The Power of Parenting

Wednesday, 17 June 2020

Playtime: 3½ to 4½ Years

Sharing feelings can be done in non-threatening "game" ways, such as: sharing likes and dislikes with your child; having your child tell all she can about herself; pausing in a story and asking your child how the person may be feeling. Chances are, you'll learn how your child is feeling about many things as you do these.

Concepts can be made understandable by talking about (and demonstrating) things like big and little, near and far, fast and slow and hard…

 

Instructions:
Making an extended-family album means that you include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and so on, and put in information about whose side of the family they're on, maps of where they live, etc. Instead of an album, you could make a poster, scrap book, or family tree.

 

Pretend play can be encouraged by having dress-up clothes, puppets, a large carton as a stage/pretend house/castle or whatever. You can make up stories together and play different characters. Try to let your child do most of the inventing.

Active play is important, especially for a child around four - they need opportunities to run, climb, gallop and jump. Play tag, roll in leaves, race… Outdoor time and just "getting the wiggles out" can be great for the whole family.

Concentration activities, like painting pictures, doing puzzles, making necklaces, printing letters and building with blocks, all help your child increase his attention span. And when you look at what your child is looking at, and share his interest, it increases his ability to concentrate.

Reading and storytelling continue to help language skills (and imagination). If your child is particularly interested in something, try to get books for her that relate to it.

Enjoy this more with Comfort, Play & Teach™:

Comfort: Storytelling and reciting rhymes are a wonderful way to spend time with your child and help her develop important social skills including speaking and listening.

Play: Painting, stringing necklaces and building with blocks encourage your child to think creatively and to express his ideas.

Teach: Your child is learning so many concepts. As you play together with her toys, use terms like big and little, hard and soft, fast and slow and encourage her to add those words to her own vocabulary.