Throw out old and or broken crayons and very small pencils. They are not good for fine motor development or proper finger grip practice.

Use only fat crayons and markers for children under six. Their fine motor skills are at the developing stage and the chunkier size enables a better grip.

Children should practice memorizing home phone number and last name at age four. Begin to practice a child’s address when phone number and name are mastered. Refer to address by many different terms (street, country, city or town lived in, house number).

Save the free return address labels included in junk mail groups looking for donations. These have cute pictures and can be used for children to practice learning addresses

Get world and local news from sources other than television where photos are too graphic for young eyes. Discuss major world events with children such as "Yes, a building was blown up by some very confused and angry people and some people were hurt or killed. That’s probably never ever going to happen here but we can pray for the injured people or send them a donation of food, toys, or money."

Use bookmarks. Children should never see a page "dogeared" to mark the last page read. Books are precious items.

A child with numerous teachers, such as in many nursery schools, can give a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to a local pizza or Chinese restaurant or a Subway sandwich shop. Free lunch is an appreciated gift for busy teachers. Present the certificate at the holidays with a note "Enjoy a group lunch on the Miller family."

Avoid number one teacher mugs, teacher bags, and apple ornaments. Gift certificates to local or internet bookstores, donut and coffee shops, or local educational stores along with flavored coffee beans, fresh flowers, or candy are all well received and appreciated gifts.

Children should learn to write their name using an uppercase letter for the beginning letter and lower case letters to complete the name. Begin by spelling the name using magnetic letters, making the name out of clay, or helping a child to trace the name in a pan of sand or rice. Next model the name on a large paper with no lines. Develop a connect the dots version (font can be found on some computers or made by hand) of the name under the standard version and make numerous copies for practice. Do not use lines or lined paper until the child is in kindergarten and the teacher begins using lines. Little fingers are not made to adhere to small lines when writing.

Children have a natural progression in drawing people. Headman appears first as a circle with a few features such as an eye or eyes and a mouth. He gradually becomes headman with arms and legs coming out directly from the circle head. A large developmental stage appears when children realize their headman needs a body as well. Arms and legs may be drawn somewhere and details such as hair may appear. The more sophisticated artist will soon include fingers and feet and gradually a person may be found wearing clothes, possessing hair, and showing teeth under a smile.

Do not introduce "stick people" into a child’s art world. A person should always contain a real body separate from the head with arms and legs. Draw attention to the details in drawings, discussing items such as a nose, ears or shoes. As adults model drawings verbalize the idea of trying one’s best, even if the artist does not feel he or she is "good" at drawing.

Request a young artist to, "Tell about your drawing." Instead of asking, "What is that?" or giving immediate praise. If a child points to little spots on the paper and claims those are legs, this is the developmental stage he is in.

To fold paper using child terms, a vertical fold that creates two long sides is called the hot dog fold. A horizontal fold, like those used to make a greeting card, is called the hamburger fold.

Young children should use the bathroom and wash hands before lunch. Many teachers follow this routine during the long school day.

Place utensils in the middle of a plate or high chair. Pencils and crayons should also be offered to a child in the middle of the left and right hand, allowing the child to take the implement with the hand he feels more comfortable using. Left or right-handedness will develop at its own pace (usually eighteen months and on).

Free birth to age three services are available for many developmental needs through local towns. Call the local town board of education for more information or talk to a pediatrician with any concerns about development.

Speech services area available from birth to three and on. A benchmark is twenty single words spoken by twenty months. If a child is or was prone to ear infections or had infant asthma, bronchitis, or RSV, speech development may be delayed. A town will evaluate a child’s speech at any age and hearing tests can be given to the very youngest child. Even if family members can understand what a child is saying; others who are not around the child often may not comprehend the speech. If other children can understand a child, this is not a good indication of speech ability as children; especially siblings, have a special talent for understanding peers with speech troubles. A child should be evaluated for speech and hearing as soon as concerns arise. If a child has trouble making or hearing sounds, the ability to learn letter sounds and read will very likely be delayed.