Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Power of Chocolate as a Teaching Aid

Chocolate is a wonderful thing. It is delicious. It tastes fantastic even when gooey. It tastes fabulous on bananas, toast, cakes... even on naked bodies! And it is a fabulous teaching aid for toddlers.

We used it to teach Connor how to say "thank you". You can't believe how much quicker the lesson is grasped when there's a lovely little chunk of milk chocolate up for grabs. It all started when my father gave his grandson an entire box of Cadbury's little chocs. We soon realised Connor became very obliging and obedient whenever one of those little purple rectangles was waved in front of his eyes. So I used it to teach "thank you". I tell you... he can't say "Enk-yoo!" quickly enough.

Chocolate can also be used to teach colours. This is a concept that Connor finds a little confusing. M&M's work wonders in clearing up that confusion. "Connor... if you want to eat M&M's, you can only have the red one. Which one is red?" and Connor will pick out the red one AND say "Enk-yoo!" at the same time. Brilliant or what.

Never underestimate the power of chocolate.

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