Turn your environment into a magical world of
exploration and let your child develop his senses, his concentration and
his vocabulary while having lots of (messy) fun!
By Lindsay Small
Sometimes it
just takes a little imagination and time to turn your kitchen or bath
into a learning experience for your littlest ones - and everyone gets to
have fun in the process!
Pre-school children
need plenty of time to feel, smell, think and explore. Remember that
they can become easily overwhelmed, especially if they start out tired.
Use the ideas below to gather together collections from around your
house, trying to provide contrast and interest without over-stimulating.
Supervise your child carefully at all times - and join in while he
explores!
Water
Young children can play
for a long time with water! Gather a collection of utensils - small
buckets, scoops, spoons, pots, plastic beakers, whisks, sieves and so
on, checking them carefully for safety. Then fill up a large dishpan or
other container with warm water, sit it in front of them on a towel, and
let them have fun! If you include plastic jugs and bottles you can do
all sorts of volume experiments! Ask questions! Which jug holds more
water? How many cups of water do you need to fill up the big bottle? Can
you fit all the water in the big bottle into the little bottle? Why not?
What happens?
For obvious reasons, this is a
good activity for summer afternoons in the garden! Put a picnic rug on
the grass and enjoy.
Find a collection of objects which will
provide contrast for your child - a smooth towel, a soft teddy, a hard
brick, a shiny metal spoon, and so on. Hold them against your cheeks,
bang them on the table, sort them and enjoy them! Ask questions, and
develop vocabulary as you try this, using color words and other
descriptive words according to your objects.
Extension - shut your eyes and explore!
Further
extension - make a "feelie bag" out of a drawstring bag or an old
pillowcase and encourage your child to guess what is in it by feeling
the objects only.
Smell
Spend some time
concentrating on smells! Go for a walk outside and smell the grass, the
flowers, the leaves, the bark, the wind, the rain, the sun. Walk around
the house and look for smelly objects. What smells good? Soap? What
smells bad? The bin? Smell each other! Do smells change if you have your
eyes closed? What about if you open your mouth?
Extension - "Smell Jars". Collect together some small containers such as
film canisters or small plastic bottles. If necessary, cover the outside
with a strip of card. Put a small piece of cotton wool inside and add a
smell - perhaps lemon juice, lavender essential oil, washing up liquid,
dried rosemary. Don't use anything toxic! See if your child can identify
the smells. Which do they enjoy?
Hearing
Spend a fixed amount of time concentrating on the sounds
around you. Is it really quiet, or can you hear birds, traffic,
neighbors, animals, pipework, breathing? Do sounds change if you shut
your eyes? What about if you open your mouth? Can you hear yourself?
What sounds can you make? Gather some objects together
and see what noises you can make with them. Try kitchen objects such a
wooden spoons, saucepans and plastic containers. Make sure you add some
"quiet" objects such as fabric, paper or tissue so that your child can
experiment with those too.
Extension - make some
"musical instruments" out of cardboard boxes, dried beans and rubber
bands! Try greaseproof paper folded over a plastic comb (a "harmonica")
or a set of drums using cardboard boxes and wooden spoons.
Making Mixtures and Potions
My son's favorite
activity as a toddler was making potions - actually it was one of the
only things that would keep him occupied for more than 10 minutes at a
time!
Find an assortment of containers and then fill them
with bits and pieces from the kitchen. This is an especially useful
activity if you find dry goods which have passed their use-by date!
Think about lentils, dried peas and beans, rice, dried herbs and so on -
try to get a good variety of sizes and shapes and even smells. Powdered
poster paint can be fun too, in small quantities. Give your child a tray
and some empty containers, and a few utensils to stir with, and see what
happens. Many children will stir their mixtures around very happily - it
is strangely therapeutic!
After a while, if you
are feeling brave, you can add a few more liquid ingredients to the mix!
Try washing up liquid, colored water or even a little milk. Make sure
that you supervise at all times, and warn your child that nothing goes
in the mouth! If you added poster paint in the last stage, things will
get quite coloring now!
Obviously you usually
end with a big sticky brown mess - but this is all part of the fun. If
you need to rescue the containers and utensils, empty out the worst of
it into the bin and then let your child wash everything up!
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Early Learning Videos
Featuring bright colors, fun photos and cheerful music, these videos are aimed
at the younger age-group and introduce colors, numbers, letters and first words.
