Summer is fast approaching. Soon, your child or children will be out of school and amped up to enjoy the warm summer weather and all the fun activities it can bring. However, from experience you may know that after a few weeks of summer fun the “I am bored” declarations start. On top of the boredom that can accompany the long, sweltering days, is your need of good childcare for your little ones while you are at work. Child care summer school programs can solve both of these problems. Summer school offers you a break from 24 hour care and gives your child fun and exciting things to do child in a social environment. Let’s take a look at some of the great benefits of summer camp!

Boredom Be Gone with Summer School

Prepare for adventure in summer camp!

As the novelty of the summer weather wears off and kids get bored, they can often become affixed to their computer and video games and end up spending most of their summer indoors. For those of us who spent most of our summers outdoors exploring, playing and having fun, seeing children glued to the screen for hours on end makes us worry that they are missing out on all the adventure! Summer camp and other summer programs offer your children fun and engaging activities that will get their body moving, mind thinking and curiosity piqued.

Hands on Learning in Nature with Summer Camp

Summer camp and summer programs are a great time to teach children that not all learning occurs in the classroom. At summer camp kids will soon find out that learning can mean dirty hands and exploring nature. Summer camp will teach your kids outdoor skills and allows them to experience mother natures classroom.

Unstructured Playtime

Along with structured activities designed to get your child’s mind thinking and curious, is time for free unstructured play and exploration. Summer camp allows kids to relax away from the classroom and explore their interests. Summer camp will give your child the ability to explore their inventiveness in play, problem solving and learning.

Social Skills

Summer school not only brings kids to nature and great activities. It also brings kids to each other. Summer camp activities are designed around group learning and problem solving. They learn to cooperate with other children, share resources and participate in group learning that prepares them for both the classroom and the real world.

Independence

Summer camp gives kids the opportunity to make choices and decisions as individuals away from their parents. Whether it is a day camp or overnight camp, the time at summer camp is spent learning to be themselves.

Summer School at Noah’s Ark Reno

Summer camp at Noah’s Ark Reno is a great way to keep your child busy this summer. Our summer school age program is built around a monthly activity calendar and many outings and field trips. There is a theme for each week of the summer program and daily activities and field trips are planned around this theme. Come check out all our programs and contact us today!

School age childcare programs are fun programs and engaging programs that kindergarten children and older can attend before school, after school, and during the summer and holiday breaks. Often, parents who have work schedules or family situations that make it difficult for an adult or guardian to supervise their child after the school day use school age child care to provide their child with a safe environment in which to spend their after school time.

Benefits of School Age Childcare Programs

Research has shown that quality school age childcare programs can provide children with a variety of developmental and intellectual benefits including improved academic performance, task persistence, improved work habits and study skills, and improved feelings and attitudes. These benefits are so comprehensive that federal, state and local initiatives are increasing the funding and support for school age child care programs. Approximately 6.5 million children participate in a school age after school program, and an additional 15.3 would attend if there were programs available.

The demand for school age childcare programs is increasing for two reasons. The first reason has to do with the fact that many parents are working hours that extend many hours beyond the length of the typical school day. For these parents, before and after school child care ensures that their children are supervised and safe while they are at work. The second reason has to with the many benefits of school age programs.

No matter what your reasons, below are some things to look for when choosing a quality child care program.

Not Just Daycare

A quality after school or school age childcare program of any type should be more than just a supervised day care. School age programs should be designed to complement and enrich the learning

Our staff is committed to exceptional school age childcare.

that takes place at school. Before choosing a school age program, ask the program director about age appropriate learning activities they offer.

Balance

While it is important that school age childcare offers learning activities and time to do homework, you don’t want your child to burn out on learning. That is why it is important that the school age program allows an appropriate level of autonomy and play time to the children. Research has shown that exercise and play are vital to child development. Before choosing a childcare program, ask the director about the amount of time that the kids are allowed to be kids.

Variety

Make sure that the school age childcare activities are varied and won’t risk your child becoming bored and tired. Ask about how the childcare staff come up with new, fun an exciting daily activities for your child.

Safety

Any school age childcare setting, no matter what the ages it caters to, should be devoted to the safety of the children. Make sure the child care facility is designed for safety and maintains a low child to caregiver ratio.

School Age Childcare Programs at Noah’s Ark Child Center

At Noah’s Ark Child Center in Reno, we provide high quality before and after school age childcare programs as well as programs during the holiday and seasonal breaks. Come check out all of our  program offerings and contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you!

When a child starts preschool, they are invited into a whole new world of learning and exploration. The preschool environment is a place where they begin to learn the basics of what they will later learn in grade school. The preschool curriculum includes learning the alphabet and simple reading, learning to play and interact in groups, and exercising creativity in arts and crafts. In addition to crafts and the learning that goes on in socialization, preschool children are introduced to math and number. Preschool math is designed to introduce the children to the concept of number, comparisons and the many ways that number is used in daily life.

The Importance of Preschool Math

As education becomes more focused on math, science and technology, it is important that children are introduced to numbers and become comfortable with

Preschool math is an essential part of early childhood education.

using them. While preschool math curriculum doesn’t guarantee that your child will be a math wiz, they will enter kindergarten and grade school with a solid foundation in math and the various ways it is used.

Preschool math is a transitional curriculum based on the assumption that the child knows very little to nothing about math and is designed to be the bridge to kindergarten learning.

How is Math Taught in Preschool?

Like many preschool subjects, preschool math is taught primarily by play, games and song. Preschool math curriculum is designed to introduce the child to number and many of the everyday uses of number. As adults, we forget how thoroughly numbers are a part of our lives. From the date to the time, numbers are everywhere. The purpose of preschool math is to expose children to the concept of number and engage some of the ways we use it in everyday life.

What are Children Taught in Preschool Math?

The beginning of preschool math education is the introduction to numbers, counting and number recognition. Games are used to help the preschooler recognize the numbers, learn to count and match numbers to their names. Children will learn to count the days of the school year, will be put into numbered groups and will begin to learn the concept of time and date.

Some of these mathematical concepts, however, are too hard for young learners to fully grasp. At this age, there is not too much to worry about if your child is struggling with numbers and their associated concepts. Telling time on a clock, for example, because it uses two sets of 12 distinguished by a.m and p.m. to account for a 24 hour day, introduces a second layer of possible confusion for a first time learner. Preschool math will give your child the building blocks of to learn further in kindergarten and grade school.

Preschool Math at Noah’s Ark Reno

Noah’s Ark Child Center is dedicated to providing excellent quality preschool education to the families of Reno, Nevada. In pursuit of this goal, the Preschool program at Noah’s Ark encourages children to discover number and learn how it is used in their daily lives. Children learn to recognize number, count and are introduced to the days of the week and the calendar. Come check out our programs and contact us today to get your child started on the path to future academic success! We look forward to hearing from you!

Boo-boos happen. They are a nearly unavoidable part of childhood. And as every parent knows, children are more likely to get hurt at play than at rest. It is just a fact of life. And every teacher knows that the children in their care are more likely to get hurt on the playground than in the classroom. That’s why it is so important for parents, teachers and children to have a good handle on playground safety techniques and practices. Keep reading to get some tips on how you can keep your child safe while they are on the playground.

Tip 1: Adult Supervision

The first and most obvious way to keep children safe on the playground is to make sure that they have adequate parental supervision. The adult should be familiar with the playground equipment and its intended use and what kids should and should not do on it. The adult responsible should keep children from climbing on the equipment in a manner that can cause injury. For the most part, playground equipment is safe as long as it is not abused. An alert, safety conscious adult can go a long way to ensuring playground safety and fun.

Tip 2: Playground Design and Area 

Good playground design is essential for playground safety.

If a playground were 100 percent safe, it wouldn’t be a playground. There is always a chance that falls, bumps and bruises are going to happen. But there are some things to be on the lookout for when it comes to playground design.

Playground surfaces should be soft and impact absorbent. Concrete and asphalt should be avoided. The best surface materials for playgrounds are rubber fillings or rubber safety mats. The rubber mats allow access to people and children in wheelchairs and is the preferred surface material in modern playground designs. The surface should be clear of rocks, glass, sticks and other debris to avoid falls.

Tip 3: Age Appropriate

Many playgrounds are designed around a specific age group. The spacing and height of the playground is determined by the average size of children in the age group. Make sure that the playground that young children are playing on is properly designed for their age group.

Tip 4. Maintenance and Inspection

Before every play time event, the supervising adult should do a brief inspection of the equipment to make sure that there are no loose or broken parts that can cause an injury. Any play equipment that is found to be broken or defective should not be used, unless the damage does not make the equipment more dangerous.

Tip 5. Teach Children about Safe Play

Make sure that the children are aware that pushing or roughhouse while on a jungle Jim or other elevated equipment. Make sure they understand that they should go feet first on all slides and to hold the handrails on all climbers.

Playground Safety at Noah’s Ark Reno

Playground Safety is our highest priority at Noah’s Ark Reno.

At Noah’s Ark child care center in Reno, Nevada, playground safety is one of our top priorities. Our professional and caring staff are trained to recognize when a dangerous situation is brewing and stop it. Children are taught the proper way to play on our jungle Jim and avoid falls, bumps and bruises. If you are looking for a fun, engaging and safe child care center for your child, come check out our programs at Noah’s Ark and contact us online or stop by our Reno location.

As you watch your children grow, take those first steps, learn and play, your greatest hope is that they will carry that joy, curiosity and love of learning that you see now into their future lives. Naturally, you want to do everything that you can to help them achieve success and a well-developed social, emotional and intellectual life. One of the best ways to give your children a head start in their social and intellectual development is to put them in an early childhood education program.

What is Early Childhood Education?

Early Childhoo Education gives children a head start!

Early Childhood Education is a set of educational theories, practices and programs that focus on children as young as infants to around age eight. A subset of early child education, known as infant/toddler education, is focused on children from birth to age two.

Most infant/toddler education takes place informally, at home, with parents and loved ones. Family socialization with young children is vital to their healthy development. But the positive effects of formal early childhood education programs, such as an accredited preschool education, is now widely recognized by early education experts as being just as crucial to a child’s intellectual development.

How Will My Child Benefit from an Early Education Program?

The benefits of early childhood education and preschool programs have been shown in study after study for many years. These benefits of preschool are perhaps one of the most solidly proven subjects in educational research. In fact, if this article were to detail the entirety of the benefits of early childhood education and preschool, it would run on so long you would probably stop reading it. So we will keep it to a few key findings.

According to an article in Psychology Today, brain research has revealed that the human brain undergoes a crucial cognitive development period at an early age. If the necessary cognitive stimulation is lacking at this critical time, the child may experience deficits in cognitive ability that would otherwise not appear.

The article goes on to point out that studies on the effects of quality preschool education indicate that preschool education provides children with skills vital to later success. A survey of 28 year olds who had received a preschool education revealed that they had better paying jobs and life security than those 28 year olds who did not attend preschool.

In depth studies have recorded additional long term benefits. A famous long term of study of the impacts of preschool and early education programs, called the High/Scope Perry Preschool study, found that preschool attendees have fewer behavior and metal health problems, are less likely to get into trouble with the law, earn more income and have high school and college higher graduation rates.

Early Childhood Education Programs at Noah’s Ark Reno

Noah’s Ark Reno is dedicated to quality early childhood education.

At Noah’s Ark Reno we are dedicated to providing your child with quality and stimulating early childhood education programs and childcare, like preschool, at that critical time when your child is “like a knowledge sponge,” to quote an early education expert. Come check out all our child care offerings and contact us today! Located in the Reno area. We look forward to meeting you and your child and starting a learning adventure!