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Top 5 Tips to Teach Math to Kids Effectively
By Leah Fendi

Every parent is aware that math skills is essential for their children’s future. Math will assist in all aspects of life. If Math is educated in incorrect way, children could possibly get bored easily. Listed below are top 5 best tips to teach kids Math effectively.

1- Before teaching Math, be sure they are taught formal logic first. They should be able to think in a logical way using words and real-world situations before it can be applied to abstract concepts like numbers. Failing in this initial step causes kids hard to understand Math, and soon makes them hate Math. They should be taught on how to THINK first.

2- When thinking about the best ways to teach math to kids, age is an important element to consider first. Make sure your teaching module is appropriate for the kids’ age. Toddlers and preschoolers should learn the basic meaning of numbers, means to count things. Early elementary school should concentrate on arithmetic, understanding addition and multiplication tables for single digit numbers. Once they can master these, then move on to algebra, geometry, fractions, decimals, set theory, even calculus, and if possible, introduce the so-called advanced topics as early as possible. At the early stage of teaching advance Math, they just have to see it, they don’t have to understand it. The results will be seen later on, they will easily absorb and understand of topics when they are covered in grades 6-12.

3- Use something in which they can relate to. Try to make it simple yet fun. Also be practical to make them easy to understand. For example, to teach addition or subtraction, use countable food they used to eat. To teach division or fractions use cake.

4- Create fun and cool Math games for kids. Printable Math board games, card games, print and play game worksheets can be found on the internet.

5- Since Math needs a lot of recall skills, having a good memory will be a big advantage on our kids. Improve your kid’s memory by providing him/her number exercises on mental addition or multiplication, recalling dates for instance birthdays or anniversaries or dates for special occasions and making connections to other events that happened or will happen on a particular date. Working out your kid’s memory will truly be an asset at a later time when he has to memorize rules, formula, methods or procedures in resolving mathematical problems or equations.

Teaching Math to kids should always be fun, make sure your kids don’t feel stress when learning Math. Cool Math games for kids can make your kids enjoy learning Math. Visit http://www.coolmathgamesforkids.info for more than 450 pages jam packed with printable Math games which can be accessed directly from your computer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leah_Fendi

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Teaching Children To Talk

It’s time for the baby’s bath. It’s been a busy day, and you have a lot on your mind. Your child loves playing in the warm water, but tonight it feels like just one more thing to do.

Is this a good time for a language lesson, even if you don’t feel like it? You bet. Talking with your child during everyday events like nappy changes and baths is a great way to help your child learn the sounds and words of language.

‘It’s time to wash your hair now. Should we use the cup to pour the water? Lean your head back a little so the soap doesn’t get in your eyes. Let’s dip the washcloth in the water so we can clean your little nose. Do you have dirt under your fingernails? Let’s see if we can get it out …’

More is better

When it comes to teaching your child language, it’s how much you talk to her that counts the most. It may sound simple, but the best way to build children’s vocabularies during the critical first three years of life is to talk with them – a lot.

One study looked at the everyday talk between parents and children in 42 families. The results clearly showed that children’s vocabularies grew faster and they scored higher on IQ tests when their parents talked to them often.

Talking to children throughout the day helps in two ways. When parents talk more often, they use a wider range of words. Also, parents who talk a lot with their kids usually use longer and more complex sentences. This helps children learn what words mean, how grammar works, and how to talk about things in the past or the future. And when parents have ‘conversations’ with their young children, they create a foundation for good communication down the road.

Talking gap

All parents talk to their children. But the study found big differences in the types of conversations some families have. Researchers spent one hour a month with each family tape-recording the conversations between parents and children. The results were surprising:

  • One group of parents spent an average of 40 minutes each hour interacting with their children, while another group spent about 15 minutes per hour.
  • Some parents spoke more than 2000 words an hour on average to their kids compared with others who spoke around 600.
  • One set of families responded to their children 250 times an hour on average, while another responded only 50 times.
  • After three years, children from the most talkative families are exposed to nearly 30 million words, while those from the least talkative may have heard only 10 million (see figure 1).

Total words spoken to child

Quantity is quality

In each family, all the children learned enough language to get through everyday experiences. And for the most part, the conversations were about similar things. Families talked about people, places, actions, feelings, objects, experiences and past and future events. They answered their children’s questions and responded to their actions. And they guided them with encouragements such as ‘that’s great, honey,’ and restrictions such as ‘don’t touch that’.

If the families seemed to talk about the same things, why were some children speaking and understanding more words at age three? It turns out that the more parents talked to their children, the better the conversations got in terms of variety and richness.

Take bath time as an example. The more you talk to your child, the more likely you are to use different and more creative nouns, verbs, and modifiers. Sentences will become more complex and longer. You’ll ask more questions. And there is a greater chance you will talk about things in the past and in the future. Conversations like these help build a child’s vocabulary.

‘Look at those little dirty hands. They got so dirty playing outside today! Do you remember digging in the dirt? We found a little worm that wiggled in your hand. I’ll bet next time we’ll find more worms and bugs. Oops – it looks like there’s some dirt in your hair too! Let’s wash your hair now …’

The study also found that talkative parents were much more likely to guide their children with positive feedback such as ‘good’ or ‘that’s right’. When parents were talking less, they were more likely to use negative feedback such as ‘stop that’ or ‘don’t’. The families that talked the most used an encouraging tone 70-80% of the time, while those that talked the least were more likely to scold or use a discouraging tone.

Big words, big boost

By the age of three, children from families that talked the most had an average vocabulary more than twice the size of children from families that talked the least (see figure 2).

Childrens total vocabulary size

Not only did they understand more, they were able to use language to talk about a broader range of subjects. Even six years later, children from talkative families outscored others on language tests and reading comprehension.

Talking tips

So what’s the key to talking more with your children? The researchers noticed some good strategies parents used when interacting with their children.

  • Just talk: Use everyday events like folding laundry, changing nappies or doing the dishes. Talk enough to keep the child cooperative and engaged. This works well with younger children learning their first words.
  • Listen: When children talk, even if it’s silly or hard to understand, use it as a chance to add information, encourage more talking, or to elaborate on what they said. ‘You’re talking about the little bird? Look at his pointy beak. What colour is his beak? He can fly high in the air.’
  • Be nice: Kids need our guidance to learn what’s OK to do. When they do something they shouldn’t, suggest a better or right way to do it and avoid negative criticism. For example, a parent could say, ‘We write on paper, not on the walls’, instead of ‘Don’t do that!’
  • Give choices: Whether trying to get a child to do something like pick up toys or teaching them to use a spoon or fork, choices are important. Give choices that are real. ‘Do you want to eat your peas or your rice first? Do you want the blue or the green cup?’
  • Talk some more: It’s a big new world for kids, so help them by pointing out interesting things. ‘Look at the yellow bird in the sky! It reminds me of the story grandma told us about …’ Talking about things is a great way to remember past adventures and prepare them for new experiences.

Helpful parenting tips

  • Talk. Engage your child all day long, asking questions, explaining things, and adding new ideas. Try to use full sentences and lots of different words.
  • Use positive, affirming language to guide your child’s behaviour. ‘I like it when you hang up your coat!’ Use negative language sparingly.
  • Read lots of stories. Read favourite books over and over. Try sharing books with friends, or bringing home new stories from the library.
  • Talk to your child even if your child is not a talker. Some kids are naturally quiet. Talking to them will help them learn the language just the same.
  • In a large family, pay special attention to younger ones to make sure they are getting the verbal attention they need.
  • Grandma, grandpa, uncles, aunts, neighbours, siblings and babysitters – encourage all of those who love your children to talk with them as much as possible.

Children start the wonderful road of learning language from the day they are born. Parents who talk to their children throughout the day are giving them a gift. The language they learn will help them enjoy and understand the world around them, and it will prepare them for the challenges of life ahead.

Source: http://raisingchildren.net.au/

Choosing Educatinal Toys For Children

Playing can stimulate the children’s brain. Children learn how to fine their skills and figure out the world through play. Realizing this, many parents nowadays outfitted their house with expensive development toys. But actually this is not necessary. Just buy toys that are multi-functional and have numerous way to play, so they don’t easily get bored with the toys. Children will enjoy more if you play together with them.

If you are looking for toys, make sure you consider about the safety. Choose toys that most suitable for your children’s age. Neglecting about the safety can cause incidents such as choking hazards. Here are some tips to buy safe toys:

  • Choose battery-powered toys instead of electrical toys to avoid electrical shocks or burns.
  • Choose toys with sound less than 85 decibels. Toys that exceed 100 db can cause hearing damage. Toys labeled with “intended for outdoor use only” means they emit really loud sound.
  • Avoid flying objects.
  • Avoid sharp edges toys.
  • Avoid too tiny parts. This make cause choking hazards.
  • Avoid violent videos or games.
  • Choose suitable toys for your children’s age.

Be sure you supervise your toddler when he is playing.

Visit www.educationaltoysplanet.com for safe and quality educational toys.

Identifying Gifted Toddlers

By Joan Franklin Smutny for Your Baby Today

A gifted child demonstrates unique and clever behavior long before a school acknowledges it. Though, parents-especially new parents with little experience-may not recognize the special talents of their child until a standardized test or a teacher evaluation identifies those talents. Some parents may suspect that something is different about their child, but they shy away from the subject. Parents are the best judges of their child’s abilities, particularly from infancy to seven years old; therefore, they should trust their instincts and act on them.

What do you look for in a potentially gifted toddler? A high level of curiosity is often the most immediate sign of giftedness, but you also should look for early development in three general areas:

  • Motor skills (ability to execute large and small motor tasks with ease)
  • Quantities (large vocabulary, long attention span, long and often complex sentences, fast absorption of knowledge)
  • Comparisons (compared to other children: finds more ways to use toys and tools, an imaginative approach to activities, concocts creative solutions to problems, shows deeper understanding of questions and answers from adults)

Your toddler may be gifted if he or she:

  • Sits through a reading of a long book and then asks hear it again
  • Walks or talks early, and/or shows early interest in the alphabet
  • Shows interest in and understands numbers and time concepts
  • Completes puzzles intended for older children
  • Compensates for handicaps-learns to adjust and function in spite of them
  • Demonstrates strong sensitivity and response to music
  • Remembers complex events and describes them vividly long after the fact
  • Expresses an advanced sense of humor-recognizes incongruities as humorous
  • Relays stories or narrates events clearly and creates a plausible ending to a story
  • Absorbs songs and poems quickly and recites them accurately
  • Expresses impatience with limitations (i.e., when the mind wants to perform tasks that the body can’t yet handle)
  • Comprehends how things should fit in the scheme of things; stands firms is intolerant of something she perceives to be unfair
  • Consistently organizes, sorts, arranges, and classifies things, and then assigns them all names
  • Understands cause and effect, makes inferences, responds to directions, and multitasks earlier than others

To notice a toddler’s special talents — that is, before they attend school — is beneficial to their development. If they receive the support, guidance, and instruction that are appropriate to their skills, they’re more likely to reach their full potential. As a parent, you are your child’s first teacher-be observant and encouraging.

Source: parenthood.com

Boost Kids’ IQ By Simple Brain Exercise

Can mental training improve your intelligence? No video game or mental puzzle has convincingly been shown to work. But now a group of neuropsychologists claims it has found a task that can add points to a person’s IQ – and the harder you train, they say, the more you gain.

So-called “fluid intelligence”, or Gf, is the ability to reason, solve new problems and think in the abstract. It correlates with professional and educational success and it appears to be largely genetic.

Past attempts to boost Gf have suggested that, although by training you can achieve great gains on the specific training task itself, those gains don’t transfer to other tasks.

Now Susanne Jaeggi at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, US, and her colleagues say that is not true.

They invited 70 healthy adults to participate in a challenging training exercise known as the “dual n-back” task.

Daily training

The exercise involves tracking small squares on a screen that pop into a new location every three seconds. Volunteers have to press a button when the current location is a duplicate of two views earlier.

At the same time, consonants are played through headphones and a button is pressed if the letter is the same as that heard two “plays” earlier.

If participants perform well, the interval to be tracked (n) increases to three or more stages earlier.

Jaeggi’s volunteers were trained daily for about 20 minutes for either 8, 12, 17 or 19 days (with weekends off). They were given IQ tests both before and after the training.

The researchers found that the IQ of trained individuals increased significantly more than controls – and that the more training people got, the higher the score.

Small study

“It definitely challenges the old opinions,” says Jaeggi. She thinks their training regimen succeeded where others failed largely because it remained challenging. Also, because it was tailor-made to the individual, people were never able to go on autopilot.

Not everyone is impressed. Robert Plomin, at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, says that no serious intelligence researchers consider Gf “immutable”, as the paper suggests.

“There is no contradiction at all between substantial heritability and improvement of performance,” he says. “What is school about?”

Plomin says what is more interesting is how much an individual can profit from training. He complains, however, that the researchers did not really address this in the research, and that the study, with nine subjects in each of four training conditions, is much too small to detect it.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13786-simple-brain-exercise-can-boost-iq.html

Breastfeeding Boosts Kids’ IQ

Washington, May 6 (ANI): A new study has found that long-term, exclusive breastfeeding boosts children’s cognitive development.

In a study of 17,046 children, the team found that breastfeeding exclusively during the first year of life was associated with an increase in a child’s intelligence by first grade.

Previous studies have reported that children and adults who were breastfed as infants have higher scores on IQ tests and other measures of cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) development than those who were fed formula, according to background information in the article.

However, the evidence has been based on observational studies, in which children whose mothers chose to breastfeed were compared with those whose mothers chose not to breastfeed. The results of these studies may be complicated by subtle differences in the way breastfeeding mothers interact with their infants, the authors note.

Michael S. Kramer, M.D., of McGill University and the Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial of a breastfeeding promotion program involving patients at 31 maternity hospitals and affiliated clinics in Belarus.

Between June 1996 and December 1997, clinics were randomly assigned either to adopt a program supporting and promoting breastfeeding or to continue their current practices and policies.

A total of 7,108 infants and mothers who visited facilities promoting breastfeeding and 6,781 infants and mothers who visited control facilities received follow-up interviews and examinations between 2002 and 2005, when the children were an average of 6.5 years old.

Mothers who visited a facility promoting breastfeeding were more likely to feed their infants only breast milk at age 3 months (43.3 percent vs. 6.4 percent in the control group) and at all ages through 1 year. At age 6.5, the children in the breastfeeding group scored an average of 7.5 points higher on tests measuring verbal intelligence, 2.9 points higher on tests measuring non-verbal intelligence and 5.9 points higher on tests measuring overall intelligence.

Teachers also rated these children significantly higher academically than control children in both reading and writing.

“Even though the treatment difference appears causal, it remains unclear whether the observed cognitive benefits of breastfeeding are due to some constituent of breast milk or are related to the physical and social interactions inherent in breastfeeding,” the authors write.

Essential long-chain fatty acids and a compound known as insulinlike growth factor I, both found in breastmilk, could be responsible for the cognitive differences.

On the other hand, the physical or emotional component of breastfeeding may lead to permanent changes affecting brain development. Breastfeeding also may increase verbal interaction between mother and child, which could improve children’s cognitive development.

“Although breastfeeding initiation rates have increased substantially during the last 30 years, much less progress has been achieved in increasing the exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding,” the authors write.

“The consistency of our findings based on a randomized trial with those reported in previous observational studies should prove helpful in encouraging further public health efforts to promote, protect and support breastfeeding,” they conclude.

The study appears in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (ANI)

Source:  http://in.news.yahoo.com/ani/20080506/r_t_ani_hl/thl-breastfeeding-boosts-kids-iq-3b18f0d.html

How to Raise a Genius Child

How to raise “genius” children: smart, wise, happy, health, motivated, secure
by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore

How To Raise A Genius ChildStop suffocating the genius in your children!
As a teacher, principal, city school superintendent, college and university professor, dean and president, I constantly wondered why we don’t have more Johannes Keplers, Sir Isaac Newtons or Thomas Edisons among us. I purposefully searched for the reasons. But it wasn’t until I reached retirement age that I found out why. And what I discovered was so important, I just knew I couldn’t retire.

For all those years I didn’t know that all normal children, regardless of race, color, creed or national origin, have in them the seeds of brilliance.

Most of us unwittingly or recklessly do everything we can to suffocate genius in our kids by insisting on doing what everybody else is doing with their children: Putting them through the same extrusion process so that they come out about the same-sized and same-flavored sausages as the other youngsters. Does that sound crazy? Listen closely and think again.

The Smithsonian Institution asked Harold McCurdy and his team to study genius through the ages. Their recipe for creating genius in children included: 1) warm, responsive parents and other adults actively involved in the lives of children, 2) virtual isolation from children outside the family, and 3) much freedom to explore their own interests. Given such a formula, we shouldn’t be surprised at the Smithsonian measure of today’s typical schools.

The mass education of our public school system diminishes all three key factors that produce genius in children.

Don’t let them out before they’re ready!

We put our children out of the home and into institutions as soon as we can. We submit them earlier and earlier to the state as Plato recommended until we have little influence or control. None of this “early institutionalization” is consistent with sound research on child development and learning.

Children are not ready for academic and social pressures of school until close to or into their teens.

What do they get when they go to school? John Goodlad, then graduate dean at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 1,016 public elementary and secondary schools. He found that the average teacher spends a grand total of seven minutes a day in personal responses to all his or her students.

In addition to that, not all responses were necessarily warm! And few teachers give their students enough time to develop thoughtful answers when they are asked questions. Neither are their questions the kind that stimulate thought. Rather than questions that ask “Why?” and “How?” they are more likely to ask “Who?” “What?” “Where? “When?” and “How much?” Yet these constitute the parent or teacher’s main educational tool and are among the major reasons for high academic success of many homeschools.

Keep them away from other kids!

Isolation from peers may sound extreme. But that changes when you look at the modern social cancer of peer dependency. It is almost certain to bring loss of family values and self-respect when children spend more time with their peers daily than with their parents. Children are negatively socialized. Kids mostly with their parents and constructively occupied with family business or other work and service are positively socialized. They are also more creative and less likely to be mentally or emotionally troubled.

Give them freedom to explore!

When children are allowed to develop naturally, when their interests are targeted and their motivation used as a principal tool in learning, studies come faster, more thoroughly and with less pressure. We have many children who seem hopelessly delayed or retarded. Often they have lost all interest in school. But when approached in their own interests, they respond quickly and often brilliantly. In most cases they are youngsters who have gone to school much too early. Most often they are boys.

Here may be our most pervasive form of child abuse: It is well established that boys lag behind girls in emotional maturity a year or so at the age most children begin school.

One of the most pervasive forms of child abuse is forcing boys to start school at the same age as girls.

A result of not responding appropriately to the emotional immaturity of boys beginning school is the disproportionate number of boys in remedial education – up to 13 boys for every 1 girl. Another pervasive form of abuse is our expecting children to read well by 6 or 7. Many children don’t adapt readily to reading until age 8 or 10. Some bright students don’t catch on until 12 or 14. Yet, late readers often become the best readers of all in both speed and comprehension.

If this is true—and there is not reputable research which denies it— shouldn’t we spend every possible minute with our young? Shouldn’t we respond to them often and warmly, with many more “Atta boys (or girls)” and fewer “No – No’s”? Shouldn’t we give them time to respond when we ask questions? Shouldn’t we deal much more in “whys” and “hows,” teaching them to be thinkers instead of reflectors of others’ thoughts? Shouldn’t we work with them as living examples in hands-on activities in the kitchen, garage and garden?

Shouldn’t we think more carefully of their interests, read to them often from their early years, keep them close to us as long as possible and institutionalized as late as possible? Shouldn’t we teach them how to manage our homes, how to make and sell things, provide services to their homes, and communities, and how to be self-sufficient and responsible like Thomas Edison, a genius who earned while he learned much like the Christ child in Nazareth? Many homeschoolers call this the “Moore Formula,” but it is borrowed from God, and most certain route to genius.

Put your children to work!

Genius requires a balance of work, service and study.

The best possible way to build self-respect in our children is to give them responsibility. When teachers work manually with students, making and selling things and encouraging home industries and otherwise help at home, they build creativity in the most responsible ways. They grant authority as youngsters prove responsible. And teachers, parent and student join in serving their community.

Even Harvard University gives high priority to such students. We should train our teachers in this God-given method, with at least as much daily work as study. Every such program has proven its worth, including the California State Regional Occupation Program (ROP). In this program, high school students divide their days between study and work without pay. ROP has the highest achievement and job record in the state Programs like ROP cost much less and are infinitely more valuable than rivalry sports.

Source link:

About the authors: http://www.thequiethour.org/resources/health/genius.php

Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore are world-renowned as researchers, writers and leturers in the area of education, homeschooling and child development. Direct correspondence to the MOORE FOUNDATION, Box 1, Camas, WA 98607, or call (360) 835-5500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Develop Your Child’s Genius

Develop Your Child’s Genius: The King of Games – the Game of Kings
By Esther Andrews

Many people still think that the game of chess is appropriate for old people. In their mind’s eye, they see 2 elderly people sitting across from each other in the park, playing a game of chess.

Well, it might sound surprising to you, but you can teach a baby to play chess. It has shown to be extremely beneficial for children of all ages to learn to play chess, and in addition, it is very entertaining. It is impossible to describe how much value a child gets from playing chess.

When my son Eric was about 2 or 3, he showed interest in board games, so I asked my husband if he knew how to play chess. I didn’t know how to play Chess at the time, but luckily my husband knew the basics, and volunteered to teach little Eric. Eric took to it immediately. One day, my husband and I walked into a computer store, to buy a piece of hardware, and in the back room, we saw a person sitting in front of the computer, playing Chess. We started a conversation with him, and found out that he was a Chess teacher. When we came home, we asked Eric if he would like us to find a teacher for him, and he was very excited about it.

After some looking around and making some phone calls (now I know exactly who to call and where to look) we found a new immigrant from Russia who was a gifted Chess teacher. Some of his students became very famous grandmasters. So we made an appointment with the teacher, and he played a game of Chess with our baby. He looked at us after the game and said, a little bit amazed: “he is making all the right moves, it is amazing”. Eric was 4 at the time, and the teacher took him on as a student.

Since then, Chess has been a part of our life. Chess has enriched our lives a great deal. Thanks to Chess, we have traveled and seen some parts of the world and the country we would have never traveled to otherwise. Whenever we visited a new place, we always looked for a street corner or a coffee house where people play chess, and always met interesting people and made new friends. There is always something new to learn, and avid players spend a significant amount of time learning and practicing. Many people find enjoyment in participating in tournaments.

All over the country there are many chess clubs that encourage the participation of children, and many scholastic tournaments are taking place all over the country. Players of all skill levels are encouraged to play in tournaments, and players of similar skill levels are paired to play with each other.

What will your child learn from playing Chess?

- He will learn how to put together a plan, and follow up on it.

- He will learn to calculate a few moves ahead of time, based on memory and imagination.

- He will learn how to concentrate.

- He will learn the difference between strategy and tactics.

- He will learn to think before he acts. That every move has consequences.

- He will learn to play fair and to be courteous.

- He will improve his visual memory and visual discrimination.

- He will learn how to follow the rules.

- He will learn to take responsibility.

- He will learn to have patience.

- He will develop his creativity.

There are so many more benefits to studying and playing chess, that you will have to discover for yourself.

When we started taking little Eric to a kids’ Chess club, we met some kids that were highly gifted. I will never forget a little boy, 8 years old, who played a game of “blindfold” chess with the teacher, who was a master. “Blindfold” means that the player is not looking at the board, and has to play the game out of memory. The little boy played a whole game out of memory, and beat the master.

The most successful children were the ones who started very early. Children who had an older sibling who played Chess, or a parent who played Chess, and had the opportunity to watch the game when they were babies.

If you have a baby, if possible let the baby watch people playing Chess. Do you play Chess? Wonderful! Let the baby watch. If you do not play Chess, find a Chess club in your neighborhood, a park or a coffeehouse and let the baby watch the games as long as the baby is interested.

Some babies will be fascinated and watch the game for a long time, some will watch just for a few minutes. No problem! Let the baby watch as long as it wants. Even a few minutes will do. Do it as often as possible.

At home, have a Chess board around, and occasionally just show the baby the different pieces, and mention their names. Do it a few times a day. This is a good start for a baby, to get acquainted with the Chess pieces.

When your child is ready (and the parents know best!), you can show him how to move the pieces. A little bit a day will do. Make sure that the child spends some time around Chess players and gets the opportunity to watch some games.

For school age children, the best thing to do is to sit with them, explain the game and play with them. If you don’t enjoy Chess or don’t know how to play, you can find a teacher, or a Chess club that accommodates children.

Here is a special word about girls and Chess: some of the best chess players are girls! Just look at the sisters Polgar, and many other female chess players. If you have a girl, encourage her to play chess, it is a most beneficial activity for girls, as well as boys.

There are many Chess computer games on the market, starting from very affordable programs, like Chessmaster, and up to very expensive software and dedicated Chess computers. They are all fine, but remember – when your child plays with human beings, he learns much more and enjoys himself a lot more. It is a completely different experience. So take my advice, let your child play with other children, or even adults. Computer games can be a good addition.

A good place to start is the Chess Federation of your country. Here, in the US, we are lucky to have a very active Chess federation, and many Chess activities for young children. Here are some helpful links and resources:

www.uschess.org/beginners – Ten Tips for Winning Chess

www.uschess.org – The US Chess Federation

www.fide.com – The World Chess Federation

For the last 26 years, Esther Andrews has studied, researched and practiced the ways to develop a child’s intelligence. She also served as the principal of the School for Gifted Education. As a result of this experience, she developed her own method and philosophy, that proved to be extremely successful with her own 2 highly gifted children. In her web site, http://www.all-gifted-children.com , she helps parents develop their child’s genius, and provide for their kids the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Esther_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Develop-Your-Childs-Genius:-The-King-of-Games—the-Game-of-Kings&id=20704