Being a stay at home mom means wearing several hats. If you have a toddler one of those hats is teacher. This job can seem overwhelming to many mothers for several reasons. Maybe they are afraid of “doing it” wrong or they don’t know where to start and what to use. Or, maybe it is merely the fact that it is just one more thing to add to their already hectic day. Well, I was a teacher. I mean a real elementary teacher. I have 2 degrees in education hanging on my wall. So I can honestly say, that of all the tasks I face as a mother, teaching my kids has never been an area of stress for me. Believe me though, there are others.
We, as a generation, are so incredibly blessed with a wealth of knowledge right at our fingertips. The Internet provides us with so many resources. Here are just some of my recommendations:
starting at about 6 months:
Sign Language:
http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/
http://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/13-sign-language-words-for-baby/
starting at about 12 months:
1. Memory joggers– I would ask my kids questions about things we did yesterday or last week. For example, “Remember yesterday when we went to Nana’s house? What did we eat for lunch? What color shirt was Nana wearing?”
Sounds silly, but my older kids now remember details about things from years ago and I am talking details that I don’t recall until they bring it up.
2. Practice fine motor skills like putting a raisin on a spoon and feeding self
3. READ! In many kindergarten classrooms, they have something called DEAR time. It stands for Drop Everything And Read. I think parents need to practice this at home long before the school years. Read, read and read. I know, there are many nights we don’t feel like reading a story before bedtime. But, really, it is only 5 minutes and the benefits are so great.
starting at about 18 months:
1. color flash cards–you can make your own with index cards and markers
2. shape flash cards– circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval to start with
3. Alphabet song
4. Count to 10–play games with cereal, blocks, etc.
5. READ! Get a library card and find a discount book store around you.
starting at about 2:
1. Hokey Pokey
2. Red Light, Green Light
3. Scribble Scrabble–paper and crayons
4. Post-It tag– get a pad of Post-it notes and tell your child to put a post in anything in the house that is green, or wood, or round. You choose and they tag it.
5. Play-do–but only if they are past the stage of eating non-food
6. Sidewalk chalk
7. Add in a few new shapes: diamond, pentagon, octagon
8. Continue to read, practice ABC’s and counting
starting at about 3:
1. http://true-learning.com/
2. http://www.hwtears.com/
Start working on handwriting early! Handwriting Without Tears is great. I used it with my daughter starting just before her 3rd birthday.
3. http://www.nickjr.com/parenting/ages_and_stages/3/index.jhtml
4. Art time- buy all kinds of arts and crafts stuff for them to paint, color, and glue.
5. Match up/Memory games
6. Any counting or ABC game—check your local teacher store
7. Patterns- you can buy manipulatives are you can use what you have on hand. Froot Loops can be used to make a color pattern–red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green, etc.
8. Sand and water table
9. READ
starting at age 4:
1. all the stuff listed at age 3, but the next level up
2. Begin working on letter sounds. Leap Frog has several toys that are great for this activity.
3. Write a story. They can draw the pictures and you can write the words to make a book.
4. Money- teach the concept of what equals a dollar. Use real money if you don’t want to buy play money. be careful if you have little ones around.
5. More fine motor skills: make a cereal necklace or use lacing cards
6. Photo walks- take a walk around your neighborhood or the mall and have your child look for certain things—red things, things that make noise, etc. You can take a picture, or if you have a camera for your child, have them take a picture. Print the pictures out and make a photo book. Kids at this age love to go exploring.
7. Four year olds love to help. Have your child help cook, clean, fold laundry, etc. Sure it won’t be done to perfection, but they love to feel a sense of accomplishment.
8. Re-build a book. Take apart a book and have your child put the story back in order. Or, have them re-write the story–well, you would have to write it as they told it to you.
9. If you find that your child is not challenged enough, you may even consider buying a home school kit for pre-k.
10. Yes, you guessed it…READ.
These are just a few of my suggestions. Your child may not like some of these activities or he may be ready for them earlier or later than I stated. You know your child best. Just remember to have fun. Try to incorporate one or two activities each day and they can be the same activities for awhile. Kids love to things over and over. When they have mastered something or they seem bored with it, move on to the next level.
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