During the current circumstances, with many day cares being shut it is understandable for parents to worry about their child’s learning. In this blog we will be guiding you through some educational activities to do at home with your little ones.
Little Steps Day Care have a lovely nursery for under 2 year olds and over 2 year olds. Providing children with the basic skills and education needed for primary school.
Educational Activities For Under 2’s
For the younger infants, it is important to not make any of the activities over complicated as they will quickly lose interest. Instead try engaging with your little ones senses by letting them listen to you name objects or play with musical toys. Eventually your child will understand the different sounds and may try to copy them.
Reading to infants is the most effective educational activity, the more sounds they hear the more they will be able to pick up. This is how many babies learn to talk, making the night time read a must for educational activities. To enhance their learning even further, try reading in different voices for numerous characters and pointing at the pictures.
For The Over 2’s
It is common for toddlers to love to play, that makes it very easy to carry out activities with them. Whether it’s using their imagination, getting them to try scribble on paper or recognise letters. These tasks are crucial for a child’s early development. As mentioned before toddlers do love to play which is why we advise making little games where your child can learn the educational basics. This can be as little as pointing to different letters on a page or as large as acting out a supermarket shopping experience.
If you find that your toddler doesn’t enjoy the task currently being done, don’t make them finish it. If they don’t like what they are doing then they will be likely to become distracted. As a result they won’t be learning a lot from the experience, instead switch it up or try something else.
Why Educational Activities Are Important
Learning games are very important for all children, they teach the necessary skills needed for them to grow and communicate. Whilst also giving your little one some much needed fun and attention.However the education does not have to be limited to just the mind; activities can also be designed for physical movement. This can vary from a wide array of tasks from riding stabilised bikes for the 2 years and up or placing building blocks for the infants. All of these improve motor skills and will give your youngster confidence and increased intelligence.
Educational tasks can also be brilliant for any child struggling with speech impediments or other learning difficulties. For more ideas or advice on this please click here.
Things To Do
When carrying out learning games the possibilities are endless. Whether you create them yourself, find them online or get them from your day care, your little ones will love the opportunity for new games! Here are some of our favourites:
- Play With Musical Toys
- Finger Painting With Different Colours
- Pour Water Into Different Sized Containers
- Read To Them With Different Character Voices
- Tummy Time
- Stacking Boxes
If you just want to keep your child entertained but have them remain productive, messy play activities are a brilliant way! Why? Because children love to get messy! Just stick your little ones in and let them have their fun, they will love it. The best thing about messy play is that it is a cheap way of keeping your child happy, you can use any household products you please. Our personal favourites are Cornflour & Water, Soap and Dry Rice.
If you have any other tasks that you find really help your child learn, be sure to share! The more games infants and toddlers are exposed too, the more they are going to learn. Send a message to our Facebook Page with all your fun ideas. Our team have also created a Pinterest page with plenty of other fun games, be sure to check out.
Get In Touch
If you would like to enquire about any activities you can do with your child, please do not hesitate to get in touch, our team will be happy to help you progress your little one’s learning especially during these difficult times.
Furthermore if you have any questions regarding when our day care will be reopening, please call 07340 956133, or fill out the contact form on our website.
