Is today a school day? When will my birthday come again? I brushed my teeth for fifty hours, can I stop now? Are you bombarded with these or similar time-related questions all day long? As kids grow, they become more aware of the concept of time, but for them, an hour can still seem like an eternity. So how, then, to explain how long a month or year is? Well, to be honest, it is not simple, but we have found that it is best to start with just helping your child understand small passages of time. For example, time your child running around the room and then stop when one minute is up. Discuss whether that seemed like a long or short amount of time. Do the same thing with other simple tasks like teeth brushing. Once your child can appreciate small chunks of time, she can then turn to tackling the trickier issue of how many years before she becomes a grown-up...
Here are a couple Savvy activities to help you get started:
Paper Plate Clock
Paper Plate Clock
Activity for 3-6 year olds
Write the numbers 1 through 12 on the outer edge of a white paper plate. Create hands for the clock by cutting off two half-inch wide strips of black poster board. Make one strip three inches tall and the other five inches tall. Cut off two small triangles from the black poster board. Glue one to the end of each of the strips of poster board. Line up the ends of the two strips of poster board that don't have a triangle glued to them. Poke a closed paper fastener through the pieces of poster board. Then, poke a small hole in the center of the plate. Push the fastener through the hole and spread out the prongs on the back of the plate. Arrange the hands of the clock to the correct time and explain to your child that the shorter hand represents the hour and the longer hand represents the minute. You can use this tool to help your child learn how to tell time or you can set the paper plate clock to an important time (like when a friend will be coming over to play) and then set it next to a real clock so that your child can begin to understand the passage of time.
Materials Needed: Sturdy paper plate, two-pronged metal fastener, washable markers, small piece of black poster board.
How Long Will It Take To....
How Long Will It Take To....
Activity for 4-6 year olds
Developing a sense of the passage of time is difficult for preschoolers. You can help them learn by doing this activity. Have your child estimate how long it will take to do something such as walk to the park or drive to preschool. Use a watch or clock to time how long it really takes, and then compare your child's estimate with the actual time and discuss it with her. If your child estimates it will take 5 hours to drive to preschool, explain that it only took 10 minutes and that 5 hours is a really long time. Continue to do this over time, and your child will feel a sense of accomplishment as her estimates get closer to the actual time.
Materials Needed: A watch or clock
Shape Sorting Clock
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One thing we Savvy parents look for in any toy is how long it is apt to hold a child's interest. Melissa and Doug's well-made wooden teaching clock earns particularly high marks in this regard. It captures the interest of young toddlers, and is a valuable tool for teaching number recognition and time-keeping to older preschoolers. The designers have thought of everything! Ingenious visual cues help children figure out shape sorting far beyond the standard triangles, circles and squares, and get a handle on their hours and minutes (i.e. colored wedges demarcate minutes in increments of five). In no time at all, it will be your little one pointing to the clock, White Rabbit style, and saying, "Mommy, we're late, we're late" (for a very important date)! And you will feel, like Alice, a bit disoriented by this new wonderland where your baby suddenly knows what time it is.
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by Melissa and Doug
Preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Gymnastics on Tuesday, playdate on Thursday. And don't forget the birthday party on Saturday. The schedule of a mere three-year-old can sometimes be too much for a mommy-brain much less a preschool-brain to keep track of. And yet, preschoolers are of the age where they are learning not only to remember and recount the events of the past but also to anticipate future glories, like a birthday party, or a visit to the dentist. If your child is waking up every morning asking, "what are we doing today?" then this appealing magnetic calendar may be just the thing. Most preschoolers love magnets to begin with, so on the basis of its 139 illustrated magnets alone, this item is sure to be popular. There is one for every activity and holiday you can think of, and if some are not relevant to your family's routine, it is easy enough to restyle them. The calendar is undated, so with each new month, your kids can help you renumber the days and map out their fun-filled little futures.
More from The Savvy Source:
• From the Savvy bookshelves: A few of our favorite parenting books.
• Celebrating a hero, teaching your child about Dr. King.
• Find great activities in your town every day with Being Savvy Local.
• For our children, every day is a learning
day. Find and
collect even more great ideas at http://www.savvysource.com/.
