How to teach a child to learn as they grow with games. The teacher or parent simply defines the things that surround the child from the cradle.
Children want to learn about the things that surround them. Amazingly,they do not have to be seated in a school desk in order for education to begin. They don't have to board a school bus to enter the world of learning. They are already in the world, and from the moment they enter it, they are learning.
Here's the game: Say you are walking Johnny down the street in his stroller. You see a school bus. You could tell Johnny it is a bus. See the little children? You'll ride that bus someday, Johnny! If that is all you tell him, you aren't playing properly.
Enter scene again. This time you tell him: Oh, look Johnny! There's a rectangle! Look at the long rectangle! It is on circles! The circles are black. The rectangle is yellow!
You have introduced color and shape. You could play this learn to count game all day. Johnny learns over time to define the things already around him.
Learn to count game: When Johnny is walking he is ready for this game. Say you go to the post office, or the library.
There are steps leading to the door. You and Johnny count the steps as you climb them. You are there anyway,right?
Count them. It is a game. Johnny learns to count. You can
do this at night with fingers and toes.
You can count meatballs at lunch. Use little intervals of time to teach counting from the crib. Voila! At some point,he starts to do it himself.
(If you want to count meatballs on a round yellow plate, you have done three lessons.)
Learn to read game: Take the average STOP sign.
Look Johnny, there's an S, a T, an O, and a P!
Make up a little song: What does "B" say? It says "Buh"! What does "C" say? It says "Kuh"! What does "D" say? It says "Duh"! It's a little song. It can be sung while you drive down the road, while you take a walk, sit in a chair on the porch. And of course, you are always reading to Johnny. Making sure he learns sentence structure. Making sure he loves books. It is all fun. And you never have to worry about what to talk about with your kid.
Teaching them from the cradle in this manner helps them put a name to the color, shapes, sounds and quantities they already notice.
When they know the sound of letters, it is fun to take a walk down the cereal isle and sound out the words on the boxes together. And by then Johnny will know the boxes are rectangles, and what color each one is. You're doing your work early.
