They say children learn first things at home. In fact, others will even say they get to know to do things while inside the womb of their mother. Both are true, and the home is the best place to teach kids from safety measures to body care, and educational stuff to hobbies.
If you have children whose age is between 2 to 4, giving enough time to teach them is necessary. You need to start educating and teaching your kids some basic stuff during these early years. School is a traditional and formal setting of learning for children, but the home is where they prepare for proper studying.
What must parents need to do? What are the materials to get and use for kids? Here are some essential tips to bear in mind regarding what and how to teach kids of 2 to 4 years of age inside your house.
1. Collect Materials and Supplies
Before you start giving anything to your children, it is best that you buy stuffs necessary. These include books for children, coloring pages, songs in CDs, educational DVDs, and writing supplies, such as pencils, pens, erasers and papers. You may even like to give them non-toxic paint. Children are encouraged to learn and do educational activities with these materials.
2. Introduce Them Songs and Dance Moves
Most boys and girls love tunes of songs. You get their attention by playing fun and happy songs. Also, they start to move and dance once they hear music playing in the background. Whether you are good in singing and dancing or not, have fun teaching your kids to do these. It will interest them and you get to spend great moments with them at the same time.
3. Read Them Bedtime Stories
At night time just before you tuck them to bed, take a book and read a story. Do this every night so it becomes a routine for them. When they become older wherein a point they can already recognize letters and words, it won’t be difficult to encourage them grabbing books and start reading.
4. Let Them Color
During the whole day, kids must not only play, eat and sleep. Give them some time to color as well. Children do love colors and creating a beautiful picture. Let them enjoy and be creative with their art work. Furthermore, allow them to stain their clothes by painting whatever they want. This should be fun and exciting for them. It’s a great way to motivate them to explore their interests, and spend their spare time.
5. Start Teaching Them How to Write
Children of 3 to 4 must be able to memorize and write the English alphabets. This means that you encourage them to write small words like “dog”, “toy”, and “apple”. It is also more important that they are able to write their own name. Start with the first name before you go to the next until they can already write the full name.
6. Ask Them Their Likes and Interests
Do not just spoon feed them things that they have to basically learn. You also have to find out what they want. They may be into a particular sports and it happens that you know how to play it. For instance, your little boy is fond of football. As a parent, provide him a ball used in playing football and go out in your backyard to play for 30 minutes to an hour. This is a start of your child to explore his likes and interests.
Teaching kids is not solely about reading, writing and coloring. There are a lot of things a single child needs to learn from his or her own parents, including manners, behaviors and talents. While you try to make your child feel safe and comfortable at home, take all the time to share what kids must learn in your humble abode. That means that you sacrifice your time to provide these things to them. You do need to spend and sacrifice your own time for this. If you truly love and care for your children, it won’t be a useless or worthless time for sure.
