​Learning games are a great way to teach your child a well-rounded set of skills and to lay a foundation for all the learning she will do in life. You'll find lots of examples and activities on our blog and website. Here we've collected some principles that will help your experience of playing learning games go smoothly.

Keep it fun and lighthearted. As soon as learning feels like work instead of play, your kids will resist.

Don't force anything. Invite, make it appealing, demonstrate how much fun the activity is, but don't make your child do something he isn't interested in. He may not be developmentally ready, or his development may be centered around a different skill this week. Appeal to his interests rather than what you think he ought to be doing.

​Would you like to raise a patient child? (Wait…is that an oxymoron?) They say that patience is a virtue, but it's a virtue that is hard for adults, let alone preschoolers. But waiting is a part of life, so we need to help our children learn to cope with it.

An important first step is to set realistic expectations. It is easier for children to wait if they are expecting to wait. Set a timer where they can see it, and tell them, "We'll go to Katie's house/ have dinner/ play together in 10 minutes, when the timer beeps."

Let them know what's coming next. Children get much more antsy when they don't know what is going to happen. One important note: make sure you tell them in the order it will be happening. (Say, "First we'll have a nap, then we'll go to the park," instead of "We'll go to the park after nap.") Kids' brains understand sequence in the order they hear it—it's difficult for them to process verbal cues like "before this" or "after that."

"My nine-month-old has found his voice…in the form of an ear-piercing shriek! Do I just try to wait it out until he learns words, or are there ways I can teach him more mom-friendly sounds?"

There are three main reasons for children loudly screeching in their communication, and the reason your child is screeching will determine the best course of action.

He may be experimenting with his voice. Babies are just learning how to control what comes out of their mouths. They learn by experimentation with mouth shape, throat constriction, air flow, and vocal cords. And, yep, some of that experimentation will be loud!

Is grocery shopping a nightmare for you? Fussy kids, grumpy mom, whining for Lucky Charms, strangers staring, coming home with the wrong items because you couldn't concentrate. Sound familiar?

We used three simple rules that made grocery trips a whole lot smoother. We recited both the rules and the consequences together in the car before every shopping trip, because little ones can't always remember the rules from week to week. Kids also need to say the rules themselves, not just hear them.

Rule 1: Don't touch. For the safety of the children and the merchandise, kids are only allowed to touch what mom hands them. Let them help with anything they can't damage. They can put items in a child-sized basket or in the big basket.

Have you ever wondered how to teach your child to follow directions without it turning into a power struggle? The key is to focus on following directions as a skill that children can learn gradually in the same fun ways that they can learn their colors or to tie their shoes.

Here's the Following Directions Game: