Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
5m
Language & Literacy
Syllable Movement
With your child, choose 3 different movements you'll do together. (For example, tapping your head, placing hands on your hips, touching your knees). Tell your child you're going to do a different move to match each part of a word.
Look around the room and pick an object whose word has 1-3 syllables. Slowly say each syllable while you do the moves you picked (for example: tap your head as you say the first syllable, place your hands on your hips for the second syllable, touch your knees for the third syllable).
Repeat for the same word, but encourage your child to join in saying the syllables and doing the movements.
Repeat with different 1-3 syllable words.
Varies
Health & Wellness
Grocery Sort
Invite your child to help you put groceries away.
Give them instructions and guidance to help them sort the foods as they go along.
For example, sort foods into fruits and vegetables in one place and grains in another.
Show your child the places the different types of food go in your kitchen, (such as the refrigerator, drawers or cupboard) and let them help you put them away.
Make this a regular game that you do when you shop, and watch their food knowledge grow!
30m
Math
Daily Routine Poster
Ask your child to give examples of things that happen every day. Make a list of their answers. (Examples: teeth brushing, getting dressed, reading a story, potty time, eating lunch, going to school, etc.)
Make a flashcard of each event. Draw a symbol (like a shirt for getting dressed and a toothbrush for brushing teeth). Write a label underneath, then cut it out. Ask your child to color the flashcard (some children may be able to help draw as well). Alternately, take photos of your child doing each activity and print out the pictures.
Ask your child to place events in the order of their daily routine. Tape or glue them onto a piece of paper.
Ask your child to explain their daily routines. Prompt them to describe events with time vocabulary like "in the morning," "at noon", or "after dinner time." (Optional) display your routine posters so your child can reference them each day.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
10m
Language & Literacy
Onset Rime With Gestures
Say a simple one-syllable word like “fish.” Help your child to say the beginning sound (onset) and the rime, or remaining sounds of the word e.g. “f-ish.”
Use gestures or movements as you identify each part. You can hold out your left hand for the beginning sound (onset) then your right hand for the rime, or step your left foot out then your right.
If you want to say the word back together after, put your hands or feet together. “F-ish, fish!”
You can also do this as you say a fun short word while reading or running errands.
15m
Math
Subtracting Snacks
Put 10 small pieces of food (like cereal) on a plate and ask your child to count them.
Ask: "If we take away 3 pieces, how many will be left?" After your child answers, ask them to take away 3 snacks (optional: they can eat the snacks they take away!)
Ask your child to check their answer by counting the snacks left on the plate.
Repeat (start with an amount 1-10 and taking away different amounts).
15m
Math
Sorting Fruits and Vegetables
After grocery shopping, invite your child to help you put away the fruits and vegetables. Place them on the table or countertop.
As you prepare to put the items away, ask your child to find ways to group or sort the fruits and vegetables. For example, they can sort by color, size, or texture.
Have your child find other ways to sort the items. Ask questions such as: “Do they all have the same color? Do they all go in the pantry? Do some go in the refrigerator?”
Help your child put the fruits and vegetables away and then celebrate completing this task together.
Use these activities to learn with your child every day!
Varies
Health & Wellness
Reading About Healthy Eating
Read a book about healthy eating with your child.
While you’re reading, talk about how healthy foods make your body feel, and how it helps you to stay healthy.
Make a healthy eating commitment with your child and try and practice it!
Celebrate each day you keep your commitment together! It’s hard, we know!
10m
Math
Counting Coins
Start with a pile of 10-20 coins (or other small objects) and ask your child to put some in each bag.
Ask your child to describe which bag they think has more and less, and to estimate how many coins are in each bag.
Check your child’s answer by drawing a 1-10 number line on a piece of paper. Show your child how to place one coin on each number to count the coins from the first bag.
Ask your child to place the coins from the second bag on the number line, counting as they go. Compare the amounts from each bag.
20m
Health & Wellness
Healthy Habits Collage
Encourage your child to make a collage by gluing (or drawing) pictures showing healthy habits such as exercising, sleeping, eating healthy foods and brushing your teeth.
While they’re making the collage, you can talk together about why being healthy is important.
Your child can choose where to display their collage to remind them of healthy habits.
Don’t hesitate to keep adding pictures (by drawing or pasting) to the collage as you and your child think of new ideas/things to include.
As you're in each section, talk about how our bodies use each kind of food to stay healthy.
Ask your child to find other examples of a food in the same food group.
At home, you can talk about the food groups again as you put items away.
10m
Math
Kitchen Patterns
Gather a bunch of kitchen utensils (fork, spoon, butter knife). Ask your child to sort them.
Place them in a simple pattern of 3 objects, repeating the pattern twice (fork, spoon, knife / fork, spoon, knife)
Say the pattern out loud, pointing to each object as you go. Ask your child "What comes next?" and have them add the object to the pattern.
Ask your child to keep making the pattern longer. (Optional) Repeat with a different order of utensils, or different objects.
15m
Social Studies
Matching Holidays and Traditions
Lay out the holiday symbols and say, “Let’s talk about the fun holidays families celebrate! Each picture shows something families use or do during holidays. Let’s look at them together and see which ones remind you of our holidays.”
Help your child sort the pictures into two piles: “Our Holidays” and “Other Families’ Holidays.” As you sort, ask, “What do we do with this? Do you think other families might use it in a similar or different way?”
Take two cards, one from each pile, and find something they have in common. For example, “This is a candle for our holiday, and this is a candle other families might use. What do you think candles are for?”
