Curricula and Learning Links - Preschool
Ideas for Teaching a Toddler
What can you do with your very young toddler? A mother of a 15 month old daughter wanted to know how she could help her little one learn. Below are the suggestions from the HomeschoolChristian.com Message Board participants.
BOOKS! books! MORE BOOKS! Read to her, and let her see you reading just for the fun of it. Have color days, where you wear and eat your chosen color! Shape days can involve cutting your sandwich in triangles and going on a treasure hunt for triangles in your house! TN Lizzie
Get the book Teaching from Cupboards and Closets by Moira Green.
Do lots of "science" experiments. Get a big bin, fill it with rice, and let your child just play in it. Give her scoops, water toys, etc. It's a great tactile sensation and a good way to use those water toys during the cooler winter months. You can supervise her around a candle ("Hot") then touch ice ("Cold"). Basic, but fun for a little kid! Let her blow the candle out. Go around the house and see how many cold things you can find.
Bake, cook and make play-dough together. Let your daughter roll out the dough and have a good time making cookies for Daddy. She'll be so proud to serve them herself!
Get a hula hoop (or two) and set them in the back yard for the beginnings of an obstacle course. Help your daughter walk a straight line on a rope, run through the hula hoops (a foot in each) and culminate on a Little Tykes slide or whatever you've got. My kids went through 3 of those squishy tunnels you can fold up, curve or whatever. Those are great!
Now is a good time to start her thinking. Ask her, "Can you build a tower with 3 blocks? How about with five?" She starts to count on her own. Then ask, "Can you put a square block on a triangle block? What happens?" At this point she may just be able to say "Boom!" or whatever, but she's starting to think about how shapes relate to one another. SoCalPam
She will learn much just by everyday living. Watching Mom make dinner, playing with blocks, beans, buttons, measuring cups and so forth builds mathematical and motor skills. When you speak to her, mention the color of things, the shape of things. This should all be very informal at this age. Some kids aren't even walking at 15 months!
Strictly limit or eliminate TV.
And now I will say something that might many might not agree with. I am not a big fan at all of play groups. Why not? The fruit of these groups, in my experience in talking to young moms, is that the moms inevitibly go home thinking there's something wrong with their child because he/she can't do what some other child can do. None of us think we'll do this, but we do. I've seen much damage done by well meaning moms telling other moms about how brilliant their kids are, how they are (for instance) teaching them Latin at age 2, and doing advanced mathematics at 3. The end result is that young moms tend to go home thinking they need to get cracking with academics when the child really should be allowed to be a child.
What about social interaction with other kids then? At this young age it's more important that the child learn how to obey mom and dad right away. This takes lots of practice and patience on the parents' part, but is well worth it. If you're concerned that she doesn't play well with other kids, know that it's quite normal for kids to play independently, right next to each other, until they are 3 or so. That's how they're wired. If you want her to have some interaction with other kids you could sign up for a Mommy and Me swim class at the Y, or take her to reading time at the library. Eliza in WI
Read aloud to her every day: poems, nursery rhymes, songs, fingerplays, as well as books. Before Five in a Row is a guidebook that goes along with some really great children's picture books. It is an excellent resource to use when your daughter hits two. It is not a curriculum, but rather, is chock full of great learning ideas and activities. Stepping Stones for Faith for Little People by Joyce Hertzog and the Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos are must haves, too, when your daughter gets a wee bit older.
Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready is also a GREAT book to have on hand also. I would invest in a copy of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. You can use these for the rest of your child's learning years--on up to high school. - Patricia
Other books that essentially have learning based games in them are the Games to Play with Your Baby / Toddler / Preschooler by Jackie Silberg, and Gymboree has put out a fun book with learning-based games in it. Also, arts and crafts, playing in water and sand (early science) are all great ways to explore the world. I could not agree more with the recommendations to seize the moments for child training. My 19 month old has "school" about 5 minutes 3 times a week (ideally) and we sit on pillows in circle time and do one nursery rhyme and one other learning activity from the books mentioned above. Besides this, we have "sit time" ever day where she is required to sit still and look at books (about 5 minutes). While she may be learning academically (pre reading skills, some mathematical concepts, sequencing etc.), the main purpose is training, and will help her with her learning later. - Carol
Other Resources
Distracting Pre-schoolers
Ideas for keeping little ones busy while you work with older children. Advice from HomeschoolChristian.com
Homeschooling 3 and 4 Year Olds Suggestions on Paula's archives
Find more free curricula and resources on HomeschoolChristian.com's Curricula Page Index!
See more Preschool Resources.
