4 Ways to Teach Focus To Toddlers

Children find it very difficult to focus on something for a longer duration. They tend to shift their attention within seconds. Their inability to focus might now affect their childhood years but may lead to a troublesome future. It is very essential to lay the foundation of focus in their lives from childhood itself.

The Heritage North Campus, one of the best CBSE schools in Dehradun enlightens you with ways to teach focus to toddlers.

Limit Distractions

Unlike adults, toddlers do not know how to avoid distractions. They learn to do it slowly and gradually. So, until they learn how to avoid distractions, limit distractions for them. Whenever they are doing a task, keep all the distractions away from them.

Keep Engaged

Children have a tendency to leave tasks in between. For instance, your child is trying to solve a puzzle, there are chances that he will get bored or frustrated and leave it in between. In such a scenario, motivate him to solve at least half of the puzzle. This will help to improve focus on the task given to him. Besides, show interest in whatever activity or task your child is performing.

Let the Child Choose

In order to build the attention of a toddler, it is essential that the child gets to choose what he or she wants to do with his play environment. Let him choose the toys and activities he wants to do rather than instructing him what you want him to do. Playing with the toys the child wishes to play will result in increased attention span and more focus.

Follow a Routine

In order to improve the focus of your toddler, make sure he follows a particular routine. When you allot time to each activity, it becomes easier for your toddler to avoid distractions and focus on the task in his hand and improves his efficiency.

The Heritage North Campus, counted among the top CBSE schools in Dehradun ensures that your child performs each task with utmost focus and attentiveness by getting them engaged in interactive tasks and by limiting distractions for them.

Teaching Good Manners To Children

Etiquette connoisseur Emily Post famously remarked once, “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.” And it couldn’t be truer. Good manners teach children to be more considerate, kind, and compassionate.

Sadly, these days manners are slowly fading away from our life. Therefore, The Heritage School North Campus, best CBSE school in Uttarakhand, feels the sooner we start to teach kids the rudiments of good manners and appropriate social etiquette, the better it is. Here’s how you can do this:

Start Slow And Easy

Instilling good manners in children is a long-term process so you better start early. Here are the magic words that can make all the difference to someone’s day – “Please”, “Thank You”, “Sorry”, “You’re welcome”, “Excuse me”, “Could you please...?” and “ May I?”. Politeness should always be the order of the day.

Watch Your Language

Children are innocent and oblivious to what is right or wrong, so they might say things that could be inappropriate. More often than not children pick up on your talking style and language thinking it to be cool, so as parents you need to be careful about not using words you would use with another adult in front of children.

Table Manners For Toddlers

Table manners are basic social etiquette that every child must know. Yes, getting children to eat is difficult enough and with the added burden of teaching them proper table manners, it gets even more exasperating. Start with basics like putting napping on the lap, eating with mouth closes, finishing the food and cleaning the table once done.

Correct Bad Manners

Of course, there are going to be times when children will slip up and act out of line. Sometimes they will scream when they can’t get what they want or their behaviour may cause discomfort to someone else. In such cases, you should reprove them as kindly and softly as possible without hurting their feelings. Correcting their bad manners on the spot will help them in retaining these lessons for the rest of their life.

Sharing

One of the most profound joys of life comes from sharing your things with people who need them. Children learn the first steps of sharing at home by sharing their stuff with their siblings. Encourage them to share their toys with their friends as well. It will raise them into compassionate and charitable adults that can change the society for the better.

Children require work and patience on the part of parents, especially when teaching them the p’s and q’s of proper behaviour. Being among the top 5 schools in Dehradun, Heritage School North Campus makes sure the efforts put in will result in a well-behaved, obedient and docile child brought up with good values that everyone will love. 

Benefits of Storytelling to Toddlers

Umberto Eco once said, “To survive, you must tell stories.” Bedtime stories, campfire stories, rainy day stories, all are a very essential aspect of one’s childhood. The plot twists, enchanting places, evil witches, brave knights, fire breathing dragons take the kids to an unexplored world.

Here is a list of benefits by The Heritage School North Campus, the best CBSE School Dehradun explaining how storytelling enhances the overall growth of toddlers:

Inculcating Moral Values

Storytelling has a unique way of instilling morals and building strong characters. Just as the story progresses different aspects of the plot unfolds which makes the children ponder about the morality and decision making of the kids.

Urges Curiosity

Children are curious creatures. Storytelling fuels this curiosity. The more involved kids are in the story, the number of questions they will ask. This will help in better development of critical thinking and reasoning.

Increases Imagination

A well-narrated story can grant free rein to the imagination of the kids. Particularly, the stories with the elements of fantasy and speculation take the reader to places.

Improves Concentration

Storytelling also works on the listening skills and concentration levels of individuals. In addition to this, it also boosts the memory of the kid. Whether the story is short or long, the kids clearly remember the name of the characters and the plot twists.

Enriches Vocabulary

Storytelling is a practical and powerful tool for language learning. It enhances vocabulary while making the process interesting enough to keep the kids engaged.

Increase in Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability of an individual to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships with empathy.

At The Heritage School North Campus, listed among the top 10 schools in Dehradun developing creative skills is as important as achieving academic excellence.

5 Ways to Build Strong Self-Esteem in Children

Self-esteem is an individual’s subjective evaluation of their own worth.  Early years of a child’s life is essential in forming a positive image about themselves. Positive self-esteem helps them to become confident and emotionally stable adults. 

Here is a set of guidelines by The Heritage School North Campus, the best CBSEschool in Dehradun for you to  inculcate strong self-esteem in your children:

Allow Them to Make Their Choices

You can provide them with pre-decided options and let them make a final choice. Choices can be as simple as deciding what to eat for breakfast or what to wear to a party. This helps your children develop. This helps your children to feel empowered and take complex decisions in the future.

Give Them Appropriate Compliments

Children can sense sugar-coated compliments more easily than you think. Always be careful with your words while complementing your children. For example, instead of telling them they are doing a great job are perfect at things they do, tell them they have done a good job and point some improvements in their work so that they learn that no one and nothing is perfect.

Assign Them Age-Appropriate Household Tasks

To build your child’s self-esteem you need to make them feel that their contribution is valued. Assign them household tasks like making the bed, setting the table. This helps them feel competent and instil a sense of accomplishment in them.

Let Them Take Calculated Risks

Now, this can be a little tricky for you as their parents. You need to allow them to take action and deal with the consequences of their actions, even if it turns out to be a  failure. As a parent, you love to protect your children from any kind of failure or risk but failures are as important for their growth as success is. Their failures help them grow into responsible adults.

Encourage Extra-Curricular Activities

Do not restrict your child only to books and studies. Encourage them to participate in extra-curricular activities too. Enrol them in classes of their interests such as sports, singing, dancing or painting. Extra-curricular activities focus on the strength and passion of children which helps them grow into a confident adult.

As quoted by Alvin Prince, “A child’s bucket of self-esteem must be filled so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry.” At The Heritage School North Campus, best school in Dehradun the teachers and take it upon themselves to help parents in raising children as strong and bold individuals who have immense faith in themselves.

How to Design the Classroom for Effective Learning

Classrooms provide an uninterrupted learning space to children. It is like a second teacher for the students as it is where they learn various skills essential for their overall growth. The classroom environment should be learning-centric and free of any kind of distractions. The overall layout of the classroom should complement their education for effective learning. 

The Heritage School North Campus CBSE school in Dehradun some ways you can design your classroom for effective learning:

Layout

The overall design and layout of the classroom affect the learning experience of students. Well, lit classrooms with good ventilation and proper spacing help students concentrate better. The desks are usually arranged in rows and columns but alternatively, you can arrange them in semi-circle or clusters which enhances interaction among students.
 

Acoustics

Acoustics are often ignored while designing a classroom but they play a very vital role in students’ learning. You can negate the sound of surroundings by using mats and soft surface on the floor. Sound reverberation can be avoided by hanging soft corkboards on the wall.

Colour Scheme

The colours of the walls can affect the learning experience of students. There are psychological effects of colours on the human body. While designing a classroom yellow and red colour should be avoided as they increase aggression and adrenaline rush in students. A balance of cool and warm colours can bring out a pleasing effect and can help learn students better.

Furniture Arrangement

Furniture should be properly arranged to facilitate learning. The furniture should be comfortable and light in weight so that students can move them easily.  There should be proper spacing in between the desks to ensure that the classroom doesn’t look cluttered.

Wall Design

Walls should be designed with artwork and charts which complement their textbooks learnings. Alternatively, teachers can decorate the walls with a particular theme every month.

We at The Heritage North Campus best school in Dehradun advocate designing the classrooms the age group of the students should be kept in mind. The design of a primary class will be different from a senior class as the age group of the students studying in that class will also be different.

Brain Break Activities for Classrooms

Brain breaks are whole-class activities that give opportunities to do pause, move, and interact in a structured and safe way. To break the boredom of classrooms and to ensure better learning we The Heritage School North Campus top CBSE school in Dehradun ensure children perform the following brain break activities.

Trading Places

In this activity, make students stand behind their chairs. Teacher calls out a trait and children with that trait switch places. For e.g.- “Everyone with red bag”, the children who have red bags will switch places and the ones who do not have that trait stay at there place.

 Mingle, Mingle, Group!

Children walk around the classroom singing mingle, mingle softly. When teacher says, “group of 5”, children are to group themselves in the said number. The ones that are left behind must perform a task, for e.g. sing a song. Teacher can call any number for the group.

Freeze Dance

Children dance on the songs played by teacher, children must freeze when music stops, children must remain in the same position until, music plays again.

Find Out Fast

Teacher calls out a trait or a color, for e.g. “something black”, students must get to any object with the said trait quickly.

Balancing

Give each student a paper plate, tell them to balance it on their head and walk from one end of the classroom to another, without dropping the plate. The one who drops the plate must perform a task such as “do 3 jumping jacks”.

Jump Skip Counting

Tell students to jump while skip counting for e.g., “jump while skip counting 3”. You could practice word spellings this way.

Musical Chairs

Arrange chairs in a single line, chairs should be one less than the number of children. Tell students to walk around the chair while the music is playing. Children must sit on the chair as soon as the music stops. The child who doesn’t get the chair performs a task, for e.g. jump 5 times.

Children tend to get bored in between lessons, brain break activities refreshes their mind which helps them concentrate and learn better. Thus, perform one brain break activity in between lecture, if children seem disinterested or bored. We best school in Dehradun make sure the children are always energetic.

Inculcating Nature in the Classroom

Mother nature, might not speak any human language yet inspires humanity to seek and learn various things from her. From the rising of the sun, every day to the flowing of the river each part of nature has untold lessons and meaning which teaches the meaning of life.

Parents send their children to school for education. Where the real meaning of education doesn’t end with the fact make students sufficient enough to earn their living but to learn how to live life. So we at Heritage School North Campus CBSE school in Dehradun do right by keeping children close to nature. Bringing nature to classrooms can be the most alluring way to educate children. 

It can be done by-

- Nature Art Area

Have an art area in the classroom inspired by all the things from nature like leaves, twigs, dry flowers, stones, etc. This would bring a great level of creativity among children.

- Show Nature’s Simplicity

Show videos, images and have interactive sessions with students explaining them basic functioning and importance of nature. With these sessions teach them the habit of ‘early to bed, early to rise’.

- The 3R’s Rule

Teach them the 3R’s rule i.e Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. With these, ask them to plant seeds in waste plastic bottles that will teach them to practice the same in their homes.

- Schoolyard Garden

Have permission from school authorities to have a school garden where students are taught gardening plus, they plant some veggies. This will make them realize the importance of having a kitchen garden in their homes.

- Camping

Camping is the best, and most interactive activity that will make students leave their techno surrounded life and be in the lapse of nature. How to make a campfire, listening stories and cooking their own food would make them realize the beauty of life.

- Feed the Birds

Make a birdhouse, or hang a feeder outside the window filled with seeds for the birds. This will the quality of kindness and selflessness among the students.

- Keep Windows Open

Try to keep windows open as much as possible, and let them feel the purity of fresh air and not just being in heaters or air-conditioned rooms.

Closer you are to nature, the healthier and better life you live. Adapting such habit through schooling and classrooms go with one for a lifetime. So, it’s important to bring nature to classrooms, be natural in an era full of artificial things and we best Dehradun school ensure the same.