Oh, preschool! You are filled with finger paints, alphabet rhymes, and science experiment fun. As a mom, wow, it’s hard to compete with that at home!
Honestly, my son loves preschool so much, that I think he dreams about it nightly.
I’m so thankful that those amazingly patient teachers get so much learning in during those few hours that my son’s there, but I want to reinforce some of that learning at home too.
Doing it without overloading him is key though. So, here’s what we’ve been doing to make sure he gets in all of that preschool-reinforcement goodness without dreading the thought of learning!
Preschool Learning at Home
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Read at Home
We read in the morning before school if there’s time, we read in the afternoon, and we read at bedtime. Reading is a great way to increase listening skills and vocabulary.
I let my son choose the books he wants to read, but sometimes I’ll sneak in a mommy-favorite.
Get Coloring
I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to break out the crayons and color. It helps kids learn how to hold a crayon, which later on will help him learn how to hold a pencil. Those little skills are important!
We use a lot of
printable coloring pages, but we also color and draw on plain copy paper. I always have crayons available, but sometimes we break out the markers and colored pencils too.
Preschool Tech Fun
Let’s face it, as much as I want to reinforce that preschool learning he’s doing at school, I have other kids to care for, dinner to make, and the laundry pile is so high I think it can be seen on the Maps app. That’s where the tablet comes in to save the day.
We have a lot of
preschool learning apps on it, but I have to say that the kid-favorite in our house is
ABCmouse.
The kids love the games and trying to “beat” each level. I love it, because it’s like having a preschool teacher in the house while I’m fixing dinner.
The funny thing is that my son plays it so often and has learned so much that he talks about it at school. Ms. Amy said he’s even been teaching his classmates some of the letter sounds while wearing the mouse ears that they have in the dress-up area. She said he told her he’s “playing ABCmouse” at school.
If I could hug an app developer, this would be the one.
Tell a Story
Another way that we reinforce skills is by ask him what he learned in preschool and then having him tell us verbally or by drawing it.
We ask about his friends, what he learned, what he did during the day, what he can’t wait to do tomorrow, etc.
It leads to great conversations!
Above all, we try to make it fun. I keep in touch with his teacher and try to do coloring pages or apps based on what they’re working on during the week.
I want him to genuinely enjoy learning, but I also want him to realize that learning happens everywhere – even at home with mom and dad!
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