Dear StrongStrart friends,

In our busy lives as parents, juggling so many responsibilities, with little time, much of our time outside is spent driving from place A to B. We take children to the playgrounds and rarely have an unhurried time to wonder about our neighborhood, stop at every corner and talk with plenty of time to spear. Well, the time is now.

In words of Mary Gordan, former Kindergarten teacher and founder of Roots of Empathy:

  • Talk with loving adults is one of the best ways to wire a child’s brain for success in school and in life.
  • The more you talk and the more words you use, the stronger a child’s language skills will be. Words are tools for thinking.
  • Talk about what you’re thinking. You will show children the importance of curiosity and how to be problem solvers.

Some of you might remember our Walk and Talk field tips to the library when we stop and talk about everything we see on the way.

As you walk in your neighbourhood, wonder and talk.  For very young children you will do most of the talking, adding words to their vocabulary but for older children (specially pre-K’s, let them tell you what they think. You might say,” I wonder why this tree has a plastic bag around it? What do you think?” or ” I like this spiral bush. I have seen shape like this before in a snail. What does it remind you of?”.

You might say, ” I wonder what that sign with a bird is? I think it is a woodpecker… What do you think this signs means?” Once you shown them the mail box, children might have theories about what happens to the mail, or how it gets delivered, or how electricity is delivered from electrical poles to our houses.

You can also play old game of “I spy with my little eye”. You can start by saying,” I spy with my little eye something that is…”. For older children:  made of metal, or has a maple leaf,  is a triangle shape,  has a letter C on it (Canada Post mail box), or starts with T (tree). For younger ones it could be ” I see something green, or “I see somewhere where doggy lives…”

Walk and talk and enjoy!

Ms. Lillian