Finally - PART 5:
Continued - Here are some of the activities you can do together on a rain day that offer learning opportunities which will help your child with the most typical school expectations – responsibility, reading, arithmetic and writing . These “ready for school” activities can be done in your everyday routine.
Children learn best when they are interested and motivated. Stop the activity when your child loses interest. You want your child to stay excited about these activities and wanting more.
On a rainy day
◘ Responsibility Children learn to take responsibility for their own safety as we teach them about personal stranger awareness and personal space.
What would you do if? help your child learn to protect herself by asking her/him questions and acting out safety scenarios. Ask what s/he would do if s/he got lost in the shopping centre or was asked to help a stranger find a puppy.
Variation: reverse roles and let your child ask you. “What would you do if..?” Respond incorrectly occasionally so s/ he can correct you.
We are learning: responsibility, safety skills, problem solving skills and logic.
◘ Reading By retelling stories or dramatising them, children apply what they have seen and heard using their recollection and vocabulary. Retelling stories aid in comprehension.
Theatre at home: read one of your child’s favourite stories and have him/her act it out while you read. Choose a classic book like the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. S/he can pretend to be the caterpillar eating all the food.
Variation: involve other children and give them specific parts to play. Set up a home theatre with a curtain, make tickets, invite an audience and perform a play.
We are learning: storytelling, dramatisation, comprehension.
◘ Arithmetic Children need to understand numbers, measurement, and simple fractions to master the concept of money.
Pretend shopping: gather safe empty food containers or cans and label the containers with a price. Use prices between 1 and 10 pence. Give your child coins and let him/her “purchase” items.
Variation: reverse roles so that you “purchase” an item. Give him/her the incorrect amount of coins. Encourage him/her to see the mistake and help you count the correct number.
We are learning: Numbers, counting, money, exchange.
◘ Writing When we take dictation from children and then reread what they said, children learn that oral language can be written down and then read.
My first book report: read a favourite story to your child. Ask her/him to draw a picture and you write why s/he likes this character best. Reread to her/him what s/he said.
Variation: on another occasion, ask your child to draw something that happens in the book and include her/ his dictation at the bottom. Collect the different pictures and staple them as a book with the cover “my first book report”.
We are learning: storytelling, comprehension reporting.
These activities are a sample of the advice offered to parents on the “Ready for School” family activity cards compiled by Bright Horizons Family Solutions’ Nursery Group.
www. brighthorizons.co.uk