Some days have long lists of things to do and readiness for kindergarten may be lower on the priorities. But it is possible to combine readiness fun with other things. Remember yesterday’s song “Where is Pumpkin?” using the “Where is Thumbkin?” tune? Today for some kindergarten readiness fun let your little one hide the pumpkin anywhere in the room where you need to do something on your list. Then, you can “pretend” to find it and your child can hide it again. Or kids even like to find things that they have hidden themselves.
When children go to kindergarten, they will have to cope with instructions such as put their sweater in their cubby or put their boots on the shelf. They may have to locate something that is beside, under, above, below, etc. These words can be confusing so to understand kids need lots of experiences. Having heard these words and used them will stimulate their language development and help kids later at school. Hiding the pumpkin gives you and your child lots to talk about and is a fun way to practice. Where is the pumpkin? It’s under the chair, or between the cushions, or on top of the toybox, or in the bathtub. Silly pumpkin, why are you in the bathtub? It’s not bathtime…etc, etc.
A study released this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states “There is some scientific evidence that shows that the less talk time a child has, the poorer the language development is.” So go ahead, ramble on about the pumpkin while you fold the laundry, do the dishes or tidy the bathroom. While your child is hiding the pumpkin under the bed, take advantage of the help to retrieve some of the things that are under it. Oh, oh…where is the pumpkin?
