What learning do you do with a 4 year old at home?

[aMusingMum]

DD will be going to reception in September and is quite a bright one. But I have never actively done any proper learning with her ( because she goes to nursery full time and now I have a DC2 less than 1 yo). But if I do, will probably really help her and something she will enjoy too I am sure. But I don't know what to do? Got some phonics Flashcards on someone's recommendation and just a week with her and she mastered it. So feeling guilty about not doing more by now! Please give me all your ideas especially with for eventually helping with reading , writing and maths. And I know she will learn things in school but I just really want to know how can I know what exercises activities to do with her which are age appropriate but still can do justice to her potential. TIA!

When she starts school her teachers will give ideas. Until then, lots and lots of reading to help with vocabulary.

I used to just stay at the table with mine after meals, them on their stokke chairs (best bit of kit ever as dc were comfy at table and happy to sit for quite a while after a meal, we got both ours second hand), and do stuff - games, sticker books, play dough, activity books, drawing, painting, anything really. The mess is mainly limited to the table too.

Sure the best thing you can do at this age is read to her lots.

Just lots of reading really. And lots of talking to her, we always eat all together at the table and chat. I think they learn through day to day activities and playing really eg games that involve counting (dice, counting who has the most pairs in memory game etc).

I don't do anything structured like flashcards, and am not going to.

I naively assumed that all children would be able to read to an extent when my daughter started Reception and spent several months before she started teaching her to read. When she started, there was only one other child in her class who was reading fluently. She also knew her 2, 5, and 10x tables before she started. We watched Sesame Street together every day from an early age; I don't know if it's still shown in the uk but I always thought children could learn so much from it.

With my 4 year old we have always played counting games in the car E.g. how many buses will we see on our commute. I recently got the reading eggs app and each level is about 15 mins long, she enjoys it so does that about 5 out of 7 days. Otherwise we talk loads, read at least at bedtime if not more, play family board games and cards like uno. Lots of baking with me, gardening with her dad, physical development on scooter and bikes, hand eye coordination with throwing bean bags etc, independence building with getting dressed, using her cutlery, doing her own teeth and face washing. Just general life skills are as important as core subjects.

Oh and to help writing just lots of colouring, arts and craft, using scissors etc, any fine motor skills will strengthen the pencil grip. School will teacher her handwriting and how to correct letter formation over time.

I'd ask the school, our local schools specifically ask that children aren't taught phonics/numeracy. Instead they ask parents/carers to really focus on other life skills which many children are lacking in - getting dressed (needed for gym) , put on jackets/ shoes, going to toilet independently, lunches - being able to open packets/yoghurt etc & eat in a timely manner (no all day grazing or hour long lunches possible obvs) , social skills
Also things like play dough are great for strengthening hands ready for writing. Using scissors safely.

This is what our local schools send out

I have a bright 4 yo too, also at nursery. We encourage the things he loves (numbers, puzzles, interests in space, animals, building, books) but more actively encourage things he is less interested in like drawing and colouring together to help round out those critical skills. But we just do activity books etc together, it's not prep or structured. We just see what we can draw and have fun together. Looking at that list above we need more scissors practise!

Thank you so much all! It's great and also reassuring to see that I am probably not as bad as I thought!

Ugh sorry it got posted before I could finish writing! @Bibbitybobbitty thanks so much for sharing the list! Safe to say she can do almost all of the stuff on the list.
@Growlybear83 how did you teach her to read actually?

That's what my worry was if many children will already be reading etc while starting reception. Good to know that's not the case or really expected!

Go on lots of trips to museums, galleries, gardens etc

That's actually an interesting one! We have not managed to do that a lot. Thank you!

Go on as many trips, days out and holidays as you can manage between now and July before you're stuck with busy & expensive school holidays. That's all the learning she needs.

Do you know if you can get the reading eggs app on a kindle? I have searched but there are loads of options.

Neither of my DSs could read more than their name when they started. They were both free readers by the end of Y1. My anecdotal experience is that (learning needs such as dyslexia aside) once it ‘clicks’ they’ll read rapidly. The more you read to them the better (you might start to see what their comprehension is like by asking questions like ‘How does this person feel in the story?’ But that will also come).

I send mine to school knowing how to :

Hold a pen, wipe their bum, put on a coat, count to 10, read their name, open their lunch box, listen to instructions, put their shoes and coat on/off and get the alphabet in the correct order 50% of the time.

School can do the rest of the teaching and I'll back them up 😂

I started doing Reading Eggs with my son when he was 4, it also has a maths programme (but I live abroad so teaching English is down to me)
Something I did with him, which I didn't with his big sister, was teach him to tell left from right and can see the difference - my 12 year old still gets them mixed up sometimes but my 5 year old learnt them as a toddler (simply by saying put your right arm in your sleeve now/put your left leg in your trousers now/show me your right foot etc.)
Also telling the time, DD had to get extra help in school with learning to tell the time so I've started teaching DS that already.

Best thing we have at home is a magna-doodle, and my DD's Dad and her spend time sitting together in the early mornings and he draws numbers for her and she names them, then draws them herself, and now they have started doing very simple sums e.g. drawing fruit and adding up the fruits. Then she cleans the board and they do another thing. They really love doing it together. Great to whip out at any time of day and doesn't involve loads of sheets of paper.

We read to her lots and have started doing books without pictures now, and she just listens to the words at bedtime e.g. The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton and that kind of thing.

I don't do anything structured like flashcards, and am not going to.

I agree and I say this as a teacher and a mum of a 4 yr old. Just let them learn through play, reading and having fun.

They will be subjected to at least another 14 years of flash cards and other soul sucking methods of memorising when they do assessment after assessment in their formal education.

Loads of great suggestions on this thread but be careful not to suck the joy out of learning before they've even started. You want to encourage a love of learning that will stick with them.

I did lots similar to what others are saying - lots of reading, number games, arts and crafts and so on.

A lot of learning was from books like peppa pig phonics and tv programmes.

@Bibbitybobbitty

Thanks, that's useful.

Our school nursery teacher specifically asked me not to teach DC how to read as they would be quite bored in reception as there is a lot of focus on teaching the class their phonics and they would be hired if they were too far ahead.

Instead she says to get them used to holding a pencil properly and to learn how to make letters and numbers. If they pick that up quickly teach them how to write their name.
Also generally how to fasten their shoes, put their coats on etc

Hand Strength Activities

Activities to promote hand strength include:

• Rolling, squeezing, or kneading play dough
• Squeezing clothespins or spray bottles
• Building with blocks
• Climbing
• Squeezing glue bottles instead of using glue sticks
• Popping bubble wrap
• Using tongs or tweezers with fine motor play
• Cooking or baking in the kitchen

So great to read this, thank you @WhiskersPete

My DD is coming towards the end of reception and there's no way she could do many of the things people are saying here.

Learn through play- if there are other children in the class who can read/write/multiply well good on them but your child and the rest of the class will catch up so don't panic.

They're still so so young.

My daughter already knew the alphabet and the sound of each letter at quite an early age, partly through going through letters and sounds with me and my Mum, and partly through watching Sesame Street, which also helped with counting etc, but I didn't make a conscious effort to teach her to read until a couple of terms before she started school. We had always read to her a lot since she was tiny, and we talked constantly. She went to nursery for two afternoons a week for about six months before she started Reception and I was told by the nursery when she started that she was one of the only children who couldn't read, and I think seeing the other children reading made her want to learn even more. She really wanted to be able to read, and had a huge thirst for knowledge We worked through the Ladybird Peter and Jane books at first, and they really suited her. We spent about half an hour each day going through the books together, and she often spent extra time trying to read them on her own. My daughter had various other books with pictures and words which helped to increase her vocabulary, and she was able to sound out unfamiliar words quite well. We are fortunate that we live within a ten minute walk of a lovely museum, which is very child friendly, and my daughter had at least two trips there each week. We live in south London, so also have easy access to lots of other museums, as well as a couple of city farms, and much bigger farms within an hour's drive.

I think I was also aware that when I started school I was able to read fluently, and knew some of my tables, and just assumed that was normal! Once my daughter had started school, I went in to read with the children in her class once or twice a week, and realised that most of the children couldn't read. I remember one little girl in particular who didn't even know any colours, let alone letters or numbers, and she came to school dirty, smelly, and hungry. But she was so desperate to learn, and really thrived at the school. By the time my daughter left at the end of Year 2, the other girl had caught up with most of the others in the class and was doing really well. It wasn't an issue in Reception that my daughter and a couple of the other children were much more advanced in their reading and writing than some of the other children, and they were given differentiated work and more difficult reading books.