12 Quick Tips for Starting Preschool at Home
Aw, a fellow preschooler parent! :) Hi! So, you have a little one and you’re ready to get them started learning some basic preschool skills, right? It can seem overwhelming to try to do everything all at once and do it correctly.
So, I’m sharing 12 quick tips for starting preschool learning activities at home with your little ones! These tips are things that I do at home with my own preschooler to help our learning times together feel enjoyable and successful. I hope you find a good tip or two to try!
1. Let your little ones guide the learning.
Taking cues from your kids when you’re just starting out is a super simple way to promote a calm learning environment and keep the frustration low. Allowing your kids’ behaviors and words to guide your learning will help learning times feel more peaceful and productive.
For example, if you’re working with play dough and your kids start throwing or eating it or doing something else that they’re just not supposed to do with play dough, that’s probably a cue that they’re not mature enough for the play dough or they’re bored with it. So, after calmly addressing the behavior and showing them the correct way to use the play dough, put the play dough away and get out something that uses different supplies, like crayons or puff balls.
Another example could be you’re sorting objects according to color, with 6 color options to choose from. Your little one is sorting VERY few of the objects correctly and is still unable to do it independently after you redirect him. Maybe your kiddo is telling you that there are too many options for him to focus on? Try sorting just red and blue objects first. Once he has those mastered, add in some green and try again. Building on skills slowly and allowing your kids to lead the learning in this way really builds confidence and cuts back on frustration for you both.
2. Manage your expectations.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the most guilty of expecting WAY too much of my preschooler. I see so much potential in him and obviously want him to grow into all of that potential. I definitely sometimes forget that he’s only 3. So, if that’s you too, just be prepared ahead of time and manage your expectations accordingly.
Most kids can only focus on a task for the same amount of minutes as they are years old, meaning that my 3 year old will most likely only be able to focus and give his attention to one singular task for about 3 minutes. If we get more time than that, I’m excited and grateful! But, I don’t expect him to sit still and truly focus for more than 3-5 minutes at a time at this point.
So, I’d encourage you to keep your expectations for what can be accomplished in one learning time in check so neither of you get too frustrated.
3. Keep it simple.
When you’re first starting out, it’s important to keep the learning simple and fun. Little kids learn SO much about life from playing and having a good time, so whatever you’re doing, keep it light and enjoyable as much as possible.
I’d suggest starting with 2-3 activities per week that you think your little ones will love and build on from there. Tiny people have tiny attention spans at first too, so keeping it simple by choosing one activity to work on until it gets boring is a perfect start.
4. Create a routine.
Kids of all ages THRIVE on routine. Routine is a simple way to help your kids feel safe and understand what to expect from their day. Setting up a preschooler’s day so that they know what to expect is a great way to help them feel secure and confident. Being unsure of what will happen next can cause anxiety, so creating a simple, daily routine that you follow FOR THE MOST PART is a great way to set your little ones up to be successful.
Of course, life happens and days can’t always go as you planned or expected, but setting up a predictable routine with normal daily events is great to have for the normal days. :) And if you can make the daily routine super VISUAL for your preschoolers, including pictures AND words, that’s even better for their understanding of the day. We use this daily, editable schedule for our every day routine. My little guy just takes off the part of the day that we’re doing next and off we go!
5. Take breaks and MOVE a lot!
You’re starting PRESCHOOL skills with your kiddos, right? Meaning, they are still pretty little. I guarantee you that they are going to need a MILLION breaks. Haha! :) And that’s completely normal! In fact, the “breaks” at our house usually last longer than the formal learning times themselves.
So, give your kids and yourself a break from the focus whenever you feel they need it! Grab a snack, go on a walk, try a movement video, read a favorite story, explore rock outside…whatever makes your kid take a deep breath and chill, do that. :)
In our home, 10 out of 10 times, these breaks in learning time involve MOVEMENT. My little guy has a ton of energy and seems like he’s always ready to expend it. Haha! But, it’s completely natural and normal for little kids to be energetic and need to play often. Our brains actually work, absorb, and retain more information when we’re moving and learning things in multiple ways. So, take a break from building letters with play dough and go jump on some chalk letters instead!
I’d recommend incorporating “break times” into your learning as often as every 7-10 minutes or after each learning task is finished. Whatever works best for you and your kids is the best choice. My 3 year old needs a break in the middle of a learning task occasionally, so I need to manage my expectations so that I can give him what he needs without feeling frustrated about it. If I expect that we’re going to take a break every few minutes to reset, I feel less interrupted by it when it happens.
6. Have fun!
It’s super important not to underestimate the power of play! Kids learn so many lessons through playing and having fun. They learn the obvious things like sharing and being kind through play, but they also learn to problem solve, be more persistent, and grow a little independence when they play too. These kinds of skills are JUST as important to their learning as mastering their letters and numbers.
So, have fun together and play a LOT. If a tracing worksheet is making your kid lose her mind, tape the letter on the floor and have her crawl over the outline of the letter instead! Little one not engaging in the book you’re reading? Try some silly voices and ask them to act like the silly characters in the book! There are a ton of small ways you can have a really good time with your kids WHILE they’re learning something new or practicing an old skill. A little creativity can go a LONG way with young children because they’re usually so fresh and excited about everything! Haha. So, if the “normal” way of learning isn’t cutting it today, just pop your silly hat on to get their attention and make the learning seem more like “just for fun”!
CLICK HERE to check out some fun ways to learn with play dough!
7. Incorporate books as much as possible.
There is such a huge amount of value packed into ANY time you have together to read. There are TONS of literacy skills that you can practice together with almost of any book. Whether your little one is learning how to speak correctly and needs to hear proper inflection, tone, and fluency or they’re ready to tackle comprehension by retelling the major parts of the story, incorporating books into your learning routine is a MUST.
Some skills you can practice while you read are:
Letter recognition
Letters vs. words
Words vs. pictures
Letter sounds
Using the pictures to give clues about the story
Making inferences about the story by looking using pictures
Making predictions (guessing what will happen next)
Practicing using your imagination (like, “What’s a different way that could have ended?” or “What if this happened instead?”)
Practicing sequencing (story order)
Retelling what happened in the book after reading
And the ideas go on and and on and on! Teaching your kids to find the wonder and joy between the pages of books is a simple practice that will benefit them for their whole lives. And we LOVE using these PRESCHOOL BOOK COMPANIONS to build literacy skills and support our love of reading. There are lots of fun activities included in each book companion resource for us to use for weeks at a time with special books.
8. Make a flexible plan.
Having a plan in place is an effective way to accomplish the things you want to and fit in all the essential preschool skills into your learning times. These plans will need to be very flexible since little ones don’t often just “follow the plan”, but it’s good to have them in place so that you have a map of where you are and where you want to go.
These plans can be as general as jotting down 2-3 skills that you’re going to focus on with your child each week or writing out detailed plans with the activities and times and supplies all neatly typed in the boxes. You do whatever is actually HELPFUL for you. Remember, the flexible plans are for YOU to use, so you don’t need to try to do it the way your neighbor or your sister or that teacher on IG does it. Make it work for you so that you can use them to accomplish all the happy preschool things you want to accomplish.
9. Choose a variety of ways to learn.
Choosing a whole bunch of different kinds of learning activities is a MUST for preschoolers. Some consistency in doing the same activity many times is definitely helpful for kids to learn the skill well at times. Repeating an activity develops confidence in their ability, relieves anxiety because they’ve done it before, and reinforces familiar concepts and skills. But, little ones need learning to be FUN, hands-on, and engaging! So, as soon as an activity loses its’ fun, it’s probably time to change it.
I pull out an activity that my kiddo went totally WILD over last week and today he responds with “I don’t LIKE that” or “I don’t WANT TO!”. UGH, right?! But don’t sweat it…all that means is that that particular activity needs to be put up for a few days until it feels fun and fresh again.
Thankfully for us, there are ENDLESS ways to practice preschool skills. Is your kid bored with identifying shapes on cards? Try building them with play dough, acting out a shape with their bodies, or singing a shape song instead!
Are the mini erasers becoming an object to chuck across the room instead of counters? Try using gummies or goldfish or pom poms instead.
Have they been identifying letters in books FOREVER? Grab the magnetic letters, letter tiles or stickers, or a squirt bottle to write the letters on the sidewalk.
If worksheets are getting boring, try sensory bins…if sensory bins are dull, go on a scavenger hunt…if they’re tired of “learning”, find an educational video on the topic or a song to sing. With a little creativity, you can keep the variety fresh and fun all year long!
10. Reevaluate based on YOUR kids.
If you’re teaching these preschool skills to kids at home, I’d encourage you to find what parts of your plans and activities are thriving and which ones are barely hanging on and ditch the ones that aren’t working. Reevaluating based on the specific needs of YOUR kids is one of the biggest bonuses of teaching them at home.
Your little girl absolutely HATES play dough? She can create letters with blocks or find magnetic letters that match!
Have you noticed your bouncy boy tends to sit more still to accomplish a task when he’s eating? Bring on the healthy snacks!
Is it causing a meltdown every time they have to color to complete a learning activity? Use stickers to cover the spaces instead!
This kind of learning is the perfect time to adjust to what they need WHILE challenging them to try the thing they think they don’t like on occasion. I’m definitely a parent who believes that it’s very important to teach kids that they WILL have to do most things the way they’re told eventually (like, when you go to kindergarten, you WILL have to color that whole activity…it’s just how it’s going to be, little one!). BUT, having them at home to learn with you is the perfect opportunity to EASE them into doing what’s expected.
So, adjust your activities and revaluate what’s most important based on the kids in front of you. Yes, in a year or two, they will probably be expected to do it a little differently, but we can try that again tomorrow. You never know when something will naturally just click and they’ll be ready to try something new.
11. Have conversations.
TALKING. I know this seems like a “well, OBVIOUSLY” kind of tip, but just talking to your kids in a really great way to teach them things. Even when we don’t notice it or acknowledge it, they’re LISTENING and soaking in the things we say. So, let’s make it intentional!
You can practice so many amazing life and academic skills through conversation. Making eye contact, using facial expressions, changing your infection and tone…these are all things that kids learn from watching us SHOW them how to do it themselves. If I’m always talking to my kid while looking at my phone, he’s not going to learn to make eye contact when he’s speaking to others. The way I pronounce my words will most likely be the way that he pronounces his words as well. They’re little parrots when they’re young! My 3 year old even KNOWS MY PHONE NUMBER because I tell it to other people on the phone so often. HAHA!
So, let’s teach them with talking! Here are some easy ways to use talking to teach.
Talk about the stories you’ve read
Make connections from that movie you saw and the book you read at Grandma’s
Talk through some of the thoughts you have while you’re trying to solve a problem so they can “hear” the way you’re thinking
Explain how you’re feeling and tell them why
When they ask “why” about something, think about what the answer REALLY is and explain it to them
Model how to use polite manners when you’re speaking to others (please and thank you’s are contagious!)
Have conversations with other people around your kids so they can see how the back and forth of a conversation goes (while they learn to not interrupt and wait their turn)
I love that kids are just tiny people…they want to talk and be heard, but they always want to know what you have to say and do things just like you do. Intentional conversation is a great way to teach them things, but also the perfect way to build deep, meaningful relationships with our kids as well.
CLICK HERE to get the literacy conversations starter page for FREE!
12. Soak up the moments.
Seriously, I know EVERYONE says this, but these tiny people grow up SO dang quickly. In the midst of all the “You have to learn this” and “You need to do it THIS way”, it’s really important to slow down and just soak up your kids. I promise you that they’ll learn the skills eventually, they’ll do it the “right way” eventually, and they’ll grow up and not be around 24/7 eventually. So, just be in the moment with them and enjoy the fun parts, breath through the challenges, and give you and your little one grace to make mistakes
I hope these tips that have helped us do some preschool stuff at home help you get the fun started in your home too! I know your little ones are going to have the best time learning with you this year. Feel free to leave a comment or email me if I can help in anyway. :)
Cheering you on, mama!
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