Homeschool Theater

Did you know that letting your preschoolers draw on the wall is a really good way to get them ready for writing? If done on a regular basis, activities worked on a vertical surface provide many advantages for them:

* Children gain strength in the back, shoulders and arms which increases stability for fine motor activities.
* The wrist is correctly positioned for pencil-holding, and grasping strength is enhanced.
* Good posture is developed.
* Finger dexterity is increased and fine motor flexibility and accuracy is developed.
* Eye-hand coordination is improved.
* Not only do these help build physical readiness for writing, but also for tasks such as using eating utensils, picking up small items such as coins, using art materials and even getting dressed!

So what are some activities preschoolers can do on vertical surfaces, if you don’t really want them drawing on the wall? Try these:

* Tape a large piece of paper to an outdoor wall or fence and supply large markers, crayons or paint and have your child make a mural. You can write large block letters to make a sign, such as “Welcome” or “Happy Birthday,” and ask your child to decorate it.
* Use a chalkboard or whiteboard.
* Children’s stand-up easels are excellent.
* Try a flannelboard, or make your own by attaching a large piece of felt to a piece of cardboard or plywood, or tacked on a bulletin board.
* The refrigerator is a great place to play with magnets, including magnetic letters. Try turning magazine or photo cut-outs into play magnets by adhering the paper onto cardstock, laminating or covering them with clear contact paper,and gluing on a magnet.
* On a warm day, give your kids a large paintbrush and a bucket half-full of water. Let them pretend to be house painters and paint the outside of the house or a fence.

* At bath time, let your child decorate the tub walls with shaving cream, bath soap-crayons or foam letters. When the bath is done, your preschooler can wipe his art off the wall with a clean sponge or rag.
* Give your preschooler a sheet of stickers and a piece of paper taped to the wall or clipped to an easel.
* Kids love painting on windows, such as sliding doors. Make sure they have washable window paint, or make your own by mixing powdered or liquid poster paint with clear dishwashing soap in approximately equal amounts. Be sure to spread newspaper on the floor beneath the window and cover the windowsill. Perhaps they can make holiday designs.
* Tack a piece of clear contact paper on the easel or bulletin board, sticky-side out. Let your child make a nature collage of feathers, leaves, seeds, flowers, etc. You can also use magazine cut-outs, torn strips of tissue papers or gift-wrap shapes. When your child is finished cover the art with another piece of contact paper, pressing it smooth.

Whenever you are preparing supplies for your child to create art or work on writing, take a moment to see if any part of this activity can be done vertically. The more often it is done, the stronger the results for your child.

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Michelle B. is a veteran of 20+ years of homeschooling. She likes affordable homeschool materials.

Young children are constantly engaged in learning about the grown-up world. Nearly everything they play is a reflection of their understanding of what happens in life.

Preschoolers love to pretend-play adult roles. One of the favored role-playing tasks is that of the mail carrier. Playing post office automatically opens up a variety of wonderful learning possibilities in the three R’s, as well. It offers practice in writing the letters in the alphabet, matching the name on an envelope with the name on the mail cubbie and beginning to read those names.

Be sure to write your child several short notes and mail them, too. She will no doubt come running to ask you to read them to her. She will try to do her own letter-writing.

Sorting and categorizing is a skill required in both reading and math, and this game will reinforce that skill. Your child will sort according to names on the cubbies, but you can also have your child sort by advertisements and personal letters, by size of the pieces of mail, or color, or symbol. How about gluing pictures of pets found in a pet store ad on the envelopes?

A shoe box is great for turning into a mailbox, as it has a removable lid for your little mailman to scoop out the letters. Whatever box you choose, cut a slot large enough for the mail to enter in the front or on top. It also needs either a lid or a folding flap. You can strengthen weak areas with duct tape, such as around the mail slot. See if your preschooler would like to decorate the box, but don’t force it if coloring is not her thing.

Your little mail carrier needs a place to deliver her letters. Make mail cubbies for each family member and the pets, too. Tape several empty boxes (such as cereal or cake mix) together, and cut off the opening flaps. Label each box with the person’s name in block letters. Don’t forget Fluffy or Rover! If you don’t want to use family members, you can use pictures of animals, colors, shapes, food items, etc glued to each cubbie.

Next helpful item is a mail bag. A shopping bag works very well, and most have handles long enough for a little guy to wear the bag from his shoulder. A grocery bag is okay, too!

Now, you need some mail. Hand over all your junk mail to your preschooler. You can buy a box of inexpensive envelopes and set it on the table along with stickers, colored pencils, pens, and paper. Let your preschooler get busy!

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Michelle B. is a home-schooling Mom who has been at it for more than 20 years. For more information about preschool, this book teaches you more preschool learning games. (Editor’s Note: This is a great activity for your child no matter what education choices you have made for them, homeschool or otherwise.)

Nearly everything we do in an average day involves math in one form or another, and it is easy to include our homeschool children in many of the activities. When thinking about homeschool math planning, it is helpful to know (and good for our budget!) that learning many early math concepts in the preschool homeschool requires no textbooks, workbooks or special equipment. Included here are a few of the basic concepts for our children to understand and simple learning activities for each one.

*Same and different. By offering choices to your child you can help him learn to recognize different traits in objects. “Would you like a green grape or a red one? Do you want to play with the big blocks or the little ones? Do you want to slide down the long bumpy slide or the short curvy one?”

Lay out four items in a row, three the same and one that is very different. For example, three spoons and one drinking cup, or three stuffed kittens and a teddy bear. Ask which one is different from the others. When your child can easily pick out the odd item, lay out four more objects but with only one different trait, such as three blue buttons and one yellow button, or three teaspoons and a tablespoon. “Same and different” is the precursor to sorting.

*Sorting: When your child understands the concept of “same and different” he will be able to easily begin sorting. Sorting requires a child to identify certain attributes in an object, such as color, size, item usage, etc., and then form a group of objects according to those traits. As adults, we do sorting every day: putting away freshly-washed laundry, the groceries on shopping day, and the dishes from the dishwasher. Separating the sales ads, junk mail, and personal mail. Organizing our collections. Determining which books to turn in on library day and which to keep at home. Involve your young child in some of the sorting that regularly happens in your house: give him the pile of socks to pair up while you are folding clothes. Have her determine which foods go in the pantry, the freezer or the cupboard. Let him put away the silverware. As you determine the usage of the day’s mail, hand the mail one at a time to your young sorter and let her place each piece in the appropriate pile or basket. At play time, sit with your child and ask him to corral the plastic animals into their families, drive the cars into the correct garage, separate the dinosaurs into meat-eaters and plant-eaters, or collect the play food into main dish or dessert piles.

*Patterns: Patterns are all around us: in music, art, building designs, nature. This concept is also related to “same and different” and “sorting.” You can use toy race cars, building blocks, pencils, coins, buttons, beads, candies, etc. to create patterns. Line up a pattern using two attributes: red car, green car, red car, green car. What car comes next? When your child can easily copy your simple pattern and extend it correctly, then add a third attribute. Red car, geen car, yellow car. Keep building the base pattern when your child has mastered the previous one. Have your child make a pattern for you to follow. As you extend your child’s pattern, speak out loud for your child to hear how you solve the problem. For example, “Okay, I see first a dime, next a nickel, then a penny. Since the first coin is a dime, I will place a dime next in the pattern.”

You can draw base patterns on paper with markers or crayons and have your child extend it. This would provide a boredom-buster in waiting rooms or at the restaurant table.

What patterns do you find around you? Cars in a parking lot, flowers in a garden, silverware on the table, products on a store shelf; on giftwrap, fabric, scrapbook paper, wallpaper. “I see a red rose and then a yellow rose. If we continue this pattern, what rose would be next?” “Do you see the pattern your feet make on the sidewalk when you walk through a puddle?”

Same and different, sorting and patterns are a few of the many easy-to-apply early math concepts for our young homeschool children.
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Michelle B. is a homeschooling mom. With 20 years of past and present homeschool experience, she shares her insights with our guests.