Women's Home Activities

In keeping with the series on educational activities today I wanted to discuss with you Children’s Learning Activities 5 Tips for Parents of Preschool Aged Kids. From a very young age children are like tiny sponges; they soak up all that is around them, willingly. Their knowledge base begins to expand and grow just as a sponge does when filled with liquid.

This is the time that we as parents and caregivers of these little dynamos really need to focus in and take advantage of creating an environment meant to foster the love of learning. From the time they are babies and continuing on through the pre-school years kids begin to imitate what they see and hear around them. This is all part of the learning process and one that we as adults should be keenly aware of. We want to be sure that our habits, actions and yes even words are ones that will encourage positive learning outcomes for our little ones.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. I had a conversation with our daughter this morning and she was telling me about watching her precious 19 month old get one of his favorite books (that’s right, even at this young age kids do have “favorites”) and he sat down and began to “read” the book.

Now I am not saying that he took and said what was on the page word for word; although studies have shown that this is possible. What I am saying is, as she related the events to me that this small child in his still babbling baby talk started to tell the story he saw in print. Not only that but he also used hand gestures and intonation in his voice as he began to say the “words” just like his Mom does when she reads the book to him. He was imitating what he had “learned” from his Mommy.

So this leads me to emphasize the following:

5 Tips for Parents on Children’s Learning Activities for Pre-school Aged Kids

You know that you want your children to grow and learn as much as they can even from an early age. Here are 5 tips that you as parents can begin to use to help your children continue their path for learning, get them prepared for school and promote the idea of becoming life-long learners.

1.    Develop Daily Reading Habits – I cannot emphasize enough that it is so very important to establish getting in the habit of reading to your children on a daily basis. Even if it is only 15-30 minutes make sure you set aside sometime during the day for this special family bonding activity. Story time is a great way of sharing experiences with your kids and enhances your children’s learning activities.
2.    Let Your Children Choose What to Read – Allowing the child to pick out their favorite choices will help to instill a growing sense of independence. Kids like the idea that they are being given a chance to make decisions. Don’t discourage the child’s selection even if you have read the book lots of times before. It is really a good thing to read a book over and over again because it assists with increasing comprehension skills. Did you know that it takes hearing or reading something at least 7 times before it becomes part of your long term memory? When children hear you telling them the story again and again they become so familiar with the tale that they begin to learn what is in the book. So you see that this will get your kids prepared for future learning activities like understanding phonics and sight words.
3.    Read With Enthusiasm – As you are reading to your toddler or preschool aged child do so in a way that shows that you are truly interested in the book; which in turn engages the children’s attention to what is being read. Make the story come alive while you are reading to your children by changing the tone of your voice for each character. Use different emotions depending on what is happening to help the kids understand what is going on in the story. If gestures are appropriate use those too. For example a story might include a bouncing ball; make a circle with your hands and then pretend you are bouncing the ball as you are reading about it. The next time you read this story, your child might just start imitating this action when he sees the page with the ball.

4.    Discuss What You Are Reading – Point out familiar objects on each page to the kids. Use color, size and shape words to describe what you are reading. Ask them questions about what they see. Have your child point to what you are asking. If something you are reading about makes a noise make the sound. Have the children repeat what the sound is. For instance, say the story has a duck in it. You may ask your child, “Do you see a Little Yellow Duck?” Let the child point to the duck, and then ask, “What does the duck say?” Quack once and see if the child will repeat what was said. Chances are good that they will.
5.    Don’t Over Do It – There comes a time to stop and most children will let you know. If the child’s enthusiasm or attention span has moved on let the reading session end. Remember you want to encourage your children to learn with these reading activities, not turn them off to the possibilities of the joys of discovery that reading and learning can bring. Don’t make reading time become a struggle. Let things happen in a natural flow. Before long most young children will look forward to their story time and will start insisting that you read to them more often than just your set time.

I know these 5 Tips for Parents of Preschool Aged Kids will help you with your Children’s Learning Activities as well as fostering family bonding time. This activity will create memories for both you and your child. Instilling the love of learning is a gift you can give your children that will last a lifetime. Creating and sharing this special time together is good for both the mind and the heart.

Let me know what you think and if you have other questions that might be able to assist you with when it comes to your child’s reading needs. Check back again for our future posts on educational learning. I look forward to hearing from you.