Activities at Home...
- Following Directions: Try to keep it to two or three-steps. For example, “put your shoes on, turn off the light, and shut the door.” Or make it fun, for example, “turn around, pat your tummy, and jump two times.”
- Concepts: Practice concept words (such as top, bottom, corner, over, under, next to, first, last, most, least, few, many, in front, behind, etc.). You can incorporate these words in your everyday experiences. Here are some examples: Put the fork next to the plate. Look at the bird on top of the fence. Put your toys in the corner. Who has the most cookies?
- Letter and Pre-Reading: Look for letters around the house, in stores, and as you drive. State the letter name and the sound it makes. Practice rhyming by finding objects that rhyme or look at pictures in books for rhyming things. Clap out syllables in words, names, and favorite things.
- 20 Questions: Hide an object from your child’s view. Tell them to ask a question about the object and model if necessary. Examples: Is it big? Is it red? Can you eat it? Can it fly? Is it a book? Answer yes or no as appropriate until your child guesses the object.
- I Spy: Start by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that is (red, big, moving, etc.). Have them try to guess by saying, “Is it a ? Give additional clues as necessary.
- Grocery Store: Talk about all the colors and categories (fruits, vegetables, etc.). Have your child follow directions (for example, ‘Get one apple and two lemons, please.”)
- Walk and See: Go for a walk and see “how many” (birds, trees, houses, bugs, etc.) you can find.
- Getting Dressed: Have your child choose his own clothing by following directions involving places (in the closet), colors, and weather (“Its hot – do you need shorts or long pants?”)
- Sequencing: Review with your child what you did at certain times of the day. For instance, “This morning we woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, then brushed our teeth.” Or at the end of the day, you could say, “First we went shopping, then we had lunch, and last we went swimming.” Have our child help you think of what you did.
- Cooking: Talk about what ingredients you are using. Let your child measure and pour. Try to predict what will happen when you mix the ingredients and when you cook it. Then sequence the steps you did to make it.
- Go Exploring: Go to a park, zoo, fire station, pet store, museum, airport, etc. Talk about what you will see, are seeing, and saw when you were there.