My 4-year-old son, Nikolas, is in preschool, so this will be his very first winter break. As both an educator and a parent, I know that kids this age are used to a certain routine, and it can be easy to forget what they have learned in school if it is not reinforced during school breaks. Not only will it keep them from forgetting, but they will be more than ready to start whatever their teachers have prepared next. Teachers can spend less time reviewing and more time teaching the kids something new.
These are five educational activities we will be working on over winter break:
The Tag Learning System
We bought this reading system for Nikolas for Christmas. He is a book lover, so we’re jumping to enhance his reading skills. The beginner books sets will help him recognize words with short and long vowels. This is a perfect activity for beginner-to-intermediate readers, ages 4 to 7. Kids just have to point the Tag pen to a word in the interactive storybooks to hear the word repeated back to them. It helps them with word recognition and pronunciation.
Collages
Making a collage is a good way to increase vocabulary and object recognition. For this purpose, the activity is great for primary grades, while older kids can use it for an entertaining project. In our house, we buy a large poster board and gather together all of the old magazines in the house. I cut out stacks of pictures and let Nikolas choose which ones he wants to add to the collage. Nik handles the glue stick so he can paste the pictures how he wants them on the collage. As he’s pasting, we go over the name of whatever’s in the picture. When the collage is done, I randomly point out pictures for him to repeat the names back to me. It works like a charm.
Making homemade books
My little artist loves to make his own books. We use five large pieces of construction paper that I cut in half, leaving me with 10 sheets. I stack them all on top of each other and apply a 3-hole punch to one edge. I use a colorful cut-up shoestring to loop through each hole and tie a knot at the ends to secure the sheets. Then, Nikolas gets to work. I like to use this activity to practice numbers. For example, on page one, I would tell him to draw me four cars. Every page will have various pictures depicting different numbers.
This is a wonderful activity for younger children, and it takes them some time to do. They will want to color every page, so be sure to have plenty of art supplies available. After he’s done, Nik loves to flip through the pages, talking about each image.
Read a good book
This is easy and simple. Nikolas has more than a dozen books waiting for him under the Christmas tree, and we’re planning on tackling every last one. This is also something I encouraged for my students to do over winter break. The activity is good for any age, and parents are encouraged to get involved. If kids have trouble with words, they will have extra support right there to help them.
Finger painting
Finger painting is both fun and educational, especially for kids who are ready for kindergarten. We lay out large sheets of butcher paper and paints of the primary colors. Nik and I start this activity by mixing different colors to make another color. I ask him what color blue and yellow make, what color blue and red make, etc. Once we’ve got that down, I also like to use this activity as a fun way to practice writing ABCs and numbers. Lastly, I let the little guy go at it and experiment. Parents should be prepared for a messy child, so it’s best to have them wear an old t-shirt.
Besides our new Tag system, these activities have worked for keeping Nikolas engaged over school breaks. He always goes back to school knowing more than when he left. Just because school is out does not mean that the learning should stop.