By: Joelle Lilleskare, Three Points (Medina) Preschool Director, Bellevue Christian School
Autumn and back to school season are upon us! Never have parents had so many schooling options to explore and decisions to make regarding education for their children. Regardless of the physical location of school for you family, you may have questions as to how to support the development of young children in our lives. As an early childhood educator, this is a question I’ve heard from parents many times. My first suggestion is to involve your child in the activities with you, if possible. Talk through your actions, problem-solve together, and encourage hands-on help. This might not be the answer a parent expects.
This post is sponsored by Bellevue Christian School.
As an alternative, I’ve listed a few strategies below that can promote learning, build relationships, and have fun! You may wish to try several. If you have some time to devote to an activity, try a learning focused play activity. When days are full, you may want to try small ways to incorporate learning on the go.
Learning focused play activities:
- As we read and enjoy stories together, a child’s language and literacy development are furthered.
- Cognitive learning is promoted as a caregiver and child conduct cause and effect experiments (what happens when….?), engage in dramatic play, sort, count, pattern, sequence, or compare.
- Demonstrate and label feelings, role play problem solving strategies, and have conversations about our feelings. In these activities a child ‘s social emotional development is supported.
- Chalk obstacle courses, running races, and balancing can encourage large motor development.
- Small motor development can be nurtured as a child uses training chopsticks, builds with small blocks, assembles puzzles, draws, and writes.
- Following your child’s curiosity by researching a topic together cultivates a lifelong love of learning.
Small ways to incorporate learning on the go:
- Expand conversations to explain new words and ask wondering questions that cannot be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ encourages language development.
- Point out print (such as signs) or play with sounds (such as rhymes) to practice literacy learning.
- Practice cognitive development skills while sorting laundry and matching socks or while cooking and baking. Use math talk such as big and little.
- Encourage your child’s safe exploration, offering problem solving help to nurture social emotional learning.
- Include your child in your own exercise routine to promote large motor development.
- Support your child’s efforts to dress and undress him or herself and eat with utensils to encourage fine motor development.
- Share how you’ve tried, failed, and tried a task again to model the learning process.
Ideas for sharing your spiritual life with your child:
- Tell your child what the Lord is teaching you in this season, if appropriate.
- Allow children to ‘catch you’ with the Lord so they see the value of your relationship with Him.
Especially in this season, schooling can seem unpredictable. Our consistent support for children’s development can be a valuable point of stability. I encourage your family to experiment with some of the ideas above and have fun together!
