playground activities

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #2

Yes, fun at the playground can even help build prereading muscles. This is a simple and appealing book for preschool and kindergarten kids. Maisy, the mouse, goes to the playground and has fun, of course. At home, you can read what Maisy does and then go off a playground and do those things, too. Talking about the experience with your child is extremely important. For example:  Did Maisy go on the swing? Did you go on the swing? Did Maisy do anything that you didn’t do? Did you do anything that Maisy didn’t?  The picture of Maisy’s playground is different than your playground. Which one do you think you like better? I didn’t see any animals on the slide at our playground. Is Maisy a real mouse or an imaginary mouse? etc. Reading the story and sharing a playground experience creates a meaningful connection between the text and what your child already knows. This shared meaning gives reading power. Your playground fun has made a significant deposit in your child’s readiness account, for physical coordination and reading and language development.
Do you know any other stories about kids and playgrounds?

Kindergarten Readiness – Playground Fun #1

Time at the playground is more than working off energy. Lots of learning happens in this space.

playground funOn the swing, even if your child doesn’t yet know how, the back and forth motion is a basic rhythm. It’s also a simple pattern. The slide is a physical experience of opposites, up/ down. Think of all the coordination and muscle skills children learn: climbing, sliding, swinging, stretching, reaching, jumping, running, pushing, pulling, etc.  Children learn various ways to experience and position their bodies in all different kinds of spaces; the slide is much less confined than inside the monkey bars. Children learn timing, too, as they calculate just when to let go and when to hang on. And that’s only a start. Besides all the physical learning, there’s social, emotional, communication, language, math, science and more.

Come back to the playground tomorrow for more learning and fun, a terrific idea for summer.