Year: 2011

Using Words To Describe Directionality

A lot of parents assume their super verbal and proficient little ones have a wider speaking vocabulary than listening vocabulary.  It is not that your little one doesn’t “know” the words they are looking for, but there are certain language concepts that are not yet part of their speaking vocabulary.

For instance, if I asked your little one to look “under” the table to find my pencil, he or she probably wouldn’t hesitate.  Your little one probably knows the word “under” in context enough to search in the direction that I am referring to.  Or, if I am “under” a table and I asked your little one where I was he or she might state, “Under the table” using the position word “under.”  But, in the context that I had a doll “under” something and asked your little one to describe where the doll is in their words.  He/she may or may not use words to describe directionality like (under, next to, through, between, back, on top, over, above, etc.)

So, to work on developing this skill through a natural progression from head knowledge to incorporating these words into their oral voacbulary and using them abstractly, I am going to give you a series of position word activities using pictures of Casey’s little ones because she is such an awesome mommy teacher – check out her kidspiration blog 🙂

1) Playing Copy Cat Games:  Casey loves to play these games with her little “Leyson man.”  This is very similar to “simon says” – ask your little one to copy you as you place your hands “Over” your head, “between” your knees, “beside” your cheeks, etc.

 

Casey's little one, James, hiding under the bed!

2) Hide and Seek: Hide a toy and give directions using position words for your little one to find it, “The block is between the couch pillows.”

3) Act it out with your whole body:  “Can you hide under the bed?  Can you climb on top of the stool?  Can you jump over the pillow?”  This part of the activity helps little ones meet the needs of learning through movement!Casey’s little one, Leyson, practicing position words with his farm animals!

Casey's little one, Leyson, practicing position words with his farm animals!

 4) Act it out with toys:  “Can your cow jump over the farmhouse? Can your pig squeeze through the doorway?”  This helps the little ones needs to learn in a hands-on way!

5) Use words to give directions: Place something (like a doll’s purse) between two chairs, then dialogue with your little one “Pretend that I cant find the Barbie’s favorite purse, but you know where it is!  Without showing me, can you use your words to tell me where it is?”

Homemade Newspaper

Growing up, when my cousins and I would get together we would always come up with new and inventive ideas for dramatic play.  At times we ran a shoe store with all of my grandmother’s shoes that we would place a tag of our own, made-up price (which was a great math activity).  Other times we would run a snack shop or bakery.

My personal favorite scenario was our News Stand.  We made newspapers based on the information that we gathered from our own experiences or imaginations and modeled them after the structure of an actual newspaper article.

There are so many learning opportunities wrapped up in this scene.  I recommend sparking the idea with your little one “Oooh, let’s make our own newspaper today that Daddy can read tomorrow morning before he goes to work!”

I realize that times have changed and newspapers are not the main source of information, but I still think that this should be something that you and your child can do together that will build researching skills, teach your little one how to collect information and re-create it inventively, develop creative writing skills, and much more.  How exciting to see what your little one might come up with or what he/she is interested in writing about.   How many different articles might you have (a comic strip, a weather report, a community article, etc.)?  You and your little one could team up – you could be the journalist (writing down everything your little one dictates) while your little one is the illustrator.  There are so many open-ended possibilities!

Learn to a Tune – Mommy Teachers Share!

YouTube can be a hard resource to sort through safely and efficiently. I have searched for several songs and videos that help little ones learn to a tune while being able to move their little bodies, and I have found that my “teacher library” serves me best when searching. So I thought I would share a couple that I think are done well, and all you mommy teachers can share (in a comment) other videos that you find to be great learning resources so we can all glean from each other’s finds.

And click here for a great resource for powerpoints made to go along with music that you may already have downloaded or on CD’s. I use these to PRINT them and make songbooks and make CD’s of my own with my selections. See an example of one that I have made here.

Congratulations to the Giveaway winner!

Rafflecopter chose entry #30 – Sheralyn!  Congratulations!

I contacted this mommy teacher who is a mom of two adorable boys, Nasby (4) and Jude (8 months).  Nasby goes to preschool three days a week, and his hard working momma works the evening shift as a nurse twice a week.  She says that her boys love to learn and soak up every learning opportunity she provides.  Well Sheralyn, enjoy your quiet book!  🙂

Thanks so much to Pacific Kid – I love your products and I will certainly be buying them as a mommy teacher myself!  Don’t forget mommy teachers….there is a LIMITED TIME discount for mommy teachers on their site….promo code “Mommy10”  so order those gifts in time for the holidays 🙂

As a former Early Childhood Teacher I would’ve loved one of their products for my classroom, so maybe you can buy your little one’s teacher a gift for Christmas!

Tear-ific AbC’s & 123’s

If you liked the Tear-ific Artwork activity idea from last week and if you are currently working on letter (or number) recognition, then you will love this activity idea.

Using the letter or number templates I made for an activity book in the past: Alphabet Color Font PDF or Numbers Color Font PDF, you can help your little one manipulate letter and number formation for better memory recall.

Guide your little one to fill in the outline of the letters and/or numbers with little scraps of paper that he/she has torn piece by piece.  This helps your little one to really take his/her time learning the letter or number formation (how it is formed), as well as develop his/her fine motor skills, dexterity, and spatial skills.

Make a colorful alphabet or counting book or use this activity as a special art activity for the letter of the week.

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