Gina Ogden

learn through playing

Can our Kids Learn Through Playing?

By / 3 minutes of reading

Play-based learning is gaining popularity as an important part of early childhood education. And there are good reasons for this. Play-based learning is exactly what it sounds like: learning through play rather than through lectures or drilling. Play and fun are the languages of our children. When we teach in a fun way, our kids retain information better. What better way to learn than through playing? Play-based learning is considered to be a very effective way to help preschoolers develop as a whole. Think about first-hand experiences, hands-on projects and experiments, lots of exploration and discovery, and both real-life and …

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make a difference for those with communication challenges

Make a Difference for Those with Communication Challenges

By / 3 minutes of reading

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month. This designation is quite broad, but the focus is on raising awareness about difficulties in communicating. We’d like to think of this as an equal honoring of all forms of communication, even if they may be different from our own. Our friends with communication challenges are not always respected or treated with dignity. While it’s true that times have changed, many people still face hurdles that the rest of us do not have to face. There’s still room for us to make a difference for those with communication challenges. So how can we …

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ways to teach our kids about diversity

3 Ways to Teach Our Kids About Diversity

By / 3 minutes of reading

Here we are at the end of April already! April has a lot of special celebrations, and one of those is that it is Celebrate Diversity Month. Diversity is a hot topic in our society, but at its heart is the belief that we each carry value, and that this value should be celebrated and cherished. This is a worthy thought for each of us to hold on to. And it’s a belief that is important to teach to our children. So let’s look at 3 ways to teach our kids about diversity. Diversity is defined as the range of …

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get to know Hopkins the frog

Get to Know Hopkins the Frog This Month

By / 3 minutes of reading

April is a month full of celebrations, remembrances, and honorable causes. But did you know that April is also National Frog Month? Yup, it’s a month for us to get excited about frogs. So that’s what we’re going to do. We like frogs here at Signing Time, and we love our own Hopkins the Frog! So we’re all set to celebrate National Frog Month, and we’d love for you to get to know Hopkins the Frog this month. Learning about frogs is fun Along with getting to know Hopkins, it’s a good idea to learn about frogs in general. Frogs …

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fun ways to teach our kids about nature

Fun Ways to Teach Our Kids About Nature

By / 4 minutes of reading

April is Earth Month, which makes it a perfect time to teach our kids some fun facts about nature. We think a lot about conservation during Earth Month, and that is, of course, important. But part of conservation is knowing about nature. When we know how the natural world works, we can have a better understanding of how to preserve it. So where do we start? Let’s think about some fun ways to teach our kids about nature during Earth Month. Kids can really enjoy certain aspects of nature. And there are so many ways to help them enjoy nature. …

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Keeping Little Ones Entertained While Traveling

View the World Through a Lens of Humor

By / 3 minutes of reading

Can you believe that April starts in a few days? While we’re all familiar with April Fool’s Day, did you know that the entire month has a national dedication to humor? How fitting that the first day of the month is all about humor too! We know our kids love to laugh, and hopefully we share that love of laughter. Thankfully, having a sense of humor is really good for all of us. So it’s totally worth it to view the world through a lens of humor. As we start, let’s look at the sign for laugh. Hopefully we will …

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march into literacy

March into Literacy with My Signing Time

By / 4 minutes of reading

March is National March into Literacy Month. If you’ve been around Signing Time for long, you know that we’re passionate about the benefits of signing, including improved success in both verbal and written literacy. And since it’s an official month to focus on literacy, let’s look at a few ways to “march into literacy” with My Signing Time. Kids who learn to sign… Have a better understanding of vocabulary When a child learns to sign at an early age, it brings an earlier understanding of using words to communicate. This early understanding continues to grow naturally as a child learns …

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Learn a Few New Signs for St. Patrick’s Day

By / 2 minutes of reading

Here we are at another holiday time! With St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, it’s a perfect time to work on some new ASL signs with your family. Holidays make it easy to focus on just a few new signs. And they help us to have plenty of opportunities to use those signs during a concentrated period of time. When we are able to use a sign regularly like this, we are much more likely to learn that sign permanently. So let’s learn a few new signs for St. Patrick’s Day! Basic signs to use for St. Patrick’s Day Of course, …

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celebrating our kids' ideas

Celebrating Our Kids’ Ideas in March

By / 3 minutes of reading

So it turns out that the month of March is International Ideas Month. What a great topic to explore with our kids! Children tend to be full of ideas, but they aren’t always given the chance to take off with those ideas. So let’s challenge ourselves to be noticing and to be celebrating our kids’ ideas. Here are some areas where we can welcome our children’s ideas and help them to implement them. Projects Our kids are full of ideas for projects. They love to build and design and create everything. So let’s think about ways that we can support …

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practice mindful parenting in March

Practice Mindful Parenting in March Madness

By / 4 minutes of reading

The slower pace of winter is coming to an end. As we head into the month of March, we can feel life get busier with the coming of spring. From longer daylight hours to the discomfort of our “spring ahead” weekend (coming very soon), March brings an increase in parenting chaos. And so, this is a good time to think about the practice of mindful parenting in March. When our lives get busier and schedules change, we parents definitely feel the pressure. So as we move forward into springtime and its increased activity or changes, here are three ways to …

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