The idea of kids cooking in the kitchen may terrify adults with concern about those sharp knives, potential food poisoning, and the resulting messy kitchen. But, there are simple and easy recipes for kids which they can accomplish without causing a big fuss. According to WebMD, cooking with kids has many benefits, from encouraging picky eaters to helping children learn about healthy food choices.

Eating a balanced meal is an important part of helping children develop strong bodies and healthy minds. Having family dinners is one way to encourage kids to make good food decisions and for adults to model positive eating habits. By cooking a meal with kids from start to finish they use basic math skills, hone their fine-motor skills, and learn about how to create a complete and nourishing feast.

Getting Started: Salad

Combine spinach and strawberries to create a simple salad that may entice picky eaters to try something new. Not only does this salad include healthy spinach, which contains folic acid, but the sweet taste of strawberries along with a tart dressing.

• Start by having the child rinse two bunches of fresh spinach in a colander to remove any residual dirt. She can also remove any long stems remaining on leaves.
• Along with giving the spinach a good clean, she can rinse 2-cups whole strawberries. Both the spinach and strawberries can be gently dried using a paper towel.
• The child can then tear the spinach leaves into bite-size pieces and put into a medium sized salad bowl.
• She can then use a butter knife to remove the tops of strawberries and slice. The sliced strawberries can join the spinach.
• Using measuring spoons and cups, along with a glass jar with a lid, the child can create the sweet and tangy dressing. First, measure 1/2-cup vegetable oil and 1/4-cup white wine vinegar and add to the jar.
• Now she can add 1/2-cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds, and a pinch of salt. Once the lid has been put back on the jar, she can shake the dressing vigorously and then pour over the spinach and strawberries.

Learning Aspect – Tearing the spinach and cutting the strawberries helps hone a child’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, promoting the use of the small muscles of the hand that help with her writing skills. While the child is cutting the strawberries, she can put her fine motor skills to the test by seeing how many slices she can cut from each strawberry.

Main Dish Cooking

A main dish that is fun makes the whole family happy, and encourages everyone to eat everything on their plates. Turn spaghetti and meatballs into a true treat by adding a special surprise to meatballs. When cooking with raw meat, share with children proper ways to keep their bodies and the kitchen safe from food poisoning.

• Before cooking with ground turkey, have everyone wash hands.
• The child can help add seasonings to 1 pound of ground turkey placed in a mixing bowl by measuring 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried garlic, 1 teaspoon dried onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
• Next, she can add 1-cup of plain breadcrumbs and use a mixing spoon to combine well.
• Before making the meatballs, have the child decide what she wants to be the secret surprise inside. Options include her favorite cheese, half a mushroom, or half a black olive.
• She can use a butter knife to cut her secret ingredient and then begin rolling meatballs by gathering a spoon full of meat, pressing her secret ingredient into the center and then rolling into a ball.
• Have her place the rolled meatballs on a cookie tray covered with a sheet of parchment paper and preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Once she’s finished working with the meat, wash hands thoroughly.
• While the oven preheats, she can begin making her sauce and pasta. She can heat up her favorite store bought pasta sauce in a medium pan along with boiling a large pot of salted water for her favorite kind of pasta.
• Once the oven has heated, it is time for parents to step in and place the meatballs in the hot oven for 7 to10 minutes. The child can be in charge of setting a timer to keep track of cooking time.
• An adult can check the meatballs, turning them after 7 to10 minutes, browning meatballs on both sides. Place the pasta noodles in the hot water to boil so everything is finished at the same time.
• Remove the meatballs from the oven. The child can help transfer them from the tray using tongs carefully placing them into the hot pasta sauce to let cook for an additional 5 minutes. Also, an adult can drain the pasta when it is cooked through.
• Now the pasta can be placed on plates, the meatballs and sauce can be ladled, and the surprise meatballs can be enjoyed with garlic bread and a sprinkle of fresh basil.

Learning Aspect –While using measuring spoons and cups, a child is learning math concepts such as fractions. Put her math skills to the test by figuring out how many different combinations of measurements she can find that create 1-cup or 1 teaspoon. She can write out her computations on a sheet of paper.

Dessert Creation

Dinner isn’t complete without dessert and using yogurt is a healthy option and also beneficial for good digestion. These treats need to be made a day in advance to freeze properly, but can also be enjoyed freshly made (although a bit messy)!

• Gather ingredients for the child to use including graham crackers, 1-cup plain vanilla custard-style yogurt, and a jelly flavor of her choice.
• She can tear several squares of plastic wrap for wrapping her treats.
• Start by placing a half a graham cracker on the plastic wrap and have the child use a butter knife to spread a layer of jelly on the cracker.
• She can then place a scoop of vanilla yogurt on top of the jelly.
• Now she can spread another half a graham cracker with jelly and gently place on top of the yogurt.
• Carefully wrap the graham cracker in the plastic wrap and she can continue making sandwiches so each family member has one. Place the finished treats in the freezer for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

Learning Aspect – When creating a frozen treat, a child is learning science concepts dealing with how materials change in different temperatures. She can create a chart to help her track how the cold temperature of the freezer affects the yogurt treats. After each hour, she can document how the ingredients in the treat have changed along with using a cooking thermometer to track its internal temperature.

No matter if you are an experienced cook or barely know your way around the kitchen, cooking easy recipes with kids encourages their self-esteem and cooking skills – and it is a great way to spend quality time together.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent. Her website is http://sarahlipoff.com.

Left-brain art activities don’t have to be boring – they can be filled with exciting ways for enticing kids to tap into the benefits of combining the sides of their brains into one fun creative machine.  Often, kids let their dominant left-brain take charge forgetting their creative right-brain completely, leading to comments such as, “I can’t draw.” Encouraging creative left-brain art activities promotes self-confidence and the child’s brain to work together.

Children Aged 2 to 4

Young kids greatly benefit from activities that engage the left-brain in creative art projects. Introduce kids to shapes along with the math concept of pattern through a fun water resist art activity.

• Look at patterns with the child and discuss how they are created. The left-brain is encouraged when the big picture is looked at instead of the small parts of a project.
• Offer him a sheet of white drawing paper and a set of crayons. Younger children can enjoy the process of engaging their logical left-brain through creating simple shapes, while older toddlers can attempt to create patterns using both colors and shapes.
• Remove the crayons once he’s finished making patterns. The child can now paint all over their paper using watercolors, practicing dipping his paintbrush into the paints on his own, developing his fine-motor skills. Invite him to paint without concern for staying within lines or following any set directions, allowing his creative right-brain to coordinate with his left.
• Discuss the finished artwork together further engaging the child’s visual cortex and his creative development. Talk about what he liked about the art making process and encourage him to explain his finished patterns.

Children Aged 5 to 7

As children age and become more critical of their artwork, encouraging left-brain art reminds them that their artwork doesn’t have to solely rely on creativity but can be accomplished through using their left-brain skills, too. Create a geometric design with kids encouraging their basic math knowledge as well as their artistic skills.

• Discuss geometric shapes with the child, having him draw pictures of as many as he can and then write the names of the shapes, further engaging his left-brain.
• Invite the child to select three shapes to use for his geometric design.
• Give the child a sheet of white drawing paper and have him draw the first shape he selected with a marker so that it almost touches the sides of the paper. Offer him the use of a ruler to help create his lines. Then he can draw the second shape within the first, and the third within the second shape, making his three shapes all within each other.
• The child can now use markers to color each shape in, using a different color for each shape.

Children Aged 8 to 13

Older children begin to lose interest in art as they age and due to art not being included in many middle schools and high schools as a required subject. Preteens are at risk of missing out on honing their creative skills and finding ways to remind their brains that merging their right and left-brain talents help form a complete human being. Challenge kids by creating a 3D sculpture from a piece of construction paper.

• Provide the child with an 8 by 10-inch piece of construction paper and invite him to figure out a way to create a freestanding 3-dimensional form using solely the paper and a pair of scissors.
• Look at modern sculptures by the American artist David Smith, and discuss how he came up with the motivation to make the interesting forms. Discussing artwork stimulates the visual cortex and promotes use of the right brain.
• Brainstorm ideas for how the child can create the sculpture. Working through the problem to find a solution gets the left-brain kick started and ready for the challenge.
• Encourage the child to fold, cut, and shape the flat paper into a form that is able to stand on its own without support.

Young Adults

Once kids hit young adulthood, they become aware of their inabilities in the area of the arts. Most lean toward the feeling they aren’t creative, where in reality their creativity is hiding out in their right-brain.  By creating a mathematical grid drawing a child is able to easily and comfortably recreate an image without fear of mistake or disappointment along with reminding them of their tucked away creativity.

Chuck Close is an American artist that uses mathematical grids to recreate photographs into larger than life portraits using pointillism. Look at examples of his work with the teenager and discuss his techniques.

• Invite him to find an image from a magazine or an actual photograph to recreate in the style of Chuck Close.
• Using a ruler and some basic math, he can figure out how to enlarge the small image onto a larger piece of paper. For instance, if the photograph he selects is 4 by 6-inches, he can create a grid with marker lines every 2-inches around the image. The small 4 by 6-inch image can be enlarged onto a 12 by 18-inch piece of paper with a grid drawn lightly in pencil every 6-inches around the paper.
• He can use markers to recreate the image using large and small dots of color, encouraging the left-brain to work methodically from one square to the next in the grid formation.
• Due to the left-brain not feeling challenged to create a realistic image, the right brain is able to offer a helping hand, which allows the teenager’s artistic abilities to shine through without him even realizing it. 

By encouraging kids to use their left-brain and their inner creativity, they will feel confident about their artwork and also feel ready to share their creativity with others.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent. Her website is http://sarahlipoff.com.

Challenging your child’s brain is an important part to their cognitive development. Studies have also found it is easier to learn during childhood.

“Neuroscientists have discovered that between toddlerhood and puberty, brain metabolism, as measured by blood sugar consumption, remains very high. The synaptic net of axons and dendrites is thick and ready to absorb new experiences,” Oregon University’s Health and Science department said.

There are several brain games that will challenge your child’s brain and help them stay ahead of the learning curve in the future.

brain games

When most people hear the term ‘brain games,’ they think of crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles. While those are two very effective games for challenging your brain, a child may not have the skill level or the interest to work through such things at certain stages of development.

There is a Daily Sudoku for Kids that is good for younger audiences, however.

Sports and various themed brain games can prove that learning can be fun.

Sports brain games

There are many games to engage a young sports fan. Kaboose’s Baseball Word Scramble allows your child to unscramble sets of baseball themed words to find the names of ten popular players. The Web site’s bowling game helps with coordination skills and spatial skills as well.

Science brain games

Learning about the solar system and how the brain functions are two intriguing topics for children.  Use Neuroscience for Kids’ Brain Hieroglyphics game to learn more about the nervous system and the brain.  You can also try out some illusion puzzles to get your eyes really thinking about what they are seeing.

Number games

To challenge mathematical skills and also test memory function, number teasers are just the ticket.

Number games that begin at a young age are essential to understanding concepts in future grade levels.

“When children start early with their understanding of math facts they will have a more comprehensible ability to complete the additional concepts the teachers in each grade level present. It is like a stair step of information they must understand,” Teach Kids How said. “This basic math concept amazingly starts at recognizing numbers and flows directly into High school algebra, if you miss a concept in any grade level you will struggle to keep up.”

Word puzzles

Word puzzles are popular in elementary school classrooms. They are an excellent way to learn word association and spelling skills. These are also called Rebus games. “A REBUS is a picture representation of a name, work, or phrase. Each “rebus” puzzle box below portrays a common word or phrase,” the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences Kids’ Pages said.

Creating a safe learning environment

It is also important to be wary of over stimulating your child with brain games.

“Too many new experiences or too much stimulation can cause stress and hinder a child’s development. Children need freedom to explore on their own terms,” North Dakota State University’s Extension Office Family Science Specialist Sean Brotherson said.

“The brain develops through hands-on experience during a lifetime, but stress can inhibit this development. Watch your children’s signals to see when they are feeling overly stressed or stimulated. They will avoid, turn away, cover their face with their hands, hiccup, cry, become upset or become frustrated. Then take steps to reduce the stimulation and calm your child,” he said.

All in all, creating a safe and supportive learning environment will inspire your child to continue seeking knowledge.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. It’s a … roller coaster? Well, they may not be quite as fast as a speeding bullet, but unlike Super Man, roller coasters don’t need any super powers in order to fly, spin, and race through the air at top speeds. What do they need? Physics.

Teaching Physics through Roller Coasters 

If you want a fun, interesting way to teach children about physics, particularly about potential and kinetic energy, then taking them on a field trip to a theme park is a great idea. Learning how roller coasters work is a fun way to reinforce what children are learning about Physics in school.

Before taking children to a theme park, teach a simple physics lesson to get their imaginations engaged.

Start with an illustration to peak their interest.  For younger children, use a colorful, plastic marble slide.

For older children try making one of these cool mine shaft marble slides from LooLeDo. Try to find or make slides with multiple hills and dips. This is important to the concept of potential energy and kinetic energy. Alternatively, you can show a video or movie about a theme park with roller coaster rides.

For younger children who might not yet understand the concept of gravity, you can teach them about Sir Isaac Newton and the apple. Perhaps purchase some fabric apples so that children can drop them on each other’s heads to illustrate how the apple fell out of the tree and onto Newton’s head. (Toy fabric fruit can be purchased from some toy stores, or on handmade Web sites like Etsy and Folksy.) Remind children not to try this with real apples.

Explain Physics Terms

• Physics is the science of how matter (objects, people, animals, etc.) relates to motion and energy. Energy is what allows matter to move.
• Gravity is the force that draws two objects (or two pieces of matter) together, or the force that pulls objects downward, toward the earth.
• Potential energy is based on the mass, or size and weight, of an object, and where it rests.
• Kinetic energy is based on motion, or the speed at which an object travels.
• Velocity is the speed at which something happens, or the rapidity of motion.

Demonstrate these Physics Concepts

Show them the slide again, and explain how the marble (or small car, or whatever you choose to roll down the slide) has potential energy based on its position at the top of the slide.

The higher the hill, the more potential energy, and the higher velocity the marble has because gravity can pull it down further and faster. As the marble begins to speed down the hill, it gains velocity, and the potential energy converts to kinetic energy which propels the marble over the next hill, around the first curve or loop, and on for the rest of the journey.

While the marble loses potential energy as it loses height, it gains kinetic energy which then propels it up the next hill. The pattern of potential to kinetic energy continues, and this cycle is what keeps the marble rolling all the way to the end of the slide.

Build Your Own Roller Coaster

Let children play with the marble slides from your illustration, or build a model roller coaster together. 

Create your own rollercoaster simulation on Funderstanding. 

Take a Field Trip to a Theme Park

Now that they’ve had a chance to learn some basic Physics concepts, plan a field trip to a theme park where they can see potential energy and kinetic energy at work in the real world.

As children ride the rides, remind them of some of the lesson points. Perhaps offer them a small prize every time they correctly identify one of the points you made in the lesson. Or you could allow them to go on a roller coaster only after they explain to you how it works.

You can also give a pop quiz on the ride home, or provide them with an activity handout.

Follow-Up on Physics Concepts 

Following your theme park visit, give a short review lesson to remind them what they learned about Physics and roller coasters.

Talk about the experience at the theme park. Ask your children what they enjoyed most about the experience, and what they remembered from the lessons. Maybe make a model roller coaster or play a roller coaster game to refresh their memories.

Roller Coaster Resources

Encyclopaedia Britannica talks about the the history and inventors of roller coasters here.  On the Discovery Kids Web site you can build your own roller coaster, the idea being—the scarier the better:

Answer their questions. If you don’t know the answer, help them find out what they want to know by showing them how to search for articles with Google or another search engine.

Teaching children about Physics can be daunting. By providing fun, engaging illustrations, and taking them on a field trip to a theme park, you can make the whole experience fun and interesting for everyone.

 By Megan Elaine Cullen

Most young children are excited about doing a creative activity, while others rush through a project or are quick to complain, “I can’t draw.” The child that doodles while listening to directions instead of attentively keeping eye contact frustrates many a teacher. Some adults might struggle to understand their child’s quirky obsession with wearing matching clothing at all times. This actually has more to do with the brain than one might think. A young child’s brain is simply letting its dominant side take over, and not blending with the other in order to reach its full potential.

The Brain and Creativity

The brain is divided into two hemispheres – the right and left. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, with the left side dominant over the right. The right side of the brain is in charge of creative, social, visual skills and intuition. The left sides takes over with sequencing, language, math, and rational thoughts. Deep within the brain lies the visual cortex, which is stimulated through viewing and creating visual arts. Semir Zeki writes that, “visual arts contributes to our understanding of the visual brain because it explores and reveals the brain’s perceptual capabilities.”

With most kids more comfortable using their right hand, they begin their journey as left- brain dominant not tapping into their right-brain potential. Celeste Carneiro finds that if we spent more time stimulating the right side of the brain we would “search out the integration of the two hemispheres, balancing the use of our potentials.” This is something that many adults forget, as they are left-brain dominant themselves, potentially causing a lack of creative stimulation for budding children.

Right Brain/Left Brain

To understand which side of the brain is dominant in a child, adults can observe how the child responds to various situations. Diane Connell, Ed.D, finds children who prefer to work alone, and find researching and analyzing facts interesting are left-brain dominant. Children who are right-brain dominant enjoy art projects and hands on activities over writing papers and doing research.

 Along with the right side of the brain having a significant role in creativity, the Neuro Psychiatry Reviews finds the “frontal lobe to be the part of the cortex that is most important for creativity, being critical for divergent thinking,” and that the ways family and friends encourage the development of the frontal lobe encourages independent and divergent thinking. Divergent thinking stimulates kids to look at things differently, use creative thought processes for decision-making, and motivates them to ask lots and lots of questions.

Encouraging the Whole Brain and Creativity

 So, how to encourage right-brain thinking in children? Betty Edwards, an art teacher known for her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, developed ways to encourage others to tap into their hidden creativity and stop the “I can’t draw” stigma. Through various exercises, Edward’s desire was to help others train their brains to draw in different ways.

Encouraging kids brains to be more right-brain dependent can be as easy as doing some creative activities that don’t overwhelm or frustrate left-brain learners. Right-brain dominant kids might also need some assistance in getting excited about researching that essay or finding ways to organize their room. Just as Carneiro stated, finding ways to encourage the use of both sides of the brain creates a complete human, resulting in harmony and the use of its full potential.

Activities for Kids

Right- brain (ages 7 to 10)

•  Find a picture in a magazine the child finds interesting. Use a ruler to section off a 3 by 3-inch part of the image and then cut away the rest.
• Encourage the child’s right-brain to take over and make creative decisions through recreating the small section of the picture. When children are not sure of what they are drawing Carneiro finds the left-brain is tricked into thinking the activity is not worth its time, and allows the right brain to take charge.
• Instead of using a pencil to sketch out the drawing first, offer the child oil pastels for drawing along with a 9 by 9-inch piece of drawing paper. Play music while he is working and offer him support in creating his artwork as needed.

Left- brain (ages 4 to 7)

• Use various colors of construction paper to create a cut paper pattern collage, which boosts fine-motor skills and and hand-eye coordination.
• Before beginning a creative project, Connell finds that spending time discussing the activity helps the child think about the big picture. Talk about what a pattern is with the child and how they can be quite simple or challenging to create. Having him work quietly also boosts his left-brain thinking.
• Offer the child scissors, rulers, pencils and erasers to use while creating his pattern collage appealing to his left-brain’s desire for order and linear creation.

Joining the two (ages 4 to 10)

• Provide the child with finger paint paper along with a variety of colors of finger paint. Play music while he explores the finger paint encouraging him to make lines and shapes along to the music.
• Once the finger paint is dry, the child can use a black marker to create a drawing over the finger paint. Encourage him to find shapes and lines to connect together in creating a realistic finished drawing. Allow the child to work in silence while he’s finishing his drawing.
• After the child has completed his artwork, discuss the finished piece giving his frontal lobe and visual cortex a boost.

No matter the age of the child, spend time looking at, discussing, and creating art. This will stimulate his frontal lobe, visual cortex, and help train his right and left-brain to work together.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent.

We all want our children to be charitable and give back in some way, but telling them they have to tithe (the religious precept of giving 10 percent of their income) or hold back one-third of their allowance as a donation probably won’t make the concept stick when they get out on their own.As it turns out, much more subtle and even fun ways exist that make children think they came up with the idea of giving all on their own.

Play board games or online games

Kids not only identify with games and find them fun to play, but games get kids thinking about the choices they make and the consequences of those decisions.

Some games that have a charitable giving component include:

• Bank It! www.Simplyfun.com  for ages 6 and up
• Thrive Time www.thrivetimegame.com  for ages 13 and up
• Cash Flow 101 www.cashflowboardgame.com for ages 14 and up
• Stage Coach Island http://blog.wellsfargo.com/stagecoachisland/ for ages 14 and up

Parents can play the board games with their children and ask questions about the giving components. “Why do you think the game wants you to give back to the community?” “How do you feel about that?” And whatever other questions might be appropriate or come up during game play.

Introduce books about giving

Reading a book that conveys the benefits of giving is another subtle way to introduce philanthropy to your child. Books can be fiction or non-fiction, but screening them first is a good idea and you don’t want to promote a book that tells a child they “must” do something. That’s the surest way to get them to rebel.

Here are some suggested titles:

• One Hen by Katie Smith Milway for ages 7 to 11
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein for ages 4 to 8
• Meet Genna & Russ, the Generous Kids (www.gennarusskids.com) for ages 2 to 6
• Kathleen’s Story by Lurlene McDaniel for young adults

You can read aloud to younger children, ask them to predict what is going to happen in the story, which will open up opportunities for discussing the why’s and how’s of being charitable. Ask older children what they thought about the story and what was the message they perceived.

Teaching by example

Kids watch what you do even when you’re not always aware of it. They tend to follow your example, at least early in their lives. However, if you’ve forced them to do something like tithe, in later years, they are likely to revolt.

 How to be a role model:

• Talk about what charity means and how organizations help others
• Donate items to your local food bank or to places that pick up used household items
• Tell your children why you put money in the collection plate at religious organization or write out a check to a disaster relief organization
• Help an elderly neighbor with yard work, cook dinner for a family in need or do some other random act of kindness
• Participate in your school, town or your religious institution’s community service projects such as serving food in a soup kitchen, cleaning up a park for Earth Day, making meals for the needy
• Save change in a jar and donate it to a specific charity

Be sure to mention to your children that charity can come in many different forms and isn’t always about giving money. Sometimes giving of your time can help someone more.

 Tell them you don’t perform charitable works because you expect something in return.

Educating children about giving back to others should never include a lecture and absolutes like “you have to.” Make them want to do it. Playing a game, reading a book or watching their parents’ actions will make charity fun, not a chore.

By Heather Larson.  Heather Larson, a writer in Tacoma, Washington, frequently writes about
finances and parenting for Creditcards.com, bankrate.com and ParentMap.

Scribble, scribble, scribble, what does it mean? The moment a child figures out how to pick up a crayon, she begins an adventure through art from scribbling to realistic creations. Just like with learning how to read or write, children go through levels of development in art – and it is a fun and educational journey.

 The Scribble Stage

 Viktor Lowenfeld, an art education professor at Pennsylvania State University, published Creative and Mental Growth in 1947, detailing the development of art in children. His writing teaches the Stages of Artistic Development, which tie together the intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic growth of art in children. According to Lowenfeld, the first stage of a child’s art development is the Scribble stage. Youngsters, from birth to the age of four, explore their abilities to make marks using various materials, including that pen you left out on your home’s walls.

Lowenfeld breaks the Scribble stage into four sub-stages titled the Disordered, Longitudinal, Circular, and Naming. During the Disordered sub-stage, a child creates light or dark scribbles with little or no control over her motor skills. Longitudinal scribbles show the beginnings of controlled repeated motions and understanding of movement. During the Circular sub-stage, a child further explores her control over mark-making implements. In the Naming stage, she begins to tell stories about her scribbles along with naming them, even though they are non-representational.

Innate Learning Instincts

Marvin Bartel, a retired professor of art at Goshen College, finds the Scribble stage to be about how things sound and feel, along with the pure joy created for children when drawing. Bartel calls scribbling a child’s “job” which, “grows out of their innate learning instincts.” This means those unsuspecting walls are at risk of being covered with scribbles, as a child does not understand, that the family’s walls are not for her mark making. Bartel suggests placing pads of paper on easels, or directly on walls, for a child to comfortably, and wall harming-free, create scribbles when she so feels inclined.

The early desire to scribble enforces Lowenfeld’s thoughts that a child’s brain is developing and learning from their first artistic creations. Dr. Susan Sheridan finds scribbling to be “ an artifact of the evolutionary connections between speech and literacy.” These simple marks are a way for the brain to synchronize activity in the multiple layers of the brain tissue for language processing and problem solving. When a child is concentrating on her mark making, she is training her brain to be attentive, encouraging her brain to visualize shapes and forms, and organizing patterns of thought.

Scribbling Activities

The Scribble stage may seem to continue for years. But, this stage eventually turns into the Preschematic stage. Those looping round circles will become somewhat representational potato-head bodies with small protruding lines for arms and legs. While a child is so fanatic about scribbling, do engaging art activities that show interest in her artistic expression, along with creating some wall-worthy art, even if it is a bunch of scribbles.

Tape and Crayons

• During the scribbling stage, a child is experimenting with grasping, holding, and pressing objects, which develops the small muscles of her hands. Use masking tape to create an artwork that boosts fine-motor skills and expressive line making.
• Offer the child small strips of masking tape and encourage her to press them onto a white piece of paper. This encourages her hand to grasp and press the tape.
• Once she’s positioned the tape and is ready to move on, give her a selection of crayons and have her cover the entire paper. While she is coloring, test her color recognition skills by holding a crayon and asking her what color it is.
• When the child’s finished, have her remove the lengths of tape and discover what lies underneath.

Watercolor Markers

•  Allow a child to scribble using washable markers on a piece of white paper, inviting her to use the markers on the paper and not in her mouth.
• Although it looks like a lot of scribbles, ask the child about her creation. Susan Lemons, Child Development specialist, reminds parents that the Scribble stage “isn’t about the product, but the process.” Encourage her to make big looping scribbles and small round scribbles, motivating her to explore the way she can create marks.
• Give prompts, when necessary, about holding a mark making implement or how to use it properly, such as reminding her that markers belong on the paper. This benefits her understanding of different art materials.
• When she is ready, remove the markers and provide her with a wet paintbrush, showing her how to paint over her scribbles. Re-wet the paintbrush as needed as she continues to cover her marks.

Edible Finger Paint

•  Separate a prepared batch of vanilla pudding into small cups, adding drops of food coloring to create a selection of colors.
• Touch is one of the five senses and doing art activities that allow a child to explore how things feel benefits her early sensory development. The five senses are how a young child learns about the world around her.
• Place spoonfuls of the pudding finger paint onto a white paper and invite the child to use her fingers as line making tools, and enjoy tasting them while she works.
• Along with exploring her sense of touch, assist the child’s understanding of her sense of taste. Do a taste test with the pudding finger paint, asking the child if the different colors of finger paint taste similar or different. Ask her about words she feels describe the taste of the pudding.

No matter the activity, allowing children to explore their budding creativity during the Scribble stage encourages brain development and builds self-esteem. Spend time creating with children – you might find yourself enjoying some scribbling, too.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah Lipoff is an art educator and parent.

I was listening to a training session given by a client last week. The trainer was encouraging his sales people to work harder at educating customers. He mentioned that people retain more information when they are involved in an activity by ‘doing.’ He then cited this learning pyramid.

This pyramid tells a very compelling story. After a lecture we can only be expected to retain 5% of what we hear. We can retain 10% of what we read, etc. Ultimately the pyramid reminds us that the best way to master a topic is to learn to teach it. The more involved we get with the content the more mastery we have over it.

That all makes intuitive sense. And the pyramid is all over the internet. Search on ‘retention rate learning’ and click on the ‘images’ tab and you’ll see over 700,000 results, many of which are of this pyramid.

So it makes sense, everyone knows it, and the data is all over the internet. It’s got to be true, right?

Problem. Just think a bit deeper about this. How does the pyramid define ‘lecture’? Are they referring to a lecture given by Steve Jobs? I bet people retain a lot more than 5% of what he says. Or are they referring to a lecture given by me? I can assure you my own kids retain nothing of what I lecture them about! And how is it that the data is so clean. Isn’t the mathematical progression wonderful? And really, if I teach someone something I am going to retain 90% of the information? If only it were so easy.

Googling around, I found several articles that investigated further. See the excellent articles on ‘myths and misconceptions’. And see another excellent critique of the pyramid as well. Those articles do a pretty good job of debunking the pyramid.

It is unfortunate that a chart like this gets so popular despite its lack of a reference, and despite it being so clean that it ought to immediately make people skeptical. So first, this post is a plea for people to be careful about the kind of data they consume.

But more importantly, it suggests a hierarchy for learning that is completely false and I’d suggest that it is not only misleading, but also harmful. It suggests that there is a best way to teach something. 90% is better than 5%, so shouldn’t all education lead towards a student teaching something?

Education is an art form. Each level of the pyramid describes a tool that great teachers can use. The selection of a tool is dependent on the need of the students and is complicated by so many variables that a simplification like this pyramid sends a very wrong message.

The message that should be sent is that any teaching method can be good and it can also be bad. Then the educator can focus on improving his or her ability to deliver that lecture in a way that assures the deep engagement of the participant.

Some takeaways:

• if data looks really neat and pretty, be skeptical. Smart people are able to carry both sides of an argument in their heads and this brings a healthy level of cynicism to a chart like the pyramid.
• a teaching method can be good or bad, depending on how that method is applied.
• good instruction can involve a variety of methods.
• learning is a very complex subject and should be treated accordingly. There is seldom a best method.
• teaching is an artful blend of a variety of methods.

Great teachers are artists, and art does not come from a formula. If it did, my paint-by-numbers would likely hang in the Met, rather than my parent’s closet…..

Our current educational system, both in the academic or professional world, often relies on inappropriate assessment methods–for instance, the multiple choice test. Multiple choice tests are relatively simple to create, administer, and grade.

But these tests (and similar assessment tools that contain true/false and completion items) often try to quantify the unquantifiable. A high score on a multiple choice test doesn’t necessarily indicate a true understanding of the material. Often, it simply proves that the test taker is good at multiple choice tests.

An effective assessment tool models how things work in the real world. Rather than testing random facts, it evaluates how the learner applies information on the job.

For example, a pharmaceutical company wants to evaluate its employees’ knowledge of manufacturing a particular asthma medication. So it examines how skilled each employee is at operating the machine that blends the medication ingredients. Although this method is more complex than simply administering a written test, it paints a more accurate, useful picture of applied knowledge on the job.

A passive approach

A bell rings. The professor stands before a podium with a sheaf of lecture notes. Facing her is a roomful of banked seats filled with students, notebooks open, pens poised. An hour-long lecture on photosynthesis begins, during which the instructor delivers reams of facts and the students busily record them. The students learn these bits of information and recall them at exam time. The professor grades students on their ability to do this.

A more active approach

Students gather around a table. The professor begins class with a 5 minute discussion on plants. Then, the professor divides the class into groups of three and gives each group a plant. The students are challenged to design experiments that determine how plants get nutrition. The professor walks around the class, providing guidance to each group.

Our current educational system was developed at a time when assembly line workers were in demand. Today’s workers need to be creative, agile thinkers who understand processes, not just facts. This requires a different set of skills. A number of current learning theories suggest ways to nurture the kinds of creativity and flexibility that enable people to thrive in the rapidly evolving work world.

LEARNING A HOBBY

Consider your favorite hobby. Perhaps you are a Pogo Stick enthusiast. It’s unlikely you were born with the innate ability to jump around on a Pogo Stick. But somewhere along the line you mastered this art. How? By getting on your Pogo Stick and jumping…and falling off…and getting back on…and jumping…and falling off… (you get the picture).

Gradually, during this iterative process, your brain and your body (which are accustomed to negotiating the world on two legs) developed a sense of how to balance while bouncing around on a stick. Although you may not have been aware of it, you increased your Pogo Stick expertise by developing and testing theories about how to stay on the stick. You made countless mistakes. And you used each mistake to examine what made you fall off.

The dialogue in your head may have gone something like this:

Okay, if I wait too long to start jumping after mounting the stick, I fall off. So I’ve gotta start jumping right away.

Okay, now I’ve gotten the hang of jumping as soon as I get on the Pogo Stick. But if I lean too far to the left or the right, I lose my balance. So I need to stay centered.

It seems that if I push off from the ground with the same amount of force each time, I can develop a rhythm and build momentum. Hmmm….How can I do that?

What made this learning situation work?

• You were motivated. Pogo-sticking wasn’t part of an established curriculum, but it was on your list of personal goals.
• You practiced in a safe environment. No one was testing or grading you, and it was okay to fail.
• You constructed your own knowledge about how to use a Pogo Stick.
• You learned how to use a Pogo Stick by pogo-sticking!