Today Date Triggered Content

Dark nights, fireworks and fancy dress can trigger fear in some children. It can be hard to know how to support your child if they feel afraid, so we’ve investigated the research and put together a few tips.  

Fear can be a useful emotion, as feeling afraid helps us to stay safe. But we also need to learn how to regulate fear, as we do all other emotions, so we have the right level for each situation.  

The first United Nations International Play day takes place on 11th June, with this day celebrating the power of play. We know that life with an under-five can be tiring, so we're sharing some ideas for when you're exhausted. 

We know communication involves much more than saying the right words. Research published this year suggests growing up bilingual provides opportunities for children to develop communication skills beyond learning words.^[1] 

There is considerable research about how children learn to communicate when they grow up learning more than one language. 

As we enter a season with lots of celebrations, you might be starting to feel the pressure to join in with the traditions you see around you. Your social media feeds might be filled with photos of visits to a pumpkin patch or families in fancy dress and you wonder if your child is missing out if they don’t have these experiences.  

The Disney Pixar film ‘Inside out’ gave us the idea of core memories, that some memories are particularly important and that we have a set number of these core memories.  

As the nights draw in, and your child is more likely to have time to enjoy the dark evenings before bedtime, it can feel like the opportunities for play start to vanish. No more evening trips to the park, or walks before bed, and less time to get energy out in the afternoon as the gloom sets in earlier and earlier.... but there is a lot of magic in the dusk and dark!  

We’ve created a list of items we find really useful to have on hand for these dark evenings – as well as the usual play kit objects we shared earlier in the year, which you can find linked at the end of this article, in case you missed out.  

As the evenings are getting darker earlier and earlier, we find it can get harder to fill that time between food and bed... but the darkness doesn’t have to limit the options for play. In fact, with the right bits and pieces at hand it can offer lots of new ways to play together!  

This week we’ve brought together some of our favourite ways to play with shadows. 

You probably find lots of people share their opinions about your child’s development – and if you hear something a few times you might wonder if it’s true. One of the things we’ve heard many times is that girls learn to talk sooner than boys, so when we saw a research paper reviewing this we thought we’d dive in and find out more.

In this paper, scientists from the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies in Rome looked at research that had considered the development of language in boys and girls – looking at if, how and why this differed.^[1]  

Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of headlines warning that shouting at children causes the same level of harm to their mental health as physical and sexual abuse. Lots of parents have seen these headlines and panicked, asking us for more information.

Before you spend too much time frantically trying to remember when you last raised your voice in frustration, read on to see why the headlines don’t tell the full story of this research study.  

Dark nights, crisp leaves and changing weather. Whether you prefer staying cosy inside or getting out and enjoying another season we have Autumn play ideas for you.  

Your first thought when it gets colder (and wetter) might be to stay inside, but with the right clothing, getting out and experiencing rain, wind and cold first-hand is a great way to learn about the changing seasons.