Some say that play is the work of children.

I agree. Sort of….

The developmental tasks accomplished through playing are what truly matter.

Equally important: What kind of co-worker are you Mommy? The hovering, scampering, secretarial type?  The strict foreman who keeps the trains running on time?  Or are you more of an over-qualified, underpaid, personal assistant to a diva?

Yes, I’ll admit it.  I’m the mom who donated toothbrushes for the Halloween grab bags.  But that was years ago.  I’ve lightened up since then.

And I’ve discovered ways that Halloween candy can actually be useful to boosting a child’s confidence.

Mommy, after you’re done stealing from — pardon me, I meant to say “safety-checking” — your kid’s stash, here’s what else to do with all that candy:

“Mandy, this is red…. Red, meet Mandy, your biggest fan.”

I like to allow children to completely explore a concept before they begin to create within the confines of it. When applied to learning about color, that theory notifies parents to make simple introductions.

Offering your child a pre-packaged kit of watercolors will certainly supply her with the tools for hours of fun and creativity. But I think there is a better, more organic way to introduce your 30 to 36 month-old to color learning.

Blocks are so important to building a child’s skills through play, that I’ve used them to assess whether or not a child was developing on track. Yes, that important.

From the small wooden cubes that babies instinctively like to stack to the brick-sized cardboard ones that are perfect for team projects, blocks are… well… um, a building block of your child’s development across multiple domains.