Pre Social Studies
Dad, Hunter, even joins in to the skating party with daughter, to help Courtlyn master her new skill... Thanks, Dad!!
Social Studies Standard 2: Demonstrates an understanding of basic geographic concepts.
Benchmark 2.1: Demonstrates an understanding of the relationships between people and places.
Age 1: From construction paper or typing paper, cut out some large Valentine Hearts that are about 1 foot in diameter. Place a face on each heart. Place the hearts in various rooms around the house (on mirror, on front door, hanging in the kitchen, on refrigerator, by changing table). As you are carrying the baby around in the morning, take a tour of your house and visit each of the Valentine Faces. Let your baby pat on each one, or if they are hanging, they can reach for it. Eventually they may anticipate which one will come next and already begin looking for it when you enter the room.
Age 2: If you are teaching your child to walk up the stairs holding onto the railing; then place 2 hearts side by side on the stairs and teach your child to walk on the hearts as they learn to climb the stairs. By holding the railing and placing both feet on each stair, they can walk on each of the hearts. By the time Valentines Day is over, your child will have learned to climb the stairs.
Age 3: Create a village out of blocks. Cut small hearts and place one on each of the buildings.
Age 4: After the village has been created, take time to draw a picture of it. This will begin them thinking of the harder concept of “maps.” Perhaps if you have more of the little red hearts, you can put those on the map as well in the same spots.
Age 5: As you interact with your child, keep in mind the use of key concepts in creating teachable moments. Look through the website for the quick powerpoint on creating teachable moments. Look for those times when you are doing the 5 key points. See if you can add in some of the suggested phrases to build your child’s self-esteem.
Words Kids Need to Hear by David Staal,
“…When a parent believes in you, you begin to believe in yourself.” Pg 15
“Anyone can compliment good grades at the end of a semester. I’m glad I didn’t miss the real success that happened every night along the way.” Pg 22
“The choices a parent makes will either validate or undermine the message “you can count on me.” Pg 40
Big Question #1
“Is my child convinced that I truly believe in him/her?
A child will more likely trust that God believes in her when she feels confident in your belief first.
Big Question #2
“Does my child believe that he or she can count on me?”
When parental reliability exists, the leap to trusting God becomes an easier step for kids to make.
“…When a parent believes in you, you begin to believe in yourself.” Pg 15
“Anyone can compliment good grades at the end of a semester. I’m glad I didn’t miss the real success that happened every night along the way.” Pg 22
“The choices a parent makes will either validate or undermine the message “you can count on me.” Pg 40
Big Question #1
“Is my child convinced that I truly believe in him/her?
A child will more likely trust that God believes in her when she feels confident in your belief first.
Big Question #2
“Does my child believe that he or she can count on me?”
When parental reliability exists, the leap to trusting God becomes an easier step for kids to make.
TOOLS FOR MOTHERHOOD GRADUATES are sharing some of the Pre-Social Studies activities they tried with their own children.
Cooking Role PlayingHeather of Topeka
The other thing was not even planned but all pretend play for the girls. I cut open one of those red netting bags that apples and oranges come in and the girls put them on their heads as hair nets and then they “cooked” in their little kitchen. What a great social studies lesson where the girls got to pretend to be cooks or deli workers (like the deli people wear at Wal Mart Zoe said). It was a great, not even planned, thing where I got to actually use everyday things to teach them something. Soo much fun!!
9 Months old, Peek a boo By Joanna, Topeka
If you put a blanket over his head, he will pull it off and grin at you. He also likes it when I put my hands over my face, he pulls them down and I say peek a boo! If I'm around the corner and I say "where's Benny" he's looking for me when I come around the corner and say peek a book.
Recommendations: Yes, its fun because my son enjoye it so much.
4 Years Old, Chutes and Ladders By Heather, Topeka
I had Zoe "set up" the game board and then we picked out the player she wanted to be which was the little blond girl-of course. I was the little boy in overalls. Then she would spin and move. Then it was my turn and so on. Zoe tends to "get lost" on which way to go when she gets to an end as we tend to do thing from top to bottom-so this is backwards and then to go both left and right gets confusing too, so we really try to get her to "read" the numbers in order so its not as confusing, but still... (We stop and explain how doing good things get rewarded and bad things have consequences.) It is one of our favorite games to play.
Recommendations: Yes, great lessons and fun too.
9 Months Standing in front of a light switch, I showed him how to trn it on and off. Then I helped him, and pretty soon he figured it out himself. Whe we went to a different room, he was able to remember what to do at a different switch. He was not only learning cause & effect, but he was also proud of himself and what he could cause to happen. --Joanna
3 Years Old I painted my daughters hands with washable paint and had her do a hand print of each hand on a piece of paper. Then we wrote on the paper all the roles she has in her life and how much she is a very important person to God! She is a daughter, granddtr, greatgranddtr, niece, cousin, and most importantly a child of God's! This activity was fun but very messy. : ) She enjoyed having her hands pained through. Any recommendations might be: It was a great and an awesome opportunity to talk about Jesus with her. For Christmas, we could make handprints on tissue paper or white wrapping paper. Once the handprints were dry on the paper, we could wrap the gift to the grandparents. --Kahle
4 1/2 Years Old We made a book called "All about Me". Ahead of time, I cut out scrapbook pages of ideas for her to choose from. We stappled several blank typing pages together and at the top of each page we thought of a heading of things about her. Some ideas were: My favorite food, my favorite pets, my favorite toys, my favorite colors. Then she would take a pair of sissors and cut and glue what she wanted on each page. It was so fun to just sit down together and talk. She really had some great answers that really surprised me. This will become one of those keepsakes to cherish in years to come. It was sure fun to find out what their favorite things were.--Heather
Cooking Role PlayingHeather of Topeka
The other thing was not even planned but all pretend play for the girls. I cut open one of those red netting bags that apples and oranges come in and the girls put them on their heads as hair nets and then they “cooked” in their little kitchen. What a great social studies lesson where the girls got to pretend to be cooks or deli workers (like the deli people wear at Wal Mart Zoe said). It was a great, not even planned, thing where I got to actually use everyday things to teach them something. Soo much fun!!
9 Months old, Peek a boo By Joanna, Topeka
If you put a blanket over his head, he will pull it off and grin at you. He also likes it when I put my hands over my face, he pulls them down and I say peek a boo! If I'm around the corner and I say "where's Benny" he's looking for me when I come around the corner and say peek a book.
Recommendations: Yes, its fun because my son enjoye it so much.
4 Years Old, Chutes and Ladders By Heather, Topeka
I had Zoe "set up" the game board and then we picked out the player she wanted to be which was the little blond girl-of course. I was the little boy in overalls. Then she would spin and move. Then it was my turn and so on. Zoe tends to "get lost" on which way to go when she gets to an end as we tend to do thing from top to bottom-so this is backwards and then to go both left and right gets confusing too, so we really try to get her to "read" the numbers in order so its not as confusing, but still... (We stop and explain how doing good things get rewarded and bad things have consequences.) It is one of our favorite games to play.
Recommendations: Yes, great lessons and fun too.
9 Months Standing in front of a light switch, I showed him how to trn it on and off. Then I helped him, and pretty soon he figured it out himself. Whe we went to a different room, he was able to remember what to do at a different switch. He was not only learning cause & effect, but he was also proud of himself and what he could cause to happen. --Joanna
3 Years Old I painted my daughters hands with washable paint and had her do a hand print of each hand on a piece of paper. Then we wrote on the paper all the roles she has in her life and how much she is a very important person to God! She is a daughter, granddtr, greatgranddtr, niece, cousin, and most importantly a child of God's! This activity was fun but very messy. : ) She enjoyed having her hands pained through. Any recommendations might be: It was a great and an awesome opportunity to talk about Jesus with her. For Christmas, we could make handprints on tissue paper or white wrapping paper. Once the handprints were dry on the paper, we could wrap the gift to the grandparents. --Kahle
4 1/2 Years Old We made a book called "All about Me". Ahead of time, I cut out scrapbook pages of ideas for her to choose from. We stappled several blank typing pages together and at the top of each page we thought of a heading of things about her. Some ideas were: My favorite food, my favorite pets, my favorite toys, my favorite colors. Then she would take a pair of sissors and cut and glue what she wanted on each page. It was so fun to just sit down together and talk. She really had some great answers that really surprised me. This will become one of those keepsakes to cherish in years to come. It was sure fun to find out what their favorite things were.--Heather