# ideas for a three year old?



## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

My boy is three, and according to advice from here (thanks guys!) I put off beginning "preschool" till now. 

His gramma bought him a "big preschool" book, which has a lot of colors and tracing. He LOVES it. I have begun having him trace dotted lines and circles, as well, to get ready to teach him to write numbers and letters, and he isn't cray about that, but will do it pretty easily and loves when he finishes and gets to do another page from his preschool book. 

Basically, that is all he is doing at the moment, although I am giving him a garden this year, since he is showing some interest in how veggies grow. 

Any ideas for math readiness? ANy things he shoud or could be learning now? 

He is very active, and loves to do things with his hands, but he is also pretty cautious. He likes to go into things more slowly. Him and his brother learn VERY differently. This little boy is a challenge for me, but I really think hands-on is his learning style. Hearing and seeing seem not to be. 

So what are your suggestions? He is not special needs or anything, and is a very smart boy, just different than what you would call "smart" in ps. His little brother seems to be much more A type. 

ANyways, lol, I guess what are some hands on ideas for teaching math, ect? And hand eye cordination and other basic things? What did you tech your kiddos around age 3-4? (the preschool book he loves so much is for four year olds and up, he has always been a bit ahead of the curve, but it is hard to always think of new ways to teach him that captivate his little mind)


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Shrarvrs88 said:


> Any ideas for math readiness? ANy things he shoud or could be learning now?


I think 3yo should learn by play for the most part. Sing numbers every day 1-10 then go to 20. Get a big 100 counting chart printed off eventually and count up to 100. By 5 do skip counting everyday by tens, fives, threes, twos, etc. It will help later with multiplication skills.

Make a BIG calendar to go over every day, Today is Wed, July 7, 2011 and it is Sunny, rainy, windy, etc.

Sing the days of the week, months of the year just like you sing the ABCs everyday. Sing them in English, then learn them in Spanish, French, German, whatever. But sing them daily.

At about age 4 they start to learn 1 to 1 correspondence by counting things like rocks or jacks or MMs or whatever. But count things daily.
It's important to learn patterns-- red circle, green circle, red circle, green circle, "what comes next?" You can make them more challenging as the child ages.

Make a bean box. Just buy lots of bags of different kinds of beans, toss them in a bin and set the kid loose with paper cups, bowls, etc. Let him play. How many paper cups of beans will it take to fill this big bowl with beans? Eventually you can use measuring utensils for this too.

Use some beans to make bean bags, and write numbers on them. I made mine out of different colored felt. Then get some little buckets or bowls for the child to toss the bags into. Eventually the numbers can be used to "score" how many bags hit in the bucket. You can add them. You can use the bags to lay out numbers 1-10 in sequence. You can match the bag colors to the buckets/bowls. " Can you toss the red bag into the red bucket?"

Just remember they need to be able to count, skip count, recognize shapes, recognize colors, recognize weather, know the days of the week and months of the year, know tehir name, address, phone number, know how to call 911 for help, understand 1-1 correspondence, recognize patterns and be able to reproduce them, understand more, less, on top of, in under, beneath, beside, counting money and recognizing coin denominations, etc. Just think of all the things kids need to learn and create FUN ways for them to learn them.

Another thing to teach is about Venn diagrams. Make 2 big circles that overlap. Use some small toys. Put all the red toys in one circle and all the horses in another. If you come to a red horse, it fits both categories, so it goes into the overlap where the circles coincide. The idea is to teach about grouping, and that some things fit into more than one category at the intersection. At 3 you use simple things, but later on you can use more complicated examples. That game with all the faces is great for this game... Guess Who.... when they get older. Color shape bingo is great for little ones, Candy land. Pattern blocks either created by you or purchased are great. Same with those wooden block shapes that have prisms, cones, cylinders, spheres, etc. Those little colored balls are FANTASTIC for kids to count, pattern, put numbers on, play toss with..... They are a wonderful, cheap thing to use for learning games. I wrote numbers on them and we used them for many games we made up as time went on. Playing with pennies and money was great too as soon as they were old enough to keep it out of their mouths. Playing store is especially wonderful for money skills.

Small muscle and eye control can come later, but larger muscle control can be developed well now. It's all about development not intelligence. If he writes well now, great. If not, it's not a big deal. That isn't intelligence or knowledge it is the development of fine motor control. Same with coloring in the lines or cutting on a line or tracing. That has to do with fine motor control which is all about development not intelligence, so don't worry a lot about writing and books at this point unless he wants to do them. Some kids walk at 9mo, some walk at 18mo, but they both walk. It is all about their development not their intelligence. It's the same with book work. Until he is ready and willing to do it, it just isn't that important. You have to let his body reach that point of development first. Children learn by play.


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## r93000 (Mar 9, 2009)

I am a special education teacher and I teach an inclusive preschool classroom of 3-5 year olds- some typically developing, some at risk, and some special needs.

Each state has early childhood curriculum "guidelines" through their Dept of Education if you wanted to take a peak at them for ideas of what skills are expected by public schools. I, of course working for a public school system use them, but we also use these:
Preschool age 3-5 link

http://www.teachingstrategies.com/content/pageDocs/GOLD-CC4-Crosswalk-9-30-10-WEB.pdf

Infants, Toddlers, and Twos link

http://www.teachingstrategies.com/content/pageDocs/GOLD-IT2-Crosswalk-6-17-10-WEB.pdf

These are a bit laborious to read through, but have great information. I have a full version that requires membership, but these are the free links. If you have specific questions about it, I would be happy to answer them.

Another resource that I would highly recommend for home preschooling is this:
Preschool Activities in a Bag. I am not affiliated in any way, but I own these (bought them for a few bucks on Amazon) and I LOVE them. Everything is hands on and cheap to make. Great skill practice in every area (math, literacy, fine motor, etc). I use these for all ability levels, since they are super adaptable.

PS- They have them for older kids in some subjects to.

I am a big fan of the work box method (for work times, but don't leave out free play!) and these are great for that as well!

http://activitybags.com/


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## r93000 (Mar 9, 2009)

Almost forgot about another great "preschool" link:

http://childcareland.com/

Tons of free printables and ideas. Some of these will be more than you may want to do for a three year old, but some of them will be spot on.


I admit it, I am a shameless thief when it comes to teaching materials  I go to the "teacher stores" cruise the $$$ aisles and figure out ways to make things so that I can get them on my tiny budget.


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

Thanks guys! I do tend to try to much. *blush*

I love all the ideas! I learn best by book so I find myself gravitating to those much more. He does love his books, but oviously he is too young to get everything he needs from text...considering he can't read yet!

thanks for the links and all the suggestions.


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## Mrs. Jo (Jun 5, 2007)

Timberdoodle also has neat ideas for youngsters. We are using a simple critical thinking skills for my 4 year old. Lots of what is in there is just easy little things they can do, learn to follow directions, learn to hold their pencil, easy peasy stuff like that. Takes 10 or 15 minutes a day, but we don't do them every day. Then we have a variety of puzzles, matching games, markers, etc that she likes to do or play with. 

We participated in a preschool activity swap where we made up a whole bunch of little activities for her. 

Something that might be fun would be legos, blocks, magnets, pattern blocks, playdoh, watercolor or finger painting. 

A big rice box is also lots of fun. So is blowing bubbles on a cookie sheet with a straw.


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