Education | Inhabitots

Montessori and Waldorf Inspired Lady Bug Learning Playset Helps Kids Learn

by Jennifer Chait, 02/27/12

Just in time for spring-minded fun and learning comes the sweeter than sweet Lady Bug Learning Playset. There are countless ways your child may use this mat and the tiny lady bugs for play and learning. For example: number to numeral identification, counting games, numeral to number manipulative counting, color sorting and organizing, complimentary color sorting and number ordering. Children play by placing these delightful little bugs on the bright flower “color wheel.” A spoon or tongs may be used to help your young child develop better hand-eye coordination. This set is also entirely handmade and all the bugs are brightly colored with a nontoxic watercolor wash and sealed with a mixture of organic beeswax and jojoba oil.

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Should Public Schools be Allowed to Examine and Regulate Home-Packed Lunches?

by Jennifer Chait, 02/21/12

This past January, a little girl from North Carolina’s West Hoke Elementary School arrived home with her packed lunch still intact. When her mother asked how come she didn’t eat, her 4-year-old said she did, she just ate the school lunch instead. When pressed further, this mama found out that her child had eaten three chicken nuggets and nothing else, because she didn’t like the hot lunch. Unhappy with the situation, the mother complained to state Rep. G.L. Pridgen, who plans to investigate the incident further. The above is true, but how this little girl ended up with just three nuggets for lunch is much hazier. According to Carolina Journal Online, an agent from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child Development and Early Education was at West Hoke in January to assess the pre-kindergarten program. The agent supposedly examined the lunches of six students and determined that one lunch, containing a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice, didn’t meet the proper nutritional criteria.

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DVD REVIEW: More Business of Being Born

by Beth Shea, 01/31/12

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Kids, Get Ready for National Green Week 2012!

by Jennifer Chait, 01/31/12

The Green Education Foundation (GEF) is attempting to mobilize millions of students from across the country to participate in National Green Week 2012 during February. In what GEF says will be the largest waste reduction campaign in history, National Green Week will be officially kicking off on February 6, but students and schools may choose any week from Feb.6 – April 22 (Earth Day) to participate. So far, GEF reports that almost 5,000 schools have registered reaching nearly six million students. The idea behind Green Week is that students can be empowered to be green leaders of their own school sustainability campaigns. The campaign asks students to participate in activities such as pledging to bring school snacks, water and lunches in reusable containers as part of the Waste-Free Snacks Campaign. Students may also take the Green Energy Challenge, an effort to reduce energy consumption at school and at home, where students actually audit their classrooms, schools and homes to find energy leaks and correct them. There’s also a cool Adopt-a-Plant for your classroom project (complete with adoption papers!).

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USDA Kicks Off First Major Healthy School Lunch Changes in 15 Years

We’re not huge fans of the USDA school lunch program. Not only has Congress attempted to keep school lunches unhealthy, to the point of declaring pizza a vegetable, but overall, school lunches contain some horrid stuff. From pesticides to too much fat and sodium to flavored milk, fizzy fruit and fast food, school lunches throughout the last decade have become nightmarish in quality at most schools. Your child, thus far, has been better off with a sustainable healthy packed lunch. Now though, thankfully, there’s hope on the horizon. Thanks to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by the First Lady and signed by President Obama, the USDA is making the first major changes to all school meals in 15 years. Hopefully these changes will stick and result in a healthier generation of children.

5 Ways to Save Money for Your Child’s Education Today

It costs a lot of money to raise children and one of the largest expenses that your family will encounter will be for higher education. Starting to save for college when your children are young is essential since it's such a large expense. There are many great ways to save for your child's education - ways that are easy, affordable and will make sending your child off to college an easier process. And when your child does go off to college, the steps that you took today will allow your child to focus on their education, not how they are going to pay for it. The key to saving for your child's education is to start when they are born. Read on to learn the five ways that my family is saving money for my son's college education, and getting started on your own savings today.

Science Project for Toddlers Teaches Them About Color

Recently we started homeschooling our 5 year old, which means that our 2 year old also feels like she needs to be home schooled. We always include 2-year-old Maria in our activities but usually she just tags along to whatever subject our son is learning, which is usually over her head. This week, I decided to do an activity geared for our toddler to help her learn her colors. This is a very simple experiment that only uses three ingredients that you most likely have in your house already. And what's best is that even the older siblings will enjoy this project.

5 Educational and Artsy Apps for Creative Kids

Most likely your family has at least one smart phone or tablet in your household. This means that your child most likely has used many different apps for entertainment. Many apps that are marketed towards children do not infuse education into the fun. However, there are many great apps for children that are educational, artsy and creative. Read on to learn 5 of my son's favorites - all of which have a focus on the arts.

How Parents Can Help Change and Improve Toxic Schools

As noted in a previous post, schools in America are more toxic and unhealthy than ever, mostly due to school budget cuts, old buildings and a general apathy regarding healthy schools in the USA. As a busy parent, toxic unhealthy schools can seem overwhelming. How on earth can you keep your child safe and healthy when most schools in America have serious air pollution problems? Luckily, there are some ways that you, the parent, can advocate for a less toxic U.S. school system. Until we manage to change the U.S. school system (it'll take a while) there are some smaller steps you can take to ensure that your child's school is as healthy as possible in the meantime. Following are the best ways that parents can advocate for healthier, less toxic schools.

Toxic Schools on the Rise in America

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating schools as part of his series on Toxic America, and his findings aren’t good. More schools than ever are making kids and school staff sick. While it’s tough to estimate how many toxic schools are in America, most research shows that at least a third or more of U.S. schools have issues like mold, dust and other indoor air problems serious enough to cause respiratory illnesses like asthma in students and staff. Healthy Schools Network reports that as many as 55 million U.S. children may be attending public and private K-12 schools where poor air quality, hazardous chemicals and other unhealthy conditions can make everyone sick. The U.S. EPA estimates that at least half of all schools in this country have indoor air quality problems caused by toxic chemical and pesticide use, chemical spills, mold infestations, asbestos, radon, lead in paint and drinking water, heavy metals and persistent toxics, such as mercury, CCA and PCBs.

Solar Powered Classrooms Will Bring Technology to Developing Countries

Students in developing countries lack the means to gain experience learning about science, let alone electricity or running water. A project lead by Professor Tony Rest at the University of Southampton is meeting this challenge, providing solar powered technology to rural schools in these countries. The initiative could revolutionize these children’s lives, enabling them access to modern technology like video projectors in the classroom.

Teach Kids a Foreign Language with Art and Philanthropy Recycled Posters and Cards

By the time your toddler is ready to apply for college, being able to speak a foreign language will be très imporant. Help get your tot started by incorporating other languages into their nursery decor or playtime. Art and Philanthropy's Global Child Collection features an array of 100% recycled card stock wall cards and posters in Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew, German and Swedish.

Hans Andersson Builds Clever Time Twister LEGO Mindstorms Digital Clock

Though the Mindstorms sub-brand of the LEGOLAND empire is specifically intended to catalyze complex thoughts in the minds of young builders, adults love getting in on the game. And this Time Twsiter clock, with its self-solving Rubix algorithm designed by Hans Andersson, is a prime example of grown-up trigonometrical tinkering at work. Click through to see a video of the masterpiece working.

Waldorf Strawbale Preschool In Cuernavaca is Built Like a Fairy Tale

Like a cottage straight out of a fairy tale, the Tecilli Classroom in Cuernavaca, México is a beautiful, dreamy space designed to inspire the young minds who attend. The Waldorf preschool classroom was built over an 8 week period with the help of community members who used sustainable materials and strategies to help reduce the school's carbon footprint and generate a positive impact. Designed by Laboratorio Arquitectura Básica Mx, the strawbale classroom makes use of locally-sourced agricultural waste straw, daylighting and other natural materials to create a charming space in which to learn.

See How Your Child’s School Lunch Stacks Up on National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day

October 12 is National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day. Sponsors KIWI magazine and the School Nutrition Association hope you’ll use this opportunity to head over to your child’s school for lunch. The event, a co-event of National School Lunch Week (October 10th-14th) is all about healthy eating for kids and parents getting more involved in school nutrition. This year’s National School Lunch Week theme is “School Lunch: Let’s Grow Healthy.” However, you can’t know if your child’s school lunch is healthy (or even edible), unless you actually see what’s being served to your child once in a while. With that in mind, National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day is an event worth participating in. You might think school lunch is a small issue, but your child will typically spend about 12 years in school. If your child’s school is serving up poor quality school lunches that’s about 2,280 days worth of those lunches, so this event does matter.

Survey Reveals How Kids are Encouraging Parents to Go Green

In a world laden with toxins and consumerism, we could all use some good news. Don’t you think? As it turns out our kids are the good news. A new survey released by The Co-operative, shows that kids are super on the ball when it comes to green living and they are making a big difference by encouraging their parents to go green as well. The new survey interviewed 1,027 children aged between 7 and 14 and 1,002 parents of children aged 7 to 14 in August 2011 and found out that kids are resorting to “green pester power”, in order to push their parents into a more sustainable lifestyle, and all that pestering is paying off. Go kids!

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Help Your Child’s School Win Global Green USA’s Green School Makeover Competition

Your child deserves a learning environment that’s safe, healthy, and free from harmful toxins and chemicals. Sadly, too few schools are green and healthy, but Global Green USA’s Green School Makeover Competition is working to change this. The Global Green USA’s Green School Makeover Competition, a contest co-sponsored by Global Green USA and Pureology, will be awarding one lucky school a grand prize of $65,000 that can be used to renovate their school, along with an additional $65,000 worth of technical assistance. Four runner-up schools will get $2,500 to use towards green school renovations. This is an excellent opportunity for schools to create a healthier learning environment for their students, while saving money in the long-run as green practices, such as energy savings are initiated. You can nominate your own child’s school or a school in your area – read on to find out how.

Top 6 Green Backpacks for Back-to-School

Nothing says back-to-school like the sight of excited kids with their backpacks heading off to the bus stop. We've rounded up six great backpack options for a variety of age ranges, which means kids can choose from a classic style, a cutesy animal backpack, or a pack festooned with flowers, the alphabet, or little monsters. Parents can rest assured knowing that any of these choices are better for the planet and the health of their tots!