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Early Education Program - At-Home Learning

Week 1

Box Play!

Do you have boxes laying around after Christmas? Boxes provide great play opportunities for kids! 

-Make a fort or a house (add Christmas lights for extra fun).

-Use a flat piece and draw a town (add roads for little cars, stores and traffic lights). Extend the play by adding blocks, a small play house or play animals! 

-Put markers inside a box... jump inside to decorate!

-Turn your box into your child's favourite play theme (rocket, castle etc).

-Create a tunnel in the sides of the box for your child's cars, trains or trucks to go through.

-Set boxes up around the living room, throw stuffed animals or little balls into the boxes. How many can you get into the boxes?

 

 

Be a Detective!

Use your detective skills to remember what you have seen and figure out the sound you hear! The games below are from Building Brains Together. Who knew simple games could work on so many skills?

~Inhibitory Control (being able to stop and think before acting)
~Attention and Working Memory
~Emotional Control
~Object Permanence
~Language Skills

Click here to learn how to play a couple Executive Functioning Games!

Interested in more brain building games? Check out buildingbrains.ca

 

Loose-Parts Letters

Loose Parts are any items that can be used and combined in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials. These materials are often natural, but they don't have to be: popsicle sticks, rocks, beads, thread spools, blocks, buttons, and branches are all examples of loose parts.

 

As children learn to recognize letters, they are also entering the beginning stages of being able to write them. Loose parts are a great way to work on letter recognition and pre-printing skills! 

  • Turn small loose parts (like rocks, gems, bottle caps etc.) into alphabet manipulatives! These can be used for introducing letters and their sounds individually.
  • Children can use small loose parts to trace the shape of written letters or to shape and “write” letters on their own. Click here for some printable letters. 
  • Letters don't have to be small! Loose parts can be used to trace letters made from masking tape on the floor or even sidewalk chalk drawn outside.
  • For older readers and writers, you can use loose parts letters to practice creating words
  • Loose parts play in general promotes fine motor and gross motor development, strengthening the muscles needed for writing later on. Smaller loose parts encourage the use of tiny muscles in the hand while playing with heavier and larger objects can encourage development of larger muscles in the body and core.

Story Time "Mud Puddle"

Read or listen to “Mud Puddle” by Robert Munsch

Mud Puddle

While reading the story pause and ask your child:

What do you think will happen next? What would you do if a mud puddle jumped on you?

After listening to the story:

Have your child retell or act out the events of the story. Take turns playing the parts of Jule-Ann and the mud puddle.

 

Create some 'mud' with your child. What will jump in your mud puddle?

No-Cook Chocolate Play Dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Put all ingredients into a bowl.  Mix until a ball starts to form.  Let cool for a few minutes then knead the playdough until the consistency is right. 

 

  

Shape Hunt!

Try going on a hunt to find different shapes around your house or in your neighbourhood. You can do this activity as an "I spy" style game, or use the attached printable as a bingo card for children to mark off as they find different shapes. 

Shape Hunt Chart

For extra fun, try listening to these silly robots sing about shapes and where you can find them! 

                                           

Winter "Small World" Play

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Many young children really enjoy small worlds play. Below are some ideas for winter themed small world activities. 

Small world play is creating a small "scene"  that invites children to play. You can use miniature items (such as miniature furniture or animals) in the environment you create, as well as loose parts (bits and pieces that suit the theme but are open ended in what you can do with them- think popsicle sticks, pom-poms, water beads etc.) or sensory items like water or sand. They can be super simple, or  get more complex depending on the materials you have on hand. The goal is for the child to act out ideas from real life or reenact stories they know. It’s a wonderful, rich time of learning!

Some ideas: 

"Snow Pups" (photo from busytoddler.com): Tray, Mini Trees, a box of Baking Soda, small Paw Patrol or puppy toys

“Winter Small World with Natural Materials” (photo from littlepinelearners.com): evergreen clippings, branches, wood slices, pebbles, white beads and gems (snow), tinfoil (frozen pond), woodland animal figurines

“Artic Animals Small World” (photos from whereimaginationgrows.com and pinterest.com) -ice-cubes, crushed ice or snow, water in clear dish, blue food coloring, arctic animals OR cotton balls, blue gems, arctic animals, miniature igloo 

Add  Snow Dough to your small world play!

Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar

Who Stole the Cookie From The Cookie Jar? Read along to solve the mystery! 

One important early literacy skill a child needs is sound awareness. Understanding that words can be broken down into syllables and syllables can then be broken down into individual sounds will help your child learn to read down the road.

Print out the game below. Slowly say each word, help your child decide how many syllables or word parts each word has. If you don't want to print out the activity, say a word and have your child drum out the syllables with a wooden spoon and pot! 

Counting Syllables

Making cookies is always a fun learning opportunity! Let your child use the visuals below to bake their own cookies (with adult assistance of course!!)

Cookies For 2 Recipe 

Mr Potato Head Play!

Playing with Mr. Potato head provides many language opportunities. If you don't have a Mr. Potato head, a doll, stuffed toy, or Barbie will work too! 

Work on vocabulary: 

Body Parts: Name the parts you put on as you play, have your child show you that part on their body too. Not sure... does mustache fit here??

Clothing Names: Often Mr. Potato includes different items like earrings, purse, hat, glasses etc.

Work on basic Concepts: label colours, show concepts like in/out, first/next/last and prepositional concepts like over/under/top/bottom.

Work on Social skills: Build a potato together, don’t let your child choose on your turn Work on turn taking, eye contact and being flexible in how the potato head turns out.

Use your potato head pieces in the snow (go outside or bring some snow in)!     Talk about where you are placing the pieces, ask why they choose a certain piece, ask where would you go dressed like that? 

*Don’t overwhelm your child with two many questions!  Sometimes making comments about what you are doing is more likely to have a child respond.

Click on the link below to see a great handout created for parents to find more ways to work on language goals through play!  

  Parent Handout ~ Ways to Play

 

Let's Play at the Grocery Store!

Take these ideas on your next trip to the grocery store OR create a pretend play grocery store at home!

Check out these great ideas for building language at the grocery store:

Grocery Handout

Print off the sheet below and have your child hunt for the items while you shop. Use the ideas in the handout above for ways to use this BINGO Hunt. 

Grocerybingo

Create grocery lists with your child. Draw a picture beside each item so your child can read the list too! Or cut pictures out of the grocery flyer to find what you need! 

Grocery List

 

Simon Says

Watch a fun way to play 'Simon Says' here!

This is a game that works on executive functioning skills. Simon Says helps children to grow their working memory (they need to remember the instructions and what they are supposed to be doing), it has them stop and think before acting, follow instructions and control their body movements!  

More command/direction ideas here!

If your child is ready for a challenge add 2-3 commands together, make sure they listen to the entire instruction before they start. 

These are super tricky...listen carefully! 

  • Touch your nose then your toes 'GO'
  • Before you jump up and down rub your belly 'GO'
  • Don't touch your ears just touch your knee 'GO'

My Week at School

Activities and ideas for Early Education At-Home learners.

Music & Movement

Songs and other music activities with Mr Andrew Ichikawa.

Parent Corner

A place for parents to connect and learn. Updated regularly, please check for new content!

Brain Games

Building Brains Together - Highlighted Curriculum Games with Tips for Parents

Early Education Program - At-Home Learning

Contact

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Lethbridge, AB T1J 2Z4