What can we do at home?

Parents often ask what they can be working on at home?

Here are the guidelines:

1. Play! Play is so important and they learn so much from it. Play old school games like pick-up-sticks, if they are really little, let them watch you put puzzles together and talk through the puzzle as you do it so they can hear how you are sorting through the pieces. Roll a ball across the floor and eventually turn that into catch! Play sharing games where you pass something back and forth and talk about sharing.

2. Read! Make a habit of reading to your children every night no matter what. Follow the words as you go with your finger so they will learn that you read left to right and top to bottom on a page. They will love books if they learn to cherish this time with you early on.

Ages 4+ Early readers could start with BOB books, they are great! Make a key ring with sight words and go over them everyday. Add a new word to it once a week. Also, have a new vocabulary word each week and everyone in the family can try to use it in sentences around the dinner table!

3. Easy Access! If paper and crayons are in the basement, in that cabinet in a tub with a lid, chances are your child won't get to them very often. Create a small area in or near your kitchen {because let's face it, that's where families spend most of their time}. Get old magazines and paper and as they get older have them cut out the food or the flowers in the magazines. Color, color, color, even if it doesn't look like anything. The important part is the grip and learning to put pressure down on the page. Markers are too easy, crayons are best!

4. Talk about things! When you see a map of the world somewhere, point to continents and countries and discuss them. When you are in a restaurant, pull out pennies and nickels and dimes and talk about the size and shape. It's football season...talk about the numbers on the back of jerseys.

They are NEVER too young to start learning!