The Importance of Early Childhood Education & Development – At Home Activities

We are halfway through the school year, time really does fly when you are having fun. If your child is a pre-K’er, I am sure you are starting to think about next year…. kindergarten!  And the number one question you should ask yourself is how prepared is your child?  Following are some fun home preschool activities to your student become more prepared for kindergarten:

"I Spy With My Little Eye" Game

You will need:

• Letter flash cards, letter puzzle pieces or anything that has a single letter on it.  I use some felt letters my students made, which would be a fun art and learning project to do with your kiddo
• A room full of various objects

How to play:

• Put the letters in a pile
• Have your child draw a letter
• Ask them find something in the room that starts with that letter: “B”- Book
• When they have a match put the letter and the object together
• Keep doing this until they get through all 26 letters or when they are “done”

Challenge: time the activity

Challenge: after getting a few matches, put all the objects in a pile and have your child find the letter of the word for which the object begins

What this activity develops:

• Letter recognition
• Phonemic awareness - the ability to hear and identify letter sounds
• Makes learning fun!

“Letter Sound Challenge” Game

You will need:

• Letter flash cards, letter puzzle pieces (same as above)

How to play:

• Place a handful of letters on the floor so they are visible
• Yell out a simple word (cat, dog, fish, etc.)
• The object of the game is to find the letter the word begins with

Challenge: If your pre-K’er is a little more advanced have them find the last letter in the word

What this is activity develops:

• Letter recognition
• Phonemic awareness - the ability to hear and identify letter sounds
• Auditory Modality of Learning - the child has to “hear” the word and “listen” for the letter sound, not “see” it.  Here is some more information about the 3 Modalities of Learning:

http://www.mindworksresources.com/p-324-3-primary-learning-modalities-every-person-uses.aspx

For more ideas on at home educational exercises follow me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/blossomingbuds/. To learn more about Seattle’s best preschool and drop-off childcare visit www.blossomingbudspreschool.com and www.blossomingbudscottage.com.