Baby Sensory
4th February 2010

Last year we featured Essential Play when they launched in July 2009. Just to re-cap, Essential Play offers research based programmes led by trained teachers to help the parent/carer provide stimulating and age appropriate activities. These fun, learning experiences, help the child's development and gives the parent ideas for home.

For those that have been lucky enough to experience the Essential Play programme for their toddler, you now can introduce your babies to Baby Sensory,  a new play and development programme that incorporates activities with every possible sensory experience. Thanks to Cate Larke and the Essential Play team, parents can now experience Baby Sensory sessions, the winner of "Best Baby Development Class of 2008" in Newcastle weekly.

Your baby will experience activities that include sign language, fibre optic light shows, amazing bouncy light balls, puppets, rainbows, bubbles, bells, holistic massage and much more. Baby Sensory is designed to encourage early development and give parents lots of ideas for fun play at home.

Cate Larke, owner of the centre and franchisee for Newcastle, is ecstatic about the programme. "The free trial open day was a huge success with the babies loving the puppets and the light show was a huge hit."

Each week is themed, such as 'at the beach' or 'baby pirates' and you will never experience the same lesson twice.
Cate is confident you'll love Baby Sensory and therefore the first trial session is free. Parents can join at any time and activities are suitable for all babies. For more information go to www.essentialplay.com.au or email newcastlensw@babysensory.com.

As an added extra, mention this feature and you will receive a second class free.

Babblebubs
27th January 2010

Have you ever felt frustrated when your infant/toddler is distressed or wanting something and you don't know what it is?

My littlest one is now coming up to 18 months and communication is getting a lot better between us. She can now say "mumma", "dadda" "moo moo" (that's what we call her sister), "that" (well it's more like tha) and my favourite "ellllooooo" (hello).
Up till now, it was completely frustrating not know what she wanted or why she was upset when she was crying. You would often hear me say "this is the most frustrating age...if I only knew what she wanted".
Well now you can learn a technique to alleviate your frustration and communicate with your child through baby sign language right here in Newcastle.

Babblebubs provides programs designed to educate and encourage parents on how to create confident little communicators. Babblebubs offers programs for babies and toddlers aged 6 months to 3 years and are run in 6 week blocks. The classes involve signing, singing, dancing, nursery rhymes and games based around learning key functional signs.

The program is developed around AUSLAN (the vocabulary used by the deaf community in Australia) where spoken english is used in conjunction with signing and resulting in a communication tool that parents find easy to use with their child.

Babblebubs was founded by two local mums with backgrounds in Speech Pathology and Nursing. Both mums have used baby sign language in one capacity or another in their lives, and whose children have also experienced the benefits of being able to communicate with their parents at a young age.

Babblebub's classes will commence in April 2010 with their baby classes (6-12 months) in both the Port Stephens and Newcastle area. To secure a position in this highly sort after class, go to www.babblebubs.com.au or PH: 0408 292 737 for more information.

Newcastle Toy Library
8th January 2010

Well it is official. Two weeks after Christmas and the kids have exhausted their toys and are now talking about what they would like for their birthdays. How did this happen? Their sacks were full to the brim, yet all the craft and Lego has been completed, and their books are puzzles are done. And still three weeks left of the school holidays...aarrrgghhhh!

Today, we visited the library to borrow some different books and saw the flyer on the Newcastle Toy Library which most people tend to forget about. It follows the same lines as the book library where toys can be borrowed to develop various skills, including creativity and positive social behaviour.

The Newcastle Toy Library is a volunteer association run by volunteers and toys are funded by membership fees. Newcastle Region Library provides premises and administrative support. Membership is open to Families with children 0-8 years and groups providing services to young children including playgroups, kindergartens, pre-schools and family daycare.
Membership is due at the beginning of the year and costs $10.00 for families (per child) and $70.00 for groups. Toy library members must be registered with the Newcastle Region Library.

The Newcastle Toy Library is located at New Lambton Library (Regent St New Lambton) and is open on Saturdays from 9.30am-11.45am. For further information phone 4904 3340.

Reading to Babies
8th November

We have always read to our kids from an early age and even in pregnancy we had a small book (Dr Seuss) that was directed to babies in utero.

We have had a late night out tonight but my husband still insists that the kids get one story before bed (usually as a settling technique) but also contributes to developing literacy skills. Studies suggest that 75 per cent of a child's brain development occurs in the first three years of their lives. Not only is reading to babies important in their development, it's also a chance to bond with your baby for one on one time.  Babies love the sound of their parents voice and children whose parents read to them very young often learn to speak, write and read more more easily.

'Books and Babies' is an early literacy program specifically designed for babies 0-12 months and their parents and carers at participating Lake Macquarie libraries. Through the free interactive program of stories and rhymes, children are encouraged to develop literacy skills from an early age. Participants receive a Books and Babies kit containing membership information,  community resource information and a selection of activity sheets used in the program. For more information go to http://www.lakemac.com.au/page.aspx?pid=557&vid=11

'Baby Book Club' at Maitland City Libraries is a special programme for parents and carers to learn how to share reading and language skills with their babies. The programme is designed to be enjoyed by babies 0-24 months accompanied by a parent, grandparent or carer. Baby Book Club sessions include stories, music and rhymes. For more information on session times go to http://www.maitland.nsw.gov.au/Library/kids/babybookclub 

Australian Baby Hands
28th August 2009

When I think of baby sign language, the first thing that pops into mind (as terrible as it may seem) is the movie 'Meet the Fockers'. We were all in awe of the little toddler who was profficient in baby sign language until that infamous 'Milk" scene! I'm having a quiet giggle just thinking about it.

On a more serious note, however, Baby Sign Language is the use of basic signs to help bridge the gap of communication for pre-verbal children. The use of basic gestures can help your child to let you know what it is they want or what they are thinking long before they develop the ability to speak.

Australian Baby Hands was developed to create baby sign language resources for parents, families and child care workers using Auslan (Australian sign language) and is currently the only accredited baby sign language company in Australia.
Australian Baby Hands was developed by Jackie Durin who had experience in both Irish and Australian sign language after studying it for many years. She developed Baby Hands after recognising the frustration of many parents who found it difficult to communicate with pre-verbal children.

As a result of her research Jackie compiled her first book in 2005 'Australian Baby Hands' as a fun and easy to follow guide.
On the 24th September at 11am, Author and 'Baby Hands' founder Jackie Durin, will be at Borders Westfield Kotara to discuss and demonstrate baby sign language.

For more information on baby sign language, go to www.australianbabyhands.com

ABC Reading Eggs
27th August 2009

Each morning we sit down with our son (that's when he is at his freshest) and read through his home reader which is sent home every night from school. I sometimes worry that we should be doing more to assist his reading outside of school as there is still room for improvement.

The other day as I was in the ABC shop at Charlestown Square, I picked up a flyer on the 'ABC Reading Eggs' program.
The ABC Reading Eggs program has been developed  by a highly experienced team of teachers, educational writers, animators and web developers. It focuses on a core reading curriculum of skills and strategies which are essential for sustained, reading success. It completely supports what children learn at school and will help to improve your child’s results.

The ABC Reading Eggs program proclaims to work for a couple of reasons;

• The program is based on the most up-to-date information on how children learn.
• The lessons revolve around games, animation and activities which keep children interested and motivated
• The program is interactive keeping children on task

The program is designed for different levels for different abilities. Level 1 is for basic or no knowledge with each level following, building on from the level before it.
In a snapshot, children compete lessons online where they learn essential reading skills, children read books online, Children earn golden eggs as rewards for work completed(They can use these eggs to earn reward games) and after 10 lessons, children complete a Mastery Quiz. Children can repeat the online lessons as many times as they like.

The cost of a 6 month online subscription is $49.95 and $79.95 for 12 months. If you are unsure, you can sign up for a FREE trial (just as I have) for 4 weeks by entering the Free access code: ABC4EGGS.
For more information go to www.http://readingeggs.com/home

Essential Play opening soon in Newcastle
6th July 2009

When I had my first child Thomas, I was very focused in enrolling him in everything and anything. It wasn’t that I was trying to create a little Einstein or a mini mozart, but as a new mum I wanted to make sure that he was developing as quickly as his other baby peers around him.  When Isobel came along, she was enrolled in half the activities Thomas was (being the second child) and now Matilda..well hasn’t had any exposure to any classes at all. So when I heard that Essential Play was opening in Newcastle I jumped at the chance for a free trial to exposure little Matilda to her first play and develop class.

Only problem was that unfortunately the babies’ classes did not fit into her sleep routine and therefore Isobel stepped in for the free trial.We attended the essential child class where the program is structured with different levels depending on the different stages/milestones your child is at. Being a very confident 3 and ½ year old Isobel adapted very well to the structured class program. We started with ‘ Group circle time’, a combination of a story, dance and music and playtime each assisting in certain areas of each child’s development including, develop concentration, socialisation, confidence and self esteem.

After  group circle time we moved into the ‘mini gym’ area where there was a selection of brightly coloured play equipment that children have the opportunity to practise all their skills as they develop- climbing, spinning , rolling, crawling. Mini Trampolines, climbing frames, balance equipment, learning to crawl stairs and so much more.

Our teachers, Kelly and Caitlin were fantastic and made the children feel extremely comfortable and excited by the whole process.

Essential Play will open on the 28th July and a number of classes will be running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays (Timetable) but be quick as the spaces are limited and are filling up fast for the first term.  For more information on timetables and pricing, head to the essential play website www.essentialplay.com.au or call 4967 1205 for further information.