Favorite Community Place
Here's What To Do
Take your child to a favorite place in your community. Bring snacks and drawing materials.
Give them a tour and describe all the things you like about that place. If appropriate, let them walk around and explore what interests them.
Draw pictures of some things in that place, and invite your child to draw along with you. You can also take pictures. When you get home, refer back to the drawings and talk about the important features of the place.
(Optional) Repeat on different days in different places.
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- Give your child a hug before entering the place.
Engage:
- "This is one of my favorite places- this bench in the park. From here I can see trees, birds, kids playing, people bicycling, and more. I like watching everything around me."
- "I'm drawing a picture of the barbershop. This is the fancy chair, these are the barber's tools, this is the cape I wear during a haircut."
Encourage:
- Notice what your child seems interested in, and tell them more about it. Like: "See those comfy bean bag chairs? You can read library books there."
- "Would you like to help me draw this picture of the pool?"
Reflect:
- "Let's talk about where we went today. Our picture will remind us of what we saw."
Not quite ready?
If your child isn't interested in helping you draw, just let them explore the place on their own. Say the names of everything they look at or touch.
Ready for more?
Ask your child to identify their favorite place in the community, and go there. Encourage them to describe everything they notice in the place.
As your child masters this skill...
They will have confidence to explore important places in their community with an adult.