Why Is Language Arts in Early Childhood Development Important?
When you practice language art skills with your child, you are teaching the fundamentals of verbal and non-verbal communication. Learning to properly communicate our feelings, wants, and needs to others is how we interact as a society. Learning language arts early also promotes positive cognitive development as your child is learning critical social skills and creating long-last bonds with you.
Cognitive & Language Arts Weather Theme Lesson Plan
When creating a lesson plan for your appropriate age group, it’s always a great idea to consider your learning objectives for the week. Which letter, shape, color, and number will your children be reviewing this week? Which book will be the main focus this week? What about an American Sign Language word?
Teaching our young friends cognitive and language arts can be a lot easier when you take these aspects into consideration. I have created 6 fun activities for you to try with your kiddos. Make sure to modify it depending on the learning concept you are on this week.
Rainbow Box
This one is pretty easy and comes together in a matter of minutes. I used an empty tissue box and turned it upside down. I cut slits into it, which is where the colorful popsicles will go. This activity is perfect for young friends learning to understand colors. As the theme of the week is the weather, we are learning about the rainbow and the amazing colors.
Materials:
- Empty Tissue Box
- Knife
- Coloring Popsicle Sticks
- Color-Coordinating Construction Paper
- Scotch Tape
- Cognitive & Language Arts Lesson Plan
You can also use scissors to poke the slits where the popsicles will go. I cut the construction paper and held it down with Scotch tape. You might also consider using a rectangular tissue box to allow for more room.
You can also try to game with different materials to insert. What about pipe cleaners? Pipe cleaners are easy to bend and can make for an interesting challenge for our older toddler friends.
Weather Flashcards
As we are teaching our friends about the weather and the different kinds, you might want to add a vocabulary-building flashcard set to the list. Flashcards make a great learning tool when added to visual aid.
I have created this flashcard set for you. It is found in the same lesson plan. This flashcard set comes with 12 different weather cards. Each card holds an image, as well as the corresponding word.
Materials:
- Printer
- Laminator
- Scissors
- Whole-Punch
- Metal Ring
- Cognitive & Language Arts Toddler Lesson Plan
The first thing you’re going to want to do is print and then laminate the flashcards. After cutting your cards down to size and whole-punching, insert the cords through your metal ring and close. These cards are perfect to review during your circle time or quiet time.
Other Ways to Play
You can modify the Rainbow Box to be only one color. For example, if you are working on the color red this week. Add only red construction paper to the tissue box and only give your children red popsicle sticks.
You can also decide to use Q-tips inside of popsicle sticks to make it challenging for the kids to grasp. This will automatically encourage them to focus a lot more on the task at hand.
When using flashcards, a great way of making the experience fun is by having the children act out the images they see. How would a thunderstorm dance? How does a rainbow bend? Can you smile like the sun?
Go to my Toddlers Grow Store and check out this Toddlers Lesson Plan for yourself. It comes with easy-to-follow instructions, a materials list, and an already-to-go parent activity description. Perfect for your informal learning software.
If you liked this, head over to Toddlers Grow the Podcast for more fun educational activities and helpful tips.
