Encouraging your child, whatever their age, to learn new things can be satisfying and worthwhile for both of you if you bear in mind these seven golden rules:
* Make learning lots of fun * Encourage - don't insist! * Stimulate your children's interest by chatting to them * Have singalongs * Share reading time * Involve them in decisions * Take them on visits Below is information about how to help babies learn but if your kids are a bit older with got top tips for them too.
Babies
The brain grows faster now than at any other time. Stimulation will aid their development and create a foundation for better learning.
What you can do: * Share picture books to help encourage reading (and develop eye muscles). * Change the scenery: go to the park, visit a friend or a baby group. * Chat and sing constantly: babies love to listen to people's voices and will quickly pick up words.
Buys to help: * Baby Bright DVDs help early learning with bright animation. They cost £12.99 each from amazon.co.uk. * Learn to Count wallchart, £19.95 from smartstart-toys.co.uk helps to develop their memory, maths skills and language. Learning online: * The website literacytrust.org.uk encourages parents to talk more to help with language skills. * funwithspot.com has simple games to play and Spot stories for you to read to them.
Preschoolers - 3-5 years old
* Learning should be all about socialising * Stories can be shared and discussed - it will help them learn the alphabet * Numbers can be taught through songs and games.
What you can do: * Share books * Talk about things you see: street signs, numbers, animals, birds and so on * Give them dot-to-dot puzzle pictures, so they can start to control a pen/pencil. Buys to help: * Boost their imagination with a dolls' house or pirate ship. Try the Early Learning Centre - elc.co.uk. * Our cooking with kids section has a stash of simple recipes you can make with your children, or you could buy this Cook It Together cookbook by Annabel Karmel.
Learning online: * Check out our crafts for kids section for loads of makes you can enjoy together. * Check out primarygames.com. It features counting games and jigsaw puzzles.
Reception and school year 1
What stage they're at: * They'll be reading aloud at school and will bring books home to read. * Maths will become more formal. * They'll start to learn handwriting.
What you can do: * Listen to them reading, and read together. * Get them to write shopping lists, letters, anything * Have kitchen fun: stir bicarb into water to see it fizz; make bread and watch the yeast 'grow'.
Buys to help: * Make art and writing fun with a big craft kit like Giant Art Studio from Argos, £14.99. * Orchard Toys' Potty Professor game helps to make learning their times tables fun, £10 at orchardtoys.com.
Learning online: *Visit bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo for a huge selection of word and number games or try familyreading.org.uk, which has tips on encouraging children to enjoy reading books.
School years 2, 3 and 4
What stage they're at: * Regular homework involves spelling and maths. * They'll be doing projects on culture and history. * Learn about different types of poetry. What you can do: * Try mind maps to break projects into small chunks. * Join the library and stay there a while to read. Choose books for yourself too. * Visit woods, castles, museums or just the park
Buys to help: * Tony Buzan's Mind Maps for Kids (Harper Collins). * Creative construction helps with maths, science and design. Try K'Nex value tub, around £15, or Magnetix 70 piece kit, £14.99.
Learning online: *Check out funbrain.com for great word and number games - however, it's a US website so check the spelling of some words. Or try gridclub.com - it has over 500 games and learning activities you can register for.
Other useful websites *Visit booktrusted.co.uk and lovereading4kids.co.uk for suggestions of which books are right for a certain age group. You can download the opening extract from all the books featured on the latter site, and buy the books at 25% discount. Get some helpful ideas and further information from bbc.co.uk/parenting and parentscentre.gov.uk.
Get them to want to learn * Encourage, but don't insist. If you start arguing about the help you want to give, you'll soon put them off. * Make learning fun, then they'll pick things up without realising it. * Involve them in decisions about where to visit, rather than forcing them to go. * For more information on how a school delivers the National Curriculum, ask for a copy of its prospectus.
More help and advice - 7 ways to teach your kids big stuff - Helping your kids deal with disappointment - Expert advice on praising your child
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