommends parents also teach spirituals to their children. Songs such as "O Freedom," that tell children of their past. "It's more than entertaining," Dr. Moore says. "Once these songs get into you, they're in you for a long time." Also available are sing-a-long videos, which provide interactive entertainment for children and parents.

7. READING AND PLAYING WORD GAMES WITH YOUR CHILDREN HELP BUILD COMPREHENSION SPELLING AND SPEAKING SKILLS. Parents can play games like word ladders, where children take small words and stretch them into bigger ones ("in" to "kin" to "king") anytime. For older children, Dr. Darden recommends having children read to their parents, giving the parents a chance to gauge their children's reading level. "Reading can be impacting," she says. "It opens up so many doors and avenues."

8. COOKING IS A FUN ACTIVITY THAT IS ALSO EDUCATIONAL. By enlisting them as "helpers," children learn about fractions by measuring ingredients.

9. OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES ARE GREAT FOR GETTING CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE TELEVISION AND VIDEO GAMES. With children's obesity level rising, outdoor activities give children some needed exercise. Outdoor activities include walking, bike riding and playing in the backyard. And the best part, says Dr. Darden, "It costs you absolutely nothing to go outside and play Hide 'n' Seek.

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