My daughter just turned three and will be entering pre-school this fall. I wanted to know ways that we could prepare her for pre-school at home with simple things that we already had at home. I have compiled this list to save you the trouble since I already found them I thought I would be nice and share it with everyone.
8. Drawing and coloring- Expose your toddler to colors and drawing as soon as you can. Talk with them while you do this. you can say things like you are drawing with the purple crayon, would you like to try the redone.
7. Alphabet- work on the children recognizing the big and little versions of each letter. We have her sing the ABC song when she washes her hands to know she is doing it long enough. The other resource we use is the ABC book by Dr. Seuss it is by far their favorite book this past month.
6. Concept of Big and little- Show them things that are big and little throughout the day. You can say that is a big tree and that is a little tree while pointing to them.
5. Concept of Many and one- The one is especially important since a common phrase is, just take one or only use one at a time. The dinner table and drawing time have been our easiest places to introduce it. We say just take one bite at a time or just use one crayon at a time.
4. Scissors- just introduce them to using them. Draw a straight line on paper and have them try to cut along the line. If they get that down use the shapes that are in the section below.
3. Shapes- Common shapes are important also. We have a shape sorter which made it easy. It had square, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, star, heart, hexagon, circle, and a crescent. If they get those down they are well on their way.
2. Being able to socialize- This may be harder for kids who are staying at home with their moms and do not go to daycare or playgroups. Daycare is a great place to instill this with so many other kids around. If your toddler is not around other toddlers and does not have to share, then get them around other toddlers through some mean. Put them in a summer reading program at the library for free. Network, use Meetup.com to find other moms or dads that are in playgroups.
1. Vocabulary- Introduce them to all these sections and their vocabulary should be well suited for the preschool classroom. always talk, use as many adjective as you can. Explain everything to your child. They want to know what things are and how the world works around them. Talk throughout each activity and ask them questions too. Try and get them to respond using their new vocabulary in order to cement it in there.
All of these things can be completed with simple items around the house and just need to be included in the activities you do with your toddler.
