Did you know I only show real life images in our classes? It may seem like an incredibly small detail and one you might not have noticed particularly. Normally when you think of a children's book it is full of beautiful illustrations and the pages are filled with bright bold colours. How often have you come across a baby or toddler book which is full of real life photos? I don't suppose you have many on your bookshelf. But there is a very good reason that our stories are accompanied by large real life images.
Before I set up the business, I did a lot of research into child development: read books, searched online and spoke to specialists in the field, particularly for babies and toddlers. As a teacher, I was fully aware of the different educational documents that related to children from school age but I had to personally delve deeper into the documents from birth. One area I focussed on in particular in the Development Matters document was 'Understanding the World'. This is how your little one learns about people, places and objects around them which they do through their senses, and what better way to learn about the world than to see it.
Whilst I'm sure many of us want our children to see the world and explore what interests them, adventures to Australia for example come at a cost. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't experience them or see them. They shouldn't have to wait until they are in school to find out about the Great Barrier Reef or Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock). Our classes take us across the world on many different adventures (36 to be specific!) and we see everything on the way, as close as we can get to being there in person.
Real life images help our babies and toddlers to make links between a photo and real object. This week in class we went on a horse ride. Of course my image was of a real life horse being ridden. This helps them to recognise what a real horse looks like and they are far more likely to make that connection having seen real photos.
Check this out!
A study (2014) conducted by scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the University of South Carolina found babies can learn about an object from a photograph well before their first birthday, from as early as 9 months old ¹. This means they are making those early connections ready to explore the world around them. How amazing is that!
This is why I chose to use real life images. Every single part of our classes are meticulously planned with child development in mind, down to the insignificant parts that probably go unnoticed. You can be confident that our classes support your little ones development in as many ways as possible, through both obvious and more discreet ways.
If you want to find out more about our classes click here.
References
¹ University of Royal Holloway London. "Babies recognize real-life objects from pictures as early as nine months, psychologists discover." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 April 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140429205733.htm>.
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