If you observe the following symptoms, talk to your pediatrician immediately to determine whether your child has a cold or is actually suffering from seasonal allergies.
- runny nose - watery eyes - sneezing - coughing - ear pain - congestion Seasonal allergies have some added symptoms: - itchy throat - itchy skin - itchy, watery eyes - itchy, runny nose (mucus is usually clear) It is important not to diagnose your little one yourself. Also, do not self-medicate or leave your toddler untreated believing that it will get better. When allergies are left untreated, it can result in colds, ear infections, and other secondary infections and can cause a great deal of suffering. Congestion can lead to lack of proper sleep and increased fatigue. Allergies can also cause sinus pain and even headaches. Allergy testing may be performed to determine whether your toddler is allergic to any environmental allergens. Your pediatrician may refer you to a pediatric allergy specialist for additional evaluations and treatments. If the allergen has been identified through testing, an important step to avoid pain, and headaches are to manage the allergy symptoms. The best way to ease allergic reactions or episodes is to avoid the allergens that trigger the symptoms. Here are some tips that can be easily implemented and help your toddler. Outdoor Allergies Outdoor allergies can be caused by tree pollen, grass pollen, ragweed pollen, mold spores, and others. If you find your child reacts more when outside, tell your pediatrician. There are also a few steps that your pediatrician may recommend and that you can take to help your toddler. Here are the following steps: 1) Limit the child’s exposure to outdoor allergens - especially during peak allergy periods. Check out The Weather Channel’sdaily Allergy Trackerto see when your child should stay indoors. 2) Have your family remove their shoes upon entering your home to limit the amount of pollen and other allergens tracked inside. Clean the shoes. 3) Wash your child’s hands immediately after outside play. 4) When you have no access to handwashing during outdoor play (such as the park), bring a damp cloth or rag and wipe the child’s hands and face regularly to remove allergens. 5) Bathe your child to rinse away allergens. 6) Wash their clothing in hot water and their outerwear regularly. Dry jackets in the dryer to remove any remaining irritants. 7) Keep windows shut tight at all times to limit the pollen that can blow in. Use air conditioners to keep the temperature mild. Purchase special HEPA filters and change them regularly. 8) If you have dogs, bathe them. It will remove the allergens they may carry in their fur. 9) Ask your pediatrician if your child should start on a nose spray, like saline to flush the sinuses. Your toddler may need a prescription. 10) If your child is still suffering after taking these precautions, consider discussing with your pediatrician about bringing your toddler to an allergist. What else can you do at home? 1) Use a HEPA filtered vacuum to remove allergens inside the home. Vacuum daily or every other day. 2) Purchase a HEPA air purifier such as Molekuleor Air Doctor. HEPA filters trap pollutants and allergens from the air. Not to mention pet dander, dust, and other immune triggers. 3) Use mattress and pillow covers to eliminate pollen and spores. 4) Wash sheets and pillowcases in hot water at least every week. 5) Remove curtains and use shades or blinds in the child's room to eliminate any materials that allergens could attach onto. 6) Take the carpet out of your child’s room. A carpet can harbor lots of dust, pollen, and spores that would aggravate your child while playing in their room and while sleeping at night. Allergies may be common, but they can be brutal on your little one’s immune system. As we’ve learned, they can result in fatigue, irritability, drowsiness, and other more common allergy symptoms. Help your child by protecting them from the allergen altogether. Again, talk to your pediatrician, do not try to self-diagnose and self-medicate. A healthy child is a child who can happily learn and grow. What more? If you want more information on what you can do to help your child with seasonal allergies? Connect with us and we’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
6 Comments
The market offers a broad choice of childcare providers and preschools with different approaches to early childhood education. In most cases, the objective is to prepare children for Kindergarten and life beyond, although the ways to achieve the goal may vary between schools.
For many years, play-based education has gained momentum in the educational community and from experts in early childhood education. It only takes a quick online search to notice the abundance of content about play-based learning to realize that it is an area of varying opinions and continuous research. To simplify the discussion, the concept of play-based learning can be summarized as learning while at play. Why Play-based Learning? Children are naturally inclined to play. Using this natural disposition in a learning context, a play-based activity is a developmental opportunity that fosters children’s excitement and motivation to:
Play-based learning is a hands-on learning approach, in which children are encouraged to go through trial and errors to solve problems. Dr Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University, says that “playful learning engages and motivates children in ways that support better developmental outcomes and strategies for life-long learning. If we hope to groom intelligent, socially skilled, creative thinkers for the global workplace of tomorrow, we must return play to its rightful position in children’s lives today.” The Benefits of Play-based Learning Children are stimulated through play. They become active learners that are exposed to challenging problems that they have to solve through exploration. It is important to note that a good balance between child-initiated free play and teacher-guided play with intentional thematic teaching is essential to enable and maximize benefits such as:
Play-based learning supports positivity in the acquisition process and builds upon the natural curiosity of children about the nature of things and their environment. It boosts children’s enthusiasm and rewards persistence, imagination, and creativity to overcome problems. Ultimately, this impacts children’s self-esteem. Play-based Learning vs Directed Instruction Compared to directed instruction, failures are not a source of stress leading to demotivation. Failures are an opportunity for more experimentation. Failures have no negative impact on self-esteem which would have disastrous long-term consequences on a child’s life. It does not mean that directed instruction has no place in education. It means that young children have more involvement and input into their knowledge and skill acquisition in a system where play is the vehicle for learning. NAEYC(The National Association for the Education of Young Children) offers interesting examples to connect play to learning. Play-based activities offer a great framework for teachers to introduce STEMor STEAM while at play. STEAM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematic. STEM or STEAM activities are perfectly complementary to a play-based learning. Are You Interested to Learn More about Play-based Education? If you are interested to learn more about play-based learning and how we implement it at Willowdale Children’s Academy, do not hesitate to contact us. Look For Childcare Where STEAM Is The Focus
The opportunity for early childhood education lays in the foundational work that will set the path for the future workforce who will need to show consistent analytical and fast problem-solving skills in an even greater competitive environment.
STEAM has become essential for some preschools and childcare facilities. STEAM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.
STEAM is more than a buzzword in young children’s education. At Willowdale Children’s Academy, it is one of the core educational approaches to your child’s curriculum and learning. STEAM works as an access point to guide young children to explore, interact, discover, discuss and develop critical thinking. Why is STEAM Essential to Your Child’s Development? The cognitive abilities of young children should never be underestimated. Children can inquire, produce reasoning and are capable of conceptual learning. It does not take scientific observation to notice how fast a toddler can use a smartphone and find his/her way to navigate menus, engage in apps and even accidentally order online. If toddlers are able to find their way on a mobile device, imagine what they can achieve if they are offered a sensory table activity, or gather around an organized learning center, or challenged to structure art based on their interpretation of what they have observed or the last story they heard. As young children have cognitive abilities, STEAM offers a framework that teachers use to develop their everyday activities. These activities need to be appropriately challenging for different age groups. Hence, do not expect your young toddler to solve complex equations. By integrating STEAM into activities, teachers promote hands-on problem-solving, and creative and analytical thinking belonging to the children’s age groups. As children learn better when they have fun, a play-based curriculum is perfectly compatible with STEAM. How Do Infants and Toddlers Build STEAM Skills? STEAM skills acquisition starts at an early age in a very natural manner through play and exploration. If infants drop their toys a few times on the floor, they learn cause and effect. They can learn textures, the difference between hot and cold, smooth and hard through exploration of these elements. These learnings are made through experiments, trial and errors, observation of cause-and-effect and the experience of physical rules. Infants and toddlers are naturally curious and investigative. Therefore, exposing them to different materials and new environmental circumstances will spark their interest. STEAM helps build interaction opportunities with the environment and helps infants and toddlers gather evidence to solve problems and create knowledge. The Role of Adults STEAM is an essential approach that helps to determine the path, structure the environment, and link all pieces together in a cohesive manner. Of course, adults have a big part to play in guiding, questioning and triggering reflection. By taking an interest, observing, listening, and responding to children’s interests, adults support children’s curiosity. If your child demonstrates a new skill, take an interest in it, try to understand the process that led to the result. It will motivate him/her to learn more. Are You Interested to Learn More about STEAM or Do STEAM Activities at Home? If you are interested to learn more about the STEAM activities we develop at Willowdale Children’s Academy or want more recommendations about STEAM activities you can do at home, do not hesitate to contact us. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2024
Categories |
Willowdale Children's Academy is a child care agency located in Chester County, PA, specialized in early learning with schools in Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Avondale, and West Chester, PA. We offer programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, after school care, and summer camps.
Willowdale Children's Academy (Headquarter)
10 Ponds Edge Dr, Chadds Ford, PA 19317 TEL: (484) 770-8490 chaddsford@willowdalechildrens.com |
QUICK LINKS
|
SCHOOL LOCATIONS
|
FOLLOW US!
|
© copyright 2018. All rights reserved.
Willowdale Children's Academy™ |
Site proudly created & powered by ETOS Consulting LLC
|