Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #8

“I one a playground. I two a playground. I three a playground. I four a playground. I five a playground. I six a playground. I seven a playground. I eight a playground.”  Excuse-me, did you say you ate a playground?

Instead of eating one, how about drawing one? Drawing is the first way that your child expresses meaning through print. It’s a step before writing and helps reinforce that meaning-print bond. Asking your child to draw a picture of a playground also gives clues about the feelings. Is it a happy picture? Does the slide loom above the people, possibly indicating a fear? There may be differences between a drawing done by a female child as opposed to a male child. Boys tend to draw actions while girls draw things and people. Displaying a child’s drawing provides a boost to feelings of worth, too. Another way to play at the playground, even if it’s raining.
How did your playground taste?

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #7

Sometimes a visit to the playground just won’t fit the day’s plan. Did you know you can turn your backyard into one? This is a project that can be done with your child and a friend or two that should take them some time. Materials needed are a fairly big box or two, a couple kitchen chairs, an old blanket and small, dark old towels. The old towels can be stepping stones, place them just far enough apart for jumping on a surface that won’t slip. The kitchen chairs covered with the old blanket can  make a great tunnel for crawling through. It can also double as a fort. The box is for climbing into. Planning where things go, how to set them up and then playing in the ‘playground’ will keep them busy and out of trouble, maybe? Any other ideas for playground in the yard fun?

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #6

Playing in the playground is not just good for kids’ physical development, it’s also great for their social and emotional development. (Social and emotional can be thought of as two sides of the same coin, one side for how we get along with others and one side for how we manage our own selves. They are interwoven rather than separate.) Some children are reluctant and hesitant on the playground equipment, for example on the slide. After a few times, watching other children, feeling a little bit more secure, they conquer their own fears and venture down the slide. 

A playground has opportunities for practicing social strategies.  Asking other children their name and telling his/her own name is a beginning social skill. Adults may need to model this for younger kidlets. Learning to share the equipment is also part of the social scene. Shy children may simply need to become accustomed to having other children in the same space. Playgrounds are to kids what offices can be to adults. After all, playing is their work.
P.S. Please see previous blogs for lots of  ideas to develop skills in other areas. Have you any others to suggest?

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #5

This week, either to take advantage of summer weather or to encourage the sun to supply some summer weather, playground time has been the topic.  There are countless different ways of building on that playground time to expand children’s learning. When kids are little learning is fun and all the teachable minutes add up to a considerable total by the … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #5

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #3

So far playground time has helped kids learn some basic reading skills-making connections between text and experience-and promoted physical development. That’s something to sing  and swing about. Here’s a simple song that uses the Mulberry Bush tune: This is the way we swing on the swing, swing on the swing, swing on the swing. This … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #3

Kindergarten Readiness – Father’s Day

Tomorrow, is Father’s Day.  Several children in my kindergarten class live in a different house than their dad or have minimal contact. Even at this young age some of them have lost their dad. The issue of Father’s day and Father’s day cards and gifts has to be handled with sensitivity, just as Mother’s day does. … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Father’s Day

Kindergarten Readiness – Collections

Parents’ trash can be kids’ treasure. Children can make a treasure out of almost anything, but whatever it is can be the start of a collection. And collecting is another way to build readiness skills. The most obvious one is categorizing: to what group do all these things belong? Another is sorting, for instance, these … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Collections