Early Childhood Education at Home

Written by BFIS Staff

The first years of a child’s life are critical to his or her physical, cognitive, and emotional development. It is during this period that the foundations for their future well-being and happiness are laid.

As parents with preschool children, we have a great responsibility for the early education of our children.

In this article, we want to emphasize the role of parents in their children’s education and provide practical advice on how you can support their learning at home.

Establishing daily routines

Daily routines are essential for young children, facilitating predictability and stability in the child.  Routines provide a sense of predictability and security for young children. Knowing what to expect each day helps them feel safe and reduces anxiety. 

Parents can use these routines to teach them essential life skills and habits such as dressing, brushing their teeth, and washing their hands. Learning activities can also be incorporated, such as reading a book before bedtime or doing an activity after breakfast. These activities contribute to a child’s cognitive development.

By establishing daily routines, children learn to be responsible and organized from an early age.

Reading together

Reading is a great way to foster your child’s imagination, critical thinking, and vocabulary. Parents can read stories, poetry, or fiction books to help them develop literacy skills. You can also ask questions during reading to engage your child in the story and encourage comprehension.

Encouraging your child to discover letters or words through questions is also a great way to improve their comprehension and self-confidence. Children learn to articulate thoughts and understand the structure of language through listening and discussing stories.

Please, feel free to reach out to our Early Childhood Librarian, Ms. Emma Kerr for personalized recommendations of books and stories tailored to your child. With her extensive experience as both a teacher and librarian, Ms. Kerr is well-equipped to provide expert guidance on selecting the perfect reads for your little one.  

Playing together

Play is a fundamental part of a child’s early learning and fosters a strong emotional bond between parents and children. It creates opportunities for quality interactions, nurturing attachment, and strengthening the parent-child relationship. Playing together encourages communication. Children learn to express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions during play.  Parents can engage in educational games that foster skills such as logical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.

For example, playing with blocks helps children to understand shapes, colors, and numbers. Playing with water in the bathtub or with water toys is both fun and educational, promoting sensory exploration. You can also ask questions and let your child make his or her own decisions during play to encourage decision-making skills.

Encourage exploration and curiosity

Parents can encourage exploration and curiosity in their children by providing opportunities to discover the world around them. You can plan outings to parks, museums, or natural areas where children can observe and learn about different elements of the environment.

Pay attention to their interests and encourage them to pursue activities related to those interests. This can fuel their curiosity and motivation to learn. 

In addition, you can stimulate their curiosity by asking them open-ended questions and encouraging them to do their own investigations. Encouraging exploration and curiosity will help develop critical thinking and the ability to learn independently.

Establish clear limits and rules

Parents need to set clear limits and rules from an early age. This helps children develop self-regulation skills and teaches them about responsibility and respect.

Limits should be consistent and tailored to the child’s age and stage of development. Parents can explain rules clearly and provide concrete examples so children understand expectations.

Setting limits and rules provides structure and emotional security.

Encourage communications and open dialogue

Open and consistent communication between parents and children is critical to the development of a strong relationship and to support early learning. Parents should be available to listen and respond to their children’s questions, concerns, or ideas. 

This creates a trusting environment where children feel safe to express themselves and share their thoughts. Parents can promote open communication by asking open-ended questions, showing genuine interest, and spending quality time talking with their children.

Modeling the love for learning

Parents are important role models for their children and can inspire their children’s love of learning by showing their own passion for acquiring new knowledge. 

Parents can share their own learning experiences with their children, tell them interesting stories, read books or magazines in front of them, and demonstrate enthusiasm for discovering new things.

By showing interest and curiosity in learning, parents motivate their children to explore the world and develop their own love of knowledge.

Conclusion

The role of parents in children’s early education is vitally important. Establishing daily routines, reading together, playing together, encouraging exploration and curiosity, setting clear boundaries, fostering communication, and modeling a love of learning are key aspects of supporting children’s development and learning from an early age.

By devoting time and effort to children’s early education, parents can lay the foundation for their long-term academic and emotional success.

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