Vigorous physical activity is a big part of each day to keep young children
healthy, but adults need to plan for quiet activities too. While some limited TV time is OK, what are
some other quiet easily managed activities you can set up? For
more fall activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life
time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums,
bookstores, and in E-book form
atSmashwords.com.
Materials Needed: magazines, paper, crayons, markers, scissors,
paint set, Q’tips, yarn, water, small rocks, white glue,
What To Do:
Reading
The number one priority is reading, reading, and
reading! Read to children several times
every day and visit the library to check out books and attend free library
programs. Children’s non-fiction books, also known as “true books,”
are filled with pictures, new vocabulary and fascinating facts. They prepare
young children to become curious, enthusiastic readers and lifelong learners
who continue the search for information. Listen to this WNMU Public Radio 90 Podcast
to find out about your library resources and many other ideas and activities to
use when reading non-fiction to help your children learn and prepare them for
reading.
Painting with Water
Take a science walk and collect rocks of various colors, sizes, and
shapes. At home, set your children up with a waterproof area and provide a
small paintbrush or Q’tip and a bowl of water to help build up the small
muscles of their hands. These muscles must be strong to print letters. Show how to “paint” the rocks with water and
notice how the color shows up like magic.
Pet Rocks
Help children use permanent markers to draw a face on the surface of
favorite large rocks. Help them glue on a little yarn to make hair. Teach a dot
of glue does a lot. Teachers will love you. Can you think of a good name for
each? Place the rock on your table, desk, bookcase, or garden.
Crayon Resist
Use a crayon on paper to
carefully print your young children’s names in big letters. Use a capital for the first letter and lower
case for the following letters. Then use
water with a little paint color to make a wash over the whole sheet. The name will stand out and be a perfect door
decoration or book cover for a whole series of pictures. Use dots or
dashes to outline names. Show children how to start at the top of each letter
to correctly follow the dots to print their names. Praise what they can do.
They’ll try their best.
Favorite Pictures
Using old grocery fliers and magazines, help children choose and cut out
pictures of favorite flowers, fruits, animals, vegetables, and toys. Print each blank paper with a picture title,
for example:” My Favorite Fruits.” Let
the kids cut, sort and paste the pictures.
Talk with children about choices and use a marker to print the name of
each item. This is a good activity to practice letters and beginning sounds of
each word. Very young children should
work on only one category at a time. All these activities encourage creativity,
build vocabulary and make the connection between reading and writing.Photos by:
Hall, Donna. ddc598.jpg. May
2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com
Hall, Donna. ddc599.jpg. May
2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com
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