"Children learn how to communicate and understand the importance of relationships with others and with the environment around them. Children’s sense of connectedness to others, to their community and to the natural world is part of this area of learning and development. Children begin to develop their sense of belonging and contributing through their relationships with their families and classroom communities."
What does it look like at home? – Children are already in close relationship with their families, but sometimes the ability of young children can be overlooked. As adults it is often easier and faster to do things for children. But for children to learn, they must be given the time and encouragement to do things themselves. There is no reason young children cannot have the responsibility of taking care of many of their own needs - dressing, helping with meals, tidying up their toys, etc. When you are doing this at home you are helping your child learn about and develop a sense of belonging and contributing.
"Children learn about emotions and feelings and how to adapt to new situations. The goal is for children to develop an understanding of how they best focus and learn, to respect themselves and others and to promote well-being in themselves and in others. This gives them a strong foundation for life."
What does it look like at home? – This is probably the most import frames for families to be working on in the early years. Self regulation is your child's ability to understand and manage their own feelings and reactions. It is their ability to navigate through big feelings like frustration, excitement, anger, fear, or embarassment in a good way. It allows them to focus on a task and move flexibly between tasks and minimize impulsive behaviours. Strong family rythms help children regulate their bodies - 10-12 hours of sleep a night, a varied and healthy diet, and lots of outdoor time help children feel good in their bodies and mind. Children learn self regulation by being surrounded by adults who model self regulation themselves. Talking about feelings and building strategies to navigate big feelings are great ways to support your child's self regulation skills.
"Through play, children develop a wide vocabulary and improve communication skills. Play helps children to think critically, respect different perspectives and process various kinds of information, including mathematical thinking and reasoning. Children use mathematical thinking to make sense of the world. They see patterns, spatial relationships, measurement and quantity, and communicate their understanding of this to others. Children develop a richer vocabulary in all areas, including mathematics, which will help them communicate their thinking and reasoning with confidence."
What does it look like at home?
Talk Talk Talk!!! Your child's oral communication skills are the cornerstone to social and academic success. Listening to others, understanding what they say, communicating their needs and ideas clearly are so important to future success. Being present with your child with no distractions, playing with them, reading a book together, or helping them through a task while you 'narrate' what you're doing, are all great ways to build oral communication. Having your child experience a range of social situations, such as family functions, playing with neighbours, attending childcare, or reguarly visiting an Early Years centre help to build your child's oral language.
Cuddle up and read. Quiet times together are opportunities to bond and read. Put some excitement into your voice. As you go, explain any new words or ideas. Talk about the pictures. We want reading to be fun, not a chore. Don’t worry about flash cards – just spend more time reading and enjoying books together. Regular visits to the local library are a low-cost and highly valuable outing.
Be a reading/writing role model. Read and write in front of your children regularly. When your children see you reading, writing a card for a loved one, or making a grocery list, they will want to imitate you and see reading and writing as fun and functional family activities.
Make writing a part of your day. Make writing a part of your day – write letters to family and friends with your child. Encourage them to write down their ideas and stories (as best they can).
Math should be fun too! When children feel positive and successful about anything, they are more likely to stick with it and want to incorporate those things into their lives. Have fun with math! Count the steps you climb, play "store" with money, and play with building materials in order to build your child's love of math and numbers.
Talk and movement help with counting. When children are learning to count, they like to touch, point to, and move objects as they say the number aloud – so encourage them and find different objects to count throughout your home.
Organize household items. Encourage your child to organize their toys or household objects into some type of order (e.g., taller/shorter, shape, volume, colour etc.).
Games can be great learning tools. Board games or card games are a fun way to practice mathematical thinking.
"Learning to think creatively, analytically and critically is important in all aspects of life. Children are naturally curious. By asking questions, testing theories, solving problems and thinking creatively, they learn to understand the world around them. Through play, exploration and inquiry children develop their ability to innovate and problem solve."
What does it look like at home? – Problem solving and innovating is something we do everyday, but most adults do this for young children. It takes longer to include young children in solving small everyday problems and the solutions they come up with will likely be unconventional, to say the least, but young children are capable. The other thing we do as adults is answer children’s questions instead of wondering with them and helping them find the answers. Be curious with them. Point out things you notice and wonder. Try out ideas and celebrate successes and failures. The early years are some of the best times to delight in your child's observations about the world around them.