Social and Emotional Skills

Kids & Pretend Play
Young children learn by imagining and doing. Have you ever watched your child pick up a stone and pretend it is a zooming car, or hop a Lego across the table as if it were a person or a bunny? Your child is using an object to represent something else while giving it action and motion. But this pretend play is not as simple as it may seem. The process of pretending builds skills in many essential developmental areas.

Social and Emotional Skills
When your child engages in pretend (or dramatic) play, he is actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative play, he learns how to take turns, share responsibility, and creatively problem-solve. When your child pretends to be different characters, he has the experience of "walking in someone else's shoes," which helps teach the important moral development skill of empathy. It is normal for young children to see the world from their own egocentric point of view, but through maturation and cooperative play, your child will begin to understand the feelings of others. Your child also builds self-esteem when he discovers he can be anything just by pretending!

Thinking Skills
Pretend play provides your child with a variety of problems to solve. Whether it's two children wanting to play the same role or searching for the just right material to make a roof for the playhouse, your child calls upon important cognitive thinking skills that he will use in every aspect of his life, now and forever.

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4 Tips to Throwing a Kid’s Party

1 – First, begin by choosing a theme and/or color scheme. This may sound overly simple, but with the Pinterest world in which we live, sometimes we end up over stimulated with ideas. Narrow it down to one theme and/or color scheme. Choosing a color scheme helps you make choices when picking plates, decorations, etc. To help while out shopping, create a guide by printing inspiration photos and a color scheme card.

2 – Keep It Simple. We have a tendency to want to go overboard, but some of the favorite parties have been the simplest ones. Start with a basic white tablecloth and add some pops of color.

3 – Order a plain, inexpensive cake but top with a unique topper. There are so many options for cake toppers right now. You can DIY one, order a personalized topper, or even use a figurine or decoration you already have. No more late nights trying to figure out how to make the cake resemble a basket weave pattern when you cut into it. That has Pinterest fail written all over it.

4 – Favors that double as activities. When you are thinking up favors for the party, think of favors that could also be used as activities. A game or craft are great ways to do this. For a recent Magic Tree House party I did, the kids had to solve clues to find all the party favors.

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The Magic Years of Pretend Play

With the help of a frilly dress, tiara, and magic wand, your 3-year-old is transformed into the queen of a magical universe where her hobby horse is a winged unicorn. When you're asked to taste the pink clouds, you agree that they're a lot like bubblegum.

Your son pulls a sheet over his shoulders and runs as fast as he can across the lawn. The air lifts the fabric; your boy's legs leap into the air. "I'm flying, mommy!" the 4-year-old says. He's a superhero, out to save the backyard from dragons hiding behind the bushes and find treasure buried in the sandbox.

Parents of preschoolers have a front-row seat to some of the most imaginative theater ever produced. These are the so-called "magic years" — when a child's brain is developed enough to imagine grand stories but not yet complex enough to reason the way adults do and ask, "But can that really happen?"

Pretend play lets kids try out new roles for themselves (like superheroes, princesses, wild animals, or even parents) and allows for creative problem-solving. But it also helps them deal with another hurdle of the preschool years: intense emotions. Baby dolls might be put in "time out" and scolded for actions suspiciously similar to your little one's latest offense. An imaginary friend (who's a bigger troublemaker than your child ever could be) might be dreamed up to help your child deal with feelings of guilt and remorse following a moment of lost control, such as hitting a playmate.

Self-control is a tough skill to learn, and pretend play helps kids practice it as well as play out the frustration it creates.

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4 Tips to Throwing a Kid’s Party

4 Tips to Throwing a Kid’s Party will help you create a fabulous event, all while maintaining your sanity and your sleep.

1 – First, begin by choosing a theme and/or color scheme. This may sound overly simple, but with the Pinterest world in which we live, sometimes we end up over stimulated with ideas. Narrow it down to one theme and/or color scheme. Choosing a color scheme helps you make choices when picking plates, decorations, etc. To help while out shopping, create a guide by printing inspiration photos and a color scheme card.

2 – Keep It Simple. We have a tendency to want to go overboard, but some of the favorite parties have been the simplest ones. Start with a basic white tablecloth and add some pops of color.

3 – Order a plain, inexpensive cake but top with a unique topper. There are so many options for cake toppers right now. You can DIY one, order a personalized topper, or even use a figurine or decoration you already have. No more late nights trying to figure out how to make the cake resemble a basket weave pattern when you cut into it. That has Pinterest fail written all over it.

4 – Favors that double as activities. When you are thinking up favors for the party, think of favors that could also be used as activities. A game or craft are great ways to do this. For a recent Magic Tree House party I did, the kids had to solve clues to find all the party favors.

ultimatekidzone.com | 386-259-4452 | www.facebook.com/UltimateKidzoneInc | plus.google.com/118257190034030571645

Birthday Party Questions & Answers

Kids birthday gifts are a tricky subject. It’s not easy to know what is acceptable and what is frowned upon in terms of gift giving and the protocol for gift receiving. To take the guesswork out of the subject, we looked around the internet for the most commonly asked kids birthday party gift questions and have put together this handy dandy gift etiquette guide for you.

Do I have to give a gift if I don’t attend the kid’s birthday party?
No. Just because you were invited to a child’s birthday party doesn’t mean you have to give a gift if you can’t attend. That’d be like a restaurant expecting you to still give a tip if you canceled your dinner reservation.
It may be different if it’s an extremely close family friend’s child. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or damage a relationship for no good reason. Use your best judgment in that situation and act accordingly.

What if I can’t afford a gift for the birthday party?
We’ve all been there. Times get tough for numerous reasons and it’s a difficult position to be put in. Simply let the party host know and see if it is alright for you to make something like the child’s favorite baked good or a homemade treat.
Kids birthday parties shouldn’t simply be all about the materialistic aspects. Doing something nice, even if it’s homemade, could leave a lasting impression on the birthday boy or girl. It also teaches the child giving the birthday gift a great lesson as well!

How do I know what kind of gift to give?
If you don’t have a good enough feel for what kind of birthday gift to get a child there are two methods. Ask your own child what they think their friend or classmate would want for their birthday and buy based on that recommendation.
You can always ask the parent as well. Obviously, they can provide some great insight. They may even have a birthday registry set up for their child. Although, as a quick Google search reveals, that’s about as controversial as hiring Pantera to perform at your preschoolers birthday party.

If the invitation says “no gifts” should I really not bring a gift to the birthday party?
We’re of the belief of taking the parent at face value. If they say no birthday presents then no birthday presents they will get.

Should my child open gifts at the birthday party?
Opening gifts during the birthday party can cause jealousy if the guests are younger and can also put you in the awkward position of your child reacting negatively to a gift someone in attendance gave them. The simple way to deal with it is to let the party be all about the fun and cake and let the afterparty be all about opening the birthday presents.

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