Learning ideas for a 4 year old with some slight delays?

Question

I am trying to develop simple, no pressure learning activities for my just turned 4 year old. She knows all her capital letters and about half of the small ones, can count to 20 and knows all her shapes and colors. She won't color much beyond a scrible and can't write or trace. We have been doing tracing activities by holding our hand over her hand and "helping her." She does get easily frustrated. We only do school about 90 minutes a day (1st year homeschooling to prepare for the plunge into Kindergarten) and that includes story time, music, art and a 15 minute recess all of which she really seems to enjoy, so we really only have her at the desk working for about 15-20 minutes a day with paper. Her only real delays are language (she rarely talks more than 2 and 3 word phrases) and writing. She refuses to use scissors but does use the gluestick. I would love suggestions that would promote learning without going over her head or trying to make her do something she isn't ready to do.

Answer 1

Does she like messy activities. You can work on having her "draw" letters, shapes, numbers in a fun substance like shaving cream, finger paint or white pudding with food coloring using her fingers or paint brushes. Also a sand tray take a box lid and cover it with sand. Another way is to make tactile letters. Take cardboard cutouts of letters and have her cover them in glue and then cover them in something fun to touch.. maybe something that starts with that letter. Have her take her finger or hand to trace over the letter so she gets use to the direction that letters are made. Also don't push writing if she is not ready but play other fun activities with manipulative's to strengthen her fine motor skills, stringing beads on a string, putting beans in a bottle, pennies in a piggy jar, picking up objects with tweezers or tongs, even building with play dough can build up hand strength.

To work on language.. if you know activities or games or fun things that she really likes put them out of reach so she has to ask you for them. As she gets the idea put them in different color, shapes and locations so she has to use longer sentences with adjectives and prepositions to get the items. Mommy I want the toy on the refrigerator or the car in the green box etc.

Answer 2

Man she just turned 4!!!  Give her a break already!!!!!!   You should celebrate the fact that she can Identify the alphabet!!  Just keep working with her little by little and she'll catch on!!  Be patient!  Children all learn and develop at their own paces. unless you notice a consistent pattern of delays over time don't fret. She is already advanced for her age!  The speech problem, however, might require professional attention!!  My daughter had the same problem and speech therapy helped out a lot!  i also worked with many children at this age who received speech therapy and it helped them too!

Answer 3

Sounds to me like she is doing just fine, and you are too!  Good work, mom!  Relax on the writing.  She's just not quite ready yet, and that's OK.  Make play dough together and then play with it.  It's great for developing fine motor strength and coordination.  Manipulate it, use cookie cutters and rolling pins.  Shape it into little people.  If you make letter shapes, she might try it too.  Here's my favorite:  squirt shaving cream on the table and encourage her to draw in it!  You can write her name, but don't worry if she just wants to draw.  It's good for fine motor development.  Look at magazines together and let her turn the pages (hand-eye coordination and fine motor development).  Use tweezers to transfer beads from one plate to another.  Use small things like rice and macaroni to glue onto paper to make collages.  String Cheerios, Fruit Loops, or macaroni to make necklaces.  All these activities work those fine motor muscles and develop hand-eye coordination, and she will need these skills to write.  Encourage her to write her name on pictures she makes, and don't push for more writing than that right now.  You'll know when she's ready for more: when she's writes her name well without assistance, it's time for more writing!

Answer 4

She sounds like fine motor skills are just not as developmentally advanced as some of her other skills. I think your biggest concerns are the combinations of oral language skills of only 2-3 word phrases and the fine motor issues.

First I would suggest you take a look at the We Care curriculum published by Pearson--they've changed it, so if you can get your hands on an older copy with the red cover, that is better. I also like the Complete Weekly Curriculum and Complete Daily Curriculum published by Gryphon House. Cut and Create by TLC or Scissor Skill Patterns by Edupress.

I would try to do a lot more oral language activities (look for phonemic awareness activities) and more craft activities--especially ones that involve cutting--that way you are working on weaker areas, but making things is more fun.

As you work on letters, focus on the sounds of the letters rather than names (even if the kindergarten testing focuses on names).

Also, if you use peg boards or math manipulatives, you will also be working on those fine motor skills. Snapping, buttoning, zipping, pinching clay, anything that strengthens finger and hand muscles BEFORE requiring paper-pencil writing tasks.