Toddlerhood is the phase of life when a child has the highest capability of learning and exploring things. Keeping this in the mind preschool curriculum is designed. When you visit any preschool they will tell you that we teach children through lots of activities. Activities help children to learn their concepts faster and quicker. A picture leaves an impact in child's brain then words. So for everything we use flashcards, pictures, charts etc.
After the Pandemic , as schools goes down shut, parents found it very difficult to train kids at home or keep them engaged. So here I present few methods of engaging them in a very constructive manner.
1. Plan their day - Prepare a timetable for the week. Don't make it for whole month. In the time table you prepare, instead of writing things use pictures. Like for example , You want to tell them that at 10 am they have their online school, so write 10 am and then draw a clock beside it and then a pic which delivers the right message to them.
2. Keep the materials handy : whatever activities you have planned, materials needed for those activities have to be available at home. You can arrange the materials previous night itself to save the time. You can even number them. The basic motive is to make the toddler independent enough to pick the materials on their own.
3. Fix a rhyme for the activity: This works a lot for children from age group 1.5 to 5 years old kid. Fix a rhyme for activities, Suppose it is 1 pm now and you want your child to come and have lunch. You can play one rhyme at this time. You can choose any one rhyme, but rhyme for lunch has to be same everyday. This will help child to understand their time table and follow it.
4. Change space : This means that plant their activities in such a manner that they travel through out the house, do not let them stick in the same place. Like you can do the set up of online schooling in their room, food in hall, play in the backyard or balcony. This change in space brings excitement in the children to do their activity.
5. Always have plan B : Kids are sometimes moody, Forcing them to do any activity will not help them to learn. Sometimes what happens is you planned colouring activity in the evening, but they are not showing any interest, you should always have some games planned for such time. Switch to that game and then make them do the colouring. Any activity is to make them learn also.
6. Change the activities not the time table - Do not change their time table, just change the activities every week, this will retain their excitement. Kids at this age are very much into exploring things. Do not stop them doing that. You can have a big tub, you can spread washable sheets on the floor, whenever you are doing painting activities with them. This will save your cleaning time.
7. What activities can be given - If you have enrolled your kid in the preschool, they must be giving you a new theme or concept every week. Based on that you can plan their day. If not then you can choose any theme like solar system, animals, plants. gardening, birds and based on that you can prepare sheets, colouring time, playing time (for this you can get some educational toys from the market). Do not give them all their toys on the same day. Give them two or three at a time.
8. Reading time is must : Always end their day reading a story to them. Pick some story books from the store and make a small library for them in the house. Read one story for a week. Try to arrange role play based on the story. You can ask your husband or your parents, or the care taker to play any role . Role play really excites a child and increase their interest in learning.
These are few of the ways to help you keep your child engaged. Hope this helps you. let me know in the comment box.
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