What fun teaching activities are you doing with your 4yr old?

[iteachmine]

I have a soon to be 4 yr old. Would you mind sharing what you are doing with your 4yr old/preschooler?

 

Thanks

[LindaOz]

My youngest is just 3 1/2 (so not quite the age you are asking for, I know) but I keep it pretty low-key here for that age now. He has done quite a few letter sounds and likes to find the sounds in books we read together. We read and count things in books, and other than that just fun things like playdough (a hit in our house) and puzzles etc. My 5yo just started 'schoolwork' a week ago, and other than some letters/sounds and basic counting we had done very little. In a week she has taken off like a house on fire :-) So, have fun and play lots.

 

Linda

[King Alfred Academy]

I have a ds4 and I just started a preschool program with him. You can read about it here http://kingalfredacademy.blogspot.com/2007/12/preschool-plans-for-thane.html

I detailed what we are doing, gave links to the things we are using, and included a book list. We are also working through the Get Ready for the Code books, but I didn't put that on my blog.

I hope this helps you :)

[Closeacademy]

For PreK:

 

Free Play--blocks, open-ended, story, imaginative

 

Small motor skills--painting with watercolors, scissors, glue, coloring

 

Math manipulative exploration--counting bears, balance scale, patterns blocks(let them explore on their own)

 

Good books--Jan Brett, Laura Numeroff, Dr. Suess, Alan Baker, etc

 

Large Motor skills--riding a bike, tumbling, jumping rope, skipping

 

Following mom and being included--Baking, cleaning, folding clothes, etc.

 

Circle time--stories, singing together and Finger-Rhymes (open them shut them or others)

 

Workbooks only if they want them and totally at their own pace as they request it. I have a binder for my ker that I put together. In it is workbooks I have torn apart, worksheets off the internet, mazes, dot-to-dots and coloring pages. She works on it whenever she wants and I go through it about once a week pulling out finished pages and putting new ones in.

 

Mainly, have fun during this time and don't push academics too much. It is one thing if a child is begging to do worksheets but quite another to make them do them at this age when they are not ready for them. Let them set the pace and enjoy this time. They are only this little once and as my dh observed today about my little ones "the sticky fingers are gone."

 

Hope this helps.

[Kristiana]

My middle child is 4.5 right now. He does Kumon tracing and cutting books to work on coordination. We just started FIAR after Christmas and he sits in on the history and science with my oldest in 1st grade. I try to find hands-on projects in history and art that both my 4.5 and 3yo can participate in. Other than that, he goes to Kindermusik class and plays endlessly with trains.:)

[Laurel]

4.5 year old: She LOVES workbooks, and I swear would do them all day if I let her (I think that comes from watching me do logic puzzles and whatnot all the time), so a wide variety of Kumon workbooks: cutting, numbers, letters, mazes, etc. Saxon K, which we find fun. Slowly working her way through OPGTR.

We do A LOT of art around here. Painting, collages, making animals out of paper towel tubes. Every once in a while I'll bring out a big tub filled with beans/rice/water and measuring cups to play with.

We play lots of board/card games as well.

Lots of bike riding, some "indoor soccer" (my living room is a large open space), she does gymnastics, and just started TaeKwonDo, and swimming in the summer.

[coffeefreak]

Mine turned 5 in the fall, but we've always LOVED Five in a Row and Before five in a Row. They're such fabulous books and the activities require little to no prep.

[Erica in OR]

We liked the cookbook "Pretend Soup" at that age, to use for an activity. It has pictures and recipes appropriate for preschoolers, and they can actually do most of it independently. My kids were so proud when they produced something that we could all eat and enjoy, and liked to shop for the ingredients at the store.

 

Erica in OR

[prairiegirl]

My dd turned 5 last week so she won't start K until the fall. We have started using FIAR and BFIAR. Last week, we used the ideas from Homeschool Share to make a lapbook for What Will You Wear Jessie Bear? It was dd's first lapbook. She was so excited.

 

We are also going over the letter sounds and numbers by drawing, using modelling beeswax, clay and games. We also read lots and lots of good books. This is my last time to have a pre-schooler and I want this year to be full of wonderful memories.

 

Julia

mom of 3 (8,7,5)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Mine is a little younger (almost 3 1/2) but we mostly play games to learn things. We are working on pre-reading skills such as letter sounds and learning to recognize the different sounds in a word using ideas from SWR and Montessori Read and Write. She has just started asking about spelling words so I'll probably try that once things settle down after our new baby gets here. She and her younger brother love math manipulatives. Her favorites are Funtastic Frogs with activity cards, pattern blocks, geoboards, and a bucket balance. Her motor skills lag behind everything else so I also make sure to suggest those types of things too. We color, use play-doh, lace frogs (Funtastic Frogs), and use lacing cards. I'm planning to print out some simple tracing pages to see if she likes those. We also read a lot and she is always making up stories.

[JenneinCA]

My little guy is three and a half. We are doing Letter of the Week and Alphabet Art and whatever books we read.

 

We have a list of things to do each day, but it is not so much that I want him learning things. It is so I am forced to make time to be with him and sit and do things with him. I make time to do math and spelling and stuff with my older kids and the little guy was getting lost in the shuffle.

 

Letter of the Week is here: http://www.letteroftheweek.com/preschool_age_3.html

 

Alphabet Art is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Alphabet-Art-Z-Fingerplays-Williamson/dp/1885593147/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201489398&sr=8-1

 

Jenne in AZ

(dd9, ds7, ds3)

[gandpsmommy]

We are pretty informal with preschool learning activities here. I read a lot of books with ds. We read many science books because that is his main interest. He especially likes books about volcanoes, animals, and rocks and minerals. We also read many story books. We have a few collections (The HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics, and I think the other one is maybe the Random House 20th Century Picture Book Anthology or something like that.) We have quite a few individual story books, some Bible story books, and a lot of science non-fiction books. We also go to the library weekly to check out books.

 

He loves to draw and paint, cut with scissors, use tape and glue, etc. We try to make art supplies accessible. We have a few Kumon workbooks.

 

We listen to classical music, and he joins in learning some of the themes with his older sister who is using Themes To Remember, Vol. 1. He seems to like the Classical Kids cd's, especially Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

 

We are trying to introduce letters, slowly. So far he has learned to recognize and write all of the letters in his first name and a few more. Now we are working on writing his name in the correct order. We are using the Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K book. He also enjoys writing with dry-erase markers on a white board.

 

We have the Singapore EarlyBird Math 1A & B workbooks, but we only do them when he is in the mood to do so. He really likes them. I was having trouble getting him to remember numbers and be able to recognize them. So, I decided to start with 1, 2, 3. I wrote them on pieces of cardstock paper and set them in a line on the floor. We jumped on them and said the number. If were were going forward, we would say, "One, two, three, Go!" and then run down the hallway. If we were going backwards, we would say, "Three, two, one, blast off!" and I would toss him up in the air a little like a rocket taking off. I try to check out one or two counting books every time we go to the library.

 

He takes a gymnastics class weekly.

 

Other than that, he just plays a lot. With playdough, cars and trucks, zoobs, Lincoln logs, Tinker Toys, blocks, animals, his rock collection, etc. I will admit, too, that he does get to play some Leapster games and he loves to watch tv. He mostly watches Noggin or National Geographic/Discovery channel science documentaries.

 

I hope that helps.

[Tonia]

I just posted a huge list of math activities (on my blog) for young children - just look on the right side under documents. There is also a list of reading and pre-reading activities. DD loves to make everything into a game (she really keeps me on my toes, trying to come up with new things) so I just put everything we do into an organized format, uploaded it and linked it to my blog.

 

For workbooks - kumon, rod and staff, explode the code, total math, never-bored kid book.

 

Games - she loves uno (especially uno extreme), memory, go fish, dominoes, etc.

 

Crafts - I keep a 4 drawer tower full of stuff and a little table and chair with a box beside it (all her crafts go in here and I can keep our table clear!). The normal stuff- play dough, glue, paper, paint, etc. and she loves the chicken socks books by klutz (just do a search for chicken socks on amazon and a bunch of books will pop up) - especially the pom pom animals and tree house bugs.