Marisa Meidle's Baby Showers – Page 240 – Help from the Baby Shower Queen

Drawing and coloring and your child’s fine motor skills

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in a child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Like no other activity, drawing and coloring allows young children to express emotions, experience autonomy and build their confidence. Drawing and coloring are also excellent pre-cursors to developing writing skills because the toddler is honing his or her fine motor skills which are essential when learning to write.

Parents and caregivers can promote drawing and coloring as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development – and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some ideas you can try:

1.Provide kids with nontoxic materials, blank sheets of white paper and coloring pages.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you like to draw and color too – make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3.Encourage all drawing and coloring activity and efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and shapes the child has made.

4. Rather than ask “What is it?,” say “Tell me everything about your drawing”.Asking “What is that?” suggests to the child that s/he has failed to depict what they intended.

5. Talk about concepts like thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6. Display their art in a prominent place – such as the kitchen fridge, in their room and in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors – the praise for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence.

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. For example little boys may enjoy coloring images of cars, trucks or a favourite character such as Pokemon – and at sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find printable colouring pages. Little girls on the other hand prefer images from fairy tales such as Princess pictures – choose whatever pleases your child to encourage their enthusiasm for the activity and their interest in it.

8. Always supervise younger children while they draw and color – crayons pose a choking hazard.

Travel Easy With Kids On Strollers

The history of baby carriages is long beginning in Europe. It is only in recent times the baby carriages have become immensely popular as a mode of transport for infants and small children. These days people have to travel a lot. Often they have to take the children along with them. Baby carriages are also called by such names as carry cot or pram or perambulator. These baby carriages are actually bucket shaped. They are fitted with wheels so that they can be pushed as you walk. There are also other kinds of baby carriages such as baby slings, backpack carriers, soft front carriers and hip carriers. The difference is that you will have to carry these baby carriages with you while the former is pushed in front of you.

Baby carriages are made from different materials. They are available in different designs and vary in its comforts, support and rigidity. A stroller is a carriage to transport infants or small children up to the age of three or four. A stroller is often called also as a buggy or push chair. The children face forward away from the pusher in strollers while a pram usually has the infant facing the pusher so that the child can constantly be within the full eye sight of the pusher. Strollers are normally designed for carrying one child. But there are strollers that carry two and also three children. It is also designed to accommodate children with small age gap. Strollers to accommodate three children are a recent addition.

The stroller is designed for easy maneuverability. This is aided by its free wheels allowing it to be turned around within small spaces. The Maclaren Quest stroller gives an instance of a stroller that is meant for babies 3 months and old with an underneath storage basket for holding goodies. The stroller also has such safety features as rain cover, shoulder strap and hood. Its seat can be reclined in 4 positions and has adjustable 5 point safety harness.

You may choose the stroller from amongst the models that are in the market. They differ in their features and weight. You can also buy strollers online.

Safety Devices Make Infants Secure

Accidents are not intentional, but take place unexpectedly. A category of accidents is traffic collision. There can be fatalities, injuries and damage to properties resulting from traffic collision. Even in a country reputed to have a higher degree of safety measures and adoption of the most technologically advanced systems in vehicle and traffic management, have a 40,000 annual fatality due to accidents. Safety requirements have been steadily increasing. The accident rates too have been steadily declining. But in terms of pure numbers, the number of deaths and injured too are on the rise. Rising population, increased travel and travelers and more traffic remain the unavoidable causes.

Safety devices and systems are of two types – the active and the passive safety devices and systems. The active safety devices and systems are those that require the occupant of the vehicle to act such as fastening seat belt. The passive safety devices and systems are those that operate on its own such as air bags on sudden jerks or collision.

The most vulnerable section of travelers is the children when it comes to accidents. They are smaller and lighter than the adults. Sudden jerks during collision impact can dislodge the children and throw them off. Safety measures as air bags and active seat belts can be useful. Special safety measures for children and infants are recognized to be installed or adopted according to the height, weight and age of the children. Many countries have adopted safety measures for children and made them mandatory in vehicles that transport children. These include child safety locks and child seat. Power window lockouts are installed so that the driver can control the opening and shutting of windows and doors to prevent children from meddling with them.

There are specially designed seat for infants. These infant safety seats are secured to the automobile seat. When there are sudden jerks or collisions, the infant seat belt holds the child firmly. These are now a part of the safety regulations prescribed in some countries. There are different models of infant seat belts on sales in the market. Britax Frontier Seat has advanced shock-absorption and cushioning. These are also easy to set up.

Internationally the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has set an international standard for baby and child seats called ‘Regulation R44-04’. ISOFIX standard has been developed by the International Organization for Standardization in 1990 for car seats. The United States equivalent of this is the LACTH. Some manufacturers supply ISOFIX standard compliant baby seats.

Disney Toys for Kids

One of the best toys to give to your children, are stuffed and Disney plush toys. The reason being is that’s because they are cuddly, they comfort you, they look good and many people get them as collectibles. Kids nowadays want the latest stuffed and plush toys like stuffed toys from the latest video games, and the latest anime, television shows and movies. Stuffed toys can also be used to express themselves emotionally and creatively.

According to the research, playing with plush and stuffed toys can help children in many ways. The child can imagine that the stuffed toy is like a friend which they can share their thoughts, emotions, dreams or troubles. By providing your child with many stuffed toys, the child will turn to be more creative and imaginative by giving each toy a different personality and name. And as a result the child will improve their social skills and be more confident.

Studies also state that by playing with stuffed toys rather than general toys the child will show different sets of behaviour. Children with Disney stuffed toys are seen to be more empathetic, less agitated and show good behaviour towards their parents and siblings. They tend to also develop a very positive and confident attitude towards life. Plush animals come in different sizes ranging from tiny cute ones to huge jumbo size.

Playing with stuffed animals and plush toys can also have a calm and soothing effect on kids. What stuffed toys are suitable for your child? Animal stuffed toys are most popular and are given to many children around the world. They are widely accepted among babies and young children. The toys might also vary in different shapes and animals. Walt Disney toys are very popular with children.

Another popular form of stuffed toy is the ones from video games, movies and anime cartoons. Kids who play video games love stuffed toys from Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokémon. Recent movies such as BOLT and Wall-E have their own stuffed toys which are popular with kids. Naruto and Bleach are Japanese anime shows which have stuffed toys that are also popular and trendy now.

Make Bathing a Lot More Fun with a Good Baby Bath Tub

A baby bath towel and baby bath oil are not enough to make sure that baby is safe and clean every time he takes a bath. All parents are concerned about keeping their babies protected from bacteria and too much heat or cold. That’s the reason why parents look for a good baby bath tub as they know that it is an important bathing tool for baby.

You have to consider of many features to ensure that the baby bath tub is what you truly need, making bathing your baby less of a burden for you. You need to find one that is light for lifting it as you bathe your baby in the sink. To ensure that it is portable, you can choose one that is made of durable plastic which also makes it easy to dry. You can choose a baby tub that is mold and mildew resistant. This will make sure that the tub is clean and safe for baby.

You may also find a baby bath tub that has a warm water back rest. Not only will your baby feel comfortable, you as parents won’t have a hard time supporting your baby’s neck and back as he is laid down for his daily bath. You can choose the right model that has temperature indicator to make sure that your baby’s bath water is not too hot or too cold for his sensitive nature. In this way, baby might find his bathing time the most fun part of the day, as the lukewarm water would make sure of that.

When your baby is old enough for shower bathing, you can get him a dual control shower head, one for steam and the other for spray, which ensures that your baby will have a great bath time. Having the baby shower heads would make sure that baby can have as much quick showers as he can without dad or mom using their shower spout in the bathroom. In no time, your baby is done with his end of the day shower and he is now ready for bed.

As parents you will find great uses for a baby bath tub that has many features to boast. They might not even think twice to bring it along during travels as it is portable, if only to make sure that baby will enjoy and will be safe in his daily bath.