Life is a bit different for everyone at the moment. People have been thrown into homeschooling and figuring out the best way to engage their children all day. Preschool parents are no different. Parents have been reaching out to me, looking for ideas to help keep their child's day somewhat normal and structured, even during this difficult time. As a result, I have been sharing my different activities based on our normal lesson plan schedule. Here are some of the best ways to help teach your preschooler patterns at home.
Why Play is Important?
Really quickly, I feel like we need to get back to the basics. I keep urging the parents in my classroom to remember that play is still one of the best ways for your child to learn. Even though each day in our classroom follows a schedule, the schedule allows for plenty of play and creative time. Make sure your preschooler is having plenty of free time to explore and learn. All of these items to help teach your child patterns involve an element of play.
Five Easy Activities for Preschoolers to Learn Patterns
- Body Movement Pattern: This is a perfect activity for all kids. Work with your children to pick a pattern, such as jump, clap, wiggle, and have them move around using the pattern. You can adjust the number of items based on your child's ability. You can also use this as a family activity, a race between older children, a follow the leader type activity, and so much more.
- Letter Hunt and Pattern Making: Using the letter R (our letter of the week), I placed 32 different letter Rs around the house. My children then had to hunt for the Rs and bring them to the table. After they were all found, we created a pattern using the Rs they had found. This activity was a big hit with my kids, and took less than 5 minutes to prep. Bonus, after we were done, my kids took turns and hid them for each other.
- Pattern Building: This one is simple and effective. We picked out different types of blocks and built different patterns with them. My children loved building an entire pattern city, using all the different blocks we could find. This is a perfect way to engage all age children as well!
- Snack Time Patterns: What could be a better way than using your child's snacks to help engage them in learning about patterns? Grab a few M&M's, cereal, or fruit snacks and let your child build a pattern before they eat it. Even better, it will slow them down and make their snack last a few moments longer!
- Coloring Patterns for Grandparents: We are fortunate to have grandparents who live in town, but I know my kids are missing connecting with them each week. We have been using our different activities to draw and create, and then deliver the art to their house. What a perfect surprise and a chance to wave at each other. Even if your kids grandparents or great grandparents live out of the city, you can turn these different activities into cards and mail them.
Patterns are a fun activity to incorporate into your daily activities. With a few changes in your daily schedule you can bring patterns in and help build the fun. Don't miss out, we will be updating each week to help with different activities for your preschooler during this time.
Happy Learning!
Ms. Kirsten
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