Overview

All our courses are designed and delivered by a UK trained, early years teacher. The concepts are based on the UK guidance for pre-school children. We aim the courses at helpers caring for children from babies to school age although many of the activities and concepts can be used with children who have begun school.

Every session is designed to give your helper more understanding of child development as well as a bank of practical games and activities to use at home with your child. We encourage your helper to participate by setting them tasks and discussion topics. At the end of each session a small voluntary homework task is set which can be submitted for feedback. A certificate is awarded to all helpers who complete the whole course and submit the homework.

Each session also comes with a booklet explaining the concepts covered in more detail and containing many example activities. We also supply pocket sized prompt cards, example games and ideas for behaviour charts.

We are offering a special discounted price for the full four week course of $1500 or you can pick and choose the individual courses you prefer.

We also offer private tuition and individual problem solving on request.
Please contact info@ladybirdlessons.com for more information.

A Balanced Day

This course is an introduction to children's developmental needs. Initially it provides an introduction to the ways in which children learn.

It introduces the 6 areas of learning which children need to experience in order to grow and develop. These are Speaking, Reading and Writing, Maths, Social Development, Creative, Knowledge of the World and Physical Development. We invite the helpers to participate in practical examples of activities for each of these areas and discuss how these could be modified to meet the needs of the child they care for. Whilst doing the activities we demonstrate and discuss language that could be used and how to support the child during the activity. The focus throughout is providing fun play activities which will help your child develop.

We introduce the idea of scaffolding and how best to help your child make the next developmental step without doing things for them.

We discuss how best to manage TV time, how to keep children interested in their toys and give tips for fitting jobs around child care.

Your helper will have the opportunity to view examples of how to plan a typical day and week to meet the needs of children of different ages ranging from a young baby to a 4 year old. They will be asked to plan a day for the child they care for taking into consideration the different areas of development.

All our sessions finish with discussions and questions and a voluntary homework task. The helper will bring home a booklet with all the work covered on the course and example activities inside.

Speaking, Reading and writing and Mathematical Development

The focus of this course is developing your child's communication and early literacy skills. Although we don't encourage young children being pushed through formal reading and writing activities there are many ways to lay the foundations of these skills from a baby.

We look at the importance of communication and how to talk to children of different ages. We provide 10 take home play activities to encourage your child to communicate and develop their vocabulary and language skills.

The reading section looks at the various stages a blooming reader goes through from a young baby hearing stories to an emerging reader beginning to decode text in books. We show your helper the stages and how to help your child progress to the next stage by offering fun activities and supporting reading at each of the stages. During this session we introduce the idea of 'phonics' and the importance of sounds when learning to read.

We also look at the stages of development children go through when learning to write - from scribble to script. We offer 10 fun play activities your helper can do at home with your child to begin the process and encourage writing.

Long before your child goes to school they will be exposed to numbers and mathematical concepts such as size, shape and measures. During this session we show your helper how to make the most of the opportunities which arise at home to encourage your child to develop mathematical ideas. We also include 30 practical activities in the booklet to try at home.

The course demonstrates the stages your child will go through when learning to count and gives your helper ideas for fun number games and activities to practice at home.

We will show them the different aspects of shapes and offer a variety of activities to develop understanding of shapes for different aged children.

Measuring and time are explained and how fun activities such as cooking and growing things can be used to help enhance your child's understanding of measuring in the home.

Discussion, questions and homework are built into the session and your helper will bring home the activity booklet to share.

Creative Development, Physical Development, Knowledge of the World and Social Development

This course covers the above areas in more detail and gives many more practical examples of each.

The creative section looks at children's drawing development and how to help them progress to the next stage. We look at a variety of creative mediums and give many example activities for your helper to share with your child at home. These include different painting and modeling activities as well as easy dance and music activities they can set up and enjoy at home.

Physical development is an especially important area for all ages of children. During our exploration of this we explain the difference between gross motor and fine motor skills. We share games and activities your helper can do at home to help your child develop muscle control and co-ordination.

Your child will constantly be developing their knowledge of the world. This forms the basis of their early science, geography and history skills. Your helper will receive instruction on what this means and activities to help your child begin to make sense of the world. This can be as simple as discussing the animals they see on a walk or playing in the paddling pool with different objects that float or sink.

We also look at how best to help your child develop the important life skills they need as adults.

This includes developing confidence and understanding right from wrong. We also discuss the importance of good manners and how to encourage this in a young child.

We give your helper ideas and strategies for managing difficult behaviour using positive reinforcement such as stickers and reward charts. We ask them to communicate with you to discuss which of the behaviour management strategies suggested you prefer.

We discuss the importance of routines and how to set up some simple mealtime and bedtime routines with your child to make them feel secure and comfortable.

Group discussion focuses on problem solving a behaviour problem.

This session also provides information about how to plan a trip with your child. This can be a trip to the shops or a more adventurous trip to the beach or park. We highlight safety issues and provide a checklist of things to think about when your helper is planning a trip out of the home.

Discussion, questions and homework are built in to the session and your helper will bring home the activity booklet to share.