As parents, teachers and members of a community, we often find ourselves supporting team sports and activities for our youth. Great outcomes are achievable. Teacher and Master of Coaching, Jay Dowdell, shares some of his top tips for building team spirit and comradery within your teams. Coaching and/or mentoring students within a team setting is an incredibly rewarding experience. Leading the group to success amplifies this feeling, as you get to join in the joy and feeling of accomplishment that is felt by those you have mentored. One of the most important aspects in creating success within a ..read more

Music has been shown to impact virtually every area of a child’s development, from the obvious areas of coordination and language, to the seemingly unrelated areas of social skills and intellectual development. Music ignites developing minds and bodies, provides an outlet for expression and lays a strong foundation for literacy, creativity and cognition. We’ve reviewed the scientific research around music and early childhood development and identified 8 key developmental areas that benefit from musical play in early childhood. Singing songs and rhyming has been shown to improve early language ..read more

Recently, Ashley Taylor from disabledparents.org contacted us to write an article for our readers. She was wanting to share advice for people with disabilities around how they can prepare their lives and their homes  for parenthood. At ETO, we have years of experience supporting young people and adults with disabilities in Queensland, so this is a topic close to our hearts. Of course, we were honoured to share Ashley’s advice! Hope this is helpful for some of you. The desire to parent children traverses all ethnic, cultural and political boundaries. For people with physical disabilities ..read more

Social-emotional development is believed to be foundational to other areas of development such as language, cognition and general life skills. Being socially and emotionally competent allows kids to explore and grow within their social environments, both at home and in the community. Though they are not uncommon, weaknesses in this area can negatively affect a child and lead to lifelong problems, so it is important they are identified and addressed early. Social difficulties can pop up for many reasons, including: Environmental constraints e.g. lack of opportunity for interaction might have s ..read more

Have you ever wondered how a child learns their name? It’s an interesting progression from recognition of the specific sound of their name as a baby, all the way through to mastering the reading and writing of their name in time for school. Name recognition is related to early reading and writing skills – it’s the beginning step for learning letter-sound relationships, it helps them learn the difference between scribble and groups of letters that have meaning. Learning our names also encourages independence and promotes initiative. For example, when we can quickly identify our belongings (beca ..read more

As humans, our social and emotional development is crucial. It influences many aspects of our interpersonal and intrapersonal experiences. Our emotional development allows us to recognise, express and manage our emotions, which in turn shapes our behaviours allowing us to achieve our goals and interact with others effectively. Our social development allows us to interact, form positive relationships, and work with others, as well as showing understanding and empathy. Developing these skills is essential to support wellbeing and positive mental health. So, below we’ve listed our top 5 tips for ..read more

2017 has seen the Fidget Spinner craze take homes and classrooms by storm, resulting in the concept of fidget toys coming into most people’s awareness for the first time. However, the concept of a fidget toy is not new, and specialists, such as occupational therapists, often incorporate these small, easily manipulated objects (aka stress toys) into therapy to help people stay calm and alert. So, what should you consider when looking at purchasing a fidget toy? Below we’ve listed three key points to keep in mind when deciding to purchase a fidget toy, and when searching for the right one! 1. re ..read more

Our sensory system is responsible for receiving and interpreting sensations from our surrounding environment. It receives information through touch, taste, vision, smell, sound and movement to help us understand our environment and respond appropriately. If a child’s sensory processing system isn’t ‘working properly’ they have difficulty experiencing their environment and are often unable to organise and integrate all the information they are receiving from their surroundings – they are therefore unable to respond. These kids may struggle coping with the stress of sensory experiences and react ..read more

As we continue to explore physical and motor development this August at Educational Toys Online, it seemed fitting to have a look at some apps to help get kids moving! There are lots of reasons why keeping active is important for kids. According to the 2016 Active Healthy Kids Australia Report Card, when compared to inactive kids, active kids have : Better concentration More confidence & higher self-esteem Stronger muscles & bones Better balance & posture Lower stress levels So, physical activity should be prioritised every day. Though it should not be viewed as something we feel ..read more

So far throughout August, we’ve focused on the development of gross and fine motor skills, and how toys can support this. We’ve talked mostly about ‘typical’ development, but what happens when motor development doesn’t follow this path? Movement issues, such as Dyspraxia, can take different forms, and may look like general clumsiness, poor balance and posture, specific weaknesses in fine or gross motor skills, or poor hand-eye coordination. ATYPICAL MOTOR DEVELOPMENT It is important to remember all children develop at different rates, acquire skills at different times to their peers and some n ..read more