Working at home with your 3-6 year old

 

Practical Life

  • Food Prep/Cook/Bake with child

  • Folding laundry and putting clothes away

  • Sweeping/Dusting/Cleaning Surfaces

  • Hand washing dishes 

  • Clean and sanitize toys

  • Organize play items

  • Practice dressing self

    • Shoe lacing, zipping, buttoning, putting clothes on (including shoes and socks)

  • For older children, invite them to make a planner (like in school) and plan their day, including time for writing (drawing/using a pencil), reading, counting, and creative work. 

Sensorial

  • Nature walk- see what types of leaves are on trees 

    • leaf handout

    • Compare what they see in each season

    • For older children, invite them to collect leaves and write out labels for them using the handout as reference. 

  • Sorting by category 

    • For example: Lego shapes, color sorting

    • Identify plane shapes in home or outside and sort (triangle, rectangle, square, circle, hexagon, trapezoid, ellipse, etc) 

    • Create a “mystery bag” of objects from your home and take turns feeling the object (without looking) and identifying the object. 

  • Spacial awareness activities

    • Organizing items by height/length/weight

    • Fitting smaller items into a bigger item

Language

Sing simple songs while working on a task or to gather before an occasion/event

  • Read short poems

  • Conversations with child

    • Share a reflection about an event you and the child experiences

      • Ask them who what where when why 

      • Listen and respond 

  • Beginning/middle/end “I spy” phonetic sounds of objects:

    • find 5 objects in your home with different beginning sounds (spoon, fork, jar, cup, toy) line them up and name them with your child

    •  ask the child “I spy something that starts with the sound sssss” ask your child to give you the object and place it aside. Continue for all objects. 

    • Increase the difficulty with asking for end sounds and middle sounds. 

  • For older children, invite them to label the environment or read labels that you write. 

    • sit in a room and talk about what objects are in the room (establish vocabulary: lamp, rug, window, etc) 

    • use strips of paper and write a label, 

    • invite them to read the label and place it with the object. Continue for as many or as few as you like, 

    • when finished, collect the labels and keep them for repetition 

Math

  • Quantify everything 

  • Point out number symbols 

Cultural Studies

  • Show child the world map with the 7 continents individually colored

    • Ask the child if they know any of the names of the continents

    • Google images about that continent’s culture that the child can relate to

      • For example:

        • Foods, clothing, play yards, beaches, transportation, community helpers, celebrations, etc

Other learning experiences

  • Board Games/Card Games

    • Card game suggestions:

      • Uno, Go Fish, War

  • Grace and Courtesy Lessons

    • When a conflict arises between the child and another person

      • Model appropriate responses

    • When child’s movements are not self-controlled

      • Model appropriate movements 

  • Gardening

    • Till dirt

    • Plant seeds (can do indoors)

    • Water indoor plants

    • Prune plants (take dead leaves/etc off plants)

    • Observe the wildlife in garden

  • Create a calendar 

  • Let the child create art

    • Coloring, painting, cutting, gluing, collages, sculpting, playing instruments, create a beat while using a tool, reenact an event/create a short play, let the child take some pictures of nature or something they are experiencing, make a video with the child as the director

  • Large motor activities

    • check out Cosmic Kids Yoga

    • Have your child engage in heavy work, by carrying, pushing and pulling heavy things.