Encourage cognitive and language development with these fun, everyday learning activities.
1. Try different textures
Young children are sensory learners who love to touch, feel, and try to understand the world around them. Use a dark marker to draw letters of the alphabet and/or numbers on poster board; then let your child decorate the letters with textured objects such as sandpaper, beans, cotton balls, paste, or metal wire. Touching the letters allows children to feel the way each letter is formed. For little ones learning to write, their fingers can experiment with the shape of the letter before they pick up a pen. Each day as your child slides their fingers over the letters and numbers, say them out loud. Later, you can expand the activity by creating a poster that spells out your childβs first name. Soon, your child will notice these letters on signs, posters, and advertisements.
2. Try to measure yourself
Using everyday objects, teach your child to measure. While a ruler is the most common measuring tool, experiment with months, seasons, or times of year to make the learning process interesting. In the fall, have your child lie down on the grass and then arrange apples next to it to measure "how tall the apples are" at a certain age. Or determine how "LEGO tall" the couch is or how "block wide" the refrigerator is in your home. For added fun, find out how many of your child's books will need to cover your bed. Always count when you place different objects, and soon your child will be counting and measuring in different ways!
3. Put labels in your home
Choose just one or two items in your home, such as the refrigerator, windows, and chairs, and rotate the labeled items every few months. Use labels that are the same size and in a simple font so that children can easily recognize them. Write, print, and cut out the individual words, then use blue pencil tape (which allows for easy removal) to attach to the items. You can also tape the words to cards and place them on the items.
Labeling allows children to understand that everything has a set of common symbols that can be written down and recognized. If your child is old enough to recognize letters, ask them what letter "lamp" starts with and have them find the label that starts with "L". If they are still too young, show them different letters and introduce them to words. Continue every day and in time your child will be able to identify words on their own.
4. How important are the early years of childhood?
The experiences children have in their first five years have a huge impact on their brain development, their health, and their future opportunities as adults.
5. Enter organization
Strengthen your child's spirit by encouraging organization in your home. Parents should welcome this quality, even though it can slow down activities and chores. Include a "Household Labeling" activity by keeping toys, clothes, dishes, and household items in designated places. As you place things in their labeled baskets and drawers, turn the process into a game of guessing.
Ask kids where certain items belong ("Where should your toys go? Where should your shoes be stored?") or place forks in a sock drawer or toy drawer in the refrigerator and challenge toddlers to fix your "mistakes." They'll love rearranging things for mom or dad who can't remember where the cups belong! According to Bridge A. Barnes and Stephen M. York, authors of "Smart Parenting for Toddlers to Preschoolers," these tasks provide a way for you to start teaching your toddlers about responsibility, helping others, and being part of a family.
6. Organize a game of "Treasure Hunt"
Children are natural explorers and love to discover new things. Treasure hunt games can be prepared in advance or made up on the spot. You could look for foods that are a certain color (like purple) at the supermarket or look for objects that are a certain shape (like a circle) around the house. If your child needs help, gather three objects to choose from by asking, βWhich object is red? Which object is a circle?β Extend the βLabel Your Homeβ activity by organizing a treasure hunt game with differently labeled objects or asking your child to search the bookcases for a specific letter, word, or number. You could also pretend that you canβt find the orange juice or a pair of socks. Send your child on a fun quest to find these objects around the house.
7. Explore the city
Get to know your town by pointing out the supermarket, fire station, gas station, and other places of interest. As you pass each place, discuss the details of these important objects in the area. This includes who works there, the purpose of your visit, and what items you might find inside. Then draw or print out pictures of these places and put them on cards along with their details. The next time you are out and about with your child, refer to these "neighborhood" cards.
For example, if you visit the dry cleaners, ask your child to find the corresponding "neighborhood" card and ask them: Do you buy dry clothes or pick up clean clothes? Who works there, a baker or a firefighter? Expand environmental knowledge by organizing visits to the local fire station or police station.
8. Sing the words
Develop this skill by creating fun melodies for rhyming words and counting to ten, or sing easy, classic songs like "The Alphabet Song" and "The Little Spider." "During the preschool years, children learn an average of nine new words a day," says children's book author Eugenie Foster in "Your Child's Writing" by Pam Allin. "Parents have a better chance of making this happen if they create worlds for children that are like dream-catchers, catching beautiful words and sounds," says Allin, who is also CEO and founder of LitWorld.
Encourage singing in the car, while playing at home and during bath time. If your child attends nursery or daycare, ask the teacher for the classβs favorite songs and reinforce them at home. Teach songs to grandmothers and babysitters so that all the important people in your childβs life can participate in this fun activity. Your child will begin to learn through songs as they recite letters, numbers, days of the week and body parts to melodious songs.
9. Number your morning moments
On a sheet of poster paper, create a calendar grid with 31 boxes and leave space at the top to add signs representing each month. Write the days of the week at the top and number the 31 cards from 1 to 31. Attach Velcro to the back of each card and to each of the 31 boxes on the poster. Place the calendar at your child's eye level and on the first day of each month, add a month sign and a card with the number 1 under the correct day of the week. The next day, challenge them to find a card with the number 2 and find the day of the week. Singing the "Days of the Week" song also helps. Your child will begin to understand the calendar and the number system. Plus, according to Aline, "routines provide comfort to children in ways that adults often forget."
10. Attach photos
Place pictures of friends and family in your child's room to help develop word association and improve memory. Write people's names on sticky notes (include titles like "grandma," "grandpa," and "uncle") and place them at the bottom of each picture. Mention the titles often, especially during family gatherings. Remove the sticky notes from the pictures as your child becomes more familiar with each one. Also read books about siblings or grandparents and ask your child to identify each family member mentioned. As your child develops, expand the activity by creating a family tree with names and photos. Make it an ever-changing piece of art in your home.
11. Create a weather wall
Your child can become a young meteorologist by creating a weather wall. Take a blank white sheet of paper (8" x 11") and help your child draw a picture representing the time of day using any art materials (pencils, markers, watercolors). Then cut three long strips (11" x 1") of brown cardstock and three short strips (8" x 1") to represent the frame and windows of a window.
Help your child glue two long and two short strips around the edges of the sheet to create a window frame. The last two strips (one long and one short) should be placed in a cross shape and glued in the middle of the sheet to create a window with four windows. Add a word to the window frame describing the weather (cold, snowy, sunny) and a date to compare the weather over different periods. Choose a "weather corner" to place the "windows" in and change them every month!