Family Day celebrations goes publicly - Divya Bhaskar

Divya Baskar - 30/9/2010 : Shanti Juniors celebrated  " FAMILY DAY" at Shanti Asiatic School with full enthusiasm  ................................

Shanti Juniors Family Day Celebration: Zooooommmm in view

Shanti Juniors - FAMILY DAY CELEBRATION Zoom In view of the article which was carried out in Ahmedabad Mirror - 30/9/2010

Family Day celebrations in NEWS - Ahmedabad Mirrior

Ahmedabad Mirror - 30/9/2010 : Carried an article about Shanti Juniors and how they celebrated " FAMILY DAY" at Shanti Asiatic School................................

Total development for your child's success in School & Life...!

·         Make the most of the early years  of your child

·         Develop the habit of reading  and a love of learning in your child

·         Utilize the free time your child has more productively

·         Prepare your child for an increasingly competitive world

·         Raise a happy and well- rounded  and successful individual

Coping With Holiday Hustle and Bustle

Families can better cope with the hustle and bustle of the holidays by following a few simple tips.

Keep routines as normal as possible and concentrate on important activities to reduce holiday stress. Routines are important for children, so try to maintain normal meal and bedtime schedules even during holiday vacations., Children may feel upset, grouchy or anxious during this busy time. Don't expect children to always be happy and appreciative.Having a quiet time is also a good idea during the holidays. Play soft music, read stories or take a stroll to bring down your child's activity level. Setting a "whisper hour," a time when everyone in the house must whisper, is a way to reduce noise and add mystery to the season. Parents should select activities most important to the family. By letting go of the less important ones, the festive mood won't be hindered, but stress may be eased. It's also a good idea to schedule activities over several days so the excitement isn't overwhelming -- for the children or for the parents. Make several short shopping trips instead of one long trip. Children have short attention spans and little endurance.

Here are some additional ways to deal with holiday stress:

Concentrate on people instead of objects. For example, it's more important to have fun making cookies than to have beautiful cookies.

Prepare children for holiday visits by sharing photos of family members. Discuss who the people are and who the children will see.

Plan celebrations during children's best coping time of the day.

Touch people. A loving touch can have the opposite effect of stress because it calms people both physically and emotionally.

Limit sugar, salt, caffeine during holiday meals and snacks. They may result in the same symptoms as stress.

Have children help prepare for celebrations by setting the table, cutting out cookies, picking up toys, and designing and coloring placemats.

By letting children be part of the festivities, the family emphasizes shared joys and responsibilities during their holiday celebration.

How Can We Provide Safe Playgrounds?

What Makes a Playground Unsafe?

Each year hospital emergency rooms treat an estimated 200,000 children who have been injured in playground accidents. About 60 percent of these injuries are caused by children falling from playground equipment onto a hard and unyielding surface such as asphalt, concrete, or even the ground. Most playground injuries are caused by preventable hazards. These hazards include:

Inadequate fall zones under and spaces between playground equipment. The area under and around equipment should be covered with a minimum of 12 inches of protective, resilient surfacing material (such as wood chips, mulch, or rubber), extending a minimum of 6 feet in all directions. Fall zones around swings should extend twice the height of the swing hanger in front of and behind the swings. Swings should not be attached to play systems. There should be a minimum of 12 feet between play structures.

Absence of guard rails. Elevated surfaces such as platforms, ramps, and bridgeways should have guard rails to prevent accidental falls.

Dangerous protrusions and entanglements. Objects such as nails, screws, bolts, pipe ends, and sharp or pointed hardware can impale or cut children. Hooks or parts that catch strings and clothing can cause strangulation. Open S hooks allow swing seats to slip off their chains and can cause children to fall.

Hazardous entrapment areas. Openings between posts, ladder rungs, deck levels, or entryways are fine for foot-first entry, but they can also entrap children's heads. Ideally, openings on playground equipment should measure less than 3 inches or more than 9 inches.

Dangerous swing seats. Hard wood or metal swing seats can hit children passing too closely to or jumping off a swing. Heavy animal-type swings are particularly dangerous because they act as battering rams; bumpers attached to these swings do not reduce the risk of injury.

Other dangerous playground equipment. Equipment such as suspension bridges, merry-go-rounds, swinging gates, and seesaws (teeter-totters) may have moving parts that can pinch or crush children's fingers or other body parts.

Age-inappropriate equipment. It is important to ensure that playground equipment is appropriate to the age group using it. For example, equipment for children in preschool should have guard rails on elevated surfaces higher than 20 inches, and it should be separated from equipment for school-age children. Small children may not have the coordination and balance to climb on equipment designed for older children.

Inadequate supervision or lack of supervision. It is estimated that more than 40 percent of playground injuries are directly related to lack of proper supervision. Most children are unable to foresee danger.

Parents and school staff need to be alert to potential hazards.

How Can You Help Children Play Safely?

Proper supervision is essential to safe play. Parents and teachers should ensure that children observe the following rules:

Wear shoes, such as sneakers, that do not slide on wet surfaces. However, check for footwear rules at indoor play areas.

Do not play on slippery or wet equipment or force body parts through small spaces.

Do not play on hot metal surfaces, such as slides, that may cause third-degree burns.

Do not cross in front or behind moving swings.

Get off a seesaw only when your partner's feet are on the ground.

Do not push or pull others while playing on climbing equipment.

How Can an Unsafe Playground Be Made Safe?

If a playground is unsafe, it can be renovated by making these improvements:

Install a fall zone of appropriate materials that extends the correct distance in all directions under all equipment.

Modify unsafe equipment if it is economical; otherwise, unsafe equipment should be replaced.

Replace hard swing seats with softer ones and remove animal-type swings and multiple-occupancy glider swings.

Install guard or barrier walls on all elevated surfaces, close S hooks, and modify protrusions.

Space equipment appropriately and remove equipment with openings that can trap children's heads.

Remove hazards that children may trip over, such as exposed concrete footings, tree roots, stumps, or rocks; modify containment borders and abrupt changes in surface elevations.

Talk with contractors and equipment manufacturers to ensure that equipment complies with safety standards.

AGES & STAGES - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Developmental milestones give a general idea about what to expect from children of different ages. However, there will always be differences between individual children. Some children begin to walk at 10 months, some at 15 months. Some toddle along quickly and smoothly, getting the "hang of it" right away. Others fall down a lot, hesitate, or even give up for a few days. Some children talk before they are 2, others talk very little before they are 3 or so. Some will always be quiet people. Some abilities become clear in one child, but may never be very strong in another.

Recognize the individual in the child and look for differences based on the following:

SENSE OF SECURITY

Some children need more consistency, more reassurance, and more confidence and trust-building than others. Insecurity sometimes can cause a child to withdraw or behave aggressively.

ACTIVITY LEVEL

Some children need more active play than others. They need the opportunity to move around, jump, run, and bounce many times throughout the day. Other children need more quiet time or more rest.

RESPONSE TO STIMULATION

Children are inherently different in their tolerance to noise, activity, visual stimulation, or changes in the environment. An environment that is sensitive to this need in children will provide interesting activities as well as a quiet place to get away from the action.

THINKING STYLE

Some children think quietly through possible solutions to a problem; others push in and try the first idea that occurs to them. Some children are interested in experimenting to find out how objects work; others choose to ask friends or adults for help.

Developmental guidelines should be used as a general rule of thumb. In your work with children, do not confuse earlier or faster development with better development. Early talking by a 1-year-old does not mean that the child will be a chatterbox or a brilliant conversationalist at age 10. Later talking may mean that a toddler is putting more energy into physical growth and motor exploration right now.

Development or the lack of it that falls outside the normal range may indicate a problem that requires attention. You may need to help parents recognize possible problems and special needs, such as poor vision or hearing. Familiarity with developmental norms and with community resources can assist you in helping parents seek professional advice about developmental questions.

CAN YOU PRAISE CHILDREN TOO MUCH?

In the rush to give children a healthy dose of self-esteem, some adults go too far to praise children. And that can backfire. It doesn't take kids long to realize that all the praise may not be justified. Maybe you fail to gush over a painting the way Mom and Dad have always done. Or a playmate tells them their clay bowl is yucky. It's a rude awakening! A child who is praised too much may fall into the great-expectations trap. These kids feel the only way they can be accepted and loved is to keep performing at higher levels. Too much praise can also set up a fear-of-failure scenario. Kids are so dependent on the approval of others, they may be afraid to take risks. Scared that they won't be able to do a task perfectly, they don't do it at all. This is not to say that adults should act like drill sergeants. It's fine to tell a toddler everything he does is wonderful. And it's also fine to burst out in spontaneous delight over something a child does. But by the time kids are in preschool, caregivers and parents should think about when and how they praise.

DON'T PRAISE INDISCRIMINATELY. Children need and deserve realistic feedback about their accomplishments to understand their strengths and weaknesses. If you gush over everything, they will never recognize that some areas really do need improvement. Instead of treating every painting as a masterpiece, talk about the facts: Look at that deep-blue sky! What a lot of colors you used today! I can't wait to hang up this painting. Think of praise as a form of feedback. The more specific you are, the more important information you impart to the child.

FOCUS ON THE CHILD'S SPECIAL TALENT. Every child has some area of competence, one that can serve as a source of pride and accomplishment. Encourage that special talent and the child's pride in his achievement will transfer to other work.

LOOK AT THE CHILD'S EFFORTS, NOT THE RESULTS. Too often, adults reward the results and forget about the effort. Look back two or three months on the child's progress and concentrate your praise on how much a child has improved.

NEVER COMPARE A CHILD WITH SIBLINGS OR FRIENDS. Many times adults compare one child to another. Encourage children to participate and do well because they enjoy something, not because they want to beat out someone else or prove they're smarter than someone else.

TEACH CHILDREN THAT MAKING MISTAKES IS A NATURAL PART OF THE LEARNING PROCESS. While you will never be able to take away all the disappointment a child will face, you can make sure he doesn't feel defeated by it. For instance, if you see a child is upset because a project didn't come out the way he wanted, you can encourage him to start over or change something in the project.

Healthy eating from the start: Nutrition education for young children...

Early experiences with food have a strong impact on the future eating habits and health of young children, and the best time to teach good dietary habits is during the early years.

Poor diet has been associated with the development of many of the chronic diseases in the United States, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The food "pyramid" released by the Department of Agriculture in 1992, suggests that a healthy diet is one that includes multiple servings of various grains, fruits, and vegetables per day, and limiting the intake of saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar.

To learn about nutrition, children should be involved with actual food—not simply answer questions in workbooks or sing songs about vegetables. Hands-on nutrition activities help children develop healthy eating habits and can complement other learning, for example math, science, language, social development, cooperation, and respect for culture.

Following are some suggestions for promoting healthy eating in young children:

More than graham crackers

Help build self-esteem and teach good eating habits by allowing children to plan, prepare, and serve simple nutritional snacks. For example, create smiling faces using rice cakes and cheese, or make frozen banana sticks or applesauce. Introduce new foods in small portions to encourage children to taste their creations.

Integrate learning activities

Use seed catalogs and real vegetables to examine the edible parts of various plants, or conduct a taste-test on a variety of raw and cooked vegetables. Children can then discuss the nutritional value of each vegetable. Children can also work together to make vegetable soup and create labels for their own soup cans.

Learn about different cultures

Choose the cultural heritage of one or more children as a theme for a day’s meals and snacks. Discuss at mealtimes how factors such as climate help shape food habits.

Foster creativity

Under adult supervision, young children can bake their own whole grain breads. Make it fun by shaping the dough into different animal shapes.

Visit a local farm or farmers’ market

This type of outing will put children in touch with local surroundings and create an awareness of how food is grown and sold in places other than a supermarket.

Seeing is believing

Replace some of the unhealthier plastic foods in toy kitchens with replicas of fruits and vegetables, loaves of bread, and wedges of cheese. Better yet, replace the unhealthy foods in your real refrigerator with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lessons about healthy foods will "stick" more when you eat healthy too!

Parents, caregivers, and teachers should work together to establish a mutual understanding of how best to meet each child’s individual nutritional needs. Teaching children to eat wisely and moderately is an investment in the future, and establishing healthy eating habits in the early years is not only important, but can also be fun.

Helping Children Cope with Stress

While some stress is normal and even healthy

, children today seem to encounter many stressful life events at earlier ages. Stress shows itself in children by complaints about stomachaches, being nervous, trouble sleeping, anger flares, and infections.

Stress is a life event or situation that causes imbalance in an individual's life. An unhealthy response to stress occurs when the demands of the stress or exceed an individual's coping ability. Often stress results from something that is beyond our control. Control has a great deal to do with levels of stress.

Some stress is normal. Daily and life challenges can be expected. For example, most children will attend school and will have to go through many transitions. Most adolescents will have to grapple with their sense of identity to determine where they "fit." Being afraid of the dark and feeling peer pressure are predictable stressors. Other stressors are not as predictable. Disruptions to what is considered normal for the child cause problems with stress. Small amounts of stress, as experienced before a test or when meeting new people, are necessary to present challenges for greater learning. Simple stress experienced when learning a new skill or playing an exciting game raise a person's level of excitement or pressure above the normal level.

WHEN IS STRESS DISTRESS?

Problems begin when ordinary stress becomes too much stress or distress. There are a variety of reasons for children to feel stress. Death, divorce, remarriage, moving, long illness, abuse, family or community violence, natural disaster, fear of failure, and cultural conflict may each heighten stress. Under stress, the heart rate and breathing are at a higher speed and muscles are tense. Multiple stressors worsen the stress level and the length of the stress. Our bodies need relief from stress to reestablish balance.

CHILDREN'S REACTIONS

Reactions to stress vary with the child's stage of development, ability to cope, the length of time the stressor continues, intensity of the stressor, and the degree of support from family, friends, and community. The two most frequent indicators that children are stressed are change in behaviors and regression of behaviors. Children under stress change their behavior and react by doing things that are not in keeping with their usual style. Behaviors seen in earlier phases of development, such as thumb sucking and regression in toileting, may reappear.

SOME OF THE TYPICAL SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESS FOR CHILDREN

Preschoolers:

Typically, preschoolers lack self-control, have no sense of time, act independently, are curious, may wet the bed, have changes in eating habits, have difficulty with sleep or speech, and cannot tell adults how they are feeling.

Preschoolers under stress each react differently. Some behaviors may include irritability, anxiety, uncontrollable crying, trembling with fright, eating or sleep problems. Toddlers may regress to infant behaviors, feel angry and not understand their feelings, fear being alone or without their parent, withdraw, bite, or be sensitive to sudden or loud noises. Feelings of sadness or anger may build inside of them. They may become angry or aggressive, have nightmares, or be accident prone.

Elementary-age Children:

Typical elementary-age children can whine when things don't go their way, be aggressive, question adults, try out new behaviors, complain about school, have fears and nightmares, and lose concentration.

Reactions to stress may include withdrawal, feelings of being unloved, being distrustful, not attending to school or friendships, and having difficulty naming their feelings. Under stress, they may worry about the future, complain of head or stomachaches, have trouble sleeping, have a loss of appetite, or need to urinate frequently.

Preteens and Adolescents:

Adolescents typically are rebellious, have "growing" pains and skin problems, may have sleep disturbances, may go off by themselves, be agitated, and act irresponsibly.

Adolescents and teens under stress may feel angry longer, feel disillusioned, lack self-esteem, and have a general distrust of the world. Sometimes adolescents will show extreme behaviors ranging from doing everything they are asked, to rebelling and breaking all of the rules and taking part in high-risk behaviors (drugs, shoplifting, skipping school). Depression and suicidal tendencies are concerns.

BUILDING SAFETY NETS FOR STRESS

Just as children's reactions are each different, so are their coping strategies. Children can cope through tears or tantrums or by retreating from unpleasant situations. They could be masterful at considering options, finding compromising solutions, or finding substitute comfort. Usually a child's thinking is not developed fully enough to think of options or think about the results of possible actions. Children who live in supportive environments and develop a range of coping strategies become more resilient. Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from stress and crisis. For many children, a supportive environment is not present and many children do not learn a set of positive coping strategies.

Factors that support children and create a safety net for them during stressful times include:

• A healthy relationship with at least one parent or close adult.
• Well-developed social skills.
• Well-developed problem-solving skills.
• Ability to act independently.
• A sense of purpose and future.
• At least one coping strategy.
• A sense of positive self-esteem and personal responsibility.
• Religious commitment.
• Ability to focus attention.
• Special interests and hobbies.

Families can provide further protection by:

• developing trust, particularly during the first year of life.
• being supportive family and friends.
• showing caring and warmth.
• having high, clear expectations without being overly rigid.
• providing ways for children to contribute to the family in meaningful ways.
• being sensitive to family cultural belief systems.
• building on family strengths.

Children who live in supportive environments and develop a range of coping strategies become more resilient.

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Encouraging Creativity in Children...

YOUR CHILD IS GROWING UP. From the first exuberant slap of a fat baby hand in the oatmeal, through tentative crayon marks and collages of sticky-back paper, made-up songs and more-than half-believed-in imaginary playmates, your child is growing in the ability to explore the world and to have an impact on it. The power to change a roundish lump of playdough into a flat one, the fun of taking an every-day activity and making a silly song about it, the insights that come with the "pretend" games are the motivators for the natural creativity that is so often lost before we're out of childhood.

AS A PARENT OR PROVIDER, you can have enormous influence on your children's creativity, nurturing and protecting the fresh and flexible world-view that will serve them as adults with an enthusiasm for learning and doing, with flexible insights and problem solving skills, with originality and enjoyment of life. For young children the "doing" of an activity is always the important thing, the finished product is of little or no interest. To be appropriate from the child's point of view, comments about creative work should keep this in mind: "That looked like fun" or "You worked hard on this" are the sorts of comments that relate to the child's own perception of the activity. The younger the child, the more true this is. Try particularly hard not to interpret a young child's work as a representation. Many sensitive children are frightened away from creative activities when they pick up the idea that they are expected to produce "something". Similarly, avoid evaluating your child's work. A child who begins to draw, or build, or make up songs in order to please an adult has already lost some of the courage to experiment and enthusiasm for creativity that is so difficult to hold on to as we grow up. At first it's surprisingly difficult not to say, "That's lovely, how wonderful, that really looks like a dog, fantastic!". Instead, try such comments as "I notice all those colorful dots in the corner" or "Looks like you've been experimenting with different clay tools".

Let your child have as much freedom as possible in the area of creative play. For the young toddler this means blocks, dress-up clothes, rhythm instruments and other "do-it-yourself" activities should always be available, plus the supervised use of sand, water, crayons, playdough, and paint. Don't forget to allow and appreciate creative (but not destructive) use of ordinary household things --pans, cans, couch cushions. Older toddlers and preschoolers should be encouraged to learn and follow rules that will allow them free access to art materials as soon as possible. A 2 1/2 year old who has a low art drawer in the kitchen has a creative head start over the same-age child who has to wait until someone has time to get the crayons down from a high shelf.

Make sure you don't overdo the rules to the point that art activities become more trouble than they're worth. You should expect a toddler to spend only a very few minutes at any activity and elaborate preparation and clean up requirements may end up taking more time than the activity itself. Simplicity is the key to success in toddler art. As children get older, you can expect increasing attention span. Remember that the energy spent in conforming to rules of neatness and order will be taken from the energy of exploration and originality. Every child needs to learn to conform in many ways to learn to recognize the rights of others and to be aware of safety rules. Without a framework of reasonable expectations, exploration and originality tend towards chaos. The over civilized child, however, sacrifices originality and exploration for the sake of approval. If a child feels his or her self worth is totally based on being clean and orderly, on doing things "right" on "not messing up", then there will be no energy or courage available for creativity. Each family has its own standards between these extremes, and each child develops a personal standard. Aim for the rules that allow the most "creative mess" that the family can be comfortable with. Creating can't be much fun if "be careful--clean that up!" is the usual response.

Coloring books are a common way parents provide for their children to "do art". There are some reasons why this is a bad idea, from the point of view of encouraging creativity. One of the greatest creative strengths of young children is that they haven't yet learned to see the world in stereotypes. Coloring books destroy this strength by presenting highly stereotyped drawings that encourage children to see trees, for instance, as a solid brown trunk with a solid green mass on top and bright red apples set across the face of it, all surrounded by a thick black outline. The question of how to draw a tree (or a house or a puppy) is answered for the child in a terribly insensitive and trivial way. Sunshine pricking through varicolored leaves, greenish apples half-hidden in the tree top, odd branches springing out here and there are what we'd like children to think of when they set about to draw a tree. The child chooses one of these difficult visions and fools around with pencil or chalk or crayon or paint and may or may not come up with something that impresses him/herself as a good solution to the problem. The value of the activity is the creative thinking involved in exploring the problem, whether the child is two or twelve. If those same twenty minutes were spent in coloring a pre-drawn picture or in drawing something "just like in the coloring book", then that opportunity for creative growth has been missed. Give you children encouragement for good tries and interesting ideas, appreciate their unusual answers and unique ways of approaching problems, give them the feeling that to be "wrong" is just another way of learning, and you'll be helping them towards a life of creativity.

10 Signs of a Great Preschool....

If your child is between the ages of 3 and 6 and attends a child care center, preschool, or kindergarten program, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) suggests you look for these 10 signs to make sure your child is in a good classroom.

1. Children spend most of their playing and working with materials or other children. They do not wander aimlessly, and they are not expected to sit quietly for long periods of time.

2. Children have access to various activities throughout the day. Look for assorted building blocks and other construction materials, props for pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials, and table toys such as matching games, pegboards, and puzzles. Children should not all be doing the same thing at the same time.

3. Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the day. They do not spend all their time with the whole group.

4. The classroom is decorated with children's original artwork, their own writing with invented spelling, and stories dictated by children to teachers.

5.Children learn numbers and the alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. The natural world of plants and animals and meaningful activities like cooking, taking attendance, or serving snack provide the basis for learning activities.

6. Children work on projects and have long periods of time (at least one hour) to play and explore. Worksheets are used little if at all.

7. Children have an opportunity to play outside every day. Outdoor play is never sacrificed for more instructional time.

8. Teachers read books to children individually or in small groups throughout the day, not just at group story time.

9. Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Teachers recognize that children's different background and experiences mean that they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way.

10.Children and their parents look forward to school. Parents feel secure about sending their child to the program. Children are happy to attend; they do not cry regularly or complain of feeling sick.

Parents as Partners: An interactive way to remain updated about their child...!

Parents achieve milestones of happiness with each experience of their child’s development. ‘Shanti Juniors’ believes that partnership with parents is very essential for grooming children in their formative years to preschoolers to become responsible citizens of the world. Child’s developmental journey is a memorable experience for parents too. We at Shanti Juniors take pleasure in interacting with parents and accompanying their child’s first step towards the education.

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach which lays emphasis on ‘Parents as Partners’; Shanti Juniors has instituted interactive and efficient media for parent partnership. We wish to involve parents in every experience of their dear ones childhood.

Shanti Juniors’ invites all parents to ‘Celebrate Childhood’ and enjoy every phase of their child’s development as little feet toddle their way towards education. Year on year as children graduate out of their developmental and academic learning level, parents too graduate parenting an infant, then a toddler, a preschooler, schooling child and then an adolescent. ‘Shanti Junior’ marks the beginning of child’s educational expedition involving their parents with attractive partnership programs to make this parenting experience a memorable one.

As an attempt to celebrate childhood as well as involve parents in their child’s pre-schooling experience; we have conceptualized ‘Shanti Parents Connect’; an online parent partnership program, ‘Partnership Meets’; a personal correspondence and dynamic communication forum. This is an interactive forum which aims to conduct a social forum of our parents and provide an opportunity to share the table over concerns of child’s development as well as early childhood care and education.

Puzzles in early childhood education: Putting pieces together....!

When children work on puzzles, they are actually "putting the pieces together" in more ways than one. Puzzles help children build the skills they need to read, write, solve problems, and coordinate their thoughts and actions—all of which they will use in school and beyond. Find a puzzle with a picture that has particular interest for your child, and you may help her begin to recognize colors and letters, and come to realize that the sum of parts make up a whole—a concept that will help her with math later on. By inserting pieces into the puzzle, children also develop the muscle group used for writing, or the "pincer" grasp.

Children can work on puzzles by themselves, without the help of adults or other children. They can also work together on large puzzles and practice compromising and getting along. Because each child must concentrate on the puzzle individually, he experiences a sense of satisfaction as he picks up a piece, rotates it, and discovers the spot in which it fits. Piece by piece, he begins to recognize the picture that the puzzle represents.

Good quality puzzles are a good investment because children can use them year after year. You may also look for puzzles at yard sales, thrift shops, and lending toy libraries. Children who are developing the ability to use scissors can cut pictures from magazines to create their own puzzles. Simply mount the pictures on cardboard and cut into large pieces. Homemade puzzles can make great gifts, too!

Make sure puzzles are suited for each child's age and abilities.

Two year olds, for example, will enjoy putting in pieces and taking them back out just as much as they will enjoy fitting them into the right spot. Toddlers enjoy three or four-piece wooden puzzles. As they grow and learn to rotate pieces to match holes and find pieces that fit, they can handle increasingly complex puzzles.

Three-year-olds still enjoy puzzles with single knobs on each piece, but they can also work on puzzles with five to eight pieces.

Four-year-olds will enjoy knobless puzzles with familiar scenes and characters. They can handle 12 to 18-piece puzzles.

Five-year-olds can handle large or small piece 18 to 35 pieces puzzles. They move from the pleasure of the activity to mastering the task.

As children reach school age, they will enjoy more complex puzzles of 50–100 pieces or more. All family members may gather around the table top to help children put the pieces together.

Puzzles should be well-made and appealing to the child. The younger the child, the more she will benefit from large, recognizable pieces to help her complete a picture. Good puzzles may show pictures of food, cars and trucks, animals, boys and girls, nursery rhymes, and scenes from story books. Young children better understand figures made of simple shapes like circles, triangles and squares.

Watch for missing pieces or damage to puzzles. Puzzles should offer a challenge to children, but they should also be solvable. Nothing is more frustrating to a child than trying to complete a puzzle with a missing piece.

Puzzles can provide formal learning experiences. Teachers may work closely with children to help them learn to solve problems through puzzles. Puzzles also help teachers observe children and assess their development. While children work alone or in groups, teachers can monitor the way they speak, move, and concentrate.

Enivornment Conducive to Learning...

The environment at Shanti Juniors stimulates children for an all round development. Our aim is to allow the child to be happy to come to school and while at school enjoy the early learning time.

Infrastructure: All the Shanti Juniors preschools are well equipped with child friendly learning material chosen by our research team after a great deal of research and understanding of its usage. This material gives an experiential learning of skills needed to be acquired by a preschooler in a stress–free environment.

Teachers: Our teachers are well qualified and trained by our expert trainers in the field of education. Their knowledge is updated on a regular basis and we have mentors who provide feedback and solutions to any child related problems that may arise in the process of child’s learning.

Why Shanti Juniors.........???

I Cube Learning Ladder

Inquisition is an interesting aspect of childhood. Inquisition describes child’s thirst for knowledge and information. Children inquest and investigate everything they in their surrounding. This highlights their basic charateristic of being ‘Curious’.

Interaction is the key to learning and a mode of satisfying the Curiosity of nascent minds. Exposure to multifaceted teaching & learning aids enhances the experiential learning and nurtures holistic development of children. Interaction is the best mode of fulfilling inquisition which empowers a child with knowledge and information.

Innovation is an expression of creativity. It a product of scruples efforts to fulfill inquisitive thoughts and confindent interactions. Inovation is boundless as it is not limited to measurability and each creative expression is a new benchmark on the child’s developmental continum.

4 Cs

Curiosity demands satisfactory answers to eager questions. It is the trigger to search for informationa nd seek knowledge to facilitate ones development. Little ones are curious to know about every aspect of various objects and things in their surrounding. A stimulating environment works wonders for children to foster development by stimulating and nurturing their curiosity to learn more.

Confidence sprouts from power of knowledge and information gained out of Interaction. Confident individuals have poise and believe in their potentials to make a difference. Confindence is an attribute that provides sope for creative thinking and innovations.

Creativity is an abstract attribute that is rooted into Confidence. Confindence is half battle won towards a goal and the rest is remarkably acieved with appropriate environment and stimulation for its expressions.

Continuity signifies perseverence & patience to satisfy curiosity, foster confidence & develop creativity. Learning and developmennt are dynamic processes. Continuity of innovation through creativity is therefore the peak of – I3 Learning Ladder which foster 4 Cs; Curiosity, Confidence, Creativity & Confidence.

What is Shanti Juniors.......????

Preschool is the foundation of learning, preparing the child for formal education. Positive learning experiences at an early age contribute to the development of each child’s sense of self and emotional well being. Our effortis to provide quality education.

Children learn in an eco-friendly environment in consonance with an innovative methodology specially evolved by us after a great research by experts in the field of preschool education. It is a perfect blend of international standard approaches in an Indian way. The entire curriculum encompasses highly systematic and step-by-step procedures ensuring learning by doing. The curriculum has a typical SAS touch with a core philosophy of the “I cube learning ladder”.Play with a purpose" guides our unique age-specific programs of Playgroup, Nursery, Junior K G as well as Senior K G keeping in mind their age groups and learning needs.

The simple phonetic method enhances word building skill in an easy way. Along with sight reading accepting the fact that English language is not completely phonetic.Storytelling, theme based learning, field trips, festival celebration etc. are an integral part of the curriculum.Children get ample opportunities for decision making, problem solving and building relationships. It provides a chance to talk, describe, scribble, etc.

Our exclusive children’s kit provides resource for children to be used in school as well as at home.

Together we ensure Shanti Juniors is a friendly place where children and teachers not only learn and grow, but also feel at home.