Kids Learning

The teddy bear is over 100 years old. Did you know that President, Theodore Roosevelt, was responsible for naming the stuffed bear, Teddy?

Teddy bears have been around so long we hardly think of when they first began. We only know how much we love them and want to have them around. To estimate the number of teddy bears given as gifts over the years would be impossible.

We know how popular a teddy bear is. How much more in demand would a character teddy bear be? History has shown them to be very popular and collectable.

Winnie The Pooh, that chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff, is possibly, one of the most famous teddy bears. Pooh got his start in the books of A.A. Milne; there was no stopping him after that. In the 1980′s Sears came out with a complete line of clothes and toys, including various sizes and styles of teddy bears. Pooh bears were seen in the arms of children everywhere. Sears still features a line of clothing for children called the Pooh collection. Pooh bedding for children is available in many stores. Pooh and his friends can be seen on PBS channels.

You can find Paddington bear quite often sitting in repose, waiting for his next human feat to perform. Some of these bears are in museums but you may find them still on the market. Paddington was created by Michael Bond in 1958. His books about Paddington bear are still very popular today. Paddington can also be found starring in his own series on BBC television.

Rupert, who got his start as a comic strip in a London newspaper, is another teddy bear who seems to have a lot of adventures. He has also been seen in books and as a soft cuddly teddy bear.

Yogi Bear is another teddy bear of character, He runs around Jellystone National Park with one thing in mind, food. Not bear food, mind you, but the food inside the pic-in-ic baskets of the tourists visiting the park. The team of Hanna, Barbera, created Yogi and his friends as an animated cartoon. Yogi, Boo-Boo, Mr. Ranger, and Cindy, can still be seen on the cable channel, Boomerang. You can still find vintage yogi teddy bears if you look hard.

Baloo, first introduced in Rudyard Kipling’s, The Jungle Book, has been a teddy bear, and was the star of his own animated show, Tail Spin. This cartoon can still be seen on some cable cartoon stations.

The Care Bears are a group of teddy bears who take pride in helping others by showing them the best ways to behave and learn they are people too. They each have their own special skills and the official Care Bear site is: http://www.care-bears.com/CareBears/html/about/index.html. You can go there to find out more about the Care Bears. You can find Care Bear teddy bears there too. This is a great site for children, with games, stories, and songs.

There are more teddy bears of character out there, but time and space is limited for this article. You can go exploring and find them for yourself.

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Wherever you are and wherever you look, you are sure to spot a teddy bear. In towns and cities, homes and offices, on buses, trains, or airplanes, you are sure to find a teddy bear somewhere in attendance. The teddy bear is over 100 years old and climbing. He wears many costumes and goes by many different names but he can not escape the fact that he, indeed, is a teddy bear.

The teddy bear was born in 1902 when shopkeeper, Morris Michton, asked his wife, Rose, to make 2 stuffed bears to put in his shop window. At this same time, President Theodore Roosevelt, was in Mississippi to settle a border dispute between Louisiana and Mississippi. Having some free time, he decided to go on a hunting trip. Members of his hunting party found a small, black bear cub and tied the animal to a tree for him to shoot. When President Roosevelt saw the small, pathetic animal, he refused to shoot it and had it set free.

The following day, cartoonist Clifford Berryman, drew a cartoon depicting the President refusing to shoot the bear cub. The caption read: ‘Drawing The Line In Mississippi’. This cartoon sparked the interest of Michton and the nation. Morris Michton contacted President Roosevelt to ask if he could name the stuffed bear, ‘Teddy’, the President agreed, and the Teddy Bear was born. The nation was captivated by the story, the stuffed bear grew in popularity, and is still the most popular stuffed toy to this day.

Teddy bears come in many sizes. They range from tiny teddy bears 1 inch tall, to giant teddy bears over six-foot in height. One thing they all have in common is their soft huggable appeal. It is very easy to find teddy bears of all types, in all sizes, everywhere you look. Teddy bears have evolved over the years. There are many teddy bear artist who create teddy bears reflecting a personality of their own. While the body of the bear may be similar to another bear in the collection, the countenance and the face reflect a very different bear, indeed. Teddy bear artists can spend hours working on the face of a bear. The result is a one-of-a-kind bear with a look and personality all his own.

Teddy bears are a very collectible commodity. Many teddy bear collectors have sites on the internet to show off their adopted families. Some of them have teddy bears in every room and around the grounds. Other teddy bear collectors have modest collections of very special bears.

Where do teddy bears go when they have had all the love they can handle without falling apart? A teddy bear museum, of course. The Teddy Bear Museum of Naples, Florida, has over 4,000 teddy bears on display. Over 40,000 visitors from around the world, visit the museum yearly.

Whatever your teddy bear passion, you will find the teddy bear, or bears, you may find most adoptable without much effort.

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What marks a successful after school program? What are the things that you should look for when enrolling your child into one such program? Other than the obvious advantage of learning something new, successful programs incorporate many things that help the development of the child.

Development of social skills is one of the more important objectives of a good after school program. In a recent survey, parents indicated that while they do want their children to respect others, they also wanted them to imbibe skills like getting along with other children and getting used to children outside the immediate circle of friends. Many children find it difficult to make new friends and get along with people outside their group.

Good after school programs place special emphasis on security and safety. They keep children out of trouble and keep them safe. A good after school program should be fun, especially when the children are young. If the activity is fun, you will not have to worry about keeping him interested or motivated.

To be effective, programs should be organized and structured. They must also suit the age of the child. The child must be aware of the purpose of the program, and must be convinced that they are attending the programs to accomplish something.

Popularity: 6% [?]

There is often a trap in the words ‘after school activities‘. One may easily believe that since these activities are after school, they are not of much importance. But, one couldn’t be more wrong. Research suggests that children pick up some of their most important skills from after school programs. That is why children who do not participate in any extra curricular activities are generally slow and less vibrant.

The learning environment that one fosters in after school activities must be as disciplined and as functional as that found in the school. This is especially true of educational after school programs. This is the best place to teach the child important skills like time-management and goal setting. Time-management is a vital skill, but it is not achieved easily. Children need to feel the discipline that is needed to finish a task and the happiness of finishing the allotted work in a specific time frame.

Children look for different things in an after class program. The learning environment should be attractive, colorful and informative. Use charts, pictures, posters and drawings to liven up a class. Additional resources (resources that are not easily available in the school) will make the classes interesting. For instance, when teaching a biology lesson, allow the child to see through a microscope or see slides of bacteria. This will add to his knowledge and also make him more enthusiastic about his after school program.

Discipline is a must in after school activities. In fun or sport-based activities, it is easy for children to step out of line and wreck havoc. While children should be allowed to have fun, they should be curtailed from unacceptable behavior. The best way to enforce discipline is to lay down the rules at the very beginning. Let the children know what is unacceptable, right at the beginning.

Rewards are an important part of any learning process. The reward can be a simple pat on the back or a token of appreciation. Motivate your children to aspire for higher things by rewarding their achievements. Holding competitions or sport activities where the children can show their proficiency is a reward in itself.

Children can get bored easily, especially in the case of an educational program. The main thrust of an academic program is to repeat what has been taught in class and to allow the child to learn it quickly. It is difficult to pique the child’s interest a second time, especially when the child is already tired of one dose of the same lesson. It is best to thwart boredom by using creative techniques like an impromptu extempore on any topic, a quiz program or a slideshow.

After school activities are becoming more popular by the day. Parents want their kids to learn more. Children too have an insatiable quest for knowledge. In an after school program, it is possible to pay individual attention and quench this thirst using various effective techniques.

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After school programs can be divided into 3 broad categories: academic, recreational and social. Balanced development takes place when there is compatibility between the physical, mental as well as the educational achievements of the child.

As the name suggests recreational after school programs are based on a sport or recreation. Some of the more common physical activities include football, swimming and basketball. Some clubs offer programs like gymnastics, trekking and hiking. In this case, youngsters are often given a short class in first-aid class also.

Recreational after school programs offer children an opportunity to let
off some steam and to destress themselves. The closed classroom atmosphere and a day full of textbooks and writing cause the child to repress his natural enthusiasm. He curbs his energy when he is required to sit quietly in class and learn. Physical activity is an all-time low during such times. This physical lethargy and inaction is countermanded by recreational activities. Growing concerns of obesity and child diabetes make it necessary for children to indulge in some strenuous exercises that will allow them to work up some sweat.

Unlike educational programs, recreational programs do not tax the
mental processes. But, they do aid the learning process by making the
child more active. A child who is physically active is mentally fit, and
is able to focus his thoughts on the work at hand. Additionally,
recreational programs teach discipline, mechanics of teamwork and fair
play. These are important lessons in the growing process.

As more and more nuclear families emerge, the child faces greater
isolation. Many children shuttle between their classroom and their
bedrooms and do not have any meaningful relationships outside these.
Recreational programs offer ample avenues for socialization. This is a
place the child can go to and play even when his neighbor is not the most welcoming. The Boy / Girl Scout programs are excellent recreational after school programs. Lately, survival classes and camps have devised to combine important survival skills with sports and games to educate children on how to handle emergencies.

Like any good after school program, recreational programs are designed to give children a safe area where they can indulge in some group activities that interest them. This is one of the most effective ways to keep kids out of the streets and out of trouble. But, one has to be careful when enrolling children for recreational classes. The age of the child, his temperament and his physical caliber has to be taken into account before you choose the right program for your child.

Popularity: 3% [?]