Thread: Activities

Harlee is in preschool and we do "homework" during the week. Does anyone else do this, or just work on teaching kids - what activities do you do and what do you work on?

Just need some ideas!

I think, from what I've seen on FB, that we do similar things. Drew practices writing, draws pictures, reads small books, does basic math things from workbooks or little things I set up. He loves the Bob Books.

I've been trying to find more science things for him. Problem solving is another I'm working on. I dont want him to feel like he is burdened with learning at 3 but also want him to keep developing. I try to let him lead me. Especially away from things that are not working for him.

I read to Eliza but I don't do anything like BOB books. I am not a fan of phonics or work books for this age.

We do a lot of playing with letter blocks, puzzles, numbers, etc. I just try to give her opportunities to play with them, not actually do any activities. I don't feel anything more is developmentally appropriate. For kinder, all she needs to know is her numbers and letters and her ph# and full name. Beyond that, she will learn it all when she is ready.

We do a lot of child-led activities with art and science, like exploring the garden and going with the flow of what she is interested in. She is really into puzzles and card and board games and drawing and crafting. So, we have a lot of craft items and a lot of puzzles and games. I play with her. We also take a walk almost every day and talk about the seasons and bugs and plants and such. I let her explore and collect and learn from that.

I am big proponent of child-led learning.

She goes to preschool but it is a child-led environment and there is no homework. The public school kinder also does not do homework.

Brandon doesn't start preschool until the fall, but I'm more with Kathy on the types of activities we do at home. We do things that interest him and most of the learning is experiential learning as opposed to direct teaching. I don't want to overwhelm him so early and his attention span is still very short, so I let him lead the way on the kinds of activities we do.

One of Eliza's fave activities is to measure while I am sewing. She loves my sewing tape measure. She will lay it out next to something and then ask me how big it is. It is cute.

And I forgot to say that she has a real interest in templates, those things you use for tracing. She goes to town making things with them, on paper.


Lenora, you cook a lot. Does Brandon help you?

Just to clarify, they don't give Harlee homework, but that's what I call it when we sit down and work on things! I also do a lot of these things Kathy, so maybe I don't actually need anymore activites - maybe I just need to focus more on that.

Thanks!

Drew picked out workbooks at Target. He loves tracing letters, numbers, doing mazes and hidden pictures. I find the workbooks boring, but he gets immense satisfaction out of completing pages. He asks for them so we do them. His attention span for these can go on for 45 minutes. I mean really, how many times can you draw a line from the number 3 to 3 triangles?

I bought the Bob books because he asked to learn to read. He reads his Dad a book at night before his Dad reads him one. It's their thing. He likes to read them to Cate, and he practices the new books with me to get ready to read for his Dad.

His mind works in a different way than mine does. This is a child who would excel in a military setting, he looks for structure. His favorite activity outside is to mow "straight lines" in in the grass. He then trims the edges and blows the clippings off the sidewalk. The child is a worker bee or ant or something not 3 year old like.

He likes to cook, so I've been trying to show him that even within structure, there is room for
creativity. It's tough though. I want him to be more creative, but how do you make that happen?

Oh! I thought you meant she had like packets of worksheets or something! LOL!

Have you seen Jaxie's blog? She is my new inspiration for what to do with a 3/4 year old.

http://dimplesgiggles.blogspot.com

Love her ideas!

I don't do enough with Eliza. Poor girl gets the short end of the straw with mama being so busy with sewing and such. I should do more. Today, we did water colors and she watched a Magic Schoolbus for the first time. That was interesting. And she found a new template to play with. I am telling you, get some templates. She loves those things! We also did playdough. Tomorrow, we are going to the children's museum, which we have not done in forever, so I did not feel bad about shorting her today.

AManda, does he have a real mower? How cute

Hey, if he likes the worksheets, more power to you. Each kid is different. You really have to go with their flow. I did not mean worksheets are bad. I just don't like them myself. I am more of a constructionist when it comes to educational theory.


I should get Eliza more templates and some of those scissors that cut in patterns.

Do you all work on teaching them how to write their name? Eliza wants to write her name but she does not want me to teach her. Catch 22 there. I guess they will have to teach her at preschool.

My Mom keeps Madi during the day while hubby and I work. Madi wants to be like her big sister and have "school work" too, and she has felt this way since last year when Alana started VPK. My Mom uses starfall.com a lot with her and I know she's completed some workbooks. Recently Madi has started working on sight words and she absolutely loves reading them and arranging them into sentences for us to read. I never thought of her as the academic type (she's so stubborn and quite lazy, lol) but my opinion is slowly changing.

At home we don't do anything "academic" with her. She loves dressing up, watching movies, and dancing and being a silly little girl. She also goes to dance class twice a week and is really involved in our church's AWANA program where she has to memorize a new verse every week. I think she's a pretty well-rounded little girl.