While raising my own five children, I’ve learned though both experience and research that ages 0-3 are the most crucial years for brain development. Understanding the science of brain development will make it clear just how important this time is because of the massive synaptic pruning that begins occurring at 2-3 years of age. It’s a “use it or lose it” notion that lays the foundation for how their brains will function. Yes, genetics plays a role, but more importantly it is a combination of the child’s environment and experiences that leads to how their brains can become optimized to function to their fullest potentials for the rest of their lives.
Synaptic Pruning in Brain Development
When children are born, genetics will determine the roughly 86 billion neurons that fill their brains (which by the way are the same 86 billion neurons they will have as adults), but more significantly than the neurons themselves is how they are connected to each other. Neurons don’t actually touch each other, but send messages across a gap called a synapse. These synaptic connections are formed based on how children interact with their environment. The more signals sent between neurons, the stronger the connection grows.
In the image below, you can see the dark clusters which are the neurons and where they are starting to branch out which are the synapses. You can see that at 36 weeks gestation and as a newborn there are very few synapses, only about 2,500. Fast forward to 2-3 years of age, and the number of synapses explodes to its lifetime peak of about 15,000.
At this point, rapid pruning occurs and as you can see in the image above, by the time a child is four and six, there is a drastic reduction in synapses. The brain overproduces synapses at a young age so that it can fine tune itself according to the sensory input received from the child’s environment and experiences. This synaptic pruning is most dramatic when a child is three years old but continues through adolescence and results in a 50% reduction in synapses by adulthood.
Neuron Growth & Connections Over Time Source: Corel, JL. The postnatal development of the human cerebral cortex. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1975
By the time children are three years old, their brains are 80% of their adult size, and by the age of five, their brains are 90% of their adult size. This is why it is absolutely crucial to provide children with the best opportunities for brain growth at a young age as their brains are creating the framework for all future learning.
Neurons: The Cornerstones of Brain Development
To further understand synaptic pruning at a deeper level, let’s take a look at where it all begins….with a neuron. A neuron is made up of four main parts. The dendrites receive information, the cell body processes that information, the axon carries the information from one part of the neuron to the other, and the axon terminal transmits the information to the next cell in the chain. A bundle of axons traveling together is called a nerve, and nerves can transmit information over long distances (from your brain to your big toe for example).
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, By User:Dhp1080 – “Anatomy and Physiology” by the US National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program ., CC BY-SA 3.0
Dendrites are the part of the neuron that receives incoming signals. Based on the strength of this incoming stimulation, the neuron must decide whether to pass the signal along or not. If the stimulation is strong enough, the signal is transmitted along the entire length of the axon in a phenomenon called an action potential. This is when we say a neuron fires.
Synapses: How Brain Development Grows
The word “synapse” is derived from the Greek words “syn” and “haptein” that mean “together” and “to clasp”. The synapse is like a crossroads or a junction between neurons. Each neuron can form thousands of links with other neurons to make up to 1,000 trillion synapses in a typical brain. The more signals sent between neurons, the stronger the connection grows. The connections that are not used as often weaken. Synapses are basically what allows you to learn and remember. There are two types of synapses: electrical (which is less common) and chemical (which is more common).
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, user:Looie496 created file (2009), US National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging created original / Public domain
Electrical synapses remain in their pure electrical state and cross the synapse using a gap junction as a short cut. In this way, one cell and one synapse can trigger thousands of other cells that can all act in synchrony. Something similar happens in the muscle cell of your heart, where speed and team effort between cells is crucial. But if every synapse in your body activated all of the neurons around it with electrical synapses, your nervous system would be overstimulated, maxed out, and exhausted. *Interesting Fact: Electrical synapses are much more abundant in embryonic nervous tissue where they help guide neural development. As the nervous system matures, many electrical synapses are replaced by chemical ones.
Chemical synapses are used more often, slower, easier to control, and are more precise and selective in what messages they send and where. Chemical synapses have the ability to convert an electrical signal to a chemical signal and back to an electrical signal to become an action potential again in the receiving neuron. In order to diffuse across a synaptic cleft, chemical action potentials need neurotransmitters, or chemical signals, to help deliver their message.
How the Brain Transmits Signals – Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (2013) Gif created from Inside the Brain: Unraveling the Mystery of Alzheimer’s Disease
Neurotransmitters
Depending on which particular one of the hundreds of neurotransmitters bind to the receptor, the neuron might get excited or be inhibited. Any region of a single neuron may have hundreds of synapses, each with different inhibitory or excitatory neurotransmitters. So the likelihood of that post-synaptic neuron developing an action potential depends on the sum of all the excitations and inhibitions in that area. When we look at some of the most common neurotransmitters, it becomes clear that the most stimulating thing for the brain is to be learning. This is why children crave stimulating environments where they can learn through play. (Source for Synapses and Neurotransmitters)
Excitatory Neurotransmitters excite neurons increasing the chances they will fire off an action potential.
Glutamateis involved in more than 90% of all excitatory neurotransmitters and is associated with learning and memory. It interacts with four different receptors and has more opportunities to have messages successfully and quickly sent between nerve cells. This fast signaling and information processing is an important aspect of learning and memory. Glutamate also allows nerve cells to build associated information, which is the foundation of learning. *An overabundance of glutamate can stress out the brain, however, and cause seizures and migraines which is why some people are sensitive to msg (monosodium glutamate) in their food.
Norepinephrine is a familiar excitatory neurotransmitter that helps control alertness and arousal.
Inhibitory Neurotransmitters chill neurons out decreasing the chances that they will fire off an action potential.
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the primary inhibitory neuron. It is known for it’s calming effect and plays a major role in controlling nerve cell hyperactivity associated with anxiety, stress and fear. GABA and glutamate act like and “on” and “off” switches and work in opposite ways. To have a properly functioning brain, a delicate balance between the inhibitory effects of GABA and the excitatory effects of glutamate. In fact, GABA is made from glutamate. GABA also works together with serotonin.
Serotonin in an inhibitory neuron that affects mood, hunger, and sleep. Low amounts of serotonin are linked to depression.
Inhibitory and Excitatory Neurotransmitters play both sides and can either excite or inhibit depending on what type of receptors they encounter.
Acetylcholine enables muscle action, learning, and memory.
Dopamine influences movement, learning, attention, and pleasurable emotion.
When children get older, they might lack the motivation to complete school work or get good grades, but children ages 0-3 are wired to want to explore their environment. What looks like play to us is really the most effective way for children to learn. By providing children with a stimulating environment that allows for exploration of their world and a chance to play, it will help their brains to grow to the best of their abilities.
Myelnation: What Makes Brain Development Automatic
Myelnation is what creates automaticity in learning. For example, when you first learned how to read the word cat, you sounded out each letter, “c-a-t…cat”, but after sounding it out several times, you simply memorized that word as “cat”.
Every time an action potential travels through the axon of a neuron, the axon is coated with a myelin sheath. Mylenation both insulates the axon and increases the speed of the action potential. Myelin is made out of glial cells and wraps around the axon in a spiral fashion. Glial cells (also called neuroglia) are non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system that support and protect neurons, maintain homeostasis, clean up debris, and form myelin.
Glial cells in the central nervous system (which is comprised of the brain and spinal cord) are called oligodendrocytes, and glial cells in the peripheral nervous system (which is comprised of autonomic functions and body movement) are called Schwann cells. Myelin is what makes up the white matter in the brain.
When an action potential travels through an unmyelinated axon to the corresponding synapse of another neuron, it moves like a wave, but in a myelinated axon, it hops through it like a portal.
When children experience something over and over and over, the myelinated axons will make these experiences automatic. Think of the brain like riding a bike and how people say, “you only need to learn how to ride a bike once.” So, the first time you get on a bike it’s completely foreign. You don’t know how to work the pedals or balance at all. The first few times of trying to manage the pedals and handlebars at the same time leave you shaking and wobbly at best, but slowly and over time you become more and more confident until one day you’re whistling a tune and looking of in the distance as your body expertly carries out the work.
Love Versus Neglect in the Developing Brain
Neurotransmitters aren’t the only chemical messengers in the body. The endocrine system is a set of glands that slowly releases hormones into the bloodstream. Oxytocin, known as the love hormone, is important during early life for proper development of neural pathways. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs details the basic psychological and self fulfillment needs all humans need to thrive.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: By Saul McLeod, PhD | published 2007, updated April 04, 2022
The disturbing image below shows two brain scans. The first brain scan is of a normal healthy 3 year old child. The second brain scan shows a much smaller brain of a child who suffered extreme abuse and neglect.
Photo Credit: Dr. Bruce Perry, 2005, Maltreatment and the Developing Brain
“In the most extreme and tragic cases of profound neglect, such as when children are raised by animals, the damage to the developing brain – and child – is severe, chronic, and resistant to interventions later in life.
Children who are provided with a loving and nurturing environment with stimulating experiences will incorporate these elements into the framework of the brain, and this will lay the foundation for all future learning. Children who are raised in an environment of chaos, unpredictability, threat and distress, however, will have an adapted brain structure designed to survive in that environment that will not be best suited for future learning.
Brain Development in Romanian Orphans
In his NPR article, “Orphans’ Lonely Beginnings Reveal How Parents Shape A Child’s Brain“, Jon Hamilton explains how when the corrupt Romanian government was overthrown in 1989, the world was shocked to learn about the more than 100,000 children in government care that were left alone in their cribs, wallowing in their own filth, and with nothing but the white ceiling to stare at and the cries of the other babies to keep them company…for days and days and days. There was no one there to soothe their cries, no one there to hold them and give them affection, and no one there to talk to them and help them to interact with their environment. The result was stunted growth and a range of social and emotional problems.
The odd behaviors, language delays, and range of other symptoms suggested problems with brain development, and so researchers began studying the children using a technology known as electroencephalography (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain. What they found were disturbingly low levels of brain activity. As the children grew, there were able to conduct MRIs on them, and it showed that their brains were actually smaller and that they had a reduction in grey and white matter.(The grey matter is the outer part of the brain and is all of the neurons bunched together. The white matter is the inner part of the brain which is the myelinated axons that connect the neurons together.)
White Matter and Grey Matter – Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (2007) Suseno
In another experiment conducted after the orphaned children had been adopted, it showed that their brains could not discriminate the face of a stranger from the face of their adoptive mother. Because their brains were not able to identify with a loving caregiver at a young age, that part of their brain wasn’t developed, and then when someone was ready to give them love, they didn’t know how to accept it. This is called reactive detachment disorder, and with lots of patience and love, it is possible to rewire the brain, unfortunately it’s just not very probable. Today, the system in Romania is still corrupt, and there are currently 70,000 children waiting for adoption. 🙁
Concluding Comments on Brain Development
Milestones such as a baby’s first tooth, transitioning to solid food, their first step, and sleeping through the night are important parts of the early years of development, but just as (if not more so) are the neural pathways that we are helping our children create that will lay the foundation for all future learning. So grab a book, get some flashcards, set up learning stations, and get down on the floor and play with your child because you only get one chance to lay the foundation…so make it count!
Resources for Further Research on Brain Development
Throughout this article, I’ve linked to my resources where appropriate, but I also read the following articles and watched the following videos that helped me to get a broad understanding of this topic. If you’d like to learn more about this topic, I highly recommend checking out some of these videos and articles.
How the Brain Works – A 9 minute video by MsThinkology that does a wonderful job of explaining how the brain works.
Neurons and How They Work – A great 5 minute video by the Discovery Channel with great images that show how neurons work in the brain.
Neurons, Synapses, Action Potentials, and Neurotransmission – This article by Robert Stufflebeam from the Consortium on Cognitive Science Instruction thoroughly explains how the brain works using language that is complex, but easy to follow with excellent graphics.
Nurturing the Developing Brain in Early Childhood – This PowerPoint by Lisa Freund, Ph.D. from The National Institutes of Health in Maryland really sums up everything I’ve talked about in this article.
Baby’s Brain Begins Now: Conception to Age 3 – This article by the Urban Child Institute goes into more scientific depth about why children are primed and ready to learn before the age of 3.
Children and Brain Development: What We Know About How Children Learn – This article by prepared by Judith Graham, Extension human development specialist, and revised by Leslie A. Forstadt, Ph.D. Child and Family Development Specialist through the University of Maine offers a succinct explanation of how the brain works and provides lots of specific things that parents can do to help their children’s brain development.
Brain Plasticity and Behaviour in the Developing Brain – This scientific article by Bryan Kolb, PhD and Robbin Gibb, PhD published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health goes into thorough detail about the plasticity of the developing brain and discusses all factors that affect it.
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Untitled-design-2.jpg400810Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2022-12-23 04:30:202024-11-09 19:26:34Why Ages 0-3 are the MOST Crucial Years of Brain Development
By following these steps and using these resources, you can teach your toddler how to read. I’ve created these resources and developed these methods to teach my own five children how to read at a young age and am excited to pass this knowledge on to you!
After teaching letter names and letter sounds really really well in addition to memorizing key vocabulary of first words, colors, shapes, and numbers, children will be ready to learn the final stages of learning how to read which is learning about three letter word families. By tapping out the sounds of three letter words, children will learn the very important skill of sounding out new words. After exposure to sounding out three letter words, children will be ready to learn about advanced phonemic awareness (long vowels, digraphs, long and short /oo/, r controlled vowels, dipthongs, complex consonants, and blends) which will help them progress from good readers to great readers.
Ophelia Building Three Letter Words with Magnet Letters and Muffin Tins
With seven years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a Language Acquisition emphasis, I raised my own five children with a curiosity and passion for learning how to teach them how to read. I was amazed when after 6-8 months of working on ABC and vocabulary flashcards and videos with my firstborn that at 15 months she was saying letter names and sounds and recognizing many vocabulary words. After tapping out word families and pointing out advanced phonemic awareness rules in quality literature, she was reading picture books at the age of three. When my third child was born, I started creating my own resources and was blown away when she started reading at 2.5 years of age. Not only did all of my children learn how to read at young ages, but they love reading, they are curious and love learning, and they are the top of their classes (currently K, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 8th).
Julian Playing a Three Letter Word Game on Starfall
Once children master the skill of learning how to read, they’ll begin reading to learn, and I can’t tell you how fun that is! I’m always busying myself trying to stay one step ahead of their reading interests, and we spend a lot of time checking out mountains of books at our local library and enjoy many hours cuddled up reading around the house.
ABCs and Vocabulary Development: Cornerstones that will Teach Your Toddler to Read
If your toddler hasn’t fully mastered learning letter names and sounds as well as key vocabulary, I recommend reading my blog: Teach Your Baby How to Read. The resources will be the same, and many of the methods for teaching these skills may be the same, but if your child is older and not really into sitting on your lap for flashcards and videos, here are some suggestions to make the learning more engaging.
Ophelia and Julian Writing Letters
Play ABC videos in the background. In addition to my video of course, YouTube has many ABC videos geared for older children that feature things like these alphabet transformers and Minecraft characters. Use what your child is interested in to custom make your own ABC playlist. Don’t expect your child to sit and watch the ABC videos with full attention, but if you play them in the background when he or she is quietly playing, you would be surprised how much is absorbed.
Make it physical and fun! Spread ABC flashcards on the floor, pretend the floor is lava, and then jump from one letter to the next (shout the name or sound of the letter as you step on it) going from one part of the room to the next. Make hopscotch letters with sidewalk chalk outside. Place all flashcards upside down on the floor, flip a card over, keep it in a pile if you know it right away, and get a prize for how many cards piled up (small candies or minutes of choice time). Go to Pinterest, use your imagination, and have fun with it!
Use technology. Children can be very motivated to play educational games if you limit screen time. There are many great apps and games for older children who are learning the alphabet that you can find by looking in the app store. Starfall has some amazing resources many of which are free. Check out my blog: Best Teaching Apps for Children 0-6 for some more app ideas.
Read to your child. Many of the simple ABC books will be too babyish for your child, but you can find some great ABC books geared for older children like this Star Wars ABC book and this Superhero ABC book. Also, go to the library often and read piles and piles of books with your child. As you’re reading, you can point out certain words and the letters they start with.
Teach someone younger. If your child has a younger sibling, friend, pet, or even stuffed animal, have your child be the teacher. He or she can use flashcards, videos, and books to help teach their pupil!
Make it kinesthetic and tactile. If your child has the dexterity to start writing letters, this can help to reinforce learning the letter names and sounds. Get a large baking sheet and cover it with shaving cream or sand. Then have your child trace the letter with his or her finger.
Use white boards and dry erase markers. Either write the letters yourself and have your child erase them, or have your child write his or her own letters. You could also do a letter search by writing 5- 10 letters and then have your child try to find the ones you call out. Write-on-wipe-off ABC books are fun too.
Use sign language. When children are a little bit older, they can start manipulating their fingers to make sign language letters. This will be just challenging enough for them to be exciting. Here’s a great video to use!
Separate capital and lowercase letters. Focus on using capital letters for letter names and lowercase letters for letter sounds and spend more time working on letter sounds.
Try to do something every day. Children starting at an older age will need more repetitions and have a shorter amount of time to master letter names and letter sounds before they start to read so try to set aside time as often as you can for learning to occur.
Teaching Three Letter Word Families: The Progression that will Teach Your Toddler to Read
When children understand letter names and sounds really really well, which in my experience has been around the age of 2-3, it’s time to start building three letter word families. I love using magnet letters and muffin tins with my three letter word resources to help them tap out each sound of a word and slide it together to bring all of the sounds together to form the word. If you do these things consistently a little bit over a long period of time, you will be amazed to see your little one sounding out words in books, at the grocery store, on billboards, and around the house.
Teaching Three Letter Words with Flashcards, Magnet Letters, and Muffin Tin
Word families are a great way to learn three letter words because only the beginning sound changes. Words that have the same ending sound are also known as rhyming words. Children will be expected to identify rhyming words in preschool and kindergarten with automaticity. Use my flashcards as a guide for spelling three letter word families on an upside down muffin tin. Say each letter name while building the word. Then, point to each letter and say the individual sound each letter makes. Finish by swiping your finger from the beginning letter to the end as you put all of the letter sounds together to form a word.
Teach Your Toddler to Read with these Three Letter Word Families Resources
I collected so many word families that I needed to divide them into two sets! Neither one is more complex than the other, and I tried to balance out the vowels evenly between the sets. I had a lot of fun making these videos with my three year old son Julian. We used a variety of interactive and hands on activities that you may also enjoy using with your own child. I was a stay at home mom at the time with a three year old and a baby when I created these resources, and finding fun and creative ways to practice building and reading three letter words kept my brain from atrophying. 🙂
Teach Your Toddler to Read with these Additional Resources
To maximize the use of my word families flashcards, I highly recommend you acquire some of the following teaching tools. Based on your child’s age and his or her interests, you will find different resources that will be appealing. Sometimes the best way to figure this out is through trial and error!
Magnet Letters and Muffin Tin – Using these two resources together will make learning three letter words fun and easy. Using my flashcards as a guide, have your child build three letter words on the bottoms of the muffin tins.
White Board and Dry Erase Markers with Built in Erasers – I recommend attaching this white board to the wall and using dry erase markers to write three letter words for your little one to erase. The board I have recommended is magnetic, so you can put the magnet letters on it too. With these resources, you can write three letter words on the white board and have your child erase them while reading them.
Sidewalk Chalk – Write three letter words on your sidewalk in a hopscotch pattern, and have your little one hop on them and read them.
Change-A-Sound Flip Books – I LOVED using these flip books to teach my children how to sound out words. I like how they have sections where the beginning, middle, and ending sound change in the word. The pictures are also great for building vocabulary.
Phonics Flip Books – These 34 flip books focus on patterns such as long and short vowels, digraphs, and blends.
Montessori Crosswords – Fun Phonics Game for Kids – This app is great for teaching three letter words using pictures and boxes for the letters. I like how you can choose between upper and lowercase as well as cursive.
Starfall Three Letter Words – Starfall is an AMAZING resource for teaching your little one the ABCs, basic math, and how to read. They have an amazing three letter word interactive game that is so fun for kids. The membership is $35/year and WELL WORTH every penny.
Teaching Advanced Phonemic Awareness to Teach Your Toddler to Read
Our English language seems really tricky at first, but when you break down these remaining letter combinations and sounds, it takes a lot of the mystery away. If you only teach your child letter names and sounds, key vocabulary, and how to sound out three letter word families, they will be good readers. But if you intentionally teach them the advanced phonemic awareness rules, they will move from good to great! By introducing the flashcards and videos, and then pointing out these rules while reading your children’s’ favorite books, they will have a broad and deep sense of how to sound out all kinds of words. These are the remaining sounds of our English language:
Long Vowels – In addition to teaching children about the 5 long vowel sounds, I also want to introduce them to common spelling patterns.
R Controlled Vowels – When a vowel is followed by an r, it makes a different sound.
Digraphs – Digraphs are two letters that come together to form one single sound.
Long and Short /oo/ Vowel Digraphs – Two vowels that come together to make one sound. For example, the /oo/ in moon is long, and the /oo/ in book is short.
Diphthongs – These gliding vowels start with the sound of the first letter and glide to the next.
Complex Consonants – Although children may be familiar with the other sounds these letters make, it is a tricky concept that some consonants make more than one sound.
Blends – Blends aren’t super tricky because even though two consonants are blending together, you can still hear each individual sound. However, I have included them here because it’s great additional practice for tapping out the sounds for longer words.
Digraphs Resources
Digraphs are two letters that come together to form a single sound such as in the word “elephant” where the /ph/ makes the /f/ sound. Digraphs are tricky and by pointing them out intentionally before children encounter them while reading, they will be more prepared.
Once children know the entire alphabet and understand short vowels, it’s time to dive into long vowels. I don’t expect children at this stage to begin actually spelling these words, but just getting exposed to the fact that each long vowel sound can be represented in such a variety of ways is a very important visual lesson.
In my other vowels resources I’ve included the other vowels that fit into their own categories. First we have the vowel digraphs such as the long /oo/ as in “moon” and the short /oo/ as in “book”. Then we have diphthongs which are two vowels that glide together such as the /au/ in “laundry” and the /ow/ in “cow”. And finally there are the r controlled vowels. In these resources, I explain how the “bossy r” changes the sound of the vowel.
Teaching children about the different sounds some of the consonants make is one of the final pieces of understanding the complexity of our English alphabet.
Blends aren’t really that tricky because you can still hear each letter sound, they just well, blend together, but I decided to include them here because I think they are a great way for children to revisit the decoding skills they learned with three letter words and to give them more practice sounding out words and building vocabulary.
Watching all five of my children, as well as others who have used my resources, blossom with their reading skills at a young age has been a wonderful gift to see. Children’s brains are wired to love learning at a young age. By building a strong foundation in phonemic awareness (letter names and sounds), teaching key vocabulary, and then adding three letter words to the mix during the toddler years, children will grow up to be good strong readers. By introducing advanced phonemic awareness, you can give your child the skills to progress from a good reader to a great reader! Once children progress from learning to read to reading to learn, the sky is the limit to what they can do. I have been so happy to see each of my five children follow their passions and interests and excel in all that they do.
Read my blog: How Children’s Brains are Wired for Learning for an in depth explanation as to why ages 0-3 are the most crucial time of brain development, and if you’d like more information and resources about teaching the foundation of reading with letter names, letter sounds, first words, and vocabulary, check out my blog Teach Your Baby How to Read. Check out the video below for a video version of that blog.
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ruby-julian-bat.png10801920Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2022-10-02 20:51:432024-06-30 12:02:24Teach Your Toddler How to Read
I wouldn’t have thought it was possible unless I tried it with my own five children, but by starting when my babies were 6-8 months old and doing a little bit over a long period of time, I was able to teach them all how to read with very little effort and at very young ages. Two were reading at 2, two were reading at 3, and one was reading at 4. Not only have I seen it with my own children, but with others who have used my resources as well, and they’re just as shocked as me when their children start to read at such young ages and as if by magic.
Over the last ten years as a stay at home, I have created a set of resources that makes teaching your baby to read fun and easy. By starting with the ABCs while simultaneously memorizing words and teaching key vocabulary, children will learn letter names and sounds really really well while also understanding that letters come together to form words that have meaning and build background knowledge with key vocabulary which will lay the foundation for both decoding and comprehension. With this strong foundation in phonemic awareness and background knowledge, learning how to read is easy, natural, and fun!
Oral Language Development
Oral language development is one of the most important aspects of a developing young child’s brain and is what lays the foundation for learning how to read.
According to SEDL’s Reading Resources, oral language development is “highly correlated with later reading proficiency”. The research also shows that,
“Most language development occurs indirectly through language exposure rather than through explicit instruction,”
This means that as parents, we don’t need to teach our babies and toddlers specifically targeted language lessons, we just need to give them lots of exposure to quality language experiences. But what are quality language experiences? Does this simply meaning talking more or leaving the TV on? No!
Children are not just passive receptors of their environment. They want to engage, they want to be stimulated, challenged, and acknowledged every step of the way. Many people look at children as though they are not ready to learn until they are much older, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They are ready to learn from birth, but it’s all about meeting them where they are and providing the language experiences that best fit their stage of language development. In the video above, Jack and I are having a baby conversation which utilizes the turn taking style of conversations and is a crucial stage of oral language development.
Best Age to Start Reading
I started reading with my babies when they were about 3-4 months old. At this point, they could hold their heads up, grab things, follow a moving object, and were more interested in shapes and patterns.
Reading with 3 Month Old Jack
Starting at about 6 months of age, babies’ brains are exploding with the growth of synaptic connections. By the time they are 2-3 years of age, children will have more synaptic connections than they will ever have in their entire lives. Whatever is introduced during this precious window of time will become part of the very framework that lays the foundation for all future learning, and whatever isn’t used will start to be pruned away.
With most of my children, I found that they enjoyed starting at about 6-8 months of age, but my oldest boy never liked sitting still and always seemed to be driven by a motor and in his own world. He actually enjoyed learning in the background at 2-3 years old while I was teaching his 6 month old younger sister. Every child is different, every family is different, and every situation brings its own set of challenges and expectations. You know what works best with your family, so start as young as you can, but start where you are, do what you can, don’t stress out about it, and most importantly…have fun!
The Silent Period
This isn’t some miracle program that is going to teach your child to read overnight. You have to have faith in the process and know that by doing a little bit over a long period of time, you are wiring your child’s brain to be as receptive as possible for learning how to read.
Rest assured in the fact that you are creating special memories that intertwine learning and love while your children are cuddled comfortably on your lap, and that in due time you will reap the benefits of your labors. In my experience, it takes about 6-8 months until children are ready to start vocalizing while doing the flashcards and videos. At this point, you can start asking questions, pausing, and giving your child a chance to respond.
If you continuously use the flashcards and videos over the course of a year, you will be blown away by a seemingly sudden cascading waterfall of recognition. Not only will children start to accurately describe the flashcards and answer the questions, but they will start to point things out in their environment, read signs, and consistently amaze you and everyone you know!
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) research has studied 10,000 children over the past 15 years and found that the one of the main reasons why children struggle with reading comes down to their inability to do one simple thing, and that is to connect letter names to letter sounds. The research shows that children need to be explicitly taught the letter names, the letter sounds, and how to decode words, and that these are not skills that children will just “figure out” on their own with exposure. Understanding the letter names and sounds from a young age is absolutely crucial to being able to sound out new words and add them to the memory bank of words. When this knowledge is solidified at a very young age, it makes learning how to read happen “as if by chance”.
Before you get started, set up a comfy learning station. I loved having a little table next to my comfy rocking chair. On the table I would have a little basket with my flashcards and our favorite books. Since this was also my nursing station, I would keep my breast pump, a jar of water for me, burp cloths, comfy blankets, and some snacks nearby.
When my babies were well rested, fed, changed, happy, and ready for cuddles, I knew it was the perfect time to do some ABC flashcards. When teaching the ABCs, I like saying a little song/chant for each letter that included the letter name, letter sound, and word associated with the letter, “a is for apple, a (short a sound), a, apple, b is for ball, b (b sound), b, ball,” etc.
When the flashcards are new, there won’t be much interest at first, so try to get through 4-6 flashcards in one sitting. Each time you show the flashcards again, their neural connections associated with the flashcards are strengthening, and it won’t be long until you can work your way up to doing all of the letters in the alphabet in one sitting. Babies LOVE learning, and they love to be loved and cuddled, so with a little persistence, I’m sure this will become a favorite activity for the both of you.
Once babies are familiar with the flashcards enough to anticipate and enjoy this special time, introduce my ABC video. Much the same way as the flashcards, you’ll have to start gradually to increase their viewing stamina. In the beginning, don’t just put the video on in the background. Watch it with your baby and talk about it together, say the chant with the video, ask questions about what you are seeing, and maybe even have a physical copy of the flashcards for you and your baby to hold and flip through. After watching it together several times, put it on when you’re feeding your baby, and eventually the video will hold their attention long enough that you might even be able to take a shower! 🙂
When your baby is old enough to start saying words, pause and ask, “What is this?” for each flashcard. Don’t point to anything in particular, and praise anything they say that has to do with the letter name, letter sound, or word/picture, “Yes! That’s an apple!” and then proceed to say the song/chant for that letter. If they say the wrong thing, don’t correct them with the word no, just say the chant and move on.
I also strongly recommend turning your house into an immersive learning environment. Put ABC flashcard posters along the ceiling above your baby’s changing table, place posters, rugs, magnets, books, and toys within your child’s grasp to make learning easy, natural, and fun. I have a blog titled: 10 Best Resources for Teaching the ABCs for additional suggestions.
I created my own ABC flashcards because I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for on the market. So many flashcards out there use inconsistent and confusing words and images. For example, I’ve seen the word shell used to teach the /s/ sound when /sh/ is a digraph and shouldn’t be introduced as the beginning sound of /s/. I’ve also seen words like “ape” used for /a/, when it could easily be confused for a monkey. Not to mention that it’s much better for children to learn short vowels first in addition to the hard /c/ as in “cat” before the soft /c/ as in “circle and the hard /g/ in “guitar” before the soft /g/ as in “giraffe”.
Shortly after introducing the ABCs, teach your child to memorize these words. When children are learning about letter names and sounds, it’s important for them to see that these letters and sounds come together to form words and that these words have meaning.
When you show your child each flashcard, say the word…for example, “hi”, and then ask a question with that word in it, “Can you say hi?” Pause and wait for your child to respond and then repeat the word. Just as with the ABC flashcards, it will take some time to build stamina, so get through as many words as you can in one sitting. Eventually, your child will become familiar with all of the words and will love doing the whole set in one sitting.
First Words Resources
I chose simple words that use some sort of action and purposefully didn’t include a picture so that children will learn to memorize just the word. When your child is familiar with the flashcards, introduce the video. My video asks children to say each word, pauses, and then says the word. I have footage of my children acting out each word and include several songs throughout the video which also helps to nurture language development. I even have a section at the end for words with suffixes so that children can start to become familiar with the concept that word endings don’t change the core meaning of the word, just the way it’s used in a sentence.
It’s hard for us to understand as adults just how much of a blank slate our babies’ brains are. They want so badly to learn about the world around them, which is what motivates them to crawl everywhere, get into everything, and put anything they can in their mouth (thanks teething). They will learn best about the world when we can tell them the names of everything. I can’t recommend enough how important it is to get on the floor to play with your babies and tell them the names of everything they are interacting with. By learning about colors, shapes, and numbers children are being given specific words to describe the world around them.
Before using these vocabulary resources, make sure your child has had time to become familiar with the ABC resources and First Word resources., They don’t need to have them completely mastered, just familiar. The main thing is that you don’t want to overwhelm your child with too many new things at once, and you don’t want to wait too long and risk them losing interest. By staying in their zone of proximal development, you’ll ensure that the learning is not too hard, not too easy, but just right enough for them to be engaged with learning.
Vocabulary Resources: Colors, Shapes, and Numbers
Learning about colors, numbers, and shapes gives children the vocabulary to describe many aspects of the world around them. Colors are the simplest and most universal descriptor, and I recommend teaching them first. Learning about shapes and numbers not only gives children helpful descriptive words, but it prepares them for future math concepts. The numbers flashcards encourage the one-to-one counting principal which lays the foundation for understanding arithmetic, and discussing attributes of shapes such as how many corners and lines shapes have paves the way for understanding geometry.
Once your child has mastered letter names and sounds, first words, and basic vocabulary, it’s time to start introducing three letter word families! Read my next blog: Teach Your Toddler How to Read when you are ready for next steps. I want to caution the importance of not diving into these resources too soon. You may model sounding out words during the context of reading a book together, but by saving these resources until children have mastered letter names and letter sounds not only will they be super engaged, but the learning will happen quite quickly. I’ve typically found that children are ready at about 2-3 years of age, but you know your child best so they might be younger or they might be older, just trust your judgement.
In Conclusion
As a 3rd grade teacher, I remember working with a struggling reader (I’ll call him Bobby…not his real name), who was able to read chapter books, but struggled when sounding out new words that he hadn’t encountered before. After doing a phonemic awareness survey, I discovered that there were many phonemes (individual sounds) that he didn’t know. I worked with him extensively trying to reteach those phonemes, but it was too late. His brain had already made other pathways to help him read that were stronger than any new information I was presenting.
I can’t recommend enough how important it is to teach letter names and letter sounds really really well at as young of an age as possible. This is the foundation for learning how to read, and there’s no reason we have to wait until children are in preschool or kindergarten to teach them. All of my children knew how to read before they entered preschool, and believe you me, they still had plenty to learn and were never bored! My youngest reader who started reading at barely the age of 2, ended up skipping 2nd grade, and now is at the top of her class in 5th grade. She loves reading, she loves learning, and there’s no stopping her. When you start young and make learning fun, the sky is the limit!
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ophelia-daddy-flashcards.png10801920Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2022-10-02 20:51:332022-10-03 14:56:50Teach Your Baby How to Read
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/other-consonant-sounds-featured-image.png300810Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2020-11-17 11:11:372024-06-06 14:26:20Teach Your Child the Other Consonant Sounds with These Free Resources
As a former classroom teacher and currently a stay at home mom with five young children (Ruby-5th grade, Elliot-3rd grade, Ophelia-1st grade, Julian-Pre-K, and Jack-3 years old), I wanted to share what’s working for us as we adjust to a homeschooling schedule for the rest of the year. We live in Michigan, one of 15 states who have decided to end face to face school for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, and so we are now settling into the new normal.
I tried homeschooling all of my children a few years ago, and made the mistake of setting too high of expectations for both my children and myself. This time around, I focused on the routine before the content, and I’m happy to say that things are going really really well. Through trial and error, we figured out what worked for all of us and what didn’t, and I’m pleased to see that my children are engaged, motivated, and most importantly happy. It took an attitude adjustment from me, however, seeing as how before this, I was putting out my application and looking to go back to work, but now I am so content and so happy in my role here, I will definitely not be looking for work anytime soon.
None of us chose to be here in this quarantined and forced homeschool routine, but that doesn’t mean we have to hate it. I actually see all of this as an incredible opportunity to bond with my family and really connect with each other. If you’re struggling or feeling overwhelmed, just know we’ve all felt or are feeling that way. Things felt really overwhelming to me at first as I tried to figure out what my kids needed and balance that with what would be possible to achieve. This routine that we settled on has been my saving grace, and it really helps the day to run itself.
Setting Up a Homeschool Routine
First of all, do not stress yourself out thinking you need to create in depth lessons right out of the gate. In the beginning, the focus should be on settling into a routine that works for you and your family in a way that leaves everyone still smiling at the end of the day. Start with a few paper/pencil things, reading books, and online resources that you KNOW your child will love. For example, my son who is in 3rd grade loves Star Wars, so I got him a Star Wars workbook. My preschooler who has always been very reluctant to try anything new loves mazes, so he starts his work day tracing mazes with his finger. When the routine is new, the work needs to be easy and fun. I had to go through a ton of resources until I found ones that worked for my children, and I will share all of those resources a bit later.
Our Daily Homeschool Routine
Morning Routine
I’d say my favorite thing about the school cancellation has been the later start time we’ve settled into. Getting everyone off to school in the morning before 7:30 a.m. used to be the most stressful part of my day BY FAR, and now it is so pleasant. I wake up at 6:30 a.m., shower, get dressed, have coffee with my husband, and prepare breakfast. The boys are usually up around 8 a.m., and they get to pick a movie to watch while I’m opening up the house for the day and finishing breakfast preparations. Ruby sets her alarm for 7:30 a.m., showers, and reads until breakfast is ready. When I’m out of pancakes, she always helps me make more. Ophelia has always had a really difficult time both falling asleep (melatonin is currently helping with that) and getting up in the morning. On school days in the past, I would have to physically dress her and carry her downstairs just about every day. Now, I start rousing her at about 9:00 a.m. and with a few encouragements, she gets dressed and comes downstairs on her own as chipper as can be for breakfast time.
When the kids were younger, I would have a checklist for our morning routine to make sure they got dressed, made their beds, ate breakfast, and brushed their teeth. I would list each of these things and then to the right have a row with each child’s initial and a checkbox underneath. We did this for so long that they don’t need the check boxes anymore, but if you’re just starting out, I think it would be a good idea.
Homeschool Routine with Checkboxes
Breakfast 9:30
Every morning I serve pancakes, two kinds of bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and toast. While eating, the kids take turns picking YouTube videos to watch. You’ll notice on the top left corner of my whiteboard, I have the days of the week listed and their initials in a rotating schedule underneath. Once their video starts, each child uses our Google Home Mini to set a timer for five minutes, and when the timer runs out it’s the next person’s turn and so on until everyone has had a turn.
Breakfast
After breakfast, we turn the videos off and talk about the date, the weather, any special activities for the day (lots of Zoom meetings these days), and any other expectations. When they’re done eating, they bring their plates to the sink, brush their teeth, and move to our designated homeschool table in the other room. I really like having a separate table so that I can keep all books, materials, and supplies set up and ready to go. They each have a spot where they normally sit, and I have the work that they need to do ready to go in front of their chair before they get started. While they’re brushing their teeth, I try to clear the rest of the table and get the dishes in the dishwasher as much as I can.
Paper/Pencil and Reading Time 10:00
It’s rare for us to all sit down at the same time to do our paper/pencil activities. I usually have to stagger it so I can give one on one attention during this time. Jack, my 3 year old, is usually playing with cars when we get started, but whenever I see that he is eager to join, I say, “Are you ready for your homeschool?” and try to make the most of every teachable moment we have! Julian, my preschooler, can do about 15-20 minutes of work with my help, and then we read. He also always poops during this time (and takes a long time because we let him have his iPad – long story short…he needs the motivation), so that works out well for me to give the other kids attention.
Younger Boys Working During Paper/Pencil Time
Ruby likes to start her day with Khan Academy lessons and does her paper/pencil activities afterwards. Ophelia has Zoom chats with her teacher and classmates 3x/week, and she will do her paper/pencil activities afterwards. I set my expectations pretty low and make sure I’m only assigning what each child can handle. Ophelia likes a little more of a challenge and can work independently, so I expect her to do about 7-8 pages of work per day. Elliot struggles with writing and won’t really work done unless I’m sitting right next to him, so I only assign him about 4 pages. Usually I just tell them what pages they have to do on a daily basis, but sometimes they like me to write individual checklists on a little white board.
Homeschool Work Time
I try to encourage everyone to get as much pencil/paper work done as they can, and then we read. All of my kids LOVE reading and are excellent readers, so this is a really fun part of our day. I have lots of books around the house and they can read whatever they choose. In the past, I struggled to get Ophelia and Elliot to read chapter books, but with all of the extra time we’ve had at home, they are both finding many chapter books to enjoy. In the picture below, you’ll see Ruby is reading a book on her iPad.
I think the best thing you can do is to help your child develop a love of reading by first of all teaching them the skills necessary to read and then helping them to find books they enjoy reading on their own (while of course finding lots of time to read together as well). I have found that the best way to make sure children have reading comprehension is to ask them questions about the books they are reading. (“What is your book about? Why do you like it? What was the moral of the story? Can you relate to the main character? Would you read another book by the same author? Why or why not?”)
Reading Time
Sometimes I read to Jack and Julian together and sometimes I read to them one on one. This is always a special time where we cuddle up somewhere comfy, get under a blanket, and enjoy reading together. They both really like the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Williams, and I also have a basket full of Usborne books that are great for early readers. Of course Dr. Seuss books are a favorite too. It’s very sweet because Elliot and Ophelia will often come over and listen to the stories and will also help me read. Julian is an excellent reader, but he prefers that I read to him, and that’s just fine with me!
Reading with Julian
Reading with Julian and Jack
Educational Choice Time (Technology) 11:00
There are sooooo many excellent educational websites and apps out there which can actually be kind of overwhelming. We have been trying all of the recommendations from the kids’ teachers, the ones we have enjoyed over the years, and even some old school ones that I enjoyed when I was a kid! If you could only pick one online resource to use with your child pre-K through 2nd grade, I would say use Starfall, and if you could only pick one online resource for the upper grades, I would say Khan Academy. Try out as many sites as you’d like and then pick your favorite ones to have your kids focus on. If you have them on too many sites, you’ll lose track of what they’re doing and they won’t make as much progress as they could if you’d just stick to a few or do a few for awhile and then rotate if or when they lose interest.
Khan Academy: I actually used Khan Academy for myself years ago when I was curious to know more about biology and chemistry, and my husband took the computer programming classes to prepare him for his computer science degree. Now, they feature math lessons for kids ages 2-18 and reading lessons from 2nd – 9th grade. What I love about Khan Academy is that they provide short, simple, and engaging videos to explain new content and then provide repeated practice and an assessment at the end of each module. If your child has an account through school, then their teacher can assign them lessons. If not, you’ll need to create a parent account, then create an account with a username and password for each child. From there, you can assign courses based on subject and grade level. The best thing about Khan Academy is that it’s completely free and there are no ads. They also have a free app for kids ages 2-7 called Khan Academy Kids designed to teach early math and literacy skills. This has been an excellent resource for my 3rd and 5th graders.
Starfall: The Starfall website has fun, engaging, and high quality literacy and math content for Pre-K through 3rd grade, and is BY FAR my favorite online resource for all of my young children. A lot of the content is free, but I highly suggest getting a home membership for $35/year. (FYI: You can login on many devices simultaneously.) I have used this website and the many amazing Starfall apps (many of which are free) to help me teach all of my children how to read at a very young age. I usually introduce the content before the age of 2 and when they are about 3, they are able to do the activities on their own using a touch screen. The three younger ones use Starfall every day. For now, I’m letting them choose whatever they want to do, but in the future, I will probably encourage them to do certain lessons.
Jack and Ophelia Playing Starfall
Julian Using Starfall on a Computer
Mario Teaches Typing: This came out in 1992, and I actually used it to learn how to type! I’ve never seen anything better, and Elliot LOVES it. There’s also a Mario Teaches Typing 2, but you need to be a bit techy to figure out how to get it on your computer.
Prodigy: Julian, Ophelia, and Elliot LOVE prodigy! Kids enter a magical world where they choose an avatar to explore worlds and battle other online players. In order to get power for their battles, they have to answer math questions. I’m not too fond of just having random math questions with no instruction and often children will just guess the answers, but they really really love it, and so I let them play as a reward for completing their other educational choice time. The math content is for grades 1st – 8th, but my preschooler enjoys it. Ruby used to love it, but she’s in the 5th grade and she finds it too childish now. It’s free to create an account for your child, just make sure to keep the login information written and posted somewhere if you’re using a tablet because it doesn’t save. You can pay to have an upgraded account, but it’s quite expensive and not worth it in my opinion.
MobyMax: Both my 1st and 5th graders’ teachers are having them do MobyMax. We haven’t been using it long enough for me to really have an opinion, but it seems like a good resource so far. Students first take placement tests to see where their instructional level is, then teachers assign lessons based on learning gaps. It’s free to create an account.
Raz-Kids: This is my favorite online reading program. It’s simple, easy to use, and engaging. They have great content, and I like the comprehension questions at the end. If your child’s school has access to this site, I would definitely take advantage of it. If not, you can get a free trial, but the subscription is very expensive, like $115/yr. Get Epic is another great online reading program that your child’s school might have access to, but my opinion is that if kids are going to read, I’d rather have them read real books.
Lunch and Recess 12:00
I try to start lunch at 12:00, but sometimes if we really get into our lessons we won’t eat until 12:30 or 12:45. I try to be really consistent about starting choice time at 1:00 because the kids work really hard all morning, and if I don’t do my part to follow through, I’m sure it would make them feel like I’m not holding up my end of the bargain.
Eating Lunch
If the weather is nice, we’ll go outside for recess after lunch, and they LOVE jumping on the trampoline, but lately the weather has been HORRIBLE, and we’ve been stuck inside. During these dreary days, we’ll either do a yoga video, some shared workouts (my son Elliot loves leading the kids in jumping jacks, push ups, etc.), or play hide and seek or tag. Basically, I want them to do something to get their energy out. Also, my husband usually joins us for lunch and is able to help the kids if they have a math or computer questions which is really nice.
Jumping on the Trampoline
Choice Time 1:00
Choice time means they can do whatever they want (which is typically something with iPads, video games, or computers). Right now, Minecraft and Roblox are their favorite games because they can join each others’ worlds. They also like to do this weird thing where they watch other people playing video games while talking about it. Anyone else mystified as to how this is entertainment???
Choice Time
Once the kids start choice time, they are pretty independent, so I use this time to work on my projects. I work really hard from the moment I wake up until now taking care of others, so it’s really nice to be able to carve out some time for me. I spend a lot of this time cleaning, doing laundry, and preparing dinner because having a clean and tidy environment always helps me to keep my anxiety under control(that and a cup of Valarian root tea if I’m really stressed out). But if I’m really lucky and manage my time appropriately, I might be able to spend some time working in the office, reading a book, or doing some yoga. I also really enjoy putting on one of my favorite programs in the kitchen with preparing food, and that’s really fun too. Right now I’m really enjoying Outlander on Netflix, and I just finished The Tiger King which was not something I intended to watch, but couldn’t stop once I started!
Free Time (Specials) 3:00
During this time, I like to encourage activities that foster creativity and togetherness, so we’ll do art together, play music, build with Legos, play a board game, get dressed up and play imagination games, jump on the trampoline, play outside, etc. My routine oriented daughter Ophelia has requested that we incorporate the same special’s schedule she had at school during this time, so on Mondays we’ll do something with computers, Tuesdays-music, Wednesdays-art, Thursdays-PE, and Fridays-fun Fridays (watch a movie together). When we do art projects, I like to find YouTube videos to teach them a new skill or idea. Ruby and Elliot are really into this, but the others just like to draw their own ideas. I’m actually quite surprised how much my kids enjoy watching Rob Ross. He is very soothing. We also really like watching Mo Williams doodle and seeing his thought process for creating books.
Art Lesson
During this time, I like to make being present and interacting or playing with the kids a priority. Yes, there’s always a mountain of work I could be doing, but when I fill their tanks with attention and love, they have far better attitudes and behaviors.
My husband gets home from work a little after 4:30, and we’ll typically eat dinner between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Afterwards, we enjoy some family time. If it’s nice outside, we’ll jump on the trampoline, play frisbee, have a fire, or work on yard projects. If it’s crummy outside, then we’ll play music together, do something creative, play a board game, and sometimes we’ll even play a Jack Box game like Drawful.
Enjoying a Fire
Pajamas and Choice Time 6:30
Before the kids can have their evening choice time, we all work together to make sure the house is clean. When the kids have their choice time, my husband likes to play video games with them (usually something like Zelda, Minecraft, or some Mario game), and I get a little more me time. Usually I spend this time to make sure all of their workbooks are set up for the next day, get the kitchen tidied up, make sure beds are all ready for tuck in, and if I’m lucky a little more office time. At 7:30ish, we hang out in our bedroom, watch some videos, wrestle, eat snacks, and then brush teeth and do the rest of our bedtime routine.
Summer Routine
Every summer I create a routine with my kids so that they stay productive and don’t ask for choice time all day. If you’re looking for a more relaxed routine, you may want to try a schedule like this.
Summer Routine
My Favorite Pencil/Paper Resources
When we started our homeschool routine, the kids’ teachers gave them packets of work to do. These were an excellent resource to bridge the gap between home and school. Once they completed those packets, I set learning goals for each child based on their strengths and weaknesses and found or created resources to help them achieve those goals. I’ll share a little bit about each child, their learning goals, and the resources I’m using. Also, right now I’m keeping the instruction focused on core foundational skills of reading, writing, math, and electives, but as we progress, I want to include more science and social studies lessons. This may be something we focus on more during the summer.
I feel like often times the tendency is to teach things an inch deep and a mile wide. I’d rather my children know their basic skills really really really well so that they can use this foundation to pursue whatever they are passionate about. I think the most important gift we can give our children is to know the joy of learning and guide them to seek it independently for their own pleasure and not just for a sticker or a grade. In this section, I’ll share a mini profile for each child, their learning goals, and my favorite pencil/paper resources.
Ruby: 5th Grade, 10 Years Old
Profile and Learning Goals: Ruby reads at a 13th grade level, is a total bookworm, and loves reading more than anything. She can sometimes isolate herself in her own world of books, so we encourage her as much as possible to be part of the group. She is a self starter, very motivated, and quite independent. She’s at the age and stage of her life where she wants to do things on her own without me hovering. She can have messy handwriting and struggles with organization at times. When she learns a new concept in math and doesn’t get it right away, she gets frustrated and gives up, but Scott is very patient explaining things to her.
Ruby Writing
Pencil/Paper Activities: Ruby finished all of the writing assignments from her teacher long ago (although we’re going to the school to get more tomorrow), so I’m having her work on this cursive handwriting book and write in her journal. I let each child choose if they wanted a cursive or print handwriting book, and the three older ones chose cursive because they think it’s fun. Ruby is an excellent writer with a vivid imagination, so I let her write about whatever she wants. She is currently writing an outline for a book series she wants to write. She’s also an excellent artist and loves to doodle, paint, and she especially loves drawing characters and creating profiles for them so that is something she does during writing time too.
Ruby’s Paper/Pencil Activities
Elliot: 3rd Grade, 9 Years Old
Profile and Learning Goals: Elliot is very bright, reads at a 6th grade level, and loves learning about nonfiction topics. He struggles with handwriting, spelling, staying still, and completing assignments that take concentration like writing a paragraph. When he was at school, he was on medication for ADD, but now that he’s home, I just give him a cup of coffee when he needs to concentrate and it really helps. Whenever he is writing, I sit by him and have him tell me what he wants to write, I write it on a white board, and then he writes it. I know that with scaffolding and practice he’ll become more and more independent with this.
Elliot Writing
Pencil/Paper Activities: I want Elliot to become proficient at writing a single paragraph in one sitting, so each day we do something to work on this. On the first day, we only brainstormed ideas for a topic (I write down what he says), the next day we came up with a topic sentence, and today he wrote the detail sentences and conclusion. Tomorrow we’ll either revise, edit, and publish or simply start a new paragraph. Kumon makes EXCELLENT resources that teach children basic skills in progressively challenging lessons that build off from each other. Every day, I have him do 1-2 pages of his 3rd Grade Multiplication workbook, one page of his Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Handwriting workbook, and 1-2 pages of his Star Wars 3rd Grade Reading and Writing workbook. They have these Star Wars books for every grade level and subject. We recently picked up packets of work from his teacher, so when he’s mastered these resources, we’ll dive into the packets.
Elliot’s Paper/Pencil Activities
Ophelia: 1st Grade, 6 Years Old
Profile and Learning Goals: Ophelia has a photographic memory and learns things very quickly. She was reading at the age of 2 and constantly blows us away with her ability to learn. She is also very emotional and struggles with sensory overload. She often has meltdowns and cries saying, “I don’t know why I’m sad.” It breaks my heart, but we are very patient with her and talk to her about her feelings knowing that the majority of the time it’s because her routine has changed or she’s hungry. Her teacher wanted her to skip 2nd grade next year (although even Elliot’s 3rd grade homework is too easy for her), but I’m not sure she could handle it emotionally. She actually said she wants to keep homeschooling next year, so we’ll see what happens. At any rate, I want to cover all 2nd grade basic skills to make sure there’s no gaps in her learning and work on handwriting and increasing her writing stamina. Her reading stamina has already improved dramatically. She used to only have the patience to finish picture books, but now she’s finishing a different chapter book just about every other day. She’s really getting into Illustrated Classics right now.
Ophelia’s Paper/Pencil Activities
Pencil/Paper Activities: I’ve seen Ophelia write multiple sentences before, but it’s been hard to get her motivated her to write more than one sentence for a writing prompt. I’m sure once we get in the swing of things and finally discover something she’s passionate to write about, she will want to write more. She does 4 pages in her 2nd Grade Brain Quest Workbook(absolutely the best workbooks for any grade) and 2-4 pages in her Cursive Kickoff Handwriting Without Tears workbook.
Ophelia’s Paper/Pencil Activities
Julian: Pre-K, 5 Years Old
Profile and Learning Goals: Julian is the first one of our children to go to preschool! He’s always been very sensitive and quite attached to me, and preschool has been a wonderful way for him to gain independence. Before preschool, he never wanted to do any learning activities and would constantly ask me when it would be choice time. Even though he only does about 15 minutes of “pencil/paper work” a day, he is still making wonderful growth and having a lot of fun along the way. Julian is a wonderful reader. I taught him letter names and sounds at a young age and now he can read just about everything. Since he’s so good at reading, my main goal for him is to increase his hand strength, learn how to hold a writing utensil correctly, learn the correct way to form letters, and work on math facts.
Pencil/Paper Activities: Every day we start with tracing mazes. At first, I had him use a crayon, but he started using his finger and really liked it so that’s what we do now. I noticed that he was having a lot of trouble holding a writing utensil correctly, and I wanted to make something that would help him build up his hand and finger strength, so every day we do between 5-10 math facts and he has to open the clothespin to put it on the correct number. At first, he could barely open the clothespin without my help, but now he is doing it much more easily! His teacher showed me this cool rubber band trick to help him learn how to hold a writing utensil correctly, and it’s really helping. We also just ordered these finger grips, and I’m really excited to try them out. He also loves doing these Wipe Clean Workbooks with dry erase markers.
Julian’s Paper/Pencil Activities
We just started using this Handwriting Without Tears My First School Book, which starts out with simple coloring activities and then progresses into letter formation. It is a phenomenal resource!
Julian’s Handwriting Workbook
Jack: 3 Years Old
Profile and Learning Goals: Jack is full of energy and constantly making messes. Trying to keep him out of trouble is definitely a full time job! I try to give him a bunch of attention when he first wakes up so that I can focus on the older ones during our homeschool time. I started doing ABC flashcards with Jack when he was about 8 months old, and he is now reading. I believe in doing a little bit over a long period of time as well as making an environment conducive to learning. I have ABC, colors, numbers, and shapes posters and flashcards everywhere. He loves interacting with them and knows all of his letter names and sounds, colors, shapes, numbers, and is reading basic sentences now. I wait for teachable moments with Jack, and he eats it up. He loves to learn and he loves to be challenged. I created the flashcards in the picture below plus many more free digital download resources that you can use to teach your child how to read.
Jack’s Bed
Pencil/Paper Activities: The only workbook I use with Jack is the Handwriting Without Tears My First School Book. He likes singing the ABCs and pointing to the letters. He also likes scribbling over pictures as he reads the words or watching me color the pictures while we talk about it. He also likes reading the write on wipe off books and sometimes colors in them. We find time to cuddle up and read every day, mostly books about construction vehicles, and he loves it! When he was younger, he would LOVE to sit on my lap and do flashcards together.
Jack’s Workbook
Elliot has really bonded with Jack during this break. I know part of the reason why Elliot spends so much time with him is oftentimes to get out of doing schoolwork, but I actually really love that he keeps Jack busy! Jack loves flipping through these Basher Books (which take higher level topics like Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering and simplifies it for young children) trying to read the headings, and Elliot tells him the words he doesn’t know.
Elliot Reading Basher Books with Jack
Most of the time, Jack is learning through play. I have little stations all over the house filled with puzzles, little figures and houses, Legos, baskets of cars, dress up clothes, and so on. I try to find time to facilitate his play, but with all of the kids home, he has lots of playmates!
Doing an Opposite Puzzle with Jack
Tips and Tricks for Getting Through Your Day
When I tried homeschooling a few years ago, I made the mistake of trying to recreate a typical school day all while being up in the night nursing and toting a small baby on my hip during the day. We started our day at 8:00 a.m., went through each subject just like they would at school; I even came up with big ideas and mini lessons, taught a curriculum that was differentiated for all of their ages and abilities, and just about drove myself mad in the process. It was so overwhelming to plan for and execute that I just gave up. This time around, not only do I have the support of the kids’ classroom teachers, but I have created WAY less expectations for myself and my children. The end result is that I am calm, happy, and relaxed, my kids are having fun and learning, and even though we’re trapped in quarantine, we’ve never been happier or closer as a family. Here are some of the things that have helped me to keep my sanity.
Take Care of Yourself
You cannot care for your family without making sure that you are taking care of your self. For me, that means waking up early so my husband and I can drink coffee together before he heads off to work and making sure I’m showered, dressed, etc. before my children wake up. Two years ago, I got to my goal weight by doing keto and intermittent fasting. Over time, however, my old eating habits crept back, and I’ve gained back nearly all of the weight. Now, I’m trying to stop snacking all morning and wait to make one really savory meal between 10:00 a.m. and noon (depending on how long I can wait). I also try to carve out time in the day for me to do some yoga, drink tea and read a book, work in my office, or knit. When my husband gets home from work and on the weekends, he spends a lot of time with the kids so I can do some things by myself, and that is really nice!
Use Your Talents Accordingly
Teach your children whatever you are good at and enjoy doing. For example, my husband is really good at math and computers, so whenever is he home, he helps the older ones with computer programming lessons on Khan Academy and any math assignments they are struggling with. One of my passions is reading, so I enjoy teaching my children how to read at a young age and helping them to find what they are passionate about reading. I’m also really good at being a homemaker, so I like to have my children help me make meals and teach them things like how to know when the pan is the right temperature to cook a fried egg, how to know when to flip a pancake, and how to make something from scratch. I’ve also enjoyed teaching them how to sew and how to clean the house.
I also think it’s important to show your children the things you like to make and create in your free time. For example, my husband loves playing and recording music, so he teaches the kids how to do that. I really like blogging, creating teaching resources, and video editing, so I talk to the kids about my passions and show them my process. You may be into farming, horticulture, or web design…whatever you are good at and passionate about share it!
When Things Aren’t Working
Sometimes, the room is so quiet I could hear a pin drop, and I just let them keep working until someone asks if they can be done. Other times, we barely get five minutes of work done before tempers and meltdowns bring everything to a screeching halt. I take each day as it comes knowing that it’s better to stop when things get rough, evaluate at a later time why things got that way, and make plans to change for the next day. There is no reason to keep plowing through an assignment when a child is angry, sad, or frustrated.
Also, if you feel like you’re about to lose your cool, just stop what you’re doing and walk away. When I feel like this, I tell my children,
“Mommy needs a time out. I’ll be right back.”
I have always struggled with my temper and have learned over the years how to bite my tongue when I get really mad because I know deep down the things I want to shout in anger are not going to bring about positive change. I’ll admit, sometimes kids need a strong and stern scolding, but that’s a controlled form of guidance. Yelling or shouting in anger will only result in fear and hurt feelings and should be avoided at all costs.
Feed Them
Don’t try to teach your children on empty stomachs! It is sometimes unbelievable to me the amount and frequency with which my kids eat, but while I may be shocked, I try to always be prepared by having healthy meals ready at regular times as well as plenty of healthy snacks ready to go. I try to make breakfast as hearty as possible with plenty of protein. While they’re working, I make sure they have access to water and offer snacks if needed, but usually they’re pretty good about waiting until lunch. At 3:00, they usually need some kind of snack. I’ve got a great healthy cookie recipe that the kids love, or I’ll offer apples and peanut butter, string cheese, beef sticks, hard boiled eggs, orange slices, etc. If I don’t offer them a healthy snack, they’ll usually get into the goldfish crackers, veggie sticks, mini muffins, ice cream bars, etc. For dinner, I like to rotate between the kids’ favorite meals and make sure we have a good keto option for my husband and I. I talk to the kids a lot about how important it is to make sure they eat enough protein, healthy fats, and veggies before filling up on carbs, but in the end spaghetti is easy, everyone loves it, and it is what it is.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed with Teacher Assignments
My kid’s teachers have been fantastic about giving us TONS of excellent resources both pencil/paper and online. I know that they are purposefully giving parents a variety of options and resources so that we can have an arsenal of resources to use, but they are not expecting parents to do ALL of the work they are sending home. I would recommend checking out the resources they are sending home to see which ones are a fit for you and your child. You may have a child who hates all of the pencil/paper work but loves the online assignments or vice versa. Have your child try out a variety of activities and then ask them what they’d like to continue doing. Get rid of the stuff that they don’t like and that is stressful for you and focus on what is enjoyable and easy. It doesn’t matter the modality, they will learn!
Managing Multiple Children
There is only one of me and so when multiple children need me, I have to make some adjustments. With my youngest who is 3 for example, I never know when he is going to be ready for a teachable moment so I need to be prepared to drop everything and meet his needs. Today for example, he wanted to sit on my lap while I was helping Elliot with his writing to look at his workbook. We looked through the pictures and colored them talking about the things on the page until he was ready to jump down and play. Because I started working with Jack, Elliot totally got off track and started doing something else, and that was okay with me. Jack is usually pretty good about playing with cars and trucks on his own, but if he’s getting to be too much of a distraction, I’ll put him in our bedroom and turn on one of his favorite shows.
Coloring with Jack
Ruby has actually been phenomenal about independently getting her work done, and my husband has been wonderful about helping her out and answering any questions she has. The other kids, however, need me in varying degrees and at different times, so I have to be flexible. When we were first starting out and testing out new materials, I would sometimes have to spend the entire two hour chunk of learning time with one child often working with materials that were very frustrating until we finally settled on what worked. During these times, the other children would join Jack in my room to watch TV. There have also been times where Ophelia has gotten extremely emotional for one reason or another and I reassure her saying, “That’s ok, we don’t need to do any of that work today.”
I know that some days we are going to be very productive and get a lot done, and other days are going to be difficult for one reason or another. On days where the vibe is off, I try to remind myself that even if each child just spends 5 minutes learning something new, that’s still progress. If we can keep moving forward every day, even just a little bit, then over time we will grow. This is the reason why I plan on continuing this schedule over summer break. Not only will the summer schedule provide our days with more structure and help us avoid boredom, but it takes the pressure off from us having to get it all done now.
Also, keep in mind that it’s more important for everyone to be happy, having fun, and still smiling at the end of the day than it is to complete every worksheet and online assignment.
What To Do with an Unmotivated Child
Getting children to become self motivated takes a delicate amount of balance. Without ANY expectations, routines, or guidelines and endless amounts of screen time, children are going to be VERY hard to motivate. But swing the pendulum the other way and expect 6+ hours of productivity a day doing piles of work that is difficult, tedious, and boring will burn children out and also make them very hard to motivate. You have to create routines and set expectations that are within a child’s zone of proximal development which means that lessons aren’t too easy or too challenging, but just right. Children are naturally curious and like to learn. They feel proud when they overcome obstacles and can see themselves growing even if it’s difficult at times.
Finding out how your child likes to learn and what they like learning about will take some trial and error. Your child may LOVE doing pencil/paper activities, but hate doing things online. If this is the case, do most of the learning with pencil/paper. If a child LOVES doing the online portions, have that be the majority of the learning. Also. figure out what subject matter your child is most interested and get workbooks or create activities that follow that theme.
Keep in mind that children hate the things that are difficult for them, but sometimes it’s necessary to work on these things a little bit over a long period of time so that they won’t be so challenging anymore, especially with core subjects. My third grader, for example HATES writing because his brain works faster than his hands and his writing is very sloppy. I want him to be able to write a paragraph, so right now we are only writing 1-2 sentences a day, but I am also teaching him typing so that someday he can just type his papers.
In Conclusion
Being forced to create a homeschool routine because of Covid-19 is not something we ever thought we’d have to do, but I am so thankful it happened. We moved a year ago, and we’re finally settled into a home that we can afford and hope to love for a long time. Our family has needed this time to bond and reconnect without feeling pulled in a thousand different directions. I don’t know what the future holds for us in terms of schooling, but I know we are happy now, and that is all that matters. I have created tons of great resources you can use to teach your child to read here. If you find yourself thrust into a homeschooling situation or decide to homeschool for any reason, just know that it will take time to get things to run smoothly, so give yourself a grace period, have fun with it, and find ways to smile as much as possible throughout the day.
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Untitled-design-5.png400810Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2020-04-20 19:53:212024-06-16 07:50:30How to Start a Homeschool Routine During Covid-19
I love setting up an environment where my young preschool aged children (and older children as well) can be engaged in play based learning. I do this by setting up lots of little centers in every room that encourage creative and imaginative play with a little bit of skill based learning thrown in there as well. This is basically a Montessori approach to learning where children are given a lot of choice in a resource rich learning environment that incorporates plenty of opportunities for guided instruction.
While being a stay at home mom and raising our four children (after being an elementary school teacher for 7 years and getting my Master’s degree in Linguistics), these are the learning centers that have worked for me and have helped all of our children learn how to read at a young age, develop curious and imaginative minds, and get ready for school. (Check out some resources I created to help young children learn how to read here.)
Before I dive into the learning centers, I wanted to set the scene with a few tips and tricks that have helped my learning centers to be successful.
Tips and Tricks
Little Learning Centers: Set up small tables, little chairs, small couches, and other areas that are easy to access for little ones.
Organization: I love using baskets, bins, cardboard boxes (with the flaps cut off), and tubs to sort and organize my toys and supplies. I like to label things when I can as well.
Children’s Choice: Introduce children to new learning centers, but after introductions are made, let them choose what they want to do. Follow them and provide guidance and support wherever they choose to be.
The Way to Start Your Day: Start the day with the most learning intensive projects first. You’ve got maybe an hour or two after they wake up for optimal attention, so use your time wisely!
When to Pack it Up: If I have a center set up (like a Play-doh or a water table center) that’s really messy, but doesn’t sustain their attention for very long, I will pack it up. I’m usually okay with cleaning up a big mess as long as it was really and truly worth it. *With a new baby on the way, I’m starting to pack away all centers that make a big mess, just to help me manage things a little better. 🙂
Rotation: If a center isn’t getting used, I’ll pack it away. Then, when I take it out again later, it’s like a brand new toy all over again! (If they still don’t use it, I’ll just get rid of it.)
Routines and Procedures: Having a good behavior management system in place will make the day run much more smoothly. I have found both as a teacher and now a parent, that most behaviors can be managed with consistent routines, procedures, and expectations.
Whether you are setting up an atmosphere for homeschool or just looking to create a stimulating learning environment for your little one(s), these learning centers are sure to engage, stimulate, and provide hours and hours of play based learning opportunities for your child(ren). Also, keep in mind that we have four children ranging in age from 21 months to 7 years, and they ALL enjoy using all of these centers to varying degrees. 🙂
Here is a little video of me showing most of the learning centers we have set up in our home.
1. ABC Magnet Letters
Learning the ABCs isn’t just about singing a song, it’s about learning BOTH the letter names AND letter sounds really really well. Doing so will lay a strong foundation for reading.
ABC Magnet Letters
This ABC magnet letter center is a perfect way for little ones to explore what they are learning about letters in a fun and hands on way. *Watch a video of Ophelia using ABC magnet letters here.
Materials Needed:
Magnet Letters: I like these foam ones the best (120 pieces, capitals and lowercase letters), but they are currently only available from third party sellers on Amazon. These would be pretty good too if you don’t mind the pastel colors. I do like the Melissa and Doug wooden letters (52 pieces, one capital and one lowercase for each letter), but the magnets separate from the wood after time. This set of 240 lowercase letters (blue consonants and red vowels) from Lakeshore Learning is also a really great teaching tool, but the letters just aren’t as fun for kids to use. I like using it more for a teaching tool or to set up a lot of words at once. If you look at my letter set up, you’ll notice that I like setting the magnet letters in a shallow box so that little fingers can easily dig through them. Don’t worry about sorting the letters out, they’ll just get mixed up again! 🙂 I also like having these Leapfrog ABC letters for the refrigerator.
Muffin Pans: I like using this 2 x 3 pan for learning three letter words, this 12 muffin pan for either three or four letter words, and this mini muffin pan for longer words (and counting practice).
Small Table: You don’t really have to have a table (the floor would be just fine), but it does make it more fun! I made this mini table (pictured above) using scraps of wood we had lying around, and I measured it specifically to fit this funny little place in our “homeschool room”. When I was a teacher, I liked taking the lower parts of the table legs off from my rectangular tables to make a lower work surface for kids, and they loved it!
Learning how to count lays the foundation for math like learning the letter names and sounds lays the foundation for reading. It can take young children a very long time to learn one-to-one-correspondence (meaning that each object represents one thing, so it is definitely a good idea to encourage children to count often.
In the picture below, you’ll see that I have a mason jar numbered and labeled. I used to have 20 or so different counting jars with different things in them from beans to legos to small cars, but these counting bears were always the favorite, so that’s all I use now. 🙂 *The Investigations math curriculum is great for teaching math concepts in a fun and exploratory way.
Counting Bears Center
I like using anything that encourages counting like the game Connect 4. Not only is this good for counting, but it’s good fine motor skill practice for little hands too.
Counting with Connect 4
Materials Needed:
Counters: These are the counting bears that I like to use.
More Counters: Lakeshore Learning has TONS of great counting resources. Check them out here.
Mason Jars: These wide mouths jars are best for storing the counters.
Muffin Tin: I like using this mini muffin tin to practice counting and for my ABC Magnet Center too.
Connect 4: This Connect 4 game is a great way to practice counting (we usually go to 20).
3. Drawing
I really like having one table in the house set up just for drawing. This table is in our homeschool room, and I always have coloring books, workbooks, how to draw books, printouts of favorite things to draw, stencils, paper, crayons, markers, other office supplies like scissors and tape, and a little box for finished drawings laying out and ready to use.
Drawing Table
Not pictured to the right is a tall bookshelf that I keep stocked with a variety of coloring and work books, mini books we have made, blank mini books ready to be filled, extra markers, and more supplies. The pencils here in the picture below belong to our 7 year old daughter Ruby. She LOVES drawing and can be found doing one project or another here at this table every single day.
Ruby’s Drawings
Materials Needed:
Coloring Books: I like collecting coloring books and workbooks from garage sales, thrift stores, and trips to the grocery store based on whatever our children are interested in.
Crayons, Markers, Pencils:These are the pencils my older daughter loves. They are kind of expensive, but really good quality. I really like having this pencil sharpener too.
Paper: I get paper scraps from my parents’ business and cut it up for drawing paper, but blank computer paper like this works well too.
Yes, painting is messy, but soooooooooooo much fun for kids! Having a bunch of painting supplies on hand and ready to go makes for a really fun project.
My Painting Supplies
I like letting kids draw whatever they want when we paint, but sometimes I’ll paint with them and we’ll talk about different things to paint like the sky, flowers, trees, cats, or whatever! If I’m feeling really artsy, maybe we’ll look up some famous artists someday and try to mimic their work.
No Spill Paint Jars: These no spill paint jars from Lakeshore Learning and corresponding paint brushes are just pure brilliance. You can also get them from Amazon.
Smocks:Something like this would be great, or even an old button up shirt would work fine too.
Painting Paper: If you want to go the extra mile, this painting paper is really nice and doesn’t bleed through as much as printing paper.
Easel: We just use our homeschool table, but if you have the space a really nice painting easel would be really fun.
I love collecting things from garage sales, thrift stores, or the crafting aisles at Walmart to fill my craft box. I like to put most things in plastic bags and label them. It’s really fun to just take out the whole box, and get crafty!
My Craft Box
Materials Needed:
Craft Box Items: Pom poms, little googly eyes, artificial flowers, buttons, sequins, glitter, pine cones, headbands, cotton balls, shells, pipe cleaners, paper scraps, yarn, and ribbons are some of the things I have in my craft box.
Glue: Glue sticks are nice for paper things, but you’ll want Elmer’s glue for bigger things, and maybe even a glue gun if you want things to be really permanent.
Paper: Sometimes it’s nice to make things on paper, so I like to have an assortment of large and small blank paper as well as construction paper.
Craft Ideas: I like letting the kids make whatever they want, but sometimes you need some inspiration or a pre-made kit like this headband kit or this bracelet kit.
6. Cutting and Gluing
Cutting is a really hard skill for little hands to master, and so any opportunities for young children to cut and glue will help prepare them for kindergarten. Sometimes it’s fun to just cut shapes out of colored paper and glue them onto large pieces of white paper. Other times, it’s fun to just cut and cut and cut! 🙂 One thing I’ve noticed though is that if a child isn’t ready to cut, don’t push it.
Paper: I like having an assortment of construction paper, blank computer paper, and large sheets of paper. I also like to cut the edges off from a rectangular shaped box and label it “paper scraps” so that we can save our paper scraps and use them to practice cutting.
Glue: I LOVE having tons of large glue sticks around, as well as several bottles of Elmer’s Glue. I find that I can get the best price for glue sticks on Amazon, but I always shop the back to school sales for my Elmer’s glue and stock up!
7. Stickers and Stamps
Stickers and stamps are a really fun way for kids to be creative, work on vocabulary and language skills, and develop their fine motor skills. I like to let the kids have complete freedom and do whatever they want with stickers and stamps, but sometimes they need a little help getting started. When this happens, I just get out my own piece of paper and think aloud as I choose what stamps to use and how to arrange my stickers. For extra vocabulary practice, I like to write descriptive words underneath the stickers or add word bubbles to the characters.
Paper: I like using large sheets of paper like this, but you could also have fun with a fancy sticker book like this. Compassion books are great ways to save stickers and stamps too. I like buying them in bulk during back to school sales. I also really like buying huge rolls of paper to use for a variety of things.
8. Write On/Wipe Off
Write on/wipe off boards are such a novel thing that it makes writing really different and fun. It’s a good way to give your child guided practice as they start to learn how to make lines, shapes, letters, numbers, and more.
I usually save my water play centers for the dead of winter when we really need something to liven things up. It can get very messy, but kids LOVE it, and hey, it’s just water. When my water centers are in motion, I pretty much constantly have a load of towels in the dryer. 🙂
Water Pouring Center
Ruby and Ophelia Pouring Water
A less messy option is to just do water play in the sink, or better yet, in the bathtub! There have been many long winter days where we take a bath in the afternoon just for fun!
Elliot Doing Water Play in the Sink
Materials Needed:
Cups and Saucers: There are many different types of tea sets that are really fun to pour with, but sometimes larger cups are fun too.
Tubs and Buckets: It’s nice to have a tub or bucket for collecting the water and another for pouring into. I like these rectangular dishpans a lot.
Water Table: I did buy this water table last winter, and it was a lot of fun, but not really as fun as the tables with cups and saucers. In the summer we keep it outside, and that has been fun, although a bit of work to keep clean.
Towels: I like keeping a stash of old towels hanging near the water centers.
10. Cars and Trains
Our youngest son Julian (21 months) is absolutely OBSESSED with anything that has wheels. All day long he loves pushing his cars and trucks. At the end of the day, there are little areas of cars and trucks everywhere. It’s adorable!
Toy Cars
Julian Loves Pushing His Big Truck Throughout the House
Even though we have an official “Car Center”, there are cars and trucks stashed in just about every room in the house!
Julian’s Bedroom
Materials Needed:
Cars and Trucks: Like with just about everything else in our home, I like finding cars and trucks at thrift stores and garage sales for $0.25 – $0.50/piece. This 20-pack Matchbox set would be a nice way to get started though, and these bulldozers and trucks would make a nice addition. I try to stay away from things that require batteries and make noise because a) they can be really annoying and b) I think that they stifle the imagination. We like using a large truck like this to store all of our cars in.
Ramps: We have this ramp, and it’s amazing, but apparently, they’re not making it anymore. Bummer. Something like this or this would be really fun too.
Train Tracks: Our kids have a lot of fun with these wooden train tracks. Smaller cars fit on them perfectly too.
Road Rug: The kids love our road rugs and play many imagination games using them. You can get a small one like this, or a large one like this. We got our large rug from a thrift store, but you can find some great ones on Amazon like this.
11. Building Toys
Toys that require building are my absolute favorite. They engage the children for extended periods of time, and they really help to get their creative juices flowing. When they’re first learning about how to use the building tools, my husband and I spend a lot of time building with them to model the possibilities. But once they get going, they really start learning from each other, and it’s incredible.
Many Different Kinds of Blocks
Big Legos, K’nex, and Unifix Cubes
I love having this table set up just for Legos. The big kids play here as a part of their nightly bedtime routine every night while we put the little ones to bed first. We enjoy buying and making Lego kits from time to time, but mostly they just enjoy building whatever they’d like.
Lego Table
Ophelia and Ruby Building with K’nex
Materials Needed:
Big Legos: I like using two bags of these big legos at once. I have a large cardboard box that I cut the flaps off from, cut the front down so that little hands can reach in, and reinforced it with duct tape.
Small Legos: We inherited my husband’s old lego set from when he was a kid, but you can buy some basic legos like these. We have also enjoyed making many kits together, but when we’re done, the pieces just get thrown into the collection. I love using large shallow Amazon boxes with the flaps cut off, or a storage tub like this to store the legos in so that kids can find the pieces they’re looking for more easily.
Mathlink Cubes:These cubes are great for learning about patterns, counting, or just using to make swords and towers.
K’nex: There are so many different ways kids can play with these K’nex building toys. While there may be many different kits available, we have never tried any out.
Lincolon Logs – We do have these, and they are fun, but kind of hard to get creative with.
12. Reading Nooks
I like having little reading spaces all over the house. By making the books easy to see and easy to reach, children are more likely to become engaged with them.
Little Chair and Boxes with Books
I like rotating my books based on who is reading them and where. The older children are able to go to the bookshelves to select books, and they each have huge assortments of books in their rooms, so I kind of like to keep my baskets of books and little chairs geared for the little ones.
Little Reading Chairs with a Basket of Books Inbetween
Materials Needed:
Little Furniture: We bought our mini chairs at our local Walmart, but if I were to buy some online, these mini bean bag chairs look great and have great reviews, and this sturdy wooden framed chair would be the dream! I highly recommend getting something that has a removable cover that can be washed! We inherited a mini couch like this from my parents who bought it for my twin sisters (who are now grown). I think it really pays to buy quality when it’s an item that will get used a lot, but this foam mini couch would be really fun too.
Book Baskets: I started collecting wicker baskets like these when Ruby was born to hold diapers and such, and the size and shape is just perfect for storing books! I think this lined wicker basket would be even better, but it’s twice as much. I think it’s really important to fan the books out so that as many can be seen as possible (so big ones in the back), and so they are really easy to grab.
Bookshelves: I like storing chapter books and books waiting to be rotated in, as well as our adult books, on bookshelves. We have picked up small ones like this, big ones like this, and square ones like this over the years at garage sales and thrift stores that have worked really well. I never bought one, but I always thought this book rack storage shelf would be really cool too.
Best Books: I have a blog about my favorite books for babies and an Amazon astore with my favorite books for children of all ages, but mainly, I just try to find really good garage sales where the books are like $0.10/each and stock up on ones that cover content, have interesting pictures, and contain text that is on the larger side. I’m always looking for really good sturdy board books especially.
*Read more of my blogs about teaching reading here.
13. Favorite Things Books
I believe in giving children a foundation of learning by helping them master the basic skills, but after that, I like to let them choose to engage in whatever they are interested in. These favorite things books are a great way for me to encourage each child to follow his or her own learning path. Basically, I just do Google image searches and print out pictures of their favorite things.
Ruby’s Favorite Things book is filled with her favorite Miyazaki films, My Little Pony characters, Digimon characters, and pictures of special memories that we printed out. Elliot is really into monsters, superheroes, Godzilla, octopuses, and anything gross. Ophelia loves learning about the ABCs, counting, Dora, seasons, weather, maps, and more, so her book is more educationally themed.
Ophelia, Ruby, and Elliot’s Favorite Things Books
Inside Ophelia, Ruby, and Elliot’s Favorite Things Books
Ophelia Reading Her Favorite Things Book
Materials Needed:
Paper: I like using laminated covers and card stock like this for the pages. Sometimes I just print the images right on the page, and sometimes I cut and glue them. This paper cutter has been very handy.
Printer: Finding a good printer is tough, and I am not too happy with the printer choices we have made in the past. But my dad owns a small business where he does a lot of printing and highly recommends the Epson WorkForce ET-4550. He says it prints great and the replacement ink is VERY affordable because it uses liquid refills. Once we’re out of ink for our current printer, we will be purchasing this one!
Laminator:This is the laminator I have. It is really basic, has a good price, and works great! This one is about the same price and has even better reviews though.
Binder: I have tried the comb binding (with binding spines) and it is affordable and easy to use, but not super durable (yet simple enough to fix). I have also tried the cinch binding (with binding wires) that is much more durable but the binding wires are quite expensive.
14. Little Figures and Houses
Creative and imaginative play is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of childhood. When I was a third grade teacher, I was always amazed when kids had no idea what to do with themselves during recess. When I was growing up, my brother and I always played intricate imagination games that would take us to other worlds and keep us engaged for hours.
Playing with little figures and houses is an excellent way for young children to use play to make sense of the world around them. Sometimes their play is about real things (going to bed, taking a bath, getting dressed) and sometimes it’s a completely made up fantasy.
Little House and Mini Figures
When Ruby and Elliot were first starting to show interest in little house and mini figures, we would get on the floor and play with them as we modeled different scenarios with heroes and villains as well as other story lines that they could play along with. Now, Ophelia and Julian are learning from their older siblings how to do the same thing.
Doll House with Toy Baskets
We have little houses and figures in just about every room in the house, and they always keep our children engaged in imaginative play for extended periods of time.
Ruby and Elliot Playing with Little Houses and Figures
Materials Needed:
Little Houses: Just like with everything else, we look for all sorts of houses, castles, barns, tree house, and any other structures at garage sales and thrift stores. These things are so expensive to buy new, but just look on Craigslist or find a way to buy them used. Otherwise, Fisher Price Little People houses like this small one or this larger one are great too.
Figures: We are always buying these My Busy Books at the grocery store, not so much for the book and play mat, but for the mini figures inside. I am always on the lookout for small figures like these superheroes and these Peanuts characters. I try to stay away from Barbies and anything else that objectifies women.
Baskets: I like using wide shallow baskets like this because children only like to play with what they can see. This toy rack has also been very nice for organizing toys (although I just dump anything anywhere, it at least looks organized).
15. Dress Up
Playing dress up is another really great way for children to use their imaginations. By getting dressed up, they can become a different person with new characteristics. This imaginative play is a very important aspect of their development and actually a key piece of the highly successful Tools of the Mind Preschool Curriculum.
Dress Up Clothes and Hats
Sometimes when children get dressed up, they don’t know what to do. I like to provide scenarios and props to help spin them into action (usually some kind of problem and solution involving a hero and villain works well). Being able to engage in extended imaginative play (without adult interaction) is a very important skill for little ones to develop. It teaches them how to sustain their attention on something for an extended period of time and fosters all sorts of creativity that is a much more important aspect of an optimal learning environment than some would think.
Dress Up Dresses
Ophelia is a Cowgirl!
I like looking for dress up clothes at garages year round, but my favorite thing to do is to hit up thrift stores right before Halloween to pick up more outfits, hats, and props to add to my collection.
Hats: Hats are one of the easiest ways for children to play dress up, and I love having many different hats, wigs, and tiaras for kids to choose from.
Props: Lakeshore Learning has tons of great dress up and role play costumes and props that can help provide entire scenarios for children to act out like the post office, doctor’s office, vet, and more. More than anything, Ophelia loves our little riding horse. 🙂 Imagination games are much more fun with props.
Hangers and Hooks: If you put everything in a box or leave it in a pile on the floor, it won’t get used as much. By hanging things on little hangers (I really like this drop down hanger organizer and these children’s hangers) and using hooks to spread things across a wall, children can easily see their options. You can also find some pretty cool little coat racks that would work well too, and of course this little dress up station would be the dream!
16. Music
My husband is very musical, and so we have him to thank for filling our house with such wonderful instruments. He is talented at playing just about everything and has a very good ear for music. The kids love sitting on his lap while he plays the drums and we all enjoy making family music together.
Drums, Keyboard, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, and Amp
I have placed colored stickers on the keyboard with letters on them to teach kids the names of the keys. We like printing out simple song sheets (look for ones that have the notes and letters for each note) and color coding them so that the children can learn how to read music.
Guitars: We have a nice electric and bass guitar with one cheap amp and one really nice amp, plus an acoustic guitar, and although our kids do enjoy strumming them haphazardly, they are way too big for them. This kid’s guitar and this toy guitar would be better suited.
Extras: It’s really fun to have a bunch of extra noise makers that are easy to play like maracas and tambourines. This little set has everything you will need!
17. Puzzles
Puzzles are an excellent way for children to practice their dexterity while also learning about the vocabulary and content of the puzzle. Yes, there are times when I have to hide my puzzles when the little ones want to just dump all of the pieces out in one big jumble, but when they’re ready to actually sit down and attend to one (or maybe two) puzzles at a time, then I leave them out!
There are many different pocket charts that you can get for a variety of purposes. I like having my pocket chart as an interactive wall center. Sometimes I use pre-made cards, sometimes I use my own flashcards, and sometimes I use flashcards that the kids have colored. There are so many different options for pocket charts and the best thing is that they don’t take up any floor space!
Flashcard Making Supplies: To make your own flashcards, just cut some card stock into fourths and use a sharpie marker to write your words. You can also use these cool sentence strips.
19. Play-Doh
Play-Doh is a fun moldable adventure for children. Little fingers love squishing and squashing it, and there are so many different options for creativity.
Ophelia and Elliot Playing with Play-Doh
I like keeping my Play-Doh supplies stored in cardboard boxes (from Amazon) with the flaps cut off and labeled with mailing labels. It’s nice to have a table or space on the floor to play with the Play-Doh so that it doesn’t get ground into the carpet. Right now, my Ophelia is obsessed with this
Puppets are a wonderful way to teach children new things or entertain them using funny voices and silly dialogue. I enjoy using puppets to talk to my children or read them books and we all like putting on puppet shows.
Puppet Stand
Materials Needed:
Puppet Stand: I made this puppet stand using spare scraps of wood we had lying around. It’s a good thing it’s covered up with fabric, because it’s a very crude job! I even had to screw it into the wall just so it would stay standing. 🙂 If you don’t feel like making your own, you could certainly just buy one like this.
Hand Puppets: These animal hand puppets are great (and a good price), but I really like the puppets with mouths that open, and my kids LOVE our Ernie and Kermit the Frog puppets because they recognize the characters. You can get this Sesame Street Puppet Collection here, but it is pretty pricey. This set of 8 multi-ethnic puppets is a better value.
I love, love, LOVE these big cupboards with shelves that we inherited when we bought our house, and I have one entire cupboard where we keep most of our board games. Many games I have found at garage sales and thrift stores, and many others have been on wish lists for Christmas and Birthdays. The frustrating thing about the popular games these days is that they seem to be made cheaper and cheaper with each generation. I like finding older versions of classic games like Connect 4 and Guess Who that are of obviously superior quality.
Our Board Game Cupboard
When little ones are first learning about board games, I find that it is very important to let them play however they want. When they are ready, they’ll want to play by the rules, so in the meantime, don’t make everyone frustrated by forcing it.
We try to make it common practice to just take out one game at a time, and we try to not make TOO big of a mess. Also, I’m sure there are a ton more great games (especially educational ones) out there, but we usually look for ours second hand, so we just get what we can find! 🙂
When I think of teaching little ones science, I think about teaching them how to see the world up close and giving them opportunities to explore it. I want them to get magnifying glasses and look at bugs…how they move, where they’re going, they’re characteristics, I want them to catch frogs and learn how to gently handle them, I want them to observe the colors of the sky and to see the patterns in the clouds, I want them to get messy as they compare the texture of dirt to mud, and most of all, I want them to play, explore, wonder, question, and see…really see the world.
Ruby and Elliot in the Garden
Ruby and Elliot Doing a Vinegar and Baking Soda Experiment
Backyard Fun: We like doing a lot of our “science” outside just exploring nature and getting messy. I love having a sandbox, mud pit, and garden in our fenced in backyard to help facilitate their curiosities.
Science Experiments: There’s just nothing out there as fun as vinegar and baking soda! We like to experiment with bowls of vinegar colored with food coloring, little droppers, and pans with baking soda. There are also lots of other science experiments using vinegar and baking soda, which is a is a great introduction to concept of chemistry. There are also lots of other fun science experiments, like these, that you can do with preschoolers.
Scientifics Direct: This is an online portal to everything you could ever want or need in every area of science for every age level. I highly recommend shopping here for Christmas and birthday presents!
23. Social Studies
Learning about where we are in place in time should be a gradual infiltration of knowledge instead of a sudden mind dump. As a third grade teacher introducing concepts such as “we live in a city that is part of a state that is part of a country that is part of a continent” and “before we lived here other people lived here with fewer advancements in technology” are all really big ideas that can be hard to grasp when introduced too quickly.
The more children can be exposed to these concepts at a young age, the more receptive they will be to learn about them more in depth at a later age.
Place Mats: I love using placements (like this) taped down on small tables so that they are easy to point out and talk about at a moment’s notice. They are very sturdy and if not taped down, can be taken anywhere.
Traveling: As we’re driving, I always talk about streets we’re driving on, the direction we’re headed, what city we’re in, where we’re going, how many miles it is, and so on.
24. My Favorite Workbooks
During the summer (and weekends, holidays, etc.), I have a pretty nice routine that involves all of us adopting a homeschool framework that helps all of us to be productive and accountable. First thing in the morning, I like to have my older ones do about 2-4 pages from any workbook of their choosing. Sometimes the little ones like to do workbooks too, sometimes they just color, and sometimes they’re playing elsewhere. 🙂
My Favorite Workbooks
Some kids really really like sitting down and doing workbooks, and some just don’t. I think you have to find what works for your child. Try to expose them to some pencil paper activities where you can and let their interests lead the way.
Brain Quest: I love everything Brain Quest makes! Their workbooks are high quality with full color, simple graphics, age appropriate content, and fun for kids. You might like starting with the Pre-K or K workbook for your little one.
Investigations Math:This curriculum does an amazing job of making learning math fun! There are lots of different games that help to build math concepts. You can buy individual student books by grade level on Amazon like this K workbook. If you go to the Investigations ordering page, you’ll see that it’s not super easy to order from them unless you’re buying the whole kit and kaboodle.
Grocery Store Books: If you go to the book section at any grocery store or Walmart, there’s always a selection of different workbooks. I have enjoyed using these as well. If you live near any teacher stores, I highly recommend going there and just looking through the resources in person.
25. Technology
We have always enjoyed using technology as a teaching tool with our little ones. Read more about why we don’t ban screen time for our little ones under two here, and also read more about how we set limits with technology here. If you are the type of parent who has trouble setting limits, leaves the TV on all day even if no one is watching it, or is struggling with young ones who want to spend all day in front of a screen, then you might want to skip this section. But if you’re okay with using technology in a structured and supervised way, then you might love the following blogs:
By setting up a stimulating environment filled with many different learning centers, your little ones will not only be engaged, they will be growing and developing so fast that you might find it hard to keep up, and that is definitely not something to complain about!
You don’t have to be a teacher in order to provide your child with a stimulating learning environment, and you don’t need to wait until you send them off to school before you can expect them to learn anything. Babies and young children crave stimulation and learning. and you’re not going to find all that you need in workbooks and paper/pencil activities. Kids need opportunities to learn through play, and play based learning centers are a great way to get started!
For Further Reading
Zone of Proximal Development: Children of all ages, babies included, love to be challenged. By providing learning opportunities that are at the right level for your child and by scaffolding them to new learning, they will be engaged, happy, and continuously making advancements.
Learning Goals: Now, I’m not talking about state standards, lesson plan books, and goal sheets, I’m talking about knowing where your children are developmentally and thinking about where they could go next based on their ages, abilities, personalities, etc. Knowing this will help you to design your learning environment with each child’s needs in mine. See examples of the learning goals I set for my children here.
How Children Learn: When you look at brain development and see that the neurons in a child’s brain peak at about 2-3 years of age, you will understand why I believe that this is the most crucial window of opportunity there is.
Oral Language Development: Learning how to speak is what represents the background knowledge that children will bring to every new learning experience that they encounter.
Oral language development is one of the most important aspects of a developing young child’s brain and is what lays the foundation for learning how to read.
According to SEDL’s Reading Resources, oral language development is “highly correlated with later reading proficiency”. The research also shows that,
“Most language development occurs indirectly through language exposure rather than through explicit instruction,”
This means that as parents, we don’t need to teach our babies and toddlers specifically targeted language lessons, we just need to give them lots of exposure to quality language experiences. But what are quality language experiences? Does this simply meaning talking more or leaving the TV on?
Children are not just passive receptors of their environment. They want to engage, they want to be stimulated, challenged, and acknowledged every step of the way. Many people look at children as though they are not ready to learn until they are much older, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They are ready to learn from birth, but it’s all about meeting them where they are and providing the language experiences that best fit their stage of language development. (For resources to help build your child’s vocabulary, check out my store.)
Stages of Language Development
First, let’s take a look at the stages of language development to see what is appropriate at each age level. Children may not fit into these categories perfectly, but it gives you an idea of how the focus changes from learning how to make sounds to asking questions.
Newborns (0-3 months)
During this “4th trimester”, a child’s brain is finishing the growth that couldn’t happen in the womb. They need you close. They need to feel your heartbeat and drink in your scent.
Basking in the Glow of Newborn Julian
They need to look in your eyes and feel you smooth their head and coo to them that everything is going to be all right. They need to feel safe, comfortable, fed, and warm. This is the bonding time where it all begins and your heart will completely melt when you start to hear them coo their first sounds. They have a voice!
Infants (3-6 months)
It’s so amazing to see infants leave the newborn stage. The memory of birth is just starting to fade as you hold your child with wonder and fascination instead of just shock and awe. Their eyesight is just starting to become fully functional and they are now a bit more comfortable with this world outside the womb. They have been soaking up the sights and sounds around them and are now ready to start mimicking what they see and hear.
Bonding with 4 Month Old Elliot
They love to look at your mouth and it’s fun to make exaggerated sounds. You can enjoy having “conversations” by saying something sweet and then waiting for them to respond. If you wait, you’ll hear them try to coo and copy you. When they are done, say something sweet again and then pause to let them respond. It is the cutest darn thing ever. These baby conversations are very important in their language development.
Babies (6-12 months)
Just look at the diagram below to see the explosion of synaptic connections by 6 months! This is when babies’ brains are in an optimal place for learning.
The Cambridge Handbook of Infant Development Brain, Behavior, and Cultural Context , pp. 94 – 127, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Print publication year: 2020
There is a big misconception that because babies cannot produce language at this point – that they aren’t ready for it, but they are! They are just in the listening and learning phase for a little while. Because myelination is just starting to form (the fatty sheath around the synaptic connections that helps the signals transfer faster) it takes lots and lots of repetition of the same thing in order to make this connection speedy. So pick things that are important to repeat.
Watching Your Baby Can Read with 7 Month Old Ophelia
You will notice that they will now start to produce what you have been repetitiously teaching them. It will seem as if they just suddenly learned it, but really, it started building when they were 6 months old.
One Year Old Ruby Loves Reading Books
As their vocabularies start to explode, I’m often reminded of Helen Keller when she has that magical moment with her teacher Anne Sullivan and everything just clicks and she feverishly wants to know the names of everything. This is what it’s like at this stage. They understand that words have meaning and they want to know the names of things. So tell them! Tell them the names of every single thing their curious little minds want to discover.
Toddlers (18-24 months)
At this stage, they will actually be able to start communicating with you in ways that you can understand. They will start to use short phrases and they will be able to repeat simple nursery rhymes, songs, and chants.
19 Month Ophelia Loves to Learn
If you have been working on the ABCs and nursery rhymes all along, your heart will just melt when you hear them sing them. During this stage, I find it very helpful to repeat whatever they say to provide clarity. You’ll know when you get what they were trying to say right or wrong depending on their expressions.
Two Year Olds (24-36 months)
This stage is what some refer to as the “terrible twos” and I believe that this is because their brains comprehend and want to articulate way more than they are capable of expressing. You just need to help them find the words for what they are trying to say as they begin to assert their independence.
2 Year Old Ruby Learning About Her World
At this time, I like to use a lot of teaching tools to bring as many different modalities of learning together such as ABC fridge magnets, flashcards, and puzzles. Doing activities with your children and talking to them about what you are both doing is one of the best ways to facilitate language growth at this point.
Three Year Olds (36-48 months)
This is when children seem to take special interest in certain characters, topics, and toys. Use their interests to help them develop more specialized vocabularies based on whatever they are fascinated by.
3 Year Old Elliot Playing with his ABC Transformers
It could be anything from superheroes, to dinosaurs, to space exploration, to princesses. Help them to learn the specialized vocabulary that aligns with their interests as they continue to expand their vocabularies. This is they time I typically like introducing my Three Letter Word Families activities.
Four Year Olds (48-60 months)
At this age, any content that interests them can be used to teach vocabulary. They will be full of curiosities and questions and it is so very important that you don’t brush their questions aside, especially if it’s because you don’t know the answer. Show them what you do when you don’t know the answer to a question, like use google on your phone, look in a book, or ask an expert. It might be a good idea to have a real or electronic notepad to keep track of all of their questions. We enjoyed having a question wall for awhile because they were asking so many questions that I couldn’t keep up and I wanted to remember to get to them.
4 Year Old Ruby Exploring Her World Outdoors
I love this Einstein quote: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” When children ask why the leaves change color, use words like photosynthesis, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll, and oxygen. Sometimes your explanations might be a little over their heads, but the more you talk about it and learn about it, the more it will make sense.
Synaptic Pruning
When children are between 3 and 4 years of age, a massive amount of synaptic pruning occurs. This is the brain’s way of tailoring its executive function to specialize in whatever environment the child is engaged with. This diagram shows how crucial it is to provide the child with the optimum environment at a young age to help lay the best foundation for brain development that will pave the way for all future learning.
Tips and Tricks for Optimal Oral Language Development
1. Vocabulary
Start by teaching your children the names of things. Everything in this world is new to them and the best place to start is to teach them what everything is called. Start with family members, things about them (body parts, clothes, etc.), and things in your house, then move on to things in the outside world.
When you’re changing diapers, talk about the clothes you are putting on them, when you’re eating, point out the foods that are in front of them, when they are playing with toys (especially educational toys such as alphabet blocks and shape sorters), talk about what they are and what color they are, and how you are using them. The best way to teach vocabulary is in the moment, so be there in the moment to teach your children the names of things when they want to know what they are.
2. Monitor Your Speech
Speak clearly, speak slowly, and carefully enunciate your words to ensure that you are understood. Get down to their level, make eye contact, and really talk to them. Especially after babies are 6 months old and older, you want to avoid the goo-goo-ga-ga baby talk. You’re not going to talk to them like you’d talk to another adult, but you don’t need to use a made up language with poorly crafted words either.
The most important thing is to make sure you have their attention. When or if you lose it, just adjust your speech until you have it again. You might need to use a funny voice, really over enunciate what you are saying, or speak with fewer or simpler words, but just keep trying something until it clicks or wait until a better time.
3. Zone of Proximal Development
When teaching in the zone of proximal development, you don’t want the learning to be too easy or too challenging. You want it to be just challenging enough so that’s it’s one level above where they are. Scaffolding occurs when you guide them to do something they couldn’t do on their own and then you take the scaffolding away when they can do it independently.
So if children are speaking just one or two words at a time, you’ll want to start modeling more complex sentences and phrases that are just slightly more complex than what they are saying. For example, if they point to your cat and say, “Kitty.” You can repeat what they say and add onto it saying, “Yes, that’s a kitty. A kitty says meow. Do you want to pet the kitty?”
You wouldn’t want to say, “Yes, that’s our cat Ferguson, and he’s 14 years old. He’s diabetic and in the beginning stages of feline leukemia so we will just let him continue sleeping.” This is so over their heads, that they will lose interest and no learning will take place. And if you just repeat “Kitty”, you’re keeping it too easy and not providing them with enough of a challenge.
4. Get Down on the Floor and Play
Get down on the floor to play with your children and talk about what you are doing. For example you might say, “Do you see the blue ball? Can you roll it to me? Good job! You found the blue ball! Now I’m going to roll it to you. Ready, set, go! Good job! You caught it!”
Ophelia and Julian Playing with Stacking Cups
This is one of the most simple things you can do and it’s a fun bonding experience as well. By getting down on the floor with them you are entering their world in a way that helps you to help them navigate it. The worst thing you can do is to talk down to your children when you’re not at their level and expect that they will understand you. The distance from your towering voice and their little world down below is a gap easily bridged by a little crouch. And hey, it’s time you worked those quads anyways! Here’s a video of me and Ophelia playing on the floor in a great example of some oral language development play.
5. Talk About What You’re Doing
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, just talk to them about everything and anything. Talk about what you’re doing as you get them dressed, buckled in the car, and on the drive to the grocery store. At the store, describe everything you see. Talk about the food you’re putting in the cart, point out the numbers on the aisles, and stop to look at the lobsters and the swimming fish. Anytime you do something, talk about it. These experiences are the best ways to build background knowledge and learn language.
6. Listen and Repeat
Encourage your children to talk about whatever they are doing. To get children to talk more, you can start by repeating the last thing they say and then pause. This encourages them to speak openly without you dictating what they say with overly specific prompts. If they don’t have much to say, you can prompt them with simple questions like, “What’s this? What color is it? How many ____ are there? Can you find the triangle?”
Pausing after a question is very important with children. During this “wait time”, they are processing the question and formulating a response. Far too often, we answer our own questions after we incorrectly assume that the child wasn’t capable of answering it, when the reality is just that he or she needed more time.
Here’s a video of Elliot talking to me while playing his Minecraft game. Notice how I just kind of rephrase what he says as a way to encourage him to keep saying more.
7. Nursery Rhymes, Songs, and Chants
Learning new things is all about memorization and memorization is all about associations. The more associations you have with something, the more embedded in your memory it will become. This is why the repetition of nursery rhymes, songs, and chants are so easily embedded into long term memory. The more children can memorize, the stronger the neural pathways in their brain will become, and the more they will be primed for learning how to read.
Nursery rhymes are a great place to start because really young children do not have a very long attention span and anything that engages them is a great place to begin. Nursery rhymes with hand motions like the Eensy Weensy Spider, I’m a Little Teapot, Ring Around the Rosy are a great combinations of simple repetitious chants with basic movements that help make memorization easier.
8. Read Books
Books, of course, are great ways to engage children with language and experiences that they might not otherwise be able to have. I love reading everything from word books, to magical fantasies, to books about favorite TV shows like Dora, to nonfiction books. Whatever is exciting to both you and them is a great place to start. Keep in mind that it’s not just about reading the books, it’s about engaging with them.
Ophelia Reading Dora Book
You can do this without reading a single word. Look at the pictures and talk about what you see. By encouraging this picture reading, you will familiarize your child with how to hold a book, how to turn the pages, and how to be a reader. Learn more about how to teach your child how to read in my blog: How to Teach Your Child to Read in 5 Simple Steps.
9. Share Your Questions and Passions
Share your curiosities and passions with your children and provide a model for what it means to be a life long learner. Show them that you value questioning by listening to them and honoring the importance of the questions they ask. Encourage them to ask why and answer their questions in detail. If you don’t know the answer, tell them so and then look up the answer together.
10. Favorite Things Books
When they are ready, make favorite things books. Print out pictures of their favorite things or print out pictures of them doing things. Then, look through it together and write down what they say next to each picture.
Favorite Things Books with Comb Binder
A Look Inside Favorite Things Books
I love having a little pile of blank books laying around and letting the children decide how they want to use them. Sometimes we write stories, sometimes we make books about whatever they’re passionate about, sometimes we make ABC books, and sometimes we make books about the things we’re learning about.
In Conclusion
If you spend a lot of quality time with your children, then oral language development should happen without giving it a second thought. Oral language is the foundation for all further learning by providing background knowledge. The earlier children’s brains can be stimulated, the more connections they will have in their brains and the stronger they will be. So get down on the floor and play with your child, talk with your child, and listen, really listen every chance you get.
For More Information
You’ll find everything you need to teach your child to read at my teachers pay teachers store which includes flashcards, videos, posters, and more.
Language Rich Environment: Use oral language at the child’s level (Get down on the floor and play together!) and help them memorize vocabulary words. (Tell them the names of things!)
Phonemic Awareness: Teach one sound for each letter of the alphabet. (Start with short vowels.)
Phonics: Tap out sounds in three letter words to teach how sounds come together to make words.
More Complex Phonemic Awareness: Introduce long vowels, digraphs, other vowel sounds, and complex consonants.
Reading Comprehension Strategies: Use quality literature to interact with books and ask questions before, during, and after reading to make sure your child is understanding what is being read.
https://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Add-subtitle-text.png400810Stacey Maaserhttps://embracing-motherhood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EM_Logo.pngStacey Maaser2020-02-20 11:26:392022-10-08 13:56:42#1-Oral Language Development Lays the Foundation for Reading
When should you start reading to your child? The answer is…right now! I mean really, you can start reading while your baby is still in the womb. Babies develop their sense of hearing at 18 weeks and can respond to noise at 25 weeks. The cadence(the flow of language) and prosody (tune and rhythm) of reading sounds are different than normal speech and children can become attuned to them in the womb. It’s easy for your baby to pick this up when you have other children that you’re reading to, but if you don’t, don’t be embarrassed to read to your belly! (This is the best book to read in utero.)
I like to start reading regularly with my babies when they are about 3-4 months old. At this point, they can hold their heads up, grab things, follow a moving object, and are more interested in shapes and patterns. The neural brain explosion occurs when babies are 6 months old, so you definitely want to make sure you’re reading by then.
Reading with 3 Month Old Jack
What Babies First Learn About Reading
What books are
How to hold a book
How to turn pages
Reading happens from left to right
Books have words and pictures
How to interact with books (get interactive books)
What a reading voice sounds like (the cadence and prosody of reading)
That reading is special and fun
How to Read with Your Baby
First of all, you need to make reading special. Get stacks of really good books that your baby will love, and put them near your rocking chair, the couch, and your arm chair. (I like keeping my books in baskets like this.) Make sure your baby is fed, rested, and happy, and then introduce a book. At first, babies will interact with a new book as they would any other toy, but after reading it over and over and over again, you will be completely blown away when your baby starts to recognize it. With some books, I also enjoy turning it into a song.
1. In Utero
The bond between a mother and child is so special and so unique – two beings occupying one body, two heartbeats beating within the same space, and two bodies being nourished simultaneously. As soon as 24 weeks, a baby can hear his or her mother’s voice and becomes accustomed to it enough to respond to it over a stranger’s after birth. In the 1980s, psychology professor Anthony James DeCasper and colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro discovered that soon after birth, a newborn prefers a story (in this case, Cat in the Hat) that had been read repeatedly in the womb over a new story. (Read the article here.)
Reading to Ophelia While Pregnant for Jack
There is a certain cadence and prosody to reading that a newborn can resonate with as you read to him or her in the womb. This may be a natural part of his or her development if you have other children, but if not, don’t feel silly about getting comfortable in the rocking chair and reading the same book over and over again to your belly. I always read, “Oh Baby, the Places You’ll Go,” when I was pregnant for my firstborn, Ruby, and it brought tears to my eyes every time. After that, the babies in my belly got read to as I read to my other children as they shared a lap with their new growing sibling.
2. 4th Trimester Bonding Time
Now, this may not seem like a part of the reading process, but it’s all connected. Reading is a very bonding experience, and your children’s bond with reading will be connected to their bond with you. For the first three months of life, your baby is figuring out life outside of the womb in a fourth trimester that is every bit as important as the other three trimesters of pregnancy.
Your baby needs you to figure them out, to hold them, to fall in love, and to help them adjust to this world of lights, voices, air, food, and you. I typically don’t introduce reading during this phase. Instead, I am just hyper focused on connecting with them in whatever ways come naturally. I am aware that new babies can only see about 8 to 10 inches in front of their faces, so I try to keep my face in that range so that we can get to know each other. Just smiling, cooing, talking softly, holding, cuddling, rocking, nursing, and sleeping are the most important activities during this time.
3. Introducing Books
As babies reach the end of their fourth trimester, usually when they are about three months old, they will be able to start following moving objects with their eyes. This is a good time to start introducing them to books.
3 Month Old Julian Practicing Tummy Time While Looking at His Favorite Book
I like to pick a couple of board or cloth books to keep in their toy bin and read them often. I love to use books during tummy time. To be honest, I don’t really know if I’ve ever introduced books at this young of an age with my other children, and I was kind of shocked to see Julian so enraptured by this little counting book.
4. Create a Reading Environment
These are the ways that I have created a reading environment in my home. I have found that if you integrate reading into your daily life and make books easily accessible, children will be immersed in a world where they can’t help but read and see reading as a fun past time.
Make Books Easily Accessible – I love having baskets of books in every room of the house, and several baskets in our living room areas. I regularly sort them to make sure all books can be seen and are being used. If you keep books tucked away on bookshelves with only their spines showing, they won’t get used as much.
Organizing My Books
Build a Home Library of Books – To get your library started, go to thrift stores and garage sales to build the bulk of your collection. Once you start reading with your child, you’ll learn what he or she is into and get more books to satisfy his or her interests. Once you have a base collection, you can start adding new books that are really high quality, like these books from Usborne.
Trips to the Library – The librarians always look at me funny when I ask what the maximum number of books I can check out is (it’s 35). I love letting our kids pick out as many books as they want until we reach our limit. It’s always fun to have a new collection of books to read. I love watching as kids start picking out their own books that match their interests.
Ruby Reading at the Library
Make Comfy Reading Spaces– Making little reading stations with small chairs, bean bags, or little couches makes reading so much fun and encourages children to read independently. My children can often be found snacking while reading. I think it’s important to make sure children are fed and happy while reading to make it an enjoyable experience.
Lap Reading – I love pulling my little ones onto my lap while sitting in a comfy rocking chair or snuggling up next to them on the couch. Near these spots, I make sure to keep baskets of books, blankets to snuggle up in, and maybe some water too!
My Reading Chair
Books in Bed – Bedtime reading is a favorite part of our day. Each of our children have baskets of books next to their beds that are their personal favorites. We always read books at bedtime, and it is a special way to end the day. Also, since these books get read over and over and over, they are usually the first ones our little ones read since they have memorized all of the words.
Bedtime Reading Routine
5. Reading Routines
There are certain times I always like to read to my babies. I usually love to just nurse my babies to sleep, but when this stops happening, I like to incorporate some books (usually three) into our bedtime routine. I also love reading before nap time and then again when my babies first wake up. Before we begin reading, I make sure to “set the stage”. I have a nice comfy rocking chair next to a little table with a basket full of books that my baby loves, a soft lamp, and anything else we might need like milk or a pacifier. Then we get cuddled up with a nice soft silky and get to reading.
6. Repetitive Reading
Babies love things that are simple, repetitive, and familiar. But how do you make a new book familiar? Well, you have to start somewhere! Find a time when your baby has been fed, changed, and is in a happy and responsive mood, and then introduce the new book. If your baby doesn’t seem engaged, just try to get through it as quickly as possible. If you find something about the book that holds your child’s attention, spend some time talking about it. You don’t need to read the words from the book exactly. (“Do you like that kitty? That looks like our kitty, _______, doesn’t it? What does a kitty say? Meow! Do you want to pet the kitty? Pet her gently! Nice kitty.”)
Reading with Julian
After you’ve read through the book, put it aside and bring it out again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that until it becomes familiar. If after reading the book several times, your baby still does not seem interested, then abandon it and choose something new. When your baby is older, he is going to blow you away when he crawls over to the basket of books that you have read so many times and starts flipping through the ones you have read over and over together.
7. Expressive Reading
When reading with little babies, they will not understand the words that you are reading, but they will comprehend the cadence, prosody, tone, intonation, and expression. I like to read with exaggerated expression in whatever way will elicit a positive response. In doing so, I sometimes make up words that are not in the text that will be best suited for such a response. For example, when I’m reading with my little ones, I like to call special attention to emotions and really act them out.
8. Interacting with Books
When children are familiar and comfortable with reading, they will show more and more signs that they want to get involved. I believe that the gradual release of responsibility model of teaching is phenomenal because it slowly builds a child’s confidence until they are ready to do it on their own. First, they start out watching you as you read, then you start to get them involved in little ways, and finally they will be reading completely on their own! Here are some of the ways you can slowly get your child involved in reading.
Turn the Page – I like to lift up the next page just a bit until my little ones grab on and turn the page. It’s amazing how much they enjoy this!
Interactive Books – I love reading books that have flaps, sounds, and more so that my little ones can see that books are meant to be engaging.
Pointing to Words – I don’t do this every time I read because it would get tedious and boring, but on occasion, I like to point to each word as I’m reading. This shows children how reading works and helps them to memorize new words in the context of a book.
Leaving Out Words – I love reading the same books over and over and over again with my children until they are practically memorized. Then, I start pausing at the last word on the page for them to say. I find that if I pause in sort of a questiony way, they will say it on their own. When they do, I point to the word as they are saying it. Once they’ve mastered reading the last word, I also like to incorporate leaving out other words in the book.
Picture Reading – I like to show my little ones how to “read” a book without any words by just talking about whatever I see in the pictures, and then I like to encourage them to do the same.
Repeated Reading – Whenever a child shows special interest in a book, I like to read it over and over as much as possible. This repeated reading will help children to memorize words that will become part of their word bank that they use for speedy reading.
9. Enjoy Yourself
The most important thing is to have fun with it! If you are enjoying yourself, your baby can tell and will respond positively. But if you’re looking at the clock thinking, “How long do I have to do this for?” your baby will also be able to tell. If you’re having a hard time getting into it, think about what would make it fun for you. Bring a special snack of cookies and milk along to nibble on while you read, make sure you’ve got a comfortable spot for reading set up, get some books that you enjoyed when you were a kid, just do whatever it takes to make it a fun experience full of love that will build positive memories for the future.
10. Don’t Force It
With our four children, I definitely notice that some have more of a patient and quiet personality and love cuddling up for hours on end reading books, while others have a much shorter attention span and would rather be active and moving around. This might be due to personality differences or it could just be because of the time of day. The important thing is to not force it. If you get everything ready to read and they squirm to get down or start fussing, then abandon it for another time. If you keep being persistent in your efforts, you will find the right moments to read. With some children, it just might happen at a higher frequency than others, and that’s ok!
Ophelia Likes to Have Her Silky and Her Milky When We Read
My Favorite Cloth Books
Board books are great, but for babies 3-6 months of age, I really love cloth books…especially when they start chewing on everything! There are so many different cloth books out there, but these are the ones that have stood the test of time for all five children. Read about my favorite board books here.
DiscoveryFarm – This cloth book has many moving parts and is very engaging. I bought this for Ruby and still have it for baby #5!
Peek-a-Boo Forest – Lamaze always has great toys and books. This cute little cloth book about an owl is wonderful.
Fuzzy Bee – This cloth book is another favorite that we have used with all five kids. I love the little animals and interactive parts and so do our babies!
Sunny Day Come and Play – This is another family favorite cloth book with great interactive pages. It’s made by Manhattan Toy, and I love pretty much everything they make.
Peekaboo, I Love You – This is another Lamaze cloth book that I LOVE. Peekaboo is such a fun baby game and incorporating it into reading is just a wonderful idea. My babies love this book!
Touchy Feely Board Books (That’s not my..) – These board books are very cute and simple with lots of interesting texture and repeated patterns. My older children even love them! This boxed set about zoo animals is a great collection.
