Starting Family Talks with Kids

How do you conduct conversations with a preschooler? Once families have a little practice they are amazed at young children’s insight. They are so fascinating and honest. Unfortunately, Americans often spend only 15 minutes a day just talking with young children. 

  Preschool teachers have some suggestions to get that sparkle children have when receiving  complete attention from a loved one.

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Focus on the Child

  First of all, turn off all technology to focus on them.

   Sit down or find some other way to get to their eye level.  Young children need to see facial expressions, especially smiles.  Keep your voice gentle. Show children how it looks to really listen carefully. Nod. Say,” Oh and Mmm- hmm. Tell me more about that.” React in some way. Do not interrupt.

  Begin sentences with “What are some, who are some, when are some? They suggest you need a long answer. Then ask a follow-up question.

  Avoid questions that can be answered with one word, yes, or no.  Instead ask, “What are some foods that you like on the grocery list? I’ll read the list for you.” Read the list. Then pause long enough to give them time to think. The pausing takes practice. 

  If children bring home pictures, say, “Wow, look at these!  Tell me about them.”

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  If they show you Bubbles their pet fish ask, “What are some things you like about Bubbles?” Ask them to explain.

  After reading a book together, ask some questions to start a conversation.  What are some things you liked about the story?  What were some funny parts?

  Include questions about feelings. What are some happy and fun times you had at school today?  You look sad (upset, angry). Tell me about it. What are two good things that happened and one you wish didn’t happen?

  Play a game or other fun activity and talk. Go for a talk-walk.

Talking Jar

  Some families keep a jar of conversation starters written for car trips and meals.    First they go over the rules. Everyone takes a turn and asks follow up questions to get more information. No interrupting. Look and act interested. Respect each answer.

   Here are samples: What are the best parts of your day? If you could be a character in a book (movie) who would you be? How were you kind and helpful to others today? If you could be an animal, which would you be? What are some things you do that show you are a good friend?  What are you really grateful for today?  What are your least favorite chores to do around the house?

What are some things you want to learn how to do?  What super powers would you like to have and how would you use them?

 Photos: Fran Darling - fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities... See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

 

 

 

 

  

Mixing Colors for Rainy Day Projects

 Rainy days can be fun too! Mixing two primary colors to make a secondary color helps young artists build vocabulary and skill creating designs. 

Materials:

  Plastic cloth, coffee filters, red, yellow, and blue food coloring, a small watercolor brush, clothespins (not the pinch kind) or thin wire, and a container of water, pipe cleaners (optional)

What to do:

  Cover the work area with the plastic cloth. Pick a color and paint on a coffee filter. Pick a second color and continue to paint on the coffee filter. Discuss what happens to the colors. Continue to experiment with a third color and discuss what happens. Take the opportunity to talk about “primary colors”(red, blue, yellow) and “secondary” (mixed colors). After painting on several coffee filters, let them air dry before proceeding.

  Once the filters are dry, choose one and scrunch the middle together and place it inside a clothespin or wire. Fan out the sides of the filter to make the wings of a butterfly.  Cut the pipe cleaner in half and wrap that around the knob of the clothespin for antennae. Use the other filters to make more butterflies.

Books to share:

 “Mouse Paint” by Ellen Stohl Walsh, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, “Charlie the Caterpillar” by Dom Deluise, and “Where Butterflies Grow” by Joanne Ryder.

Find more activities:

For more projects see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” online information at 

http://www.grandparentsteachtoo.org/. Hear audio podcasts or our activities also online at WNMU Radio 90. 

Illustrations: Mark Nowicki

Weather Observation

Observing, investigating, and reporting the weather are good ways to nurture science thinking because weather affects play activities and clothing choices. By observing weather, many clothing arguments may be avoided.
What to do
Check out the weather every morning before breakfast to help plan for the day. Adults will be setting the stage for good breakfast conversation and building scientific vocabulary.
Check the temperature. Step outside or observe through a window. Will we need jackets, hats, and mittens today or can we dress for warm weather? Is it sunny or cloudy? Will we need to wear our sunglasses and hat?
Look at the sky. Is the sky really cloudy, partly cloudy, or clear? Are there clouds coming in? Observe the kinds of clouds. If the clouds are thick like a blanket and it’s rather gray, stratus clouds are holding lots of possible moisture.
If it’s a blue sky with some big white cotton ball cumulus clouds, it could be a nice day to play outside with proper clothing. If these puffy clouds are gray or black, we could have a storm.

If the sky is clear with just a few wispy cirrus clouds, we probably won’t have moisture.
Observe the trees. Is it really windy, a little breezy, or a calm day? By observing weather many clothing arguments are avoided.
What else can I do?
Children love to paint weather pictures to hang on the refrigerator. You can also draw clouds, sun, or raindrops on a calendar to report weather. Compare your observations and predictions with professional forecasters.
If children have questions, like how clouds block the sun or what causes wind, go to http://www.ask.com or Google®. Ask the librarian for help finding nonfiction (true) weather books with lots of colored pictures. Children also like Judi Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Tomie de Paola’s The Cloud Book. Some children’s museums have a TV weather studio to play weather reporter.
Find more activities to help young children learn go to Learning Through the Seasons at: http://www.grandparentsteachtoo.org/ webpages or listen to these activities on the WNMU Radio 90 podcasts at: http://www.wnmufm.org/learningthroughtheseasons 
Illustrations by Mark Nowicki

iPad Apps for Young Children

Exploring new electronic games and activities is very engaging and can be great learning tools for young children. Technology expert, Richard Byrne, has collected a recommended list of these apps on his web site: iPad Apps for School. Look in the pre-school section found at: http://ipadapps4school.com/category/pre-k/ to see this varied list of activity apps.

Richard includes apps for recognizing emotions, reading, writing practice, story creation, a virtual zoo, and many more. Many of these are free and some are available for both iPad and Android platforms.

Check these out on iTunes or through Richard's site. As always, make sure children vary their time with physical activities and other interactions.  Time on electronic devices should be a healthy balance with many other daily activities.

Enjoy!

Taking a Bus Trip

A city Bus Ride helps youngsters as they watch older children go to school and are sad to be left behind, or sometimes caregivers just need to get outside for daily activities, even in cold winter months. A city bus ride is inexpensive, makes children feel special, and can teach many skills.

Materials Needed:

 Bus schedule, city map, and change

What to do:

  In advance, call the bus station for the schedule, closest bus stop, cost, and rules for snacks. Many cities have all the information on-line. Public transportation is  a cheap way to explore.  Buses will often go by museums and other community stops, but you can ride just for the fun of it. Keep the trip short and give children the fare to pay themselves. Teach good bus safety habits like sitting and using a soft voice.

  Because objects might be zooming by, keep the activities simple.  Depending upon the children’s ages, search for objects of a certain color, count the number of white trucks, stop signs, traffic lights, or gas stations. Look for different shapes like squares, rectangles, rhombuses (diamonds), trapezoids, circles, octagons (stop signs) and triangles. You could also look for the alphabet.

   Teach simple economics by pointing out delivery trucks bringing goods to stores and people unloading boxes. Explain that it takes trucks, many people, and hard work to get food and merchandise in stores.

   Look for police cars, city workers, mail carriers, emergency vehicles, school buses, package delivery trucks, and explain what they are doing and that it takes many people working together to make a community.

  You can teach a little geography, too. Point out hills, rivers, highways, turns in the road, intersections, bridges, and other features. Use a route map to show children where you are and track your progress.

How will this help my child?

Children need carefree conversations that are more than directions to get dressed, eat their vegetables, brush their teeth, etc. These conversations with adults help build vocabulary to use in reading and writing.

  Conversation with young children takes a little practice, but it is absolutely essential for success in school. If adults ask children to look for things, listen for sounds, and describe what is going on, children will start asking questions and the conversation will flow.

What Other Activities Can We Do?

  Occasionally take the bus with young children to visit other places in your city like libraries, the credit union, bank, post office, museums, recycling center, public buildings, markets, religious buildings, and sport centers.

Illustration by: Mark Nowicki

For more winter 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. 

Fun and Learning for Quiet Times

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 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?

 Listen to this activity online at the WNMU Podcasts

Materials Needed:  magazines, paper, crayons, markers, scissors, paint set, Q’tips, yarn, water, small rocks, white glue, 

What To Do:

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. You can se 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.

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.

Photo: Norman, Steve. nat143.jpg. . Pics4Learning. 22 Dec 2012

 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.