Wow! You made it all the way to lesson 8. Tap yourself on the shoulder for being super mom! You probably have created a routine now and have noticed how your toddler is a sponge ready to learn.
I am developing a more extensive program with this same format called the “Fun Ways to Learn” program dedicated to pre-k readiness lessons for 1 and 2 years old. We will go further into activities to work on fine motor skills with sensory activities, we will learn colors, numbers, shapes, and everything they need to be ready for pre-k.
It is a self-paced program like this one with 24 weekly lessons to be completed.
If you are local to South Florida starting January, this program will be offered in person.
Ok.. let’s get on with our last lesson
LESSON PLAN WEEK 8
Areas of Development for this week:
- Gross Motor Skills
- Fine Motor Skills
- Critical Thinking
Balance Beam and other Outdoor Play
- Objective: Work on body awareness, balance, and gross motor skills
- Supplies: Riding wagons or push cars
How to Play
Outdoor play is very important for kids to be exposed to. This week allow for some free play as your toddler explores moving their body through different areas. Play with tunnels, obstacle course, and even pushing and riding wagons.
A great game and skill to practice is the ability to place one foot in front of the other, like on a balance beam. Don’t have access to one? Trace a line with chalk or use the parking space dividers, or even our favorite – the sidewalk curve – and try to teach your toddler to put one foot in front of the other.
Every time we play this game, I hold his hands and sing “one in front of the other, one in front of the other” At the beginning of teaching him, I had to place my hands on this legs and feet to show him what “one in front of the other” meant.
If he/she has mastered this game you can place items over the line where he/she must go over. This means your toddler will need to place one foot in front of the other, and at some point, make a big step forward to skip the obstacle placed in front.
It sounds easy but is quite the challenge and fun exercise for them. Try it!
Here are other ways and ideas to do when playing outside
Dried Pasta ABC’s Sensory Bin
- Object: Develop an understanding of letter sounds and identifying the objects
- Supplies: dried pasta (any pasta except spaghetti), plastic container, food coloring, vinegar, large zip loc, large bin, toys
How to Play
Do you like messy or non-messy?
If you like messy you can do colored cooked pasta for this activity.
If you want to avoid the mess but still have a sensory experience, then you can do colored raw pasta.
if you don’t feel like coloring anything you can do it with the pasta – just not colored.
The great thing about sensory bins is that they are an invitation to play. You basically set up the scenario, and the imagination takes over.
Ok.. now that we got that settled, let’s get to the activity:
Using your plastic bin, fill it out with colored pasta to create a sensory bin. Add one item that starts with each letter ABC.
a Ball
an Apple
a Car
Provide cups, spoons and other pouring materials. You can also add the cards from the matching game we used on week 4, to the bin to enhance learning.
Start exploring and playing with the pasta, hiding the ball under the pasta, pouring the pasta over the apple and watching it fall.
During play, every time your toddler grabs the toy or the card, practice the letter sound and the name of the object. CCC Car.
It will feel silly but believe me, they will catch on!
Matching colors with objects
- Objective: Use critical thinking to identify what color is each object
- Supplies for this activity: paints, mixed media paper, color flashcards, color puzzle, Lego Duplo
How to Play
For the last activity of this session, we will be working on putting all of the concepts we learned together.
Grab your color paints and 3 different sheets of paper. Let your toddler paint each sheet a different color and let it dry.
Once all three sheets (red, yellow, blue) are dried, bring out all the supplies we have used. The wooden puzzles, the flashcards, the colored pasta (if you did it) and the Lego Duplo.
Tape the sheets to the table and then place all the items in the middle. Start by grabbing each item and identify it by color, name and ask your toddler what color it is.
then go ahead and place it over the matching colored sheet. Continue with the rest of the objects.
A word of advice…
Don’t be alarmed if your toddler doesn’t identify them correctly. It takes a long time for a toddler to learn these concepts and that’s why pre-k exists. They take 5 days a week to immerse them into these concepts, so we can’t expect our little ones to know these in 8 weeks with just a few activities.
I invite you to immerse yourself each week into one color and really reinforce each color concept with different activities.
Children learn through exposure and repetition, so don’t give up!
GET MORE…
Start teaching the basics they will need to get started in kindergarten. Increase language development, develop math skills, increase vocabulary and speech and get them ready for reading.
With 37 interactive games and lessons with just 15 minutes a day, you can start teaching your toddler at home.
Learn more about the Workbook Level 1
Pre-K Readiness Workbook
