Home learning has definitely had its ups and downs in our house . I have two at home that are being home schooled , Alessia who is 11 and Nila who is 3.Alessia has live lessons throughout the day so she will have her breakfast and then head upstairs and set up her laptop and is ready for a day of learning.
Nila is 3 and she just started nursery last September and home learning for pre-schoolers can be quite challenging.
She does get some targets set for the day, and a story topic for the week , but I definitely feel making home learning fun with 3-5 age range really does help them soak up all the information.
Their brains are like little sponges and if something is fun whilst learning , they will enjoy it more and remember it too!.
I’ve got some activities and ideas that we have been using over the last few months that Nila has absolutely loved and I can honestly say, hand on heart ,has made home learning fun :)
Stationary was first on my list . I made sure we had enough pens and pencils , scissors , colours , paper . Stock up so you have everything you need and more .
Stabilo do pencils perfect for little ones , which help with their pencil grip and Nila has been getting on amazing with them. Non slip grip moulds and come in packs of coloured pencils and plain for writing :)
Learning Resources do a fantastic range of counters for learning to count . The Three Bear Family are Nila’s favourite and she loves these at nursery too!.
These sets are great to have at home and there are endless activities to use these little counters for, counting , matching snd sorting. We love to use these to help with counting and we are nearly up-to counting to 20 , which is fantastic!.
A few other great sets for counting and sorting are the learning resources Mathlink® Cubes activity set and Froggy feeding fun activity set.
Mathlink cubes have been used with all three of the girls and are definitely a staple when it comes to maths for sure.It comes with 115 cubes in a variety of colours and also some double sided activity cards .
Froggy feeding activity set is a game that helps develop little one’s fine motor skills, colour recognition and counting skills by rolling both dice to see which colour flies you will be picking up and how many.
Pinch the frogs mouth either side to open it up and gobble up all them flies :)
This game has been a great little addition to our collection and has also helped Nila to remember what numbers 1-5 look like , so when rolling , she can tell me what number the dice lands on .
Twinkl has been our holy grail when it comes to online learning and print outs . They are a fantastic website and have the biggest range of learning resources from toddlers right up to key stage primary ages.
They have themed work and colouring print outs which has been making learning really fun for both of the girls . I must admit , I also love a good colouring in session :)
Learning resources also have some free activity sheets for kids too .
Orchard Toys are a great brand that specialise in learning through play . Their games have been an on going collection and the top of our fridge is absolutely ram packed with their games that we have collected over the years.
Shopping list was actually Alessia’s favourite game when she was Nila’s age and she loves it just as much. A great game for matching and memory skills and it’s one of our go to games .
The three little pigs game is a great one , especially for topic week. We have just had the three little pigs for Nila’s story of the week and topics around building houses and which house was the strongest and why.
This game is a great one for story telling and social skills. She loves telling us the story behind the three little pigs and it’s a great game for teaching little ones to take turns and sharing.
Also another great one for counting and learning to take the right amount of steps around the board.
Activity books are perfect for fun learning . I also find that the girls having their own books to learn makes them love them even more .
Orchard toys have just launched their new home learning books that are packed full of different activities and colouring for your little ones to do .
A quiet afternoon with a cup of tea and some hot chocolate and half hour with their learning books, I call that a home learning session well spent , especially if you get to drink a cup of tea hot! :)
We’ve found some really incredible apps over lockdown for learning . The girls have the children’s kindle subscription which is £3.99 a month but endless amount of downloads which has definitely been cost effective.
Phonics learning and matching games ,she absolutely loves it and even asks to play on it when we have quiet time for bed .
Super Sorting Pie from Learning resources is probably Nila’s most loved game . She loves using the activity sheets to make her pies either by counting the right amount of fillings , matching the same colours - the play is endless again with this one .
A great one for pincher grip and fine motor skills too.
All of these activities are from age 3+ and perfect for home learning.
Let me know how your home learning is going and if you have any activities or tips for everyone then please share in the comments below :)
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It looks like she has plenty of activities to keep her busy! We are doing ok with home learning but O just isn't interested, she'd much prefer to be at school!
ReplyDeleteIt must be a little easier not being told what you need to teach her or do with her and instead being able to focus on the educational play that she enjoys x
ReplyDeleteReally great ideas here. I love the Orchard Toy games and I brought loads of them for my kids when they were younger.
ReplyDeleteI love Orchard Toys, so good for helping my toddler's development and speech!
ReplyDeleteThis is the age I liked best when teaching my kids as they just soak everythign up and there are so many great resources. Mich x
ReplyDeleteWe have the maths cubes too from Learning Resources. We've used them a lot during homeschooling. So simple but useful.
ReplyDeleteIt makes such a difference when you have the right resources. Especially for the young children who could get distracted by other things
ReplyDeleteMy niece just reached this age and she truly is a sponge and she is truly remarkable how quickly she learns and soaks everything in.
ReplyDeletethanks so much for sharing my post! What a great list of ideas!
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