Children of every age love to color, paint, draw, cut, and glue. They scribble on the walls and smear mud on the backyard fence, mix all the paint or Play-Doh colors together, and cut endless pieces of paper and paste them together with glue.

Is all this just a mess, or is there a developmental reason for the chaos?

Luckily, research shows that children love to create, and channeling their creativity has many positive benefits. Here are just a few.

Fine Motor Skills

Children begin to develop fine motor skills around twelve months of age. This is most noticeable with picking up food using a pincher grasp. As they grow, children will gradually acquire more fine-tuned motor skills, but there is a lot of practice needed before a child can successfully write their name on their homework assignments. 

Art gives children the motivation to develop fine motor skills. Holding the grip on a crayon while dragging it along the paper is challenging for young hands, but the delight of seeing the color gives the child a reason to keep going. 

Scribbling is a precursor to handwriting, so it’s vital to allow plenty of time for children to experiment by scribbling. Over time, the intrinsic muscles needed for handwriting will mature and strengthen, making handwriting easier in kindergarten. 

Problem-Solving Skills

Art is open-ended. Any form of art provides endless possibilities to express the imagination. During creation, children make choices of color, texture, and proportions, and they learn problem-solving skills to get it to all fit together. They may change their mind along the way and need to adapt, or perhaps they made a mistake and must choose to either hide or include the mistake in their final creation.

These problem-solving skills aid children in social and educational situations. They learn to persevere and concentrate, make the best of mistakes, and learn how to do things correctly the next time.

Express Themselves

Children experience a range of emotions throughout the day and are learning how to control and channel these feelings. Learning art is one of the best tools a child can constructively express their emotions. 

If a child is feeling angry or anxious, an “art timeout” will allow them time to focus on something else and return to their situation of frustration or anxiety with a calm spirit. 

Academic Performance

Believe it or not, art can improve academic performance! Studies are being reviewed that show a correlation between creativity and higher IQ. Learning shapes and space help children master early math skills and learn about ideas such as bigger and smaller, opposites, and spatial awareness. 

Builds Language Skills

Art offers a peek into the child’s perception of the world. This allows child-to-adult or child-to-child interactions based upon their art. Communicating about art builds language skills as the child tells about their art or asks questions of a peer’s art. 

Further, children are able to learn to give constructive criticism and receive insight about their art in a gracious way.  

Well-Rounded Persons

When we focus on memorizing factual information in the early years, we can create children who are hardened to the beauty around us. Art helps children delight in the small areas of beauty, experience pride in their work, and value another’s art.

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you are inspired to help your child experience the beauty of art. But how do you get started?

Luckily, art is easy to incorporate into your daily routine–it just takes a little intentionality. Starting with simple crayons and paper or a coloring book, talk about each color and shape. Some basic paints (or pre-colored paint with water pictures) are sure to delight your child and have very little cleanup. Paint sticks are another easy clean-up craft!

Older children can improve their fine motor skills by cutting with blunted children’s scissors or using stickers. Glue sticks can bring a new dimension to their cutout creations.

Art at Collierville Christian Academy

At Collierville Christian Academy, we strive to provide many opportunities for various art forms on a weekly basis. From infants to older ages, we include age-appropriate crafts, activities, and art appreciation so children gain all the benefits of art.

It can be hard to include your child’s art skills during a busy day. Thankfully, you can rest assured that your child receives age-appropriate and fun art skills at Collierville Christian Academy. 

All parents instinctively know there are benefits of reading to our children. But in the rush of the day, it’s hard to find time to read! Between your job, grocery shopping, sports practice, homework, and household duties, reading seems more of an inconvenience than a delight.

However, research shows how important it is that adults read to children. Here are just a few. 

Build Language Skills

Babies are born a blank slate when it comes to language–they don’t inherently know their parent’s primary language. But they are quick studies! 

According to What to Expect, at three to six months, babies know and respond to their own names and understand inflection (knowing if you’re pleased or displeased). At six to nine months, babies can understand simple words like “paci” or “bottle.” At nine to twelve months, they understand “mama and dada,” and the word “no”–even if they don’t like that one. 

Think of when you learned a second language. Grammar and sentence structure were a part of the class, but the language made sense when you put new words in the context of a story. This is precisely what reading does for babies and children! 

Stories–especially good ones that can be read over and over–allow children to not only be exposed to new words but understand their meaning because they are in the context of a story. When a story is repeated, or maybe even memorized, children absorb the language to a greater degree because they are rehearsing the meaning of each word.  

Increased Vocabulary

Children who listen to books have a broader vocabulary and understanding of the world around them. They develop greater thinking skills and understand emotions better. There are many wonderful stories that teach valuable life lessons and show other points of view.

Many stories use words that we don’t use in our everyday conversations. This means reading to children exposes them to new, beautiful, and interesting words, which develops the brain to help children better understand narratives and picture the stories in their heads.

Improve Literacy 

Research shows a strong connection between reading aloud to children and advanced literacy skills. Children who were read to, beginning at six months, scored higher on literacy scores in formal schooling than children who were not read to. 

Literacy impacts a child’s overall education, and by extension, the trajectory for their adult lives. Children who are literate will be more likely to do well in school, which helps them in college, their careers, and the rest of their lives.

Emotional Bonding

There is a deep emotional connection that takes place when reading with a child! While it may feel like an inconvenience, more often than not, both the adult and child will experience a positive connection after reading together. 

Technology Can’t Replace Reading

What about listening to a children’s podcast, audiobook, or television series? 

Simply put: it’s not the same!

Babies can make no sense of stories without a visual context, but even the American Academy of Pediatrics states babies under two shouldn’t watch television. There’s a reason babies are so fascinated by another’s facial expressions, inflection, and mouth. Babies will frequently reach to touch your mouth or neck while you’re talking to understand how to move their lips and tongue to form words.

Toddlers and young children may understand basic stories from an audiobook or television show, but there is no emotional bonding, and oftentimes, there can be a technology “crash” after turning it off. 

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you are inspired to read to your child, but maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Luckily, reading to your child is easy!

First, set reasonable expectations based on your child’s age and how much time you have. Babies won’t sit for long periods of time, and children who aren’t used to reading stories may not sit for a long time, either. Start small by reading one short book and aim for just a few minutes of reading a day. Slowly add in one or two more stories, then add in longer stories. 

Before you know it, both you and your child will enjoy reading together!

Collierville Christian Academy Values Reading

At Collierville Christian Academy, we understand how important it is to read to babies and children. That’s why we prioritize read-aloud time in our daily routine. While you should still read with your child, you can rest assured that your child is listening to quality stories and experiencing all the benefits of early-age literacy. 

When you’re looking for childcare, the many options can feel overwhelming. When there are so many choices, it’s easy to be swayed by a good first impression, a professional website, or aesthetically-appealing classrooms instead of the truly important details like safety and meal plans. 

Five things that should be a top priority when looking for a daycare.

Security

Daycares have many people passing in and out throughout the day. As a parent, you want to rest assured that only necessary adults are allowed in the building, such as other parents or guardians. 

Other important security features include:

• Doors that automatically lock, keeping strangers out and children in
• Specific drop-off and pick-up procedures
• Security cameras of the whole building and the parking lot
• Background-checked staff

Meal Plans

Most children enrolled in daycare eat breakfast, lunch, and a snack at the facility. That means that the daycare is responsible for 75% of your child’s scheduled food intake throughout the week. You want to make sure that the daycare is providing balanced and nutritional meals and snacks.

Ask to see the upcoming month’s food plan and/or previous food plan records. If your child has any special dietary needs, make sure that the facility is able to accommodate those needs and what measures are taken to avoid cross-contamination (if necessary).  

Security Cameras

Security cameras are vital to a daycare. Beyond justifying an innocent party or convicting a guilty one, security cameras can help determine the cause of injury if a child is hurt and keep staff accountable to the facility’s policies. 

However, some daycares allow parents to view the security camera’s live footage to check in on their child. This can have many pros and cons, such as:

Pros

• You can check in on your child at any time of the day
• You can observe how your child interacts with the teacher and peers
• You can see what your child is learning in real time
• You can hold teachers accountable to the facility’s policies

Cons

• Live camera footage can increase parental anxiety if they see something happening to their child that they don’t like, like an argument between children. 
• Live camera footage can be distracting to parents at their jobs or school, and may be less productive
• Parents may develop resentment against certain teachers or other children if they feel their child is being treated unfairly
• Live camera footage is a potential breach of security because other parents have access to the footage, as well, and you have no control over what is done with that footage

Check with your daycare to see how security camera footage is stored and who has access to it. This is especially true for foster parents or guardians, as camera footage on the internet could potentially cause problems for the child. 

Location

It may not seem like location matters until you’re running late or traffic is at a standstill. Then it’s nice to have childcare that is conveniently located! 

Collierville Christian Academy is easily accessible! We are just one turn off Poplar Avenue, so drop off and pick up are a breeze.

Your Gut Feeling

As a parent, you get those gut feelings about what is best for your child. When you find the right daycare, you will know. Parental instincts are real, and you should trust them. 

At Collierville Christian Academy, we’ve done our best to include every family so you can feel calm and reassured that your child is in a safe, stimulating environment. 

If you’re in the market for a new daycare but feel overwhelmed on where to start, here’s a quick guide for researching new daycare options. 

Know the Types of Childcare

First things first, educate yourself on the types of childcare. These include:

• Daycare or child care center
• In-home childcare 
• Head Start and Early Head Start
• Prekindergarten programs
• School-age programs, such as the YMCA
• Military families’ child care options
• Informal home childcare, such as from a family or friend

While daycare is the most accessible and affordable childcare option, it may be worth looking into other choices to best fit the needs of your family. 

For instance, some children may do better in a smaller class size such as in-home childcare while others may enjoy larger groups at a daycare. At the same time, children who desire fewer playmates may benefit from exposure to larger groups so the transition to kindergarten isn’t overwhelming.  

Know Tennessee’s Resources

Each state has different requirements for childcare. These differences may be things like teacher-to-child ratios or sanitation standards. 

Knowing Tennessee’s standards will help you evaluate whether the daycare you’re considering is quality. For instance, a daycare may have passed the state’s standards to be licensed but has relaxed its everyday standards after licensure. These daycares should be avoided since your child may be in a potentially harmful or dangerous environment.

To find out Tennessee’s resources and licensure standards, click here. 

Find Daycares in Your Area

One of the hardest parts of researching daycares is finding all the childcare options available in your area. Sometimes the search bar or map app isn’t sufficient in finding the childcare gems. 

The Tennessee Department of Human Services makes it easy to find local daycares with their search bar. You can search by location, zip code, name, rating, special needs assistance, and more. 

Once you have a list of daycares in your area, you can start to delve more deeply into choosing a quality daycare that best fits the needs of your family. 

Let’s face it: not all daycares are the same. Some daycares only meet the bare minimum state standards, while others go above and beyond to provide the safest, cleanest, most educational space they can.

Every parent wants their child enrolled in a high-quality daycare. But what are the defining characteristics of quality childcare? Here are three ways:

Stimulating Schedule and Environment

Childcare is more than making sure children stay out of trouble, eat their veggies, and get a nap on time. The daycare’s environment is what will shape your child’s understanding of the world, their creativity, and their drive to learn. 

Some daycares may skimp on creating a learning schedule and sticking to it. But at Collierville Christian Academy, we use an outstanding curriculum for our classes to ensure children’s development is stimulated by age-appropriate gross and fine motor tasks, music, and early childhood education.

Even babies and toddlers have a schedule! These young children grow exponentially when exposed to music, books, and simple arts and crafts. 

Safe and Sanitary Space

A facility that cares for dozens of children can get messy very quickly. It’s imperative that the staff employ proper sanitation practices to reduce the spread of germs and prevent accidents from happening.

The daycare space should also be a safe one: toys should be age-appropriate, first aid kits should be available, cleaning supplies should be locked away from a child’s reach, shelves should be anchored to the wall, and more. 

Licensed Business and Staff

Daycares must be licensed by the state of Tennessee to operate legally. These licenses must be renewed annually. Check to ensure your daycare has a valid business license. You can also view if your daycare ever had a lapsed or revoked license. 

Daycares are required by law to only employ staff who have undergone a background check and maintain certain health qualifications, like a negative TB test. 

What sets quality daycares above average daycares is when staff continue to grow in their childcare skills. Seminars, conferences, or in-house training are great ways to maintain a high standard of childcare. 

At Collierville Christian Academy, we check all the boxes for quality childcare! Our curriculum and schedule are exciting for all ages, we maintain a safe and sanitary space, and our business is licensed, and our staff continue to grow in their field. If you’re looking for quality childcare in the Collierville area, check out Collierville Christian Academy!

Choosing the right childcare for your family can feel like an overwhelming task. While it does take extra work upfront, there’s great satisfaction in finding the best childcare fit and confidence in the childcare provided.

Here are some beginning steps to choosing childcare.

Explore Types of Childcare 

There are many options for childcare. You could hire a friend or nanny, or enroll in home childcare or daycare. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of childcare. For instance, a nanny service provides one-on-one care, but is generally more expensive than daycare or home childcare. Daycare doesn’t provide the same one-on-one experience as a nanny, but it develops social skills, provides early childhood education, and has dependable hours. 

Collierville Christian Academy is one of the top childcare options in the Collierville area. Our highly skilled teachers provide outstanding care and early childhood education.

Make a List of Options

Next, make a list of potential childcare options. You can do this by using a search page or with ChildCare.gov. 

Write down the details for each option, such as the location, operating hours, cost, and inspection records. Cross out anything that isn’t a good fit and arrange the options from first to last preference.

It can be challenging to keep each facility’s specifics organized. Making a Pro/Con list can be helpful in evaluating each option. Once a facility’s cons begin to outweigh the pros, cross it off your list. 

Investigate Each Option

Starting with your highest preference, further investigate each option:

• License: Check the facility’s license status. Each facility should update its license annually. See if the facility has ever had a license revoked or suspended.
• Inspection Reports: Dive deeper into the inspection reports. Check if the facility had any health or safety violations and if the facility fixed them. 
• Ratings: Read customer reviews and ratings to see others’ experiences at the facility. You should also be able to view any child care complaints. 

After further investigation, you may find that you can cross off more options or even rearrange your preference list.

Contact and Visit Each Option

With your revised preference list in hand, contact each option through email or a phone call. Have a list of questions ready, such as:

• Availability
• Confirming full-time and part-time prices
• How illnesses, medications, and first-aid situations are handled
• School closure policies
• Disciplinary measures

If the childcare option gives satisfactory answers, then arrange a visit. Some websites (like ours!) give virtual tours, but it’s best to see the childcare facility in person. Then you will know how to get there, the surrounding area, and whether you like the atmosphere of the building and staff. 

Make a Final Decision

Unless your decision is time-sensitive, give yourself a few days before making a final decision. Discuss your findings with your partner, friend, or family member. Most childcare facilities will allow a second visit if you’d like to ask more questions or see the facility again.