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June 27th, 2008
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Following on from the previous part on Where we live.
Developing your child’s sense of place is something that develops over time with a little input here and there.
Here are some fun play activities to try with your under 5 child.
- When you go on your travels this summer, don’t forget to use a paper map to show where you are and where you are going.
- Collect a postcard or two- there’s usually one with a map of the area.
- Find a variety of wall maps, regional maps and your local town maps. Pin them up at home.
- Find a kid’s atlas and let them flick through. Some kids like the satellite maps.
- Collect bus maps, tube maps, cycle routes they make interesting reading for kids especially the colours and symbols.
- Add the postcards to the map with string or be able to find and identify the place on the map.
- Use map pins- colour coded if the children are older for family, holiday,where we’ve been, where I’d like to go etc.
- Computer maps like Mapquest and incar navigation shouldn’t be an excuse to not know where we are but let the kids help program in directions and see too.
- Using their favourite movies and books find where they are based on the map.
- Map using fingers for the little ones where relatives live
- Discuss how they get from one country to another when there’s the sea in the way.
- map using masking tape
- Allow your children to direct you in the car to familiar places ( school, bank, shops etc)
- Try alternate routes so see new areas.
- Make up names of places when pretend playing and include characteristics( on a hill,by a beach, in a city, on a farm, in a village)
- Set up areas ( Malls, parks etc) on the Thomas the tank engine track.
- Add people, trees, water etc to the sand pit and make up a place for the pretend play area.
- Print photographs of different places, locally or holiday snaps compare windows, vegetation ( green, brown, concrete, lack of trees, lots of sand etc) doors, cars, roads, what you can see in the distance, to what they can see around where they live now.
What other practical ways do you use to start developing a sense of place in your little ones?
Would love to hear your suggestions.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Technorati Tags: sense of place, play activities, under 5, map, pretend playing, Thomas the tank engine
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June 24th, 2008
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This time last year we were getting used to a new town and country. We had fun investigating new things to see, smell and hear. If you’ve not walked in your neighbourhood what a walk might inspire you.
One year later, we’ve moved again. We have lots of comparisons. Having lived in a rural village, small town and now suburbs of a city it’s great opportunity for the kids to make these links. They are getting to know their local area by walking around and sharing old photos to develop geographic awareness. Where we live and what’s around us grows on us but sometimes you have to be explicit and draw your kid’s attention to it.
We found the book, Where Do I Live?
and have enjoyed getting to know how to explain where we live using appropriate vocabulary.
The language is simple enough to lead the children from where they live in their home. Starting first in their bedroom and expanding through, home, land, street, neighbourhood, town, city, suburbs, state , country, continent, world, earth, planet, solar system, galaxy, universe and back down again. The pictures support the text giving the kids an idea of size and proportion moving from page to page.
My toddler loves to thumb through the book and look at the pictures whereas the big guy likes to substitute himself for the text as we read it together trying out the new vocabulary.
Moving need not feel so disorientating for kids if they start developing a sense of place and home. We have a placemat of the world that we regularly find family and identify new countries.
Two frequently requested books at the moment are Mr. Popper’s Penguins
and Lost and Found
; both feature penguins. Finding Antarctica on the map and the places mentioned in the story is a lot of fun. Understanding time, distance and scale makes more sense after reading the Where do you live? book as does looking at maps in general. I wouldn’t say they understand the concept totally but are getting the idea that we can’t go from Australia and swim to Madagascar ( no doubt to see the animals from the movie) in one day!
We just got a Peters Projection Map
to compliment the Mercator map we’re used to seeing at dinner and everywhere. The Mercator map is the one Universal uses on their films, the one that spins. Representing a sphere on a flat piece of paper is not without its problems. Both maps when used together give a more accurate view of the world. I like the Peter’s projection as it gives a more realistic view of the world and the sizes of the countries.
If you’ve never done it before look at the continent of Africa on both maps. Knowing how big your country is compared to others is an important skill to develop to realise how small or big you are especially as you start looking at politics way way down the line. For more information & debate about the benefits of using different types of maps
We had a fun time finding the same countries on each map.
- Finding where we live.
- Identifying familiar places.
Developing your child’s sense of place is something that develops over time with a little input here and there. Children think of me, me, me and showing them how they fit in the world is an amazing thing to watch as they begin to realise there are so many things other than me.
See the next part to find out some practical play activities to try .
******What activities do you do with your children to promote awareness of their Where they live?******
Popularity: 15% [?]
Technorati Tags: geographic awareness, penguins, Antarctica, map, sense of place, play activities
No matter what your tolerance level is for toddler painting; sometimes a different way comes along that you can just enjoy.
Roll-On Painters from Lakeshore Learning are easy to grip, minimum fuss and easy for your toddler to use. My toddler here was having fun taking the lids of everyone and making marks on the page. Whereas his older brother was busy making a picture.
I did have to get them going for the toddler.They are just like roll on deodorants 
Easy clean up and set up. Perfect for those days when you don’t want to get out the easel and pour paint.
June’s radio show
** Do You Have an Oversensitive Child?**
Listen to the interview on Play activities radio to find out more ( top right sidebar)
Popularity: 21% [?]
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June 17th, 2008
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Even though it’s been a couple of days sitting on the side; I finally got around to reading the Sunday papers. After sorting into a pile of ‘to read’ and a pile of recycling, the pile to recycle seems huge- every weekend.
Today before the pile hit the recycling bin we started a project.
The big guy found and cut out all his favourite foods. Stuck them onto paper. This lead to an interesting discussion about food and drink.
He started to find his favourite clothes and that’ll be the next project to add to the large sheet of paper.
Often parts of the body are missing to get a good shot of the clothes so he’ll add legs and feet.
We then plan on moving onto the objects- gardening, patio, houses for sale etc
Eventually we’ll have a collage that we can weave a story together. I’m hoping he’ll tell the story with it.
Before you throw away recycle your weekend paper. Give your kids a chance to use the pages for other things.
Cutting and sticking isn’t just a random activity for toddlers but instead it can be defined and extended by preschoolers and older with a little imagination. Mixing media of magazine, newspaper, construction paper is a fun thing to try especially if you can sit with your kids and draw parts in with them.
He particular liked the freedom to choose what went onto the page and where it went.
Skills that naturally occur:
- Honing their fine motor skills
- giving them choices and letting them share their opinions
- creativity of what materials to use, how to place them on the page
- imagination to link the items into a story
- discrimination- accepting and rejecting objects from the many pages
- Sorting and controlling the environment ( Pile of cut outs? or cut, stick? or plan?)
Whenever planning a collage or large project, I’ve found it best to take bite sized chunks of time and allow the work to develop. They’ll be times when we have to jump in and times when they have a really good idea they need supporting on.
The perfect time for a project like this with summer almost here and all that time..
For more summer time activities try here.
** Join us over at All about parenting blog carnival: Do it yourself day camp.**
Popularity: 20% [?]
Technorati Tags: recycling, recycle, collage, story, fine motor skills, summer, activities
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