Your Home is a

Learning Place
And You Are the Teacher!

(How you can use your home and daily

routines to help your child learn)

In your kitchen….

With your child:

 1. Talk about the size, shape, color and texture of foods
2. Measure with teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc
3. Put cans and boxes in order according to size
4. Find shapes- dish towels, cookie cutters, crackers, rolling pins, doors, windows, clocks
5. Name colors of common objects
6. Sort utensils into a divided tray
7. Sort and name foods after a trip to the grocery store
8. Talk about smells
9. Name machines and their uses: toaster, mixer, refrigerator, stove
10. Count plates, glasses, forks, etc.
11. Help set the table
12. Find opposites- hot/cold, large/ small, hard/soft
13. Make a snack
14. Wash fruits and vegetables
15. Talk about where produce comes from

In your living room…..

With your child:

1. Talk about loud and soft sounds (radio, television, CD player)
2. Talk about directions that sounds are coming from
3. Sing songs with the radio/ CD player using a wooden spoon as a microphone
4. Dance to different kinds of music, changing your motions to fit what the music sounds
like
5. Record family members talking and have your child identify who he/ she hears
6. Develop motor skills by
 Pushing a vacuum cleaner
 Dusting
 Sweeping
 Mopping
7. Find shapes- television, pillows, rugs, pictures, books, table tops, magazines, etc.
8. Name common objects and their use (lamp to give light, couch to sit on, etc.)
9. Snuggle on the couch and look at family pictures. Tell stories about the people in the
photographs
10. Look at magazines and make up stories about the pictures
11. Read a book

In the Bedroom…..
With your child:
1. Name articles of clothing in the closet
2. Try to remember which drawer contains which clothes, and then put clothes away in the
correct spot
3. Match shoes and socks
4. Sort clothes by color or type of clothing
5. Talk about daytime and nighttime clothes
6. Talk about clothes for hot and cold weather; help her or him choose clothes based on the
weather forecast
7. Talk about front and bock of clothing
8. Allow your child to dress him or herself
9. Talk about the size of toys, books
10. Put toys away by shape or color
11. Find shapes- bed, pillow, windows, clock, etc.
12. Count toys, blocks, books

In Your Bathroom…..

With your child:

1. Use the mirror to name his/ her body parts
2. Make faces in the mirror and talk about feelings
3. Talk about all the things your child can do with different body parts
4. Encourage your child to pour and fill containers, count how many cups you need to fill up a
container
5. Practice self help skills with your child by encouraging him/ her to wash themselves,
brush their teeth, comb their hair, etc.
6. Feel different textures- cotton, soap, tissues, sponge, etc.
7. Talk about opposites in the bathtub- hot/cold, hard/ soft, full/ empty
8. Sort towels by color and size
9. Compare how objects look under water vs. in the air
10. Develop motor skills by helping to fold towels, washing hands and face, brushing teeth,
combing and brushing hair
11. Talk about smells- toothpaste, perfume, powder, shampoo
12. Identify common sounds- water running, toilet flushing, electric shaver

Doing the Laundry….

With your child:

 1. Sort clothes by color and compare the piles (more white than red, etc.)
2. Help your child match socks in pairs
3. Separate clean clothes into piles for family members and compare sizes of clothes. Talk
about the sizes of family members.
4. Count the number of socks, T-shirts, etc.
5. Put clothes in order from smallest to largest
6. Line up soap boxes by size
7. Measure soap into a cup together
8. Work on small muscle skills by folding laundry together
9. Have your child help put the laundry away
10. Talk about opposites- wet/ dry, clean/ dirty, full/ empty
11. Help your child write the numbers 0-5 on clothespins. On the other side, make dots to
match the numbers. Have your child count the dots and identify the number as you hang
laundry up to dry.

Outside Your Home….

With your child:

1. Count steps, flowers, birds, stones, trees, insects
2. Feed the birds, squirrels, or a pet
3. Find different colors
4. Find shapes- on your car, in the yard, steps and houses, leaves, etc.
5. Compare textures- stones, trees, grass, cement
6. Develop motor skills by raking leaves, watering plants, washing car or wheeled toys
7. Find and name animals and insects
8. Listen for and identify different sounds in the environment- birds, cars, children playing,
airplanes

In the Car….

With your child:

 1. Sing a favorite song
2. Talk about where you are going and predict what you will do there
3. Play “I Spy” with colors, shapes, objects
4. Play 20 questions and let your child guess an object in the car that you are thinking
about
5. Look out the car window and try to find different things (“Tell me when you see a blue
car.”)
6. Count how many cars you can find that are the same color
7. Play “Simon Says”
8. Talk with your child about safety and rules. Why do we stop for a red light or a stop
sign? What do the yellow and green lights mean?

At the Supermarket….

With your child:

1. pPlan the next week’s menu together
2. Talk about nutrition and making healthy food choices
3. Discuss how our bodies use the food we eat
4. Make a grocery list before you go, looking at the menu together and talking about what
he or she likes to eat
5. Talk about the foods in each aisle and how they are categorized (fruit, vegetables,
cereal, paper products)
6. Help your child find several items on the list. Give her coupons with pictures that she can
match.
7. Look for colors and shapes
8. Sort cans and boxes by size or color as you put them away
9. Use prepositional words (ON the shelf, IN the cart, UNDER the counter)

Trips Around Your Home….

Take your child:

On a walk around the neighborhood

To a farm
On a scavenger hunt
To the grocery store
To the library
On a “listening” walk
To the Laundromat
To the woods
To a park

Take a camera to take pictures of your adventures!

After the trip:

1. Talk about what you saw, heard, touched or smelled
2. Make a book about your trip. Have your child dictate a story about what he remembers,
and draw illustrations for the book.
3. Use the pictures you took and let your child put them in sequence from what happened
first to last.
4. Play a game or sing a song relating to your trip- after visiting the farm sing Old
MacDonald or play Farmer in the Dell.
5. Make a scrapbook with your child by cutting pictures from magazines of things she saw
on the trip
6. Make a collage of things found during the walk
7. Set up a kitchen center and let your child play store after visiting the grocery store