MANILA, Philippines -- A day of discovering children?s intellectual abilities through proper games and storytelling sessions marked a recent educational campaign for parents and kids.

Wyeth?s ?Minds in Progress: A Filipino Child?s Journey to Progressive Learning? was a play-and-learn activity held in various schools and malls around the country. It also gathered some of the country?s top child care specialists who shared their knowledge on how parents can maximize their kids? learning potentials.

?Kids nowadays are bombarded with virtual reality,? said Dr. Liz Inciong, a pediatrician from St. Luke?s Medical Center. ?They?re trapped in front of a computer most of the day thereby diminishing the use of their potential abilities.?

Minds in Progress aims to cultivate the six domains of development to guarantee the optimal learning of each child?gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, personal and socio-emotional? which are ideal for their total growth.

Wyeth partnered with Camp Explore, a group that handles year-round camps and kids? workshops, to assist in tapping kids? different capacities.

During the event at the sprawling Shangri-La Plaza Shopping Mall, kids aged three to seven were treated to safe, experiential learning activities to enhance the six domains of development.

Activities included the entrapment, where kids went through a spider web maze showing how flexible and alert they were as they crawled and skipped past the obstacles. This guaranteed that the child?s gross motor skills were honed.

Children also participated in the necklace beading activity to help improve their fine motor skills. Kids decorated necklaces with several pre-made paper beads. They proudly displayed their unique colorful designs later.

Waste segregation relay

To build on the kids? personal and socio-emotional skills, Camp Explore held a waste segregation relay game where kids picked up ?wastes? labeled ?paper? and ?plastic? and disposed of them into the proper trash cans.

The last activity was the interactive storytelling, where kids sat and gathered around to listen to educational stories to improve their cognitive and language skills.

?These activities would surely help develop each child according to his or her mind and progress,? said Inciong. ?For the children and the youth of today to grow up into mature individuals, they should start young exploring and developing themselves.?

Parents definitely play a big role in the development of their kids, Inciong said. It pays a lot to be involved in their activities and to guide them in their moment of self-discovery, enlightenment and progress, she added.

While the kids were engaged in educational activities, their parents gathered in a soundproof room to listen to a child specialist who discussed lengthily the six domains of child development.

Inciong provided a detailed approach in helping parents optimize the learning abilities of their children. They should have proper understanding of factors that affect development and learning, as well as proper understanding of normal growth and patterns that facilitate learning.

She provided guidelines for parents or caregivers on stimulatory techniques that promote development and learning.

?Minds in Progress was an ideal learning experience for both parents and kids,? said Rachel Tongson, Wyeth senior product manager.

?We came up with this project because we realized that working parents don?t have enough time anymore to study or really understand how they could optimize the kids? learning abilities,? she said.

?We?d like to spare them from going out of their way to inquire from their pediatrician, which is so costly. With this activity, Wyeth brought the necessary information to parents out there and made it accessible to them for free,? she said.