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Friday Fun Facts - easy, meaningful ways to Engage preschoolers



Summit Early Learning Center developed an informational program with tools and resources for parents and families to bridge their children's learning between home and school.



learning by observing


The great thing about a treasure hunt is that it can be done anywhere to build a child’s observation skills in a fun, relaxed way. . .


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Many Benefits of Music


Incorporating music into your child’s life from birth positively affects their brain development. Research shows that music’s . . .


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Learning to make decisions


Offer your child a couple of options in a decision that is coming soon, such as tomorrow’s clothes. Your child will practice . . .


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Increasing levels of independence


If you or someone else in your home speaks a language other than English, your child has an excellent opportunity to become bilingual. . .


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Increasing levels of independence


Growing up involves increasing levels of independence in many tasks. Learn how to plan projects to prepare your preschooler for responsible use of materials and supplies. , .


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Goal Setting at an early age


Over a period of days, teach your child a skill that involves several steps. Your child may notice her own progress. She will see that difficult skills are . . .



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Problem solving


When your child faces a problem, offer two possible solutions and let him choose the best option. This encourages him. . .




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Helping Your Child Build a Sense of Identity


With your child, write and talk about his/her name, address, and phone number. Your child will begin to memorize some identifying facts . . .




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building their own viewpoints and values


Give simple but thoughtful answers to your child’s how and why questions. From your honest answers to serious questions . . .




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Making nutritious Food choices


Good nutrition is an essential element to your preschooler's growth. Building healthy eating habits can be tricky, especially if you have a picky eater. Here are some basic guidelines you can try to follow to maximize the health benefits food has for your child and avoid dietary pitfalls.



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asking the right questions


Reading with your child offers many benefits. Asking your child questions while you read together, expands those benefits exponentially. Learn some questions to ask and see what happens!


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Learning from nature


Learn the secret of pine cones! Check out these fun activities you can do with them to build curiosity and expand your preschooler's knowledge.


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Matching & sorting


As a parent, did you know that your child can learn basic math skills by matching and sorting? Understanding shape, size, color and how to group like items helps build important pre-math skills.


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National Dairy Month


There's no moo-staking the health benefits dairy offers growing preschoolers, or the fact that ice cream and summertime go hand-in-hand!


Take Midwest Dairy's Undeniably Dairy Trivia Quiz with your children to see how much you know about the dairy industry and fun dairy food facts.


TAKE THE QUIZ


Summer Reading


Children of all ages can benefit from reading aloud with someone. Find out why and how to make reading an adventure this summer.


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summertime funtime


Looking for ways to keep your youngsters active and learning during the summer break?


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Tactile Development


Tactile development is hugely important for a preschooler and influences most areas of a preschooler's cognitive and social-emotional growth and skill development.


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creating a story


“Tell me a story” is a child's common bedtime plea, but turning the tables to get your child to tell you a story can be just as meaningful to her language and literacy development.


Creating stories helps children learn to put ideas together. . .


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switching the ball


Movement is not just a great way to help your preschoolers expend all of that extra energy. Combining variety and challenge with physical activities also helps develop the higher areas of your child’s brain.


READ MORE for fun gross motor activities.


counting real objects


Learning to count is not as simple as reciting your 1,2,3’s in order, also called “rote learning.” While this approach will help children become familiar with numbers, giving them real objects to count is even better in helping their brains learn the concept.


READ MORE for basic ideas and fun, creative games and activities to take counting to a new level.


Healthy Eating at Home


This #EveryKidEatsHealthy week is a great reminder that Healthy Eating at Home Matters!


The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats many foods on his journey to becoming a butterfly. You can help your child on his or her own journey to grow up healthy and strong.


READ MORE about building your preschooler's healthy eating habits with fun, creative tips.


shoe measurement


Children arrive at preschool with an everyday understanding of measurement that starts in infancy.


Shoe comparison supports learning about measurement and comparing the lengths of items.


READ MORE about building your preschooler's knowledge of measurement concepts.


Opposite sentences


Research has proven that vocabulary development is related to later reading skills and school success in general.


One way to introduce and reinforce new words is by encouraging conversations that use opposite words.


READ MORE about how building conversations around opposite sentences will help build your child's vocabulary.


Opposite motions


Up, Down.

Left, Right.

Sit, Stand.

Smile, Frown.

Shout, Whisper.

Open, Close.


A child’s brain has mirror neurons that automatically fire when watching your actions. It is a challenging activity to do the opposite of what they see.



READ MORE about why practicing opposite motions has far reaching benefits for your preschooler.​​


Patterns


Developing patterns is a challenging task which helps develop the thinking area of the brain. A child’s brain focuses on patterns.


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Bath time


We all know that parents can spend hours every week on bath time with their toddlers, but did you realize that all of that scrubbing time is perfect learning time too?


Here's some ways to make bath time fun as you turn your bathtub into an interactive aquatic classroom.


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Rhyming


With their advancing language development, a child is learning to do fun games with words. Rhyming is fun but takes a lot of practice for your child to hear the difference in the words.


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Play a card game


Being able to see similarities and differences helps prepare a child’s brain for learning the letters of the alphabet and reading.


A simple deck of cards can provide dozens of opportunities for fun, learning and brain development. Here’s an easy game to start learning “same” and “different.”


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positive reinforcement


Communication requires the right delivery for a message to be received in the best way possible. For young children, how something is said can also influence how a child’s brain creates connections.


Children tune into emotions in their environment very quickly. Shouting and commands make more connections in their brain areas that respond to stress. Loving, caring and fun interactions creates more positive brain connections.


Pay attention to all of their good behaviors and all of the things they are learning. When you notice the positive things they do, make sure you let them know. You can tell them you saw them doing something, or you can give them a hug, smile, or thumbs up.


To explore more fun, caring ways to encourage your child, visit:


https://www.verywellfamily.com/positive-reinforcement-child-behavior-1094889


https://www.newkidscenter.com/positive-reinforcement-for-children.html



preschool fitness & exercise


We know that moving with intention leads to optimal learning for students.


While fitness and exercise should be year-round priorities for our preschoolers, it can be hard to find time to fit everything into an already busy day.


Remember that physical activity is cumulative throughout the day. Actions at home and school all count toward your preschooler’s goal to move more.


For ideas on ways to make exercise fun and interesting, no matter where or when, for your preschooler, visit

https://www.verywellfamily.com/physical-activity-for-preschoolers-1257162.




doing it myself


As preschoolers add, “I can do it myself!” to their daily mantra, parents need opportunities to reinforce their children’s desire for greater independence.


Repetition and practice make brain connections, and daily routines are the perfect place to identify tasks your children can learn to do for themselves.


READ MORE for fun ideas and articles.














thoughts


A preschooler’s brain is more active than an adult’s brain. Theirs is working to organize the connections that have been made from the repeated experiences they have had and eliminate the connections that are not used often. Sometimes we need to be patient and wait for them to form and express their thoughts. Give them the time to practice organizing what they want to tell you.


For more ideas, visit:

https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/developing-critical-thinking-skills-in-children


http://www.pbs.org/parents/expert-tips-advice/2016/04/flexible-thinking-encourage-kids-go-flow/



What am i feeling?


If You're Happy & You Know It! is a great song, but preschoolers are feeling much more than happy as they grow!


During this time of a preschooler’s life, there are increases in their thinking ability and continued organization of connections in the emotional area of their brain.


Here is a game you can play with them to help in this area. Act out an emotion or make a facial expression. Ask them to tell you how you look. For example: Ask, “Do I look sad or happy?” or “Do I look scared or surprised?”


For more ways to use play and creativity to help your child engage with his emotions, check out these two websites:


https://www.kidssoup.com/activity/emotions-and-feelings-preschool-activities-games-and-lessons


https://www.preschool-plan-it.com/preschool-feelings-theme.html



food shapes


Triangles, circles and squares, oh my! When it comes to food, there are shapes everywhere which means plenty of opportunities to engage your toddler.


Recognizing shapes helps strengthen vocabulary, math, comprehension, and critical thinking skills.


EXPLORE ways to make shapes, food and learning fun!



I spy . . .shapes


If you've played "I Spy" to keep your little one occupied, you know that the game really does engaged a child (and adults as well) on many levels.


As you and your child explore the presence of shapes in your surroundings, "I Spy" is a perfect way to reinforce a basic concept and many more.


Click HERE for ideas and more!


Minute to win it


With long winter breaks it can be difficult to fill in all that extra time in a way that best suits you and your child. It can be hard to balance that time with the stimulation your child needs.


If you are stuck indoors or you are just wishing for some snow, this simple little activity can get you up and moving around. Hide cotton balls (snowballs) around your home and give your child one minute to find them. To build their fine motor skills have them use tweezers or tongs to place them in an ice cube tray or egg carton. This helps them develop one-to-one correspondence. When the one minute has passed, incorporate some math learning by having them count how many “snowballs” they found and how many are still hiding.


https://hulafrog.com/elgin-il https://www.familyeducation.com/fun/winter-break/14-fun-activities-winter-break https://www.mommynearest.com/edition/chicago/article/15-winter-break-activities-for-chicago-families


bedtime routine


Holiday fun can wreak a bit of havoc on children's sleep schedules. While you may find your usual routines becoming exceptions this holiday season, you may want to keep your child's bedtime routine in place. Here's why.


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eating


Making a connection with things kids know best is a great way for them to learn. Mealtimes are a great way to work in a little math.


Count out the French Fries or baby carrots as you serve them. Leave off the last number to see if your child knows what it is. Bump it up a notch to count the number of fries that are left after your child eats one. Cutting pizza into eight slices helps your child learn the beginning concepts of fractions. How many people are at the table? How many plates do we need? Asking your child math questions helps them to learn and recognize that numbers have meaning.


Click here for a PBS article about how kitchen time supports kids' number sense.



Cooking


Kids learn best through hands-on experiences. What's more hands-on than cooking! The process of following a recipe and then eating your creation is a great way to cover lots of learning and have fun in the process.


Click here for more ideas and reasons why cooking is a great activity to share with your kids.



Stranger Danger


As your preschooler grows more independent, now is a good time to start teaching them how to deal with strangers. Alerting children to "stranger danger" can both help them to be safe and and reduce parents' anxiety. Ideally, you want your children to be wary of strangers but not overly fearful.


Click here to READ MORE for helpful tips and additional resources on Stranger Danger.



Fire safety


With the tragedy of California's wildfires in the news, children may have questions and fears about fire. At Summit local firefighters visit to teach our preschoolers about STOP, DROP and ROLL and fire safety and prevention. Creating and practicing a safety plan at home can reinforce what to do in the event of a real emergency. Designate a safe place outside the house to meet, like by a swingset or mailbox. Look at pictures of firefighters in full gear so your child can ask questions and not be afraid of how they look. For more fire safety tips and activities, visit these websites.


https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/early-childhood-fire-safety-lesson.html

https://www.prekinders.com/fire-safety-picture-word-cards/



Police - 911


Getting your child familiar with how to call 911 is an important first step in safety. One way to practice with your child is to put your cell phone into airplane mode. Many phones have locks on them, but still allow you to access the emergency feature. Still have a home phone? Make sure your child knows how to use both types of phones. Another important step in understanding safety and 911 is becoming familiar with first responders. Helping your child overcome any fear of police officers, paramedics and firefighters could be life saving! For more great tips on 911 and emergency safety, visit these websites.


https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/911.html https://www.todaysparent.com/family/how-to-teach-your-kid-to-call-911/



Community helpers


Whether you are at the grocery store, out for a walk, or making dinner, you can foster your child's nurturing side. Find ways to involve them in daily activities that let them help you and grow their confidence at the same time. Not sure where to start? Ask them about how they help at school!