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
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.