Child Development on Pitara Kids Network

Chess for Children: A Smart Move

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:12:52 +0000

When we think of chess we think of two adults sitting opposite each other, thinking of ways and means to outsmart the other. Many people feel it is a very difficult game. But do you know that most chess players and champions start very young?

Viswanathan Anand, number two in the world, played his first chess game at the age of five. This was in 1974. Anand’s mother taught him the game and was his first opponent. In no time he came to be called the Lightning Kid. This was because he made his moves with such speed. In 1987, Anand won the world junior championship, in the Philippines. He was the first Asian ever to do so.

The Adventurer

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 16:50:06 +0000

I am sure all families are interesting. But I like to think that my family is especially interesting. I have such great nephews and nieces because of whom there is not a single dull moment in life.

Two-and-a-half year old Arshiya goes around asking everyone a very serious question, “Are you happy?” If you ask her to exercise, she says, “I am not Swami Ramdev”. Swami Ramdev is an expert on yoga and comes on a television channel every day. Arshiya has seen the programme with her grandparents.

Learning Creatively

Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:00:46 +0000

Gijubhai Badheka was deeply influenced by ancient Indian methods of teaching and opposed the conventional schooling system. He speaks of his views on improving the education system in his books ‘Divaswapna’ or daydreaming, and ‘Education in Primary Schools’.

Gijubhai used story telling as a means to attract children to learning and listening in class.

Learning Creatively

Using story sessions as rewards and not punishment, a crowd of unruly children can be made to settle down and gradually learn to behave themselves.

Two Sides of a Coin

Fri, 05 May 2000 15:41:58 +0000

Two Sides of a Coin []

The Exquisite Balance
Written by Poile Sengupta

Illustrations by Mrinal Mitra

Published by Children’s Book Trust (CBT).

Suprabha and Subir’s mother always thought that being twins, her children would have a lot in common – not just physically but also in their ways of thinking. But she realised gradually that her daughter, Suprabha, and son Subir, were poles apart.

Girl Power

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:29:12 +0000

August 26: The world is changing fast. A decade ago, no one would have thought about boys wanting to step into a girl’s shoes. But now, this is happening. According to a report in The Times Of India, girl power rules. A survey by the Hyderabad-based market research company, NFO-MBL India, says that 42 per cent boys marvel at the thought of being a girl. The boys in question are between 15 and 19 years of age and they belong to the five cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.

How to Write the Right Way

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 22:15:43 +0000

September 9 : These are days of the high-tech child. A child whose grasp of the computer is phenomenal and who knows how to handle the mouse better than he can handle toys.

But in this rush to be computer whizzes at age fifteen and below, kids are forgetting how to hold pens and pencils. Or, to put it simply, today’s kids are forgetting how to write.
It looks as if the days of the neat homework book, with pages and pages of beautiful, tidy writing – the school-going child’s special pride – will soon be a thing of the past.