Preparing for School Learning
Between two and six are vital years to energise learning.
These are great games:
- ‘I Spy’. So you say, “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the sound ‘d’ ”, for example, while thinking of – a dog, a door or similar and your child must guess what you are thinking of. You can start by playing I Spy with colours, so ‘I spy with my little eye something the colour of … .’
- Fingers and numbers – show me one finger! Show me three fingers!
- Simple matching card games – snap and dominoes with pictures.
- Big board games such as ‘Peppa Pig Snakes and Ladders’ which goes up to 50, as well as shopping and memory games. These are especially good preparation for school as they require taking turns, moving counters and gradually understanding the purpose of the game. There also more active family games.
- Games from Orchard Toys are excellent.
- Children seem to be fascinated by freezing and melting water, particularly the freezing part! This is an introduction to science. Both online and in books you can find simple experiments to do. Getting them to work is a different matter!
- Charity shops are a wonderful source for toys, games and even sets of reading books. Check the safety of anything you buy as it will usually be pre-owned. Likewise, there are many marvellous toy libraries – more than 1,000 in the UK.
