Scientists who study how the brain works have shown that children learn earlier—and learn more—than we once thought possible. From birth through age 5, children are developing the language, thinking, physical, emotional and social skills that they will need for the rest of their lives.

This booklet is for families and caregivers who want to help their preschool children to learn and to develop the skills necessary for success in school—and in life.

The booklet begins with information that will help you prepare your child to learn and to get ready for school. The major portion of the booklet contains simple activities that you can use with your child. These activities are only a starting point. We hope that you and your child will enjoy them enough to create and try many more on your own.

In addition, the booklet provides suggestions for how to monitor your child’s TV viewing and to choose good TV programs and videos and how to choose suitable child care. It also provides a checklist to guide you as you prepare your child to enter kindergarten.

As a parent, you can help your child want to learn in a way no one else can. That desire to learn is a key to your child’s later success. Enjoyment is important! So, if you and your child don’t enjoy one activity, move on to another. You can always return to any activity later on.

“The ages between birth and age 5 are the foundation upon which successful lives are built.” —Laura Bush

Download Helping Your Preschool Child

PDF format, 741KB, 66Pages.

With activities for children from infancy through age 5

U.S. Department of Education
Office of Communications and Outreach

Foreword:

The first five years of a child’s life are a time of tremendous physical, emotional, social and cognitive growth. Children enter the world with many needs in order to grow: love, nutrition, health, social and emotional security and stimulation in the important skills that prepare them for school success. Children also enter the world with a great capacity to learn.

Research shows clearly that children are more likely to succeed in learning when their families actively support them. Families who involve their children in activities that allow the children to talk, explore, experiment and wonder show that learning is both enjoyable and important. They motivate their children to take pleasure in learning and to want to learn more. They prepare them to be successful in school—and in life.

There is a strong connection between the development a child undergoes early in life and the level of success that the child will experience later in life. When young children are provided an environment rich in language and literacy interactions and full of opportunities to listen to and use language constantly, they can begin to acquire the essential building blocks for learning how to read. A child who enters school without these skills runs a significant risk of starting behind and staying behind.

President Bush believes that all children must begin school with an equal chance at achievement so that no child is left behind. To that end, he signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which proposed reforms expressing his confidence in our public schools and their mission to build the mind and character of every child, from every background, in every part of America. While the No Child Left Behind Act is important because it ensures that public schools are teaching students what they need to know to be successful in life, it also draws attention to the need to prepare children before they start school. You and your family help to create this critical foundation by talking, listening and reading to your child every day and by showing your child that you value learning and education.

This booklet includes activities for families with children from infancy through age 5. Most of the activities make learning experiences out of the everyday routines in which you and your child already participate. Most use materials that are found in your home or that can be had free of charge from your local library. The activities are designed to be fun for both you and your child as well as to help your child gain the skills needed to get ready for school. Enjoy them!

Taking Charge of TV:

By the time they begin kindergarten, children in the United States have watched an average of 4,000 hours of TV. Most child development experts agree that this is too much. But banning TV from children’s lives isn’t the answer. Good TV programs can spark children’s curiosity and open up new worlds to them. A better idea is for families and caregivers to monitor how much time their children spend watching TV and what programs they watch.

Here are some tips that will help you monitor and guide your child’s TV viewing:

★ Think about your child’s age and choose the types of things that you want him to see, learn and imitate.

★ Look for TV shows that

• teach your child something,
• hold his interest,
• encourage him to listen and question,
• help him learn more words,
• make him feel good about himself and
• introduce him to new ideas and things.

★ Keep a record of how many hours of TV your child watches each week and what she watches. Some experts recommend that children limit their TV watching to no more than 2 hours a day. However, it’s up to you to decide how much TV and what kinds of programs your child should watch.

★ Learn about current TV programs, videos and DVDs and help your child to select good ones. “Sesame Street,” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” “Blue’s Clues,” “Between the Lions,” “Reading Rainbow,” “Barney & Friends,” “Zoom,” and “Zoboomafoo,” are some shows that you may want to consider. Many other good children’s programs are available on public television stations and on cable channels such as the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

★ If you have a VCR or DVD player, you may wish to seek out video versions of classic children’s stories and books, such as the Babar stories and the Children’s Circle series, “Stories for the Very Young” and “More Stories for the Very Young.” For your very young child, try the “Baby Einstein” series.

★ Parents’ Choice, a quarterly review of children’s media, including TV programs and home video materials, can help you to choose titles that are suitable for your child. (For more information, see the Parents’ Choice Web site: http://www.parents-choice.org/; or write to: Parents’ Choice Foundation, Suite 303, 201 West Padonia Road, Timonium, MD 21093.) You can also read about programs in TV columns in newspapers and magazines. Cable subscribers and public broadcasting contributors can check monthly program guides for information.

★ After selecting programs that are appropriate for your child, help him decide which ones he wants to watch. Turn on the TV when one of these programs starts and turn it off when the program ends.

★ Watch TV with your child, so that you can answer questions and talk about what she sees. Pay special attention to how she responds, so that you can help her to understand what she’s seeing.

★ Follow-up TV viewing with activities or games. Have your child tell you a new word that he learned from a TV program. Together, look up the word in a dictionary and talk about its meaning. Or have him make up his own story about one of his favorite characters from a TV program.

★ Include the whole family in discussion and activities or games that relate to TV programs.

★ Go to the library and find books that explore the themes of the TV shows that your child watches. Or help your child to use her drawings or pictures cut from magazines to make a book based on a TV show.

★ Make certain that TV isn’t used as a babysitter. Instead, balance good television with other enjoyable activities for your child.

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comments

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment