Top 5 Pool Games For Kids

Teaching kids to swim is vital. Getting them comfortable in the water is the best way to turn them into fluent swimmers without them even noticing. For young kids, the best option is to turn it into a game. Crank up the pool cleaner, and start looking forward to some real fun in the pool.


Photo: mslaura

Water games safety basics
The safety factor, naturally, is the main issue for pool games. Depending on the age of the kid, physical maturity, and fitness, you can tailor pool games which are safe, confidence building and fun.

Factors to consider:
Age: Pool games are great for age 5 and up.
Physical maturity: Kids age differently. To play pool games they need to be able to stand in the shallow end with the upper body well out of the water.
Fitness: Energetic kids who can keep going all day are fine. Those who are less physically confident should be started on realistic levels of exercise in the pool.
Safety: Always make sure the games are well within the level of competence in the water of the child. It’s advisable not to mix kids with great differences in size and strength in the pool games. It’s not a fair contest.
Confidence: The “fear factor” in the water is good safety practice, because the kids who are wary of the water have very good survival instincts. They always play safe, and don’t take risks. As long as these kids are sure they’re OK, they’ll respond well and develop confidence in the water based on their own achievements.
Important:
1. Kids must always be under adult supervision in the pool.
2. Do not under any circumstances allow young kids to play in the pool without someone on site and ready to respond to an emergency.

Pool games

Balancing on an air mattress: This is incredible fun, and trying to stand on an air mattress is hilarious. Nobody wins, but they have a lot of fun losing. You’ll they forget about any difficulty swimming the minute they start having fun.
Note: The air mattress has to be in the middle shallow end of the pool, with no risk of anyone falling off and hitting the sides of the pool.
Races: For young kids, racing from one side to another at the shallow end is fun, safe and builds fitness rapidly. (Note: An adult should be standing between the kids and the deeper water for the races.)
Water polo: This game is for kids who are adequate swimmers, but need more stamina and agility in the water. You can make goals out of simple markers like floats in the water. Water polo can make excellent swimmers out of anyone, and you’ll find that kids will respond to the activity and join in the fun easily enough.
Note: No tackling! Ball chasing and passing only. The adult in charge should keep an eye on anyone looking tired.
Pool propaganda: To encourage some more unconscious water skills, after play, give the kids a treat with a heated pool to drift around in. Get your pool pump in shape, and prepare to put up with kids who refuse to come out of the water.

What Is Unschooling?

Unschooling goes by many different names such as "experience-based learning", "natural learning" and "independent learning". Ultimately unschooling is a form of homeschooling. Parents are responsible for their children and their children will not attend a traditional learning institution. However, with unschooling, children will not be taught through the use of textbooks, tests, workbooks or quizzes, but through their own life experiences.


Photo: califmom

In its most extreme form, unschooling is never making a child learn anything but what they choose to learn. For example, if a child chooses to spend his or her time reading fiction and watching television then this is how they will learn. Whatever they learn from these activities is all they are required to know with unschooling. If they never learn literature, mathematics or science it is said to be just fine. Children are supposed to pursue their interests and learn about those instead of being forced to learn specific subjects that they may not be interested in. Children are supposed to be allowed to express themselves and devote their learning time learning only what they desire to learn.



A major part of unschooling is allowing children to learn through doing real things. For example, learning to use a computer by simply doing it and not by reading a book or being taught to use it by a teacher. Supporters of unschooling feel that children who live in a supportive and trusting environment that are doing "real-life things" will be productive members of society with valuable knowledge and healthy mental development. Those who support unschooling feel that children naturally learn things such as how to read, write, count, perform basic mathematical functions (add, subtract, multiply and divide), think, discover the past (history) and think and wonder without the use of a school curriculum.

Those who support unschooling feel that not forcing a child to learn will make them more excited to learn. They feel that children who are not forced to follow a curriculum will learn faster then children following a strict learning curriculum. They feel that the lack of schedule in unschooling leads children to learn more because they have more desire to learn all throughout the day instead of just six to eight hours a day like they would in a traditional school.

Unschooling is built on the premise that children pursue knowledge by pursuing life. Adults need to trust in the inevitability that this natural process will provide their children with all the education that they need to be successful in life. However, this form of schooling does allow the leeway for parents to offer assistance when their children need it.

Those who support unschooling state that it is a legal form of education. It is said to be accepted by state departments of education. However, the children who are educated through unschooling will still need to take and make satisfactory marks on state required testing through all twelve years of school. It is unclear whether or not children who learn through unschooling ever receive a high school diploma or transcripts so this could make it difficult for those who wish to pursue a college education.

Source: Free Articles Directory Submission

About the Author
Unschooling goes by many different names such as "experience-based learning", "natural learning" and "independent learning". Ultimately unschooling is a form of homeschooling. Parents are responsible for their children and their children will not attend a traditional learning institution.

Play Tent Recommendations

A play tent can be a very fun and educational toy that will keep children busy for hours. Just like all toys, it is best to be sure you are buying the best tent for your child, and not simply the first thing you find. Most parents have gotten a toy or two for their children that they thought were fantastic, and it ended up sitting in the child's closet forever. Or the child loves it and it break in a week. Neither occurrence is very pleasant and both are overall wastes of money.


Photo: KRHamm

Here are some tips for you to consider when finding the perfect play tent:

• Child's interest
• Space available
• Where it will be used
• Tent quality
• Letting your child choose

Child's Interest
Your child may love the idea of a play tent, but may have a very specific style in mind. If you get a completely different style, your child may not even play with his tent at all. Or, if the gift is a surprise, try to find a tent with your child’s favorite theme or characters to ensure he will enjoy it. If your child loves cowboys, you can get a tent with a “on the range” theme. If he likes soldiers, you can get a tent with an army style. Playful and fancy designs for a little girl generally do well, or even princess castle style tents. Tunnel style tents are a great idea for very active children and can provide for all day fun.

Available Space
It's all well and good to have the perfect tent for your child, but where will it go? Will it be indoors in his or her room? The family area? When shopping for a tent, it may not look very big in the store, but remember they are pretty big toys. The best idea is to take measurements of the area you plan to have the play tent before you go shopping. You then can shop confidently and get a tent which is the proper size. This way your child can play with it whenever they like and you don’t have to set it up each and every time.

Where it will be used
Remember that most play tents can be used inside and outside, depending on their quality. If your child wants a tent which can be taken outside once in awhile, be sure to get a tent which is built for outdoors. Many state whether they are suitable for outdoor use or not. You will also probably want one which is water resistant, easy to clean, and easy to set up or move.

Consider quality
Buying an inexpensive play tent isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but be sure that lower cost does not mean lower quality. Inside tents which are well taken care of may have no problems even after a year of constant use. But a tent which is roughly played with, it is best to get one which is of higher quality and higher price if you don’t want to be buying a new one soon.

Let your child choose
One great option is to allow your child to have a choice in their play tent. Of course a child may not think about everything discussed in this article, and may need a bit of assistance to pick a really great tent. But getting your child involved in the process can really do wonders when it comes to finding the perfect tent for them. Obviously, a child wont choose what he doesn’t like, so you are free of the guessing game. For children who are a bit older, you may want to try and explain things like size and quality. If not, you can chose several great options and let him choose among them.

It is worth it to be wise when purchasing a play tent, making sure your child is happy with your choice is also very important.

Source: Free Articles Directory Submission

About the Author
A play tent can be a very fun and educational toy that will keep children busy for hours. Just like all toys, it is best to be sure you are buying the best tent for your child, and not simply the first thing you find.

Choosing the best website for kids - a parents manual

Kids are more tech savvy because of our changed lifestyle. Most of the growing kids are quite familiar with cyber entertainment and online games are one of the main attractions of these cyber entertainments. Although there are lots of interactive and quality kids' site, parents should help the kids by picking the best suitable website for kids for his/her baby to suit and complement his requirement form online games.

The best Kids' site must be extremely user friendly, daily updated and ideally loaded with lots of quality online games playing which is not only fun but it will add some amounts of learning advantages with acquiring excellent gaming skill. Kidzter.com is one of such good website for kids and excellently maintained with bright colors, symphonic sound, decoration of animated characters, and loads of fun games where fun and learn are meticulously packed with each other. The bright color and ambience of this website helps kids to enjoy their gaming moments as most of the games are musical games in Kidzter.


There are lots of websites online from where the child can select his online game. Some games can be played with free online games sites, but there is big question about the authenticity of these websites and usefulness of the material in the games. Some of the free games are reported to have violent material which may not be supportive of healthy mentality of growing kids. In these aspects it is always better to surf websites by parents for choosing a game site which will help positively the development of kids. The parent may not have adequate time for surfing net and selecting a kids’ site out of thousands of option, they can blindly rely on Kidzter.com.

The advantage of kidzter is its colorful ambience and attractive get up. Once a kid is allowed to log in the website, the attractive feature will inspire him to explore the site by his own initiative and he will surely browse the site with pleasure in his own initiative and effort. The musical themes of this websites are enough attractive and the icon characters like Sean seal, Crystal Canary, Floyed Fox, Bartholomew Little bear play as musical personality.

The children who have special nose for rock band music will get immense interest in Kidzter. While paying this fun learning band, a music savvy kid will be able to improvise his music sense as well as will be able to upgrade his performance skill.

Apart from music there are other games and fun packed activities which is enthralling exciting for any kid; at the same time the games have clearing aim and that is the over all improvement of a child in all positive ways of development. The exceptionality of Kidzter is alike children of family, parents can also participate in the game shows offered by this website and a membership will be perfect for complete fun package for your entire family.

Take today the membership in Kidzter and start enjoying endlessly with family.

Source: Free Articles Directory Submission

About the Author
Kidztar, is the best place where your kids can get complete entertainment with several Free Online Games and other Free Games.