Autumn/Fall Art Activities

If your neighbourhood is like mine at the moment, you will have access to many beautiful coloured leaves! It is such fun to enjoy this time of year as a  learning opportunity. The very best part of these art activities is definitely the time that you take to find the leaves.  Take your toddler/preschooler into the garden or for a walk in the neighbourhood and let them choose a bag of autumn leaves.  Don’t forget to talk, talk, talk with your child about what they are seeing.   Introduce them to vocabulary about the leaves – colour, shape, texture.  Talk about what they can see, feel and how they feel if they get the chance to crunch through older fallen leaves.   Usually when you ask a child what colour a leaf is – they will respond with ‘green’.  Autumn is the perfect opportunity to display how leaves can be all sorts of colours.

Once you have selected the leaves, now you can start creating !!

 

 

Materials:

Chosen leaves

Autumn paint colours can include; red, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, bronze, brown

A4 sheet of paper

Paint roller or brush (one for each colour)

Paper plates

Black marker pen

Procedure:

1. Ask your child to choose which colours they would like to work with.  Pour the chosen colours onto seperate paper plates.
2. Using the paint brush or roller, place paint onto the chosen leaf.
3. Keep applying different paint colours onto the leaf
4. Place the leaf with the painted side facing downward onto the paper and make leaf prints.  Talk with your child about this process – does the print look like the leaf, or are only parts of  it showing?
5. Continue to make leaf prints over the whole page.  We tried to place prints at the top and bottom of the page most for the effect of leaves on the branches and on the ground.
6. When the painting has dried; draw the trunk and branches of your tree with the black marker

In all child directed learning activities, the student in this example chose to paint another piece of paper with the autumn colours and the roller.

  The autumn/fall experience was a fun morning of painting

 

  

Materials:

Chosen leaves

Coloured crayons

A4 sheet of paper

 

Procedure:

1. Place the leaves or leaf underneath the A4 sheet of paper
2. Using the crayon, colour over the leaf on the top of the paper – using the side of the crayon so that you are shading the outline of the leaf.
3. Keep applying different colours to the artwork – making the collage as colourful as you like

As an extension fine motor activity, your child can remove the leaf from beneath the artwork and then use the tip of the crayon to trace over the veins of the leaves

 

 

 

  

Materials:

Chosen leaves

Contact sheet into a large square or rectangle (depending on the size of the collage you are creating)

Procedure:

This is by far the easiest craft activity for a lazy Autumn/Fall afternoon

1. Using your pre-prepared shape of contact, carefully pull back half of the contact – leaving half with the backing sheet still adhered
2. Choose the most colourful Autumn leaves and start to place them onto the sticky side of  the contact
3. When you have assembled the leaves in their correct position, then peel back the other half of the contact sheet and fold it over the leaf side of the contact
4. Display on a window to produce the best results – bring the outside, inside!

  

Enjoy this seasonal weather.  Colours are bright and beautiful at the moment – and a fantastic opportunity for the

Love of Learning

Donna

http:www.edspecially4u.com.au 

 

 

Our students have started this year ‘learning with confidence’. School Readiness Classes allow children to learn in a fun environment.  It is such an honour to be able to lead our students as they are first introduced to the sounds of letters. We have so much fun as we teach by using our philosophy of ‘hands on’ learning using colourful and motivating resources.

 

We like to extend our resources into the home environment so that our students can continue to reinforce the skills taught in the classes. Our resources all use a unique colour coded letter/number system and custom designed graphics. This assists our students to develop a deeper learning of the concepts being taught.

ED Specially 4U offers resources which teach concepts in a direct instruction model, and are then able to reinforce the learning with hands on games and activities.

 A learning resource parents enjoy introducing into their home, reinforces our letter/sound program. Sorting Sounds Game

This resource is incredibly useful to use from the moment that your children start learning their letters and sounds. At this point in our program;  the students have focussed on 9/10 letters and their sound.  This game is a great way to reinforce the sounds that have been learnt.

The resource includes a coloured baseboard for each letter. The letter is repeated on this page, so that the graphics from the program can be matched to the correct letter.

Following our learning program (as detailed at the start of each term, or check with your teacher about the relevant letters for your child at this point in time) you can select only the letters and the correct graphics to use. Depending upon the skills of your child—you could choose to do this one, two or three letters at a time.

As new letters are introduced each week, you can add this to the assortment of letters that your child plays with. It is important to keep the group of letters to a maximum of three at a time.

 

This game positively reinforces the letters and the sounds that are being learnt.

Our students love being able to recognise the graphics and letters they have learnt .  This game offers your child  the opportunity to reinforce the sounds they are learning in class, share their new learning with you and provide greater confidence in the content of the class.

This resource can be found at our online shop www.edspecially4u.com.au. This resource gives you the flexibility of being able to order a fully completed resource that is prepared for you to use the day you receive it, or you can download the resource for a cheaper price to prepare for yourself.   Order your personal copy today

We love feedback, please let us know how you are finding our resources

For the Love of Learning

Donna

 

Rainbow Art

Rainy rainy days inspire happy rainbow craft

 

Enjoy this art and craft activity with your preschooler while they develop strength in fine motor, creativity and colour concepts.

Materials

Piece of A3 paper

Rainbow paint colours: red, yellow, pink, green, purple, orange and blue set out on seperate trays with paint sponges

Sponges

Spray bottle

How to make:

Place the A3 paper onto a paint easle or onto a wall/cupboard door.  Place a drip sheet underneath the paper as there will be a lot of drips.

Choose which colour paint you would like to be your 'main' colour of the painting.  The artist of this picture chose PINK

Add the chosen colour to the spray bottle.  Only add a small amount of paint.  Water down the paint with cold water so that the paint becomes a very runny consistency

Using the spray bottle develops stronger fine motor skills.  Children may naturally grasp the bottle trigger with two hands, however encourage the student to hold the trigger with one hand

Spray the paint across the top of the A3 paper.  Squirting at the top allows the thin paint to run down the paper.  The effect that is being created is like the running down of rain.  This is a good time to link your teaching with the concept of the rain representation.  The model for this craft activity enjoyed talking about how the paint was dripping like rain

Choose the next colour that the student would like to paint.  Reinforce the colours of the rainbow as the student looks at the remaining colours.  We love to sing the rainbow song 'I can sing a rainbow' as part of our teaching

Using the sponges. the artist dabs the other colours of the rainbow across the dripping base colour

Complete the picture using all of the colours of the rainbow

Allow the painting a lot of drying time as the base paint colour is thin and watery

 

Rainbows are such a fun way to reinforce colours and rain concepts; make the most of  this rainbow art activity by singing songs, reading books and looking at pictures of rainbows.  Children are enchanted by rainbows, it is a truly magical concept to share with children

 

For the Love of Learning

Donna

How can I help my child to Concentrate?

My child does not like to sit and listen, will that affect their performance at school?

How can I get my child to concentrate and focus on an activity for longer?

I am regularly asked these questions by parents.
Concentration skills are important to learn and achieve.  Concentration develops as your child matures, however there are some students that require assistance to develop better concentration skills.  The great news is that some simple changes can make a huge difference, and lots of the changes can be FUN!

'The kids who behave themselves at school are the smart kids' - Jayden 9 years old

Sometimes children need help to realise the importance of concentration in the classroom.  While it is usually  obvious to adults;  if you concentrate on a task  you will master the task.  We have learnt this through trial and error.  Experience teaches the necessity of concentration.  Sometimes we need to help children to learn the importance of this.

10 ways to develop concentration

1. Get the Jiggles out; Physical activity:

A child who is physically active each day is best able to concentrate. A recent study that was reported in the UK Telegraph highlighted the importance of keeping your children active to assist with concentration.

The study published in the journal Pediatrics, found those who did the daily routine saw substatntial improvements in their ability to pay attention, avoid distraction and switch between cognitive tasks- Laura Donnelly and National News, 29 September 2014

You can read the whole article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11126713/An-hour-of-exercise-a-day-boost-childrens-concentration.html

2. Don't overload your child's schedule:

When we overload our children's timetable, we are teaching them to move quickly between activities without giving them adequate time to focus and reflect on the activities that they are interacting in.  The modern parent - author included, often falls victim to our busy lives.  Rushing your child between several activities a day could actually be hindering the development of their concentration skills.  Even in our classes we sometimes have children  who are attending several activities that day.  Consider your child's timetable and plan for quality rather than quantity.

3. Memory Games or 'Concentration':

This is an absolute favourite of mine.  Every literacy and numeracy skill that we introduce at ED Specially 4U is reinforced with a memory match game.  Children of all ages (even our older tutoring students) will be excited by a game of memory match.  Why is this so successful?  For concentration memory match offers children the chance to match characteristics without fear of failure therefore they enjoy playing the game and will attend to both the content and the activity for a longer period of time.  The students need to focus on matching the correct pair as well as using their memorization skills to recall where the correct pairs are located. As a teacher it is wonderful to watch our students grow from only achieving one or two matching pairs to being able to match many pairs.

ED Specially 4U offers some memory match games which will assist your child's concentration to develop.  We recommend:

Ages 2-6 years:

Beginning Sound Memory Match A4

Beginning Sound Memory Match individual and small group

Number/Dot/Object memory match

Ages 6-8 years:

CVC Match the vowel

CVC Match

4. Board Games:

require the player to follow instructions, the rules of the games and focus on the completion of the activity. In a fun situation children develop their concentration skills with reward of trying to be the ‘winner’

5. Electronic Devices:

This learning resource is a dilemma in the household of every family I have met. Electronic devices offer many fantastic learning experiences, unfortunately there can also be a down side. Research suggests that the use of electronic games should be both monitored and controlled.
Good educational software and apps assist children to learn. Time spent attending to a task on the device is beneficial and specific skills can be developed as well as increased concentration attained. As a parent, you need to be conscious of how long your child is using the electronic device and what they are accessing. Be aware and be involved.

6. Share a book:

MY FAVOURITE activity! As I discuss constantly, reading and sharing a book teaches many many many important skills.
Books are as motivating as they are enjoyable! Make sure you choose a book that is relevant and motivating to your child.  Discuss the book, discuss the characters.  Revise the storyline with your child.  Allow your child to predict what is going to happen as you read through the story.  Discuss why things have happened, and how your child might feel in the same situation.  Not only are you developing your child's concentration as they focus on the book, you are also building important stepping stones toward comprehension.  Books are an enjoyable way to encourage your child's concentration

7. Encourage interests:

Concentration is developed when a child is motivated by the content of what is being taught. Think about your child’s interests, and assist them to spend time developing this interest.
Allow your child the opportunity to discuss things they are interested in:

look at books,

watch youtube information about it,

make up games using the knowledge they have of the specific interest

For example, a recent obsession with ‘Harry Potter’ in my house has been encouraged with the purchase of the books, watching the movies, making wands, creating spells, learning scripts, and playing out the storyline (as well as changing plot at times to create extensions of the story). On their own the children have researched ‘Harry Potter’ amusement parks and sets as well as the history of the author and the writing of the books. Powerpoint presentations have been created and presented. It has felt like a complete author/book study, and yet none of the tasks were seen as difficult and were child lead based on strengths and interest in the subject matter.

8. Patterning, Sequencing and 'Odd one out':

Being able to repeat patterns and sequences in games is another concentration builder.  Taking time to focus and attend to this activity develops a child's concentration skills. To be able to pattern or sequence your brain needs to process the information and then use this information to make appropriate changes.  'Odd one out' is a very popular learning strategy as the children have to process the information that is required and remember missing components.  These skills could also be called  'games for the brain'

9. Listening Games':

There are many commercially produced games that involve listening skills.
You can even play the simple games such as 'Simon Says......' when you have to concentrate on the detail of the game.

10. Re-tell

There is a saying that the best way to learn a new skill is to teach the skill.  Re-telling information is a perfect example of this.  Ask your child to teach you how to do something they like to do.  For example: how to make a specific craft or how to complete a sport task.  Children love to have an opportunity to teach an adult, and the process of re-telling the skill will assist with your child's concentration.

Concentration is important for your child to succeed at school.

We hope you have great fun while you encourage  your child's concentration with these games and activities.  Please let us know how you have enjoyed our suggestions.

For the Love of Learning

Donna

Colour Learn at Home Activities

At ED Specially 4U classes we are often asked for ideas on how parents can assist their children to learn at home.  A fundamental educational skill for your child is the identification of colour.  

Colour activities are very important for your pre-schooler.  Colour recognition assists children to            understand the world around them.  Colour identification provides  your child both vocabulary to explain and understand, as well as enhances visual discrimination skills.  Colour knowledge is important for both literacy and numeracy.

Colours:  All colours can be introduced to your pre-schooler– not only primary colours red, blue, green and yellow, but also the colours of the spectrum and variance in shade such as light/dark colours.

As with all learning at ED Specially 4U, we encourage you to expose your child to as many hands-on learning activities as possible.  Children learn through exploration and FUN rather than only rote learning.  We encourage the use of colour wall displays as a way to first instruct your child in the language of colours.  The wall displays can be used to teach the names of the colours, and then to match objects of the same colour.  This is a great starting point for children to see that there are many different colours and they can take the time to discriminate between them without object or picture distractors. 

Balloon Colour Charts

 

Star Colour Charts

You are able to introduce all of the colours for the purpose of giving colours context.  It is then great to choose one or two colours to focus on for each activity.  In the beginning, children are learning their new vocabulary.  While they can quickly match colours to the same colour, it takes longer to name the colours and longer again for them to independently use the colour names in their environment.

Building visual discrimination skills to be able to match colours

 

Correctly matching coloured objects

Colours can be taught through every day activities; discussing fruits and vegetables, looking at pictures in books and naming objects in the environment.  

Craft activities are a great way to allow your child to work with colours in hands-on learning.

Paint play, is the perfect opportunity to explore colours as you can name the colours and discuss things that are each of the colours.  Don't limit your child's artwork to the colours that each object is traditionally seen as for example:  a tree can be green, red, yellow, not limited to standard green.   

Bubble Wrap painting is a fun way to see colours

Colours can be used in isolation by setting up paint stations with only certain colours. Discuss the colours, try to mix the colours and use the colours as adjectives.  

Children love the tactile activity of shaving cream with food dye!  They get to explore the feeling of the shaving cream while reinforcing the colour that they are focussing on.

We love to make a milk and food dye rainbow at our classes, it is a lovely chance to discuss the individual colours and to then watch them mix together in a rainbow of colour.

Rainbow Colour Bowl

Playdough colours are another fun way to learn about colours.  Homemade playdough allows the opportunity to create different colours as well as applying textures such as coloured glitter or other objects (such as coloured rice) that can be added.

 

Play activities naturally lend themselves to colour discussion and naming.  Children's games and toys are made to be colourful and are a fantastic way to build on your childs' language skills.

Colour Sorting Games are great for colour recognition

Visual Discrimination games where your child has the opportunity to recognise the printed colour and match this with the colour on an object is another important way to extend your child's colour recognition/labelling skills.

Playing with a parachute allows the opportunity to select colours and play games recognising the colours - ie. sit on the yellow, jump on the blue colour.

Coloured ribbons are beautiful to dance and move with to encourage learning through movement.

Colour learning and vocabulary development can also taught in conjunction with activities to develop your child's fine motor skills.  Many games use colour stacking and matching which encourages fine motor development.   Tongs can be used to pick up small objects and match them to the same colour, or you can use scissors to snip/cut coloured paper, and create collages or structured pictures.

Fine Motor Tong Colour Activities

Threading activities can also use colours as the basis - you can choose to thread a specific colour or you can further develop your child's mathematical skills by following patterns.  Colour identification is essential for pattern making.  Patterns are part of everyday life as well as a strong mathematical concept, and therefore offer a fantastic extension to your child's colour learning.

Colour Threading FuN

Teddy Threading

ED Specially 4U offers colour games/activities that can be incorporated into your Learn at Home FUN:

ED's Colour Match Game allows your child to match to one/two colours or all of the colours in the game.  Our cute ED dog motivates the children to correctly match each card to the coloured baseboard.

Primary Shape Colour Match develops your child's colour vocabulary by matching colours with shapes.  Discrimination between colours and shapes can extend your child's vocabulary as they label the qualities in the game.

As part of our mult-sensory learning strategies, we also incorporate songs into our teaching.  This can be reinforced at home also.  We offer the 'Sing a rainbow' singing resource

When your child is competent at identifying the colours of the rainbow make sure you         encourage the use of colours as part of your child’s vocabulary.  Extend their language skills by using colours as descriptive words.

Visit our website to see the colour resources at our shop:  

www.edspecially4u.com.au

Visit our pinterest page to see the activities that we think are great for: Colour Learn at Home

https://www.pinterest.com/edspecially4u/colour-resources/ 

Like us on Facebook to keep up with our fantastic learning activities:

https://business.facebook.com/EDSpecially4U?business_id=799799390090909 

 Follow us on instragram:

https://instagram.com/edspecially4u/

Finally don't forget:
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS - you can share books about colours with your child which will allow them opportunity to name objects of the different colours.  You can extend your child's vocabulary by naming coloured objects and also by finding colours in the stories.  Colour naming and object naming/recognition are extremely important for developing your child's vocabulary, as well as further understanding the world around them.  Also recognise the importance of your child discriminating between the graphics and real life objects, this is a very important pre-reading skill.

Learning about colours is FUN!!!

For the Love of Learning

Donna

 

ED Specially 4U