New Release: A Second Set of Flash Cards!

You might notice something new when you shop Spanish, French, or Chinese today. Okay, go down… up… a little to the right… there! Our second volume of flash cards is out! Do you see them?

This beautiful set of cards is chock-full of brand new images of Little Pim ready to teach kids some of the new words that appear in the second volume of Little Pim videos. They can be used on their own or along with the videos ("at home," "feelings," and "let's count!") to teach and reinforce words related to mealtime, playtime, and emotions.

And by the way, the first volume of flash cards is coming soon in Arabic and Portuguese!

Make a Peace Crane for International World Peace Day

Learning a new language makes the world feel like a smaller place: being able to communicate in a foreign language helps kids make new friends both when they’re traveling and here at home while giving them insight into cultures around the globe. These basic principles are the heart of the International Day of Peace created by the United Nation and held every September 21, the fall equinox. With “Education as Peace” as their motto, the United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says, “Education has to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world in which we live, and help people forge more just, inclusive and peaceful societies."

A fun and easy way to participate in this World Peace Day is to create a “Peace Crane” with your children. Directions are below:

Make a Peace Crane Project

1. Find a piece of paper (any type of paper can work, but lighter weight ones will fold more easily)

2. Cut the paper into a perfect square.

3. Write words of peace on one side of the paper. Here are a few ways to say “peace” in Little Pim languages: Paz (Spanish), Paix (French), Frieden (German), Shalom (Hebrew), Pace (Italian), Salam (Arabic)

4. Create an image of peace on the other side of your paper square. (Markers, crayons, or colored pencils will work best, allowing the paper to be folded without smudging or cracking)

5. Fold your paper into an origami crane following the detailed folding instructions here.

6. Exchange your Peace Crane with friends, or give them to a member of your community. Or send a picture of Peace Crane to PeaceCraneProject.org and they’ll add you to their map.

(Instructions courtesy of PeaceCraneProject.org)

4 Eye-opening Articles on Foreign Language Learning

Every week we find ourselves geeking out over all the amazing new information about foreign language learning that we find on the internet. If you’re like us (and we think you might be since… well… here you are), you might sometimes find this wealth of information a little overwhelming. Not to worry, friends! Little Pim is here to help! Each week, we’ll cull the internet for our favorite language (and panda) related articles. This week, for your reading pleasure, four articles about the way language works inside the human brain:

1. Your Mind on Language: How Bilingualism Boosts Your Brain. The title of this HuffPo blog post might say it all, but it’s a great read for anyone who wants to read about the science of language without having to wade through all the science-ese. Dan Roitman defines common scientific vocabulary associated with the study of language and also breaks down the way the brain processes language.
2. Does Your Language Shape How You Think? You might have seen this piece in the New York Times Magazine! As it turns out, our first language may affect the way we formulate thoughts.
3. EastEnders Effect: Watching TV Can Change Your Accent. A curious phenomenon, indeed! The cockney accent (‘ello guvna!) that features prominently in the UK soap opera EastEnders has been slowly sculpting and altering the way the Scottish accent sounds.
4. Bilingualism Is Yoga for the Brain. A quick recap on the importance of starting early!

Until next time, read on!

New School Year Resolutions: 5 Smart Ways to Start the School Year

September is the time to make New Year’s resolutions, new year of school resolutions that is. You’re starting with a clean slate, literally, so jump on the chance to start the semester off right with our 5 tips to a more productive year.

1. Routine Rules – Kids thrive on routine--- knowing when to get up, what time to do homework, when dinner is-- helps them build a schedule that gets them through their day with ease. Be sure to include reading with your children (including looking at pictures and talking about them) as part of your routine. Children learn more vocabulary and do better in school when their parents read with them regularly (US Department of Education).
2. Resolve to Learn a Foreign Language – It’s never too early to start teaching children a second language. Not only is it easier for babies and preschoolers to master accents and absorb foreign languages, but later in life, multilingual adults “are better at reasoning, at multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas” (Time Magazine).
3. Choose to win – With as many activities as there are Legos in a bin, the choice of how to spend after-school time can become overwhelming – when you’re stuck, childhood experts say choose quality over quantity: Limit young children to one or two after school classes a week, and choose what will make the most impact down the line and give your child the best start in life, such as a language they’ll be able to use for the rest of their lives.
4. Get More Zzzzzs – The National Sleep Foundation recommends a minimum of 10 hours of sleep every night for grade schoolers, 11 hours for preschoolers, and 12 hours for 1 to 3 year olds. Plus, studies show that children who have consistent bed times scored better on cognitive tests throughout grade school. The old adage about “early to bed” making you “wise” really was right!
5. Accentuate the positive – When you talk about school, make sure to make it sound like a treat --- a special place where kids get to make new friends, have fun new experiences, and learn amazing new things – and they’ll think of it that way, too!

Dance Party: Little Pim + Baby Loves Disco

Attention New York families! If lazy Sundays aren't your thing, come down to (le) poisson rouge in Greenwich Village this Sunday (9/15) from noon to 3pm! Little Pim will be joining Baby Loves Disco at for an all-out, baby-centric dance party. With classic tunes from the 70s and 80s that mom and dad may remember, plus a chill-out room full of books, puzzles, and other surprises, this will definitely be a party the whole family can enjoy. For more information about ticketing and the location, click here. We'll be waiting for you in the chill-out room.

Panda News: It’s a Girl!

We’re very fond of pandas here at Little Pim and always keep an eye out for news about our favorite bear. So it was especially exciting to hear about the new panda cub born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in August. And now, after a two week wait, we’ve just found out is a bouncing baby girl. Congrats to new parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian! (In case you were wondering, their names mean “beautiful fragrance” and “more and more.”)

As far as the name of the baby panda, we’ll have to wait for now; the National Zoo folks haven’t found the perfect moniker quite yet.

Read more about the National Zoo’s baby girl panda, here: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm#update

Little Pim at the Babies R Us Learning Center - Saturday 9/7

It's Grand Opening weekend at the Babies R Us Learning Center, and Little Pim will be there with bells on! Swing by the Union Square Babies R Us sometime tomorrow, Saturday, September 7, between noon and 3:00pm to visit the Little Pim table and discover some other amazing educational toys for your little ones.

Don't forget to say hi – you could win a French Deluxe Gift Set!

Little Pim Coming To Toys"R"Us

Little Pim is proud to announce that we will be featured in the new education expansion at Toys"R"Us stores nationwide and online at Toysrus.com. For more information read here: Toys"R"Us® Expands Year-Round Education Product Selection, Debuts All-New Imaginarium® Learning Line

Brazilian Fun and My Boys' Lemonade Stand MBA

Emmett (8 yrs old): Mom, I want to go to Brazil for the World Cup next year.

Me: Well, that's not going to happen. But here's an idea... why don't we save up for a bigger screen TV so we can watch it here and invite all your friends over?

Emmett: Great idea!

Me: Let's also give part of the money to charity. We can send it to kids in Brazil via Save the Children.

Emmett: Awesome! When do we start?

Thus began my kids' first lesson in entrepreneurship. Emmett and his little brother Adrian (5 1/2) ran their first lemonade stand outside our apartment for two weekends. And it also became a valuable lesson in geography, focusing on Brazil (the largest country in South American and the only one there that speaks Portuguese), and on charity, researching and donating to Save the Children.

We set a goal of earning $100 --- they squeezed over 50 lemons and it took three lemonade stand outings to get there. We sold chocolate chip cookies, too, because when Emmett did the math, he realized he'd have to sell 100 cups of lemonade (or limonada as it’s called in Portuguese) at $1 to hit $100, but if only 40 of the customers bought cookies at the same time, we'd get to our goal twice as fast.

5 Business Take-Aways from the Lemonade Stand

1. Starting with Why. Engage potential customers with your mission statement. People were more likely to buy when told that part of the proceeds were going to help kids in Brazil via Save the Children. Emmett and Adrian compared notes on their favorite Brazilian soccer players with their customers.
2. The Human Factor. To run a business, you need to beef up your management skills. On the second day of the lemonade stand, Emmett's little brother Adrian got upset because he was fired from his “loudspeaker” position (Emmett said Adrian’s constant "Lemonade! lemonade! lemonade!" was irritating). Adrian pouted and refused to participate for the rest of the day, so Emmett was down half his operation.
3. Opportunity Cost. Save money if you can, but not at any cost. The boys created an estimated budget (cookie dough was estimated at a whopping $10!). But the day before the first lemonade stand, Emmett chose not to buy cups for $3 at Lot Less because he wanted to keep looking for cheaper. He was pleased with his thrifty decision until he was running out of time. In order to open on schedule, he had to buy cups from Gristedes for $5.
4. Re-Branding. Know how to reel in your customers. After three days of gathering customer feedback, Emmett added farm-to-table flare to his "Lemonade" sign, changing it to "Fresh Squeezed Lemonade and Homemade Cookies." His successful rebrand doubled the number of people who stopped by.
5. Delivering Happiness. When you say, "Thank you for coming over" to your customers before they even buy anything, they are apt to buy more. And sometimes they give you $5 for a $1 cup of lemonade and say "keep the change!" Now THAT is sweet.

I don’t know if my boys will become entrepreneurs like their mom, but learning how to start a project, see it through, tweak it along the way for success, and the power of please and thank you (por favor and obrigado) are great lessons for kids at any age and for any career. Plus, the chance to explore other cultures and customs is always welcome in our home. And an added bonus: soon I’ll be able to watch the new season of GIRLS on a bigger screen TV.

-JP

Who’s the Smartest Person in the Room? The Answer May Surprise You.

See those babies cooing in the corner? According to a recent Time Magazine article, they’re the best linguists in the room. Babies are born, Time’s Jeffrey Kluger says, with the inherent ability to speak and understand the world’s 6,800 languages, and that babies, and then children, are able to continue to easily learn multiple languages up into early grammar school. Kluger goes on to say that later in life, having gained these language abilities as babies and children, multilingual adults “are better at reasoning, at multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas. They work faster and expend less energy doing so, and as they age, they retain their cognitive faculties longer, delaying the onset of dementia and even full-blown Alzheimer's disease.”

Read the full, fascinating story, here.