Deannas Voice

March 16, 2016March 31, 2024

Popular Games for a Disco-themed party

Kids party entertainment should be interactive to keep them from being bored. An energetic idea is to throw a disco-themed party. Before choosing the music to play for the party, here a few of the games that will surely make the party a success.

Musical Statues

A good variation of this classic game is to let the kids choose an animal. When the music stops they need to do the action of that animal. You can also let the kids choose their favorite superhero and when the music stops they need to act out the superheroes’ superpowers.

Corners

You need to prepare a giant dice for this game. Around the walls of the venue, stick up six A3 pictures with numbers on them (one number per sheet, from 1-6). When the music is played the kids will dance. When it stops they will run to a corner, throw the dice to see what number will get a special treat. Repeat the procedure until everyone receives a treat.

Limbo

To make this classic game more entertaining and fun, you can ask the kids to do a funny action before the walk underneath the pole.

Pass the parcel

The traditional way to play this is to just pass one box around and this game will only have one ultimate winner. A more interactive way is to prepare two boxes to pass around and another box filled with costumes. The kids will pass around the two boxes filled with treats once the music stops whoever is holding a box, will pick a treat and wear one piece of costume from the box in the middle.

These are just a few of the many ways you can innovate classic party games to catch the attention of the guests. Also, to make it more fun, you can dance along with them as you facilitate the game.

October 26, 2015March 31, 2024

The Importance of Art in Education Systems

Kids Learn Better With Art Education

Arts and its subcategories such as drawing, painting, music, theatre, and more have been part of the education curriculum for decades, but it seems that the tides are turning for arts in many institutions. Due to restricted budgets, many schools are picking off their art programs one by one, and by the end of this year, an estimated 25% of public schools may do just that completely. Of course, the first thing that may come to our mind upon hearing this report is the impact that it will have on teachers in the line of art, like those who teach dance or photography classes. But it could have an even deeper impression on the students itself, as studies in the past have shown that the art is a very important pillar of education. Studies have shown that those who don’t experience art classes may not only find chances to unleash their creative powers but also have higher chances of experiencing difficulty in mastering the core subjects, disciplinary crisis and are more possible to be dropped out.

Studies conducted by research organizations, professors, and schools demonstrate how vital the arts is to inspire and motivate students. For example, in 2002 the Arts Education Partnership spearheaded a research dealing with the effect of art in academic performance, conducted by nearly 100 researchers on 62 different studies. The result? “Schoolchildren exposed to drama, music and dance may do a better job at mastering reading, writing and math than those who focus solely on academics,” says the Arts Education Partnership. In 2009, the Center for Arts Education reported that schools that are more accessible to art programs also have higher graduation rates as opposed to schools that don’t, who reportedly have higher dropout rates. The Maryland school system says that visual arts skills could actually be used to enhance reading, while the skills developed in playing an instrument could be applicable to math.

Arts Education advocates have long claimed that skills earned through creative training could be used to excel in other academic areas, although not much research is conducted to prove the scientific basis of this claim. A four-year research, however, shows that students who do regular music classes were found to develop changes in brain structure in relation with motor skills, which they could be used to similar areas. Students who practiced specific art forms were found to have improved their attention system and fluid IQ scores. Similar conclusions are reached upon by other studies, proving that a maintained arts education has a large impact on a person’s social and intellectual development.

These studies only show how much schools are missing out in underestimating the power of art for a student’s development.

October 15, 2015March 31, 2024

Various Outdoor Activities That Kids Would Love

There’s that time of the year when you are spending more time outdoors than in. This is the time that you are able to do those things that you consider too messy for anywhere with walls. Kids typically love such activities that involve messy play. However, this is an advantage for you because cleanup is easier outside.

Fizzy Foaming Car Wash

With the use of a water table and a few simple household items, this can be a fun and messy activity that kids would enjoy. This foamy and fizzy kiddie car wash will keep your little children’s hands busy for hours.

Squirt Gun Painting

Squirt guns with paint might be considered staples of childhood for some. You may want to let your kids experience it as well. This could a great bonding time with your kids during summer.

Glow in the Dark Chalk

Almost every kid loves chalk. The fun with such activity starts with creating it. The recipe is easy to make. However, it is messy. Introduce this to your kids and they will have an incredible night under the stars that they won’t soon forget.

Water Balloon Paint Party

Filling balloons with water may not that interesting. But you can pump up its fun factor by filling it with paint. You and your kids may wear white T-shirts in order to spot easily who is the most covered in paint.

Water Table Paint and Print

During summer, there’s an interesting use for your water table. You can utilize it for a painting and printing activity with your little kids. While letting their creativity come out at such a young age, their hands may get awesomely messy with paint. Their creation can be used as a display or something to give as gifts to grandma and grandpa.

Rainbow Bubble Wrap Tree

Ask your kids if they want to paint a tree, and you will see them screaming with excitement. This would be a unique idea that combines sensory play, messy art and nature to produce the most awesome experience for kids.

Mud Painting

This could be the messiest activity your kids will have. Your kids will this but you must watch out for worms in the mud.

Edible Ooey Gooey Worms

A kid wouldn’t normally want to squish and mush gooey worms in mud until they are actually edible. Try the Measured Mom’s gooey worms that are deliciously yucky. Spend one afternoon with your kids exploring the ickiest of all outdoor activities.

Rainbow Glitter Sidewalk Paint

Aside from easy preparation, this is also awesomely fun to do as well with your kids. Together, you can make rainbow glitter sidewalk paint. This is a good way to pass a summer afternoon outside.

Shaving Cream Slip N Slide

This is another messy activity that you can spend with your kids. Basically, you will have a shaving cream slip n slide. For sure, your kids will be talking about one afternoon that you spent executing this idea all summer.

July 18, 2015March 31, 2024

Surviving Your Baby’s Day Care Moments

Babies are cute, and very adorable. But taking care of them and providing for their maintenance is a very tedious job. Especially when it’s their first months in the daycare where you have to go through all the hassle of checking up on them and picking them up and dropping them off.

However, we have some secrets on how to survive your baby’s first few months in the daycare and we would like to share them with you.

Always calculate your time

Be sure to calculate your time of going to work and add 30 minutes to the calculated time. This is the allowance allotted for other unexpected things like diaper time and it will also give you more time to play with your baby.

Prepare everything the night before

Prepare everything the night before and make sure that you don’t forget anything to avoid any additional hassle in the morning.

Get to know your baby’s teachers

Seriously, you have to know your baby’s teachers. Know their backgrounds and how they handle the other babies in the daycare to be sure that your baby is well taken care of when you are not around.

Establish a routine but be flexible in case it gets blown apart

It’s always nice to have a routine, things that you get used to doing on a regular basis for you to be able to work in a more systematic way and for you to avoid memory lapses. But be prepared for any changes due to unexpected circumstances.

Take advantage of your alone time

Always make sure that you are still able to take care of yourself despite the fact that you are preoccupied by other stuff like your career and your baby. Make time to unwind and beautify yourself.

Smile

A smile is the universal language of the heart. And it is also a type of therapy that no one can get enough of. Smiling also fends off all the stress that you were feeling so you should smile even at times when you don’t feel like it to brighten your day because it gives out good vibes.

A lot of people are still finding it hard to juggle motherhood and being a career person. However with determination, love for your job, and love for your baby, there is nothing that you cannot do.

Remember that babies need consistent care and maintenance. They also need positivity so it is necessary that you know how to manage your stress by managing your time well. So that your baby won’t get affected by the stress that you might give off because of the tiring task that you do every day.

Preparation and proper planning are the keys that will help you be able to manage your time and your stress. It’s nothing much and you might be thinking that I’m all talk but believe me, with the proper mindset, you will be able to go through each obstacle of motherhood with ease.

July 3, 2015March 31, 2024

5 Outdoor Activities You Must Try

Fun Outdoor Activities

When you think of paragliding, you may automatically think that it is almost similar to skydiving. However, they are very much different with the details. From the moment of its ascent to its descent, here the parachute (paraglider) calls the shots. Compared to skydiving, the advantage of paragliding is that it has a pilot harness where the pilot can sit and enjoy the ride while maneuvering the glider with its advanced gears. With the paraglider’s technology, it encourages many daredevil flying stunts like the thermal flying where thermal air pockets are used by experienced paragliders to spiral up to the cloud base.

Activities such as zip lining and parasailing are ideal if you want effortless adrenaline rush. Meanwhile, in mountain climbing, you’ll have the breathtaking sceneries, challenging trails, and the thrill of reaching the top. While facing a vertical wall, you go against gravity and sometimes you make do with tiny and seemingly impossible footholds and handholds. You may also slam against the rock if you don’t manage your fall well. However, when you reach the peak, it gives you a rush and a sense of accomplishment like no other. Finishing a route can also be a confidence booster for some. Imagine after scaling that rock face head on, you’ll think you could take on anything. So, if you are looking for an adrenaline rush, with a bit of a challenge and the sweetest taste of success that is worth replaying in your mind over and over, rock climbing is for you.

“Scuba” which stands for “Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus” has become the excitement of the recreational marine life showcasing. Each year, lots of tourists are attracted to these so-called peaceful underwater retreats. The sights are not only limited to the marine life and the formations of the corals, but also the mystical shapes and structures conjured on the ocean beds as well. There is also the wreck diving, which is the adventurous package of cave diving stick to natural caverns while exploring the insides of old shipwrecks.

Most coral destinations around the world such as the Great Barrier Reef, Lakshadweep and other Pacific Islands have a wide range of fun activities involving the scuba equipment. As divers admire the marine life deep within the ocean, scuba diving is mostly done for recreation goals. A huge array of marine life and sometimes even shipwrecks are just some of the interesting things underneath. For recreational purposes, divers are limited to 130ft deep only. Beyond that limit are for trained professionals which is bound by the law.

Since the beginning of the age of reasoning, man justifies its need for wings. Today, flying now is not only a considered a passion but a regular sport too. We may regard Arizona in USA as the “skydive capital of the world.” However, most countries nowadays are also offering great skydiving experience with their latest technology as well as their expertise. There are a lot of things that you can do with this kind of adventure. You can touch the water with your feet while flying in your parachute in ‘Pond Swooping,’ race in skydiving challenges like ‘Hit and Rock,’ draw the skylines with inventive arrangement in formation skydiving, or you may just take a long trip under the parachute canopy with cross-country skydiving. To document your adventure, try to document it at 13,000 feet from the ground.

Surfing has been a great way to enjoy the waves. With a surfboard or a canoe, you can have the full splashes of enjoyment. Surfing was originally from the Polynesian culture and found first in the Tahiti Islands. Today, it has been one of the most cherished surface water.

July 3, 2015March 31, 2024

Societal Factors That Can Affect the Teens’ Behavior

There is no doubt that society plays a significant role in shaping an individual’s character. For teens, society hones their ability to live with other people, gives them ideas of what is wrong and right and eventually, hones their general outlook in life. According to the Christian Broadcasting Network, the strongest influence on the teen’s adult life is the parents. By understanding the influence of various aspects of society on a teen, it will help you nurture its character as well as its individuality.

There are a number of societal influences that can affect the teen’s behavior. From the media to peers, a lot of societal factors can shape the ways in which they act. While society isn’t the only factor in an adolescent’s behavior, the effect of its influences can alter changes in attitudes or some values.

Advertisements

Advertising is also another factor that can influence a teen’s behavior. It affects not only how a child acts but also their spending habits. According to the child development experts at the Healthy Children website, cigarette ads for example can negatively influence a teen’s ideas and thoughts with regards to smoking. Without proper guidance, ads that feature young and attractive people smoking can make this unhealthful habit seem acceptable or even appealing. One risk with advertising is that it glorifies or sells risky behaviors. As a result, it affects on the way a teen spends their money. With advertising, teens may think that it’s acceptable to spend hard-earned money on pricey or unnecessary items like designer label jeans.

Community

Meanwhile, the community sets rules that can help form a teenager’s ideas of what is right and wrong. Teens may have a better understanding of acceptable behavior and consequences of doing wrong, as set by communal laws. With consequences like imprisonment, such understanding may help your teen to choose the right behavior. In addition to that, the community also helps create cultural and environmental awareness. The interaction with various members of the community will also influence the teen to learn to care for the environment, neighbors and the less fortunate.

Media Influences

With TV, movies, online videos and all other media sources out there, it is expected that these societal influences can somehow shape your teen’s behavior either for good or for bad. As the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Healthy Children website recommends, parents should watch for media influences. These include acts of violence, alcohol, sexual situations, statements about body image, and drug use, and gender or cultural stereotypes. While your teen might seem immune to what the media is already saying, parents should still have caution since some messages can slowly begin to sink in and encourage risky behaviors like underage drinking or unprotected sex seem.

School

The schools as well as subsequent social environments are parts of society that wield a communal influence on teens. Take note that every junior and senior high school setting is quite different in some way. This produces a community that adheres or disregards certain behaviors. They could make changes to their beliefs due to the predominant school views.

Society and Laws

There are some aspects of society that can have a positive influence on teens. They become more aware of legal issues and society’s laws. During their adolescent period, they have the ability to understand legalities in a more abstract way. Such information will definitely help teens to think twice before engaging in any illegal or risky activity. However, this doesn’t guaranty that teens will not experiment with illegal substances just because the law says “no.” Instead, they will think harder about the choices they are going to make in light of the consequences.

June 30, 2015March 31, 2024

Almanac: The World’s Treasures

There may be lost pirate treasure buried in the coves of the Caribbean Islands. There may be golden rocks under the tall buildings. There may be materials left undiscovered during the ancient times. There are certainly lost treasures of gold and jewels aboard early Spanish sailing ships that descended at sea. But not all the precious materials are lost. The earth is full of found treasures.

Bauxite: Guinea in Africa is rich with Bauxite. Bauxite is an aluminum-rich ore that is used for aluminum production and elements, chemicals or cements.

Cashews: These delicious nuts grow on trees in Mozambique, a country in southeast Africa. Cashew nuts are kidney-shaped seeds that adhere to the bottom of the cashew apple, which is inhabitant to the coastal areas of northeastern Brazil. Cashews are always sold shelled because the interior of the shells contains a caustic resin or cashew balm, which must be removed cautiously before the nuts are fit for depletion. Caustic resin is used in industry to make varnishes and insecticides.

Chewing Gum: In Central America, the source of chicle, which is the chew in chewing gum, is the sapodilla tree. Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance intended for chewing but not swallowing.

Chocolate: Caribbean islands are rich in seeds of the cacao tree, which is used to make chocolate. Chocolate has become one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and a huge number of food consisting of chocolate have been created.

Chromium: This metal is used to make stainless steel. It is found in Zimbabwe, Africa. Chromium is a steely-gray, glossy, firm and fragile metal which takes high polish, resists oxidizing, and has a high melting point.

Copper: One of the richest “copper belts” in the world is in Zambia, Africa. Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a flexible metal with a very high thermal and electrical conductivity.

Cork: Cork is a great use in making bulletin boards and stoppers in wine bottles. Cork is the bark of the cork oak tree in Spain. Cork is an impermeable, floatable material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is reaped for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber, which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.

Diamonds: Namibia, Africa, supplies the most valuable diamonds of the 18 countries in southern Africa rich with diamonds. The most popular form of jewelry is the Diamond. It is often associated with brilliance.

Emeralds: Colombia produces the most emeralds in any country in South America. Emeralds are fascinating gemstones. These are the most beautiful, most intense and most radiant green material found on Earth.

Gold: The world’s largest gold mine is in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Gold, in its purest form, is a bright, with a slight reddish yellow, compact, soft, and pliable metal.

Mahogany: The trees that supply this beautiful wood grow in Central America. Mahogany is a kind of wood which has a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three humid hardwood species of the genus Swietenia.

Nitrates: This mineral used to preserve foods is found in the desert of Chile. Processed meats like bacon, ham, sausages and hotdogs have nitrates. These are preservatives in averting the growth of dangerous bacteria.

Perfume: The use of flowers in France is for the production of perfume. It is taken out from the flowers’ oil. Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or scent fusions, fixatives and solvents used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living spaces a pleasant scent.

Seaweed: Seaweed is collected to eat or to flavor foods in the coast of Japan. Seaweed is a macroscopic, multi cellular, marine algae that lives close to the seabed. It contains some of the red, brown, and green algae. Phycology is the study of seaweed.

Sugar: Sugarcane is grown in many countries in Central America and the Caribbean Islands. The generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates are sugar which is used in food.

Vanilla: There wouldn’t be vanilla ice cream without the vanilla bean. In Madagascar, more than half the world’s vanilla is grown.

Wool: Most of the world’s wool is supplied by the sheep of Australia. Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, comprising of goats’ cashmere, mohair, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and sorts of wool from camelids.

June 26, 2015March 31, 2024

Society and Norms

What is a society? It is an organized group of people living together in an ordered community with a particular purpose, interest, and activity. The society is also composed of social groups which have an interaction between one another and serve a specific goal and principle.

The following are the elements of society:

Territory. Most countries have formal boundaries and territory that the world recognizes as theirs. However, the boundaries don’t need to have geopolitical borders, such as the border between the United States and Canada. Instead, both members and nonmembers of a society, must recognize the particular land as belonging to that society.

Interaction. Members of a society must come in contact with one another. If a person remains off or no regular contact with another person, therefore, these persons cannot be considered part of the one society. Geographic distance and language barriers can separate societies within a country.

Culture. People of the same society share aspects of their culture, such as language or beliefs. This refers to the language used by everyone in the society, their values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that embody a people’s way of living. It is a defining element of society.

Society today has changed due to the different technological developments which propelled humans as well as the elements mentioned above, to be part of the new age.

An industrial society uses new sources of energy, rather than humans and animals, to use large apparatus. Industrialization began in the mid-1700s, when Great Britain first used a steam engine as a means of running other machines. The twentieth century made industrialized societies change dramatically:

People and goods traversed much longer distance because of innovations in transportation, such as the train and the steamship.

Population in rural areas is reducing due to the large mass of people who were engaged in factory work and had to move to the cities.

In agriculture, only few people were needed in the production of goods, and societies became urbanized, which means that the majority of the population lived within commuting distance of a major city.

Suburbs were raised around the cities to provide city-dwellers with alternative places to live.

The twentieth century brought sudden, but innovative changes in our society, including the people who live therein. Aside from having industries and modern inventions, we now have a more developed and more organized ways of transportation and communication.

As industrialized societies become more substantial, they evolve into large, impersonal mass societies. In a mass society, a person’s achievement is valued over kinship ties, and people often feel isolation. Personal incomes inflated, and there is absolute diversity among people.

Every society has expectations about how its members should and should not behave. A norm is a guideline or an expectation for behavior. Each society has its own rules for behavior and decides when those rules have been violated and what to do about it. Norms basically change on a regular basis.

Norms differ widely among societies, and they even differ from group to group within the same society.

Different settings: Wherever we go, expectations towards behavior come first. Even within the same society, these norms change from setting to setting.

Different countries: Norms are specific to places, and what is considered appropriate in one country may be considered highly inappropriate in another.

Different time periods: Appropriate and inappropriate behavior often changes dramatically from generation to generation. Norms can and do shift over time.

Sociologists differentiated four categories of norm:

Folkways. A folkway is a norm of everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of convenience or tradition. Folkways are a practice done by people. Violating a folkway does not usually have serious consequences.

Mores. A more is a norm situated on morality, or the definition of right and wrong. Since mores have moral importance, people violating a more usually results in disapproval.

Laws. A law is a norm that is enacted and promulgated by a legitimate authority. Violating these laws will result in a specific sanction and punishment.