New school year with new challenges! Ways to support your young learner!
COVID has effected what our schools will look like this fall for everyone across the nation. The upcoming school year might be 100% virtual for some and a mix for others. So, there will be young kids at home with a computer! As an Early Childhood teacher, I know that our young learners will need extra support at home to make sure there are a variety of activities for the best learning outcome! So, I thought I would share some educational activities that can easily fit into your new routine at home for those of you with young children! These activities will boost and support your child’s academic, motor, communication, and social and emotional skills to enhance what you’re already doing at home!
Here are a few activities to support ACADEMICS:
SUPERCHARGE your bedtime stories! These are prime times to actively build early literacy skills and boost vocabulary knowledge. Look for words you think your child might not know and briefly define and talk about them. When you re-read the book ask if they remember the words and what they mean. Then you can try and use the words at other times to reinforce their knowledge. To build letter recognition skills, try pointing to the letters as you say their name. Point to each letter in the book while you sing the ABC song slowly. Turn to random pages in the book and see if your child can name and point to the letters themselves. Remember, making bedtime stories interesting and fun will help them look forward to that every night and enhance their love for reading!
CREATE a writing corner! Find a corner of your child’s room dedicated for writing! For young children you will be encouraging pre-writing and writing skills. Provide your child with open-ended materials that invite exploration and experimentation. Provide your child with blank paper in different colors, markers, crayons, small golf pencils (to enhance fine motor skills), small dry erase boards, hole punch, and envelopes. If you provide a variety of materials for your child the more likely they will initiate self-directed writing projects.
MATH it up in the kitchen! Have your child help with cooking and incorporate all the math language along the way! Have the kids help with meal prep and you can get counting, measuring, estimating, comparing, and recognizing shapes worked into the time together!
IMAGINATION adventure in your living room! Pretend is a great way to encourage language skills for your young learner! Pretend you are going on an adventure taking a ride on a space ship or boat! Ask your child for ideas and where they want to visit! Take turns creating a story and describe what you’re seeing and ask questions. “Look there is a huge elephant!” “What do you think he’s doing in the middle of the desert?” This is a terrific way to encourage COMMUNICATION SKILLS!
HANGING with the family outside! Now might not be the time you can hang with friends or go to the park but it doesn’t mean you can’t find some fun family time outside to support MOTOR SKILLS!Choose some activities that involve gross motor skills such as running, jumping, or playing catch. Fine motor skills would include collecting and sorting objects using small tools. Go on a family walk and play “I SPY”. Have a outdoor dance party with the family. Go on a family walk and collect different items like pinecones, stones, acorns and leaves in a pail. Help your child sort them into groups. Being outside is a great place to encourage a variety of motor skills AND have quality family time!
Even though this fall might look a little different for your kids with how education is being presented doesn’t mean you can’t fit some education in during your normal family activities! Remember, different doesn’t mean it’s bad it just means it’s different! Think outside the box and make the best of a very unique situation that we as a country are currently living in! Hang in there!
