Learning from home resources

Numeracy Resources

The Department of Education has some wonderful resources for parents to use in the home environment that will support their child’s learning. Click on the link below for access.

How to build your child’s numeracy skills – birth to grade 2

The videos below are a resource from the Department about using maths everyday with your young children. These are well worth a watch and give some great ideas about how to introduce maths concepts as part of your everyday activities. There are more videos available through the link above.

Everyday Maths in the Outdoors

Everyday Maths around the house

Physical Development Resources

Literacy Resources

The Department of Education has a wealth of information on their website about encouraging literacy skills in your child. Click the link below.

How to build your child’s literacy skills – birth to grade 2

Pencil grip fact sheet

When children attend school they are taught to write letters in a certain way. Victorian schools are regulated by the Department of Education to use the Victorian Cursive Script. At Waterfall Gully Preschool we believe it is best to teach children their letters (usually in the form of writing their names) in this same script to ensure continuity into the school system.

Victorian Cursive Script

Please see below for a Victorian Cursive script writing activity that your child may find fun to do. The red dots indicate where the pen should start on the page. At this stage of your child’s skill development this is not entirely necessary to monitor. Your child showing interest and enthusiasm for learning and writing letters is a positive step when in kindergarten. All attempts should be praised and encouraged.

Alphabet Tracing activity

Sensory Play Resources

The Benefits of Play dough

Play dough has many benefits for young children. I have listed some of these below (this list has been accessed from an independent website, www.parentingchaos.com). The recipe we use at kinder is also included below so you could easily make this play dough with your child and use it to enhance some of the skills listed below.

Fine Motor Skills: This helps in your children’s hands develop the strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate everyday items such as scissors, pencils, zips, and buttons.

Socioemotional Skills: Playdough provides a lot of open-ended opportunities for children to experience independent and cooperative play. In both styles of play, children are exploring abilities, life experiences, and emotions. During play with others (either an adult or child) children are learning about cooperation, collaboration, self-control, and friendships.

Creativity: From dramatic play to initiating and creating whatever your child’s imagination can come up with, playdough is a fantastic outlet. Playdough can be anything!

Language and Literacy: As children discuss what they are creating or their sensory experiences they are expanding their vocabulary. As you ask your child questions they are learning to listen. There are so many different ways children learn comprehension, listening, and communication skills through playing with playdough.

Science and Math: Trial and error, creating shapes, comparing sizes – just simply playing with playdough exposes children to a vast array of math and science concepts.

Hand Strengthening: Squishing, smashing, pushing, pulling, twisting, cutting…all the fun of playdough. Just the basic act of playing with playdough builds those hands muscles.

Proprioceptive: Pushing in cookie cutters or toys, pulling back a rolling pin, or even just squeezing a very stiff dough all provide deep pressure input for your child’s joints.

Sensorimotor: Ever just sit there and squeeze/roll around a ball of play dough in your hands while your child sat there and played? A lot like a stress ball, play dough is a stress reliever. And this works for your kids too!

Tactile: Everything about playdough at the most basic level is about exploring using the tactile sensory system. From textures to consistencies, to toys and items used, playdough is all about hands-on exploration.

Olfactory: Adding scents to playdough is easy and then helps your child to develop knowledge in this area.

Playdough recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tbs cooking oil
4 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
Food colouring
1.5 cups boiling water

Method:

Add flour,oil, cream of tartar, salt and food colouring to a large bowl. Combine with wooden spoon.
Add 1.5 cups of boiling water (ensure to keep child at a safe distance whilst this is poured and combined slowly).
Once the ingredients are all combined into a sticky dough. Sprinkle flour on the kitchen bench. Scrape the contents of the bowl onto the flour and sprinkle more flour on top. Then knead the dough until it has the correct consistency (isn’t sticking to the bench and your hands).
We then give the playdough to the children to manipulate when it is still warm. This adds to the sensory nature of the experience.
Always store playdough in an airtight container. It can be kept in the fridge to extend life but this can also sometimes make it a little harder to manipulate.

Remember: you don’t have to make play dough a bright colour. Natural playdough is often very nice to use for children. You can add herbs from your garden and natural essential oils for scent. We have made chocolate playdough before by supplementing some of the flour for cocoa. This whole process should be done with your child to add to the experience. A preschool child can help to measure ingredients and stir them together (obviously not when the boiling water is being added).

Numeracy, Literacy, Shape and Colour knowledge

Ideas of activities that can be done in the home environment to build upon these skills.

Numeracy:

Looking for numbers on letterboxes and street signs when you go for a walk.
Playing an eye spy game looking for numbers around the home. You could write some numbers and stick them around the house and garden. The children can try and search for them and identify them. Adding the same amount of dots next to the number can help children to accurately identify the numeral. They may need your help to count accurately. This should be done slowly and they should use their finger to point at each dot as they count out loud. This helps you to assist them, if needed.
Playing card games, such as Snap and Uno together, playing a simple board game like Sorry.
Singing counting songs together, such as 1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive or 5 little ducks
Cooking together and measuring out the ingredients, reading the recipe together
Counting out items needed ie. Knives and forks for the table, cups and plates, potatoes for dinner etc.
Kicking the ball into the net ten times and counting out loud as you do it
Making a necklace with Cheerios and counting them onto the string
Writing out numbers 1-10 (copying)

Literacy:

Reading books together and counting items in the pictures
Make shopping lists together, write letters to family members and post them
Copy the names of families onto cards during times of celebrations
Place simple signs around the house for your child to read and sound out ie. kitchen, door, bathroom
Making story books with your child. They can tell you the story and draw the pictures on each page. You could write the words on for them and they could copy them underneath.
Using puppets to tell a well known story
Acting out a story with costumes
Write your child’s name and get them to trace it/copy it
Write your child’s name and ask them to use nature items, buttons, seeds, cereal to trace over the letters (this helps with letter shape and recognition). (Hint: this could just be the first letter of their name if the whole name is overwhelming)

Shapes and Colours:

Practise cutting out shapes and pictures from magazines and pasting them onto a collage
Making different shapes with your body
Mixing paints to create different colours
Playing i spy with colours (ie. I spy with my little eye something that’s the colour blue…)
Using nature items and making patterns
Using some sticks to make different shapes. Talking to your child about the shape…how many sides, corners, name of shape…… Children may need a shape drawn on a piece of paper to copy so they can make the shape with a level of independence
Search your environment for different shapes. ie. the tv is a rectangle/square.

All of these activities should be fun games for your child to participate in. If your child isn’t interested in the game then don’t push them, just try again another day.