In the Car - activities to help your child get ready to start school.

These “ready for school” activities can be done in your everyday routine

PART 3:

Continued - Here are some of the activities you can do together at home in the car that offer learning opportunities which will help your child with the most typical school expectations – responsibility, reading, arithmetic and writing . These “ready for school” activities can be done in your everyday routine.

Children learn best when they are interested and motivated. Stop the activity when your child loses interest. You want your child to stay excited about these activities and wanting more.

In the car

◘ Responsibility For children to learn responsibility to their family, community and eventually work, they need to start taking care of their own belongings. Even young children can benefit from being expected to clean the things they use.

Is my space clean? at least once a week, or more often if you wish, have your child carry all her/his toys and other items from the car to the house. Give her/him a wipe to clean her/his car seat and other plastic areas in the care.

Variation: every Friday, have your child completely empty her/his backpack. Sort the belonging according to items that go in the rubbish, items to put back in the house, and items to return to the backpack.

We are learning: responsibility, organisation, accomplishment of task.

◘ Reading Children will often read logos for familiar businesses before they can actually read the sign. Symbol recognition precedes letter and word recognition.

I see that sign: have your child identify familiar signs, such as a “stop” sign or sign of a favourite restaurant or shop. Ask “what sign is that?” Variation: ask your child to find a sign that starts with the first letter in her/her name. Look for other letters or sight words on posters or information boards such as “in”, “and” and “the”.

We are learning: reading, following directions, letters, shapes and word recognition.

◘ Arithmetic Children learn classification by understanding the attributes of objects and know the vocabulary to name them.

What doesn’t belong? a game for a car journey is naming three items for your child, two alike and one different, such as “apple, orange, peas” or “ice-lolly, hot dog, ice cream”. Ask your child which “doesn’t go?” Make sure to ask him/ her why. Children may be eliminating objects based on an attribute we might not consider. Variation: ask your child to name things that are big, small, yummy, smelly, fast, fun or slow. Use as many attributes as you can imagine.

We are learning: similarities and differences, classification, vocabulary development.

◘ Writing Children learn dexterity and fine muscle control from frequent scribbling, drawing and tracing. Children become more familiar with the letters of the alphabet by holding three-dimensional letters and experimenting with them.

Magnetic Letters: give your child a lap-size magnetic board and magnetic letters to play with on the commute. Ask your child to trace the letters with their finger and put the letters in order. Variation: buy two sets of letters so you can have your child write his/her name with the letters or copy pre-written words on index cards.

We are learning: writing, letter recognition, eye-hand coordination.

These activities are a sample of the advice offered to parents on the “Ready for School” family activity cards compiled by Bright Horizons Family Solutions’ Nursery Group.

www. brighthorizons.co.uk