…And other suggestions for a successful family game night by Mindprint Staff Holidays with kids should equate to good old-fashioned family fun time. Games can be an enjoyable way to spend time together and provide happy memories for a lifetime. That is, if little Billy doesn’t end up in the corner crying while Cousin Janie wanders off to text her friends. So while we want to share our favorite games that can be enjoyed by all, we preface with advice to help ensure that the night lives up to your greatest expectations. 1) Don’t experiment. Just as you wouldn’t serve a new recipe at a big dinner without trying it beforehand, don’t open a brand new game for everyone to try together. Too risky. Select from games you know can be enjoyed by all. 2) Don’t… Read More

By Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff Editor’s Note: This was originally written in 2016 and revised by Mindprint editors in 2019. Consider also reading “What if it’s a can’t not a won’t“ A few days ago, while listening to NPR in the car, I heard an interview with Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston and, unbeknownst to me, a “top ten” TED talk superstar. She has a new book out, Rising Strong, The Reckoning, The Rumble, The Revolution, that answers this central question: “What do…people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid… Read More

By Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff Yesterday, my six-year-old announced that she and her good friend had swapped lunches for the week, pretending to be one another. “I had a salami sandwich and no pickles. And she had a bagel, cream cheese, yogurt and two pickles.” The pickles were a key part to this story. It’s evidence that each girl had embraced their alter ego’s preferences with full commitment. My daughter has had her regular order of a bagel with cream cheese, yogurt and two pickles for most of the last 100 plus days of school. Had I suggested she mix it up a bit, I’d have been met with a firm “no.” She really likes pickles. But when she pretended… Read More

Spatial skills are strongly linked to creativity and achievement in fields like math, science and the arts. While students might not use spatial skills in school as often as other reasoning skills, it is critical in many professions. Note: This is one of a 10 blog series on learning traits. Read about all 10 learning traits here. What is Spatial Perception? Spatial perception is the ability to visualize how objects relate in space. You may hear it referred to as spatial reasoning or visual-spatial perception. Why are Spatial Skills important? Spatial perception is very task-specific. You don’t always rely on them, but when you need them, they are essential. Drawing, design, reading graphs and maps, and working with geometric figures all rely heavily on spatial skills. Weak spatial skills might affect reading efficiency and standardized test taking efficiency…. Read More

By Sarah Vander Schaaff You’re probably good at multitasking. I’m with you. I can address 120 holiday envelops while watching Househunters International and check email while I dry my hair. I can even drive while I negotiate a temporary truce between siblings.  It’s task-switching, though, where I really shine. I’ve gone from downward dog to changing the laundry to returning a call and back again before you can say Tadasana. I can do these things, so I’ve never really understood the downside of multitasking.  But recently, my mother handed me a book called “Conquer CyberOverload” and I decided to put down my phone and read the 74-page book. The author, Joanne Cantor, Ph. D., a media professor with a background… Read More

By Sarah Vander Schaaff Is there a way to talk about young people being “gifted” and not enter a territory fraught with debate? From what I’ve been reading recently, there are not only arguments about how we define “giftedness” but arguments about the arguments. For parents, the identification matters in a practical sense if they are trying to understand how their state identifies and fosters students with unique abilities. And it matters to our society, in a practical sense, if we are hoping to identify and encourage the next generation of leaders, innovators, and artists. But in the emotional and less quantifiable ways, it matters when we consider that there are many young people who possess the potential for giftedness… Read More

By Sarah Vander Schaaff “I don’t have a chance of winning. I don’t want to do it.” Was this the attitude Google anticipated when it launched this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition? Probably not. On the surface, the competition is simple: children in grades k-12 are invited to submit a doodle version of the Google logo integrating this year’s theme of One Thing to Make the World a Better Place. One national winner will see her or his artwork on the Google homepage this June and earn a $30,000 college scholarship along with a $50,000 Google for Education grant for their school. It all sounds noble and in keeping with the spirit of helping our children embrace 21st century skills:… Read More

By Sarah Vander Schaaff When Peggy Kaye was first starting out in teaching, a parent asked if there was something she could use for the classroom. “Yes,” she said, “a tape recorder.” The parent got her one, and Kaye recorded herself reading books her students could later listen to on their own. Today, Kaye is Director of Joyful Learning for the Learn with Homer App, and it’s children who have the ability to record their voices in the product designed for beginning readers. She’s come a long way, it seems, from the days of analog cassettes. But Learn with Homer is all about blending the creative and imaginative traditions of the past with the capabilities of the present  moment. As… Read More

By Sarah Vander Schaaff If you hear the word “STEM” and think of a plant, you may be my kindred spirit. But having spent some time writing this blog, I now know that STEM is an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” and it’s a field on many people’s minds. Finding young people with potential to excel in STEM-related careers is a national priority, but where we look for such talent may be expanding. A study published this past February by Barbara Kerr and Robyn McKay in the Creative Research Journal (Searching for Tomorrow’s Innovators: Profiling Creative Adolescents) suggests we may find future STEM innovators not only in high level math and science classes, but also in the arts…. Read More

October is, among other things, National Dyslexia Awareness Month. But today’s blog post is timely no matter the date, because a delayed diagnosis of a child’s learning difference exhausts every resource a parent might have. If have a concern about dyslexia, we strongly encourage you to have your child tested. This is a service schools must provide if you request it. You can also do a relatively quick, at-home dyslexia screener, or find a child psychologist who can do a full evaluation.   Nancy Weinstein, the founder of Mindprint, starts us off with a brief introduction, followed by our Q&A. Nancy: Although each family’s situation is unique, this story is all too familiar. Parents know they have a bright child but something feels “wrong”…. Read More