Chores

Chores







Any household task can become a good learning game and can
be fun.


What you'll need


Jobs around the home that need to get done, such as:

Doing the laundry
Washing and drying dishes
Carrying out the garbage
Setting the dinner table
Dusting


What to do


1. Tell your child about the job you will do together.
Explain why the family needs the job done. Describe how
you will do it and how your child can help.

2. Teach your child new words that belong to each job. "Let's
put the placemats on the table, along with the napkins."

3. Doing laundry together provides many opportunities to
learn. Ask your child to help you remember all the clothes
that need to be washed. See how many things he can name.
Socks? Tshirts? Pajamas? Have him help you gather all the
dirty clothes. Have your child help you make piles of
light and dark colors.

Show your child how to measure out the soap, and have him
pour the soap into the machine. Let him put the items into
the machine, naming them. Keep out one sock. When the
washer is filled with water, take out a sock. Let your
child hold the wet sock and the one you kept out. Ask him
which one feels heavier and which one feels lighter. After
the wash is done, have your child sort his own things into
piles that are the same (for example, T-shirts, socks).



Home chores can help children learn new words, how to
listen and follow directions, how to count, and how to sort.
Chores can also help children improve their physical
coordination and learn responsibility.


4 to 5 Years


What to expect


Children this age

* Are active and have lots of energy;

* May be aggressive in their play;

* Can show extremes from being loud and adventurous to
acting shy and dependent;

* Enjoy more group activities because they have longer
attention spans;

* Like making faces and being silly;

* May form cliques with friends and can be bossy;

* May change friendships quickly;

* May brag and engage in name-calling during play;

* May experiment with swear words and bathroom words;

* Can be very imaginative and like to exaggerate;

* Have better control in running, jumping, and hopping but
tend to be clumsy;

* Are great talkers and questioners; and

* Love to use words in rhymes, nonsense, and jokes.


What they need


Children this age need opportunities to

* Experiment and discover within limits;

* Use blunt-tipped scissors, crayons, and put together
simple jigsaw puzzles;

* Practice outdoor play activities;

* Develop their growing interest in academic things, such as
science and mathematics, and activities that involve
exploring and investigating;

* Group items that are similar (for example, by size);

* Stretch their imaginations and curiosity; and

* See how reading and writing are useful (for example, by
listening to stories and poems, dictating stories, and by
talking with other children and adults).



"Hands-on" Math







Real-life, hands-on activities are the best way to
introduce your preschooler to mathematics!


What you'll need


Optional:

Blocks
Dice or dominoes


What to do


1. Talk a lot about numbers and use number concepts in daily
routines with your preschooler. For example:

* Cooking. "Let's divide the cookie dough into two parts so
we can bake some now and put the rest into the freezer."

* Home projects. "We're going to hang this picture 6 inches
above the bookshelf in your room."

* Home chores. "How many plates do we need on the table? One
for Mommy, one for Daddy, and one for Jenny."



It's best not to use drills or arithmetic worksheets with
young children. These can make children dislike math because
they don't fit with the way they learn math naturally.

2. Talk about numbers that matter most to your
preschooler--her age, her address, her phone number, her
height and weight. Focusing on these personal numbers
helps your child learn many important math concepts,
including:

* Time (hours, days, months, years; older, younger;
yesterday, today, tomorrow). To a young child, you might
say, "At 2 o'clock we will take a nap." When you plan with
an older preschooler (4 or 5 years old), you could point
out, "It's only 3 days until we go to Grandma's house.
Let's put an X on the calendar so we'll know the day we're
going."

* Lengths (inches, feet; longer, taller, shorter). "this
ribbon is too short to go around the present for Aunt
Susan. Let's cut a longer ribbon."

* Weight (ounces, pounds, grams; heavier, lighter; how to
use scales). "You already weigh 30 pounds. I can hardly
lift such a big girl."

* Where you live (addresses, telephone numbers). "These
shiny numbers on our apartment door are 2-1-4. We live in
apartment number 214." Or "When you go to play at Terry's
house, take this note along with you. It's our phone
number: 253-6711. Some day soon you will know our phone
number so you can call me when you are at your friend's."

3. Provide opportunities for your child to learn math. For
example:

* Blocks can teach children to classify objects by color and
shape. Blocks can also help youngsters learn about depth,
width, height, and length.

* Games that have scoring, such as throwing balls into a
basket, require children to count. Introduce games such as
dominoes or rolling dice. Have your child roll the dice
and count the dots. Let her try to roll for matches. Count
favorite toys.

* Books often have number themes or ideas.