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Summer Activities For Young Children |
SourceSchwab Foundation for Learning ForumsEducation and KidsRelated ArticlesHelping Children Learn About ReadingLearning Partners -- Let's Read! Information and news releases furnished by the members of Schwab Foundation for Learning, who are responsible for their fact and content. |
As a parent, you utilize many teaching skills every day with your
child. Parents can
provide valuable verbal experiences for their young children which will
help prepare them
for the reading skills they will later acquire. Language and thinking
skills are based on oral
communication. Summer provides an opportunity to work with your child on
expanding
language and thinking skills while also arousing and expanding individual
interests. Give
your child varied and frequent opportunities to experience success and
realize that learning
can be pleasant and exciting.
The following are some ways to expand the use of language, and subsequently make reading easier. These activities will increase readiness and pre-reading skills by expanding vocabulary and concepts, sharpening visual and aural perception, and teaching sequencing. Read aloud daily, while your child follows along. Have your child sequence the events in the pages of the story you read aloud. At the market or while doing other errands, have your child name items, places, and professionals serving you. Have your child help with errands and include both verbal and written instructions. Ask your child to explain the meaning of signs and symbols. A joyful experience together reciting a rhyme, singing a song, dramatizing a fable, playing a board game, solving a puzzle, classifying plants, or playing with puppets, can be as valuable as a phonetic drill or a spelling exercise. Reading proficiency, upon which other school success is dependent, rests upon ability, experiences, thinking, and growth in many areas. Below are some ideas to encourage growth in thinking within different skill areas. Describing/naming/classifying Have your child name groups of foods (like fruits), dishes, or objects around the house. Matching/sorting/comparing Collect coins, buttons, or pictures and sort by sizes, colors, or other distinct differences. Estimating and comparing weights and distances Take similar objects and guess which is heavier. Use a kitchen scale to check differences. Distinguishing/imitating/comparing sounds Name animals or vehicles of transportation and have your child imitate the sounds they make. Feeling/manipulating/describing shapes and surfaces Place small items in a "grab bag" and have your child put her hand in the bag and describe as many features as possible. Is it hard or soft? Is it round or straight? Coordinating eye and hand movements/tracing/drawing/associating letters Have your child make up a story from a picture. Work puzzles or solve riddles together. Cut comic pictures out and have your child sequence them. It is important to develop confidence and intellectual curiosity in your child. Motivate him to ask questions and remind him that there are many different ways to arrive at an answer. Persistence and effort will get results. Also, as you engage in these activities, remember to have fun. Laughing together is therapeutic. It is important to establish through these early educational activities that learning can be enjoyable while at the same time help to promote pride, confidence, and a sense of personal adequacy. A child's attitude towards learning and his perception of his personal relationship to the world, have as much to do with academic success as inherent ability. |
