SYNOPSIS: In the party boxes today, a ruler and a pencil - or is it a flute and a dough roller? Meanwhile Snuffles is in his room trying to read a book but a fly keeps bothering him.

1) EXPLORING YOUR BODY
Give your child a thick crayon or pencil and let them squeeze it and roll it around in their hand. Help them hold it between their thumb and index finger, as this is the grip used for writing later on. They could also squeeze and manipulate a small ball or squeeze toy.
Exercises such as these develop hand and finger muscles. Use lots of praise and encouragement as it takes many hours of practice to master them. Making a fist and then spreading the fingers wide also builds strength in these muscles.

2) EXPLORING YOUR MIND
Take several household objects of differing sizes and ask your child to place them in order biggest to smallest or group them in sets (for example knife, fork and spoon). Use words like 'next to' 'behind' 'under' 'above' to build vocabulary.
Ordering is a basic maths activity. It is important because children need to be able to order objects before they can count meaningfully (rather than simply recite numbers).

3) EXPLORING YOUR SELF
Take every opportunity to reinforce counting and ordering - for example in the supermarket you can point out things that need to be in the refrigerator, things used for cleaning, and so on. Remember: 'repetition' 'reinforcement' and 'encouragement'.
'Parents as first teachers' is a programme that provides education and support for parents.
For more information go to: www.ecdu.govt.nz/paft.html


Party Animals Parent Teacher Activities created by Elizabeth Donnelly.
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