Nurture Younger Learners At Home

 

As we all are aware, pre-school years are considered to be the most important years in every child’s life. The rate of maturation and development of the brain is greatest in these years. Parents, being the primary care-givers, are the first doorway to the child’s world of knowledge.

Early childhood education focuses on ‘learning through action’ by providing an interactive atmosphere to children, where they learn about themselves and the world around them by playing and exploring things.

The current lockdown has given parents extra time with their kids to create a hands-on and purposeful blueprint to savour the moments we have got together with our children. As teachers, it’s important for us to suggest and conduct interactive activities with our younger learners to help them develop skills.

Here are some great activities to have a fun time with your children, nurture your emotional bond, instil better learning, keep them engaged and build wonderful memories for many years to come.

Top 10 Ways to Keeping Your Children Engaged During Lockdown

 Activity 1 – The ‘Memory game’ 

Include as many family members as possible in the game.

For example:

• Select any theme like fruits, vegetables, animals, etc.)
• The first person will start by saying the word ‘mango’ out loud.
• Then, the second person will add a fruit of his/her own choice and then say, ‘mango/orange’.
• The third person will follow the same method and say, ‘mango, orange, apple’ and so on.
• This will continue until one member forgets the correct sequence of the names.

Learning outcomes: This game helps build your children’s memory along with everyone else’s in the house. It also helps them learn new words and improve their vocabulary.

It is an engaging game where members of any age ground can join in and play.

 Activity 2 – ‘I Spy with My Little-Little Eye’ 

Ask your children to find an object in the room that starts with any letter, for example- the letter ‘B’.  Likewise, ask them to find specific coloured objects for example- ‘blue’ objects. Also, you can ask them to find objects of specific shapes for example- ‘find round-shaped objects in a specific room.’

Learning outcomes: This game helps children develop observation skills and helps channelize their energy. They also learn about new shapes, colours and learn to identify them.

 Activity 3 – Housie 

Make a housie ticket for all the members of the family. Use only specific letters or 3-letter words for example- ‘bat’, ‘mat’, ‘sat’ that your children have already learnt in school. Call out a specific letter or a 3-letter word as done in a usual housie game. Ask them to cross it out or circle it if it is present in their ticket.

Learning outcomes: This game helps children revise all the letters and words in the form of a game. It also helps increase their attention span.

 Activity 4 – Strike it 

Place empty cans, bottles, or related objects in a specific manner. Find a sponge ball, or a ball with a soft texture. Ask your children to aim towards the placed objects and hit them with the ball.  You can give different points to objects placed further away. For example- the furthermost object will have more points than the closest object.

Learning outcomes: This game helps your children focus and increase their concentration levels. It will also improve their motor skills, hand-eye coordination and muscle memory.

 Activity 5 – Balancing the Balloon 

Teach your children to fill air in balloons and tie them. Give them straws. Ask them to move the balloon in the upward direction by blowing through the straw. Once the balloon goes up, ask them to keep tapping or punching them up with their hands. Ask them not to let the balloon fall on the ground or else the game is over.

Learning outcomes: They learn how to balance the balloon in the air, where their energies are channelized in a particular direction. It also helps in building concentration and keeps them agile.

 Activity 6 – Bring it On 

Place a few objects at the centre of the room and mark a circle around it. Ask your children to find and get anyone object that you name. Ask them to hop, jump, run etc. while getting the object back to you.

Learning outcomes: They will get plenty of physical exercise, muscle movement and develop their motor skills. It also helps improve their listening skills.

 Activity 7 – Sight Reading 

Label a few objects in your house. For e.g. furniture like sofa, cupboard, chair etc. Let the child repeat the names of all these objects that have been labelled. This activity should continue on a daily basis so that it is reiterated.

Learning outcomes: It helps children learn correct spellings since it is a form of visual learning.

 Activity 8 – Find the Letter 

Give your children a page from your newspaper. Give them one specific letter. For e.g. ‘C’.  Ask them to circle this letter wherever it appears in the newspaper.

Learning outcomes: This will help your children build a recognition of letters, observation skills and increase their concentration.

 Activity 9 – Pattern/Coding 

As shown in the picture, give your children a few empty cups. Draw any pattern of your choice as shown in the picture and give each cup a specific colour code. Ask your children to arrange the cups as shown in the paper.

Learning outcomes: Children start recognizing a sense of pattern around them. It also helps in increasing their observation skills.

 Activity 10 – Counting Activity 

Take 7 bowls and arrange them as shown in the picture. Make a number of coloured chips out of waste paper as shown in the picture. Place numbers in the middle bowl as shown in the picture. Ask your children to place only those number of chips in the respective bowls.

Learning outcomes- Children learn the value of the numbers and counting too. It also helps them develop analytical skills.

Looking at the current crucial situation of lockdown, children are going through lot of emotional transition. But, as parents, what can we do to help our children in this phase? How can we connect emotionally with them in a better way? Also, how do we keep our children away from electronic gadgets during this lockdown situation?