Your preschooler’s brain is growing at alarming rates. In fact, the human brain does about 90% of its growing before you even start kindergarten, which means that the preschool years are an ideal time to encourage activities that promote learning. High-quality preschool learning programs in Franklin, TN,are ideal for helping your preschooler begin learning in a classroom setting. However, a great deal of your child’s learning should happen at home. Here are a few brain-boosting activities that you can try with your preschooler to help promote early learning.

Muffin Tin Geoboard

Turn a muffin tin upside down and have your child use rubber bands to create squares, rectangles, and other shapes on the back of the muffin tin. You can also use the rubber bands to create letters and numbers if you feel your preschooler has already mastered their shapes. In addition to helping your child learn shapes, letters, and/or numbers, placing the rubber bands on the back of the muffin tin to make the proper shapes helps to tune their fine motor skills.

Interactive Reading

Reading to your child is incredibly important from a very young age. The simple act of reading helps to promote brain growth and improves vocabulary and language skills. However, once your child reaches preschool age, they’re prepared for more interactive reading.

Rather than simply reading a book to your child, pause periodically in the story and ask your child questions about the story. Encourage them to observe what is happening on the page and predict what might happen next. Ask them questions about things that have already happened as well. This type of interaction helps keep them interested in the story and encourages them to actively listen and learn. It can also test their critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.

Fun with Coins

While your child (ages 4 and up) might not yet be ready to learn the values of different coins (though you can give that a shot as well, if you want), you can still encourage them to learn using your loose change. Gather up some coins and count them together. Have them sort the coins by size or color and talk about how the coins are different. You can also make a coin toss game and have them sort the coins by tossing them into different containers.

This helps your child learn to sort, compare different and similar items, and to get familiar with something that will likely be a part of their lives throughout their youth and adulthood—money.

Two-Step Simon Says

Play a twist on the classic game Simon Says by giving your child two-step directions to follow. For example, you might tell them, “Simon says to crawl to the couch and then hop like a kangaroo back to me.” Like the original game, this helps your child learn to listen and follow instructions. But, by adding the two-step element to it, your child is learning to recognize sequences of actions and to complete tasks that have multiple steps in the proper order.

The most important thing to remember is that for children at this age, learning should always be fun. So, make these activities as enjoyable as possible and don’t put too much pressure on your child to meet certain expectations. By playing these kinds of games, your child will be spending quality time with you while they’re learning. If you want to give your child an extra boost in their early education, contact THE Children’s Academy to learn more about our Franklin child care and preschool program.

We have two locations: Franklin, TN, at (615) 790-2273 or in Spring Hill, TN, at (615) 302-0950.