What activites could you do with a 4 and 5 year old to promote sensory and intellectual development?

Question

also whats the role of the child care worker during the activity?

Answer 1

Read to them and have them try to read to you!  This promotes reading being fun, and helps promote development!!

Word Cards are also helpful...

Answer 2

I have 4 nieces.  They all play those V Smile learning game thing.  You could try something like that or make up your own fun learning game with rewards.

Answer 3

Read

Answer 4

Check  Usborne Books for some great resources - the Learning Palette system is wonderful, phonics and time-telling flashcards, foreign language books/flashcards, activity books such as Big Book of Playtime Activities (contains fingerpainting, coloring, cutting activities and more) are all great.  See them at http://www.ubah.com/g2687

Answer 5

any activity that uses one of their senses (touch, smell, sight etc).

How about samples of food, blindfold and get them to use sense of smell and taste to guess what it is.

Finger painting but add sand, sawdust, gravel etc to the paint and they got to paint an outdoor scene with it.

The role of the worker would be to encourage creative thinking, get them to describe the feel/thought/idea process.

Lots of questions to get their imagination flowing on things they could expand on (ie where do you think bananas come from bush/tree/ground, what country etc)

You also there to help them clean up im afraid!!!

Hope this is useful for you!

Answer 6

Read, read, read, preferably while looking at pictures with the child. You will instill into them the enjoyment of story-telling, the discipline of listening and a lifetime love of books. If they read throughout their lives, the ability to spell should come naturally.  I don't think you can do better for your child.

Answer 7

Reading, talking a lot, ask them questions about the people they see every day: how do they look, how is their hair...

Play with sand and water, bubbles.  Plant something together if you have a garden.  Make them tear newspapers from the top to the bottom.  Make little balls with pieces of soft paper. Visit botanical gardens, the zoo, the airport, a harbor, places where they could watch machines.

Answer 8

For hearing you can play them a tape of like rain in the rainforest and then ask them what sounds they hear.

For tasting you could take something sweet, sour, bitter, etc. let the child taste the different ones and ask them if it's sweet, sour, etc.

For smelling you could take them some flowers and let them smell them and describe the smell

And for feeling you could have them touch sand paper, cotton, etc. and ask them to describe the different feeling.

Answer 9

Activities:

Dark den: have a darkened area with different lights can be expensive UV based ones or just the cheap(ish) ones you buy from funfairs etc.

Sensory box: children cant see inside it they just put hand in and they have to guess what the object is by their sense of touch (can extend this is blindfolds for smells and taste)

Sound Lotto: children listen to tape and have to match sound to picture board.

Playdough, salt dough etc

Sand and water activities: such as full and empty, adding flavourings (smelly ones), glitter etc to change the texture.

Story time requires sense of hearing and encourages intellect through recall, learning story set up, the message, following the story etc.

Cooking-smells, taste, texture.

Feely books.

Music time: listen to music, make their own, make own instruments etc.

Dancing

Look at sites such as www.ttsgroup.co.uk and look at the sensory equipment for ideas of activities you can do and write about.

Role of childcare worker:

-Scaffold: to play alongside and support them in understanding what to do, seeing how to play etc.

-Support: help them to work through any problesm, make sure they can access equipment, make sure activity is differentiated for individual needs.

-Friend-having fun with them, making it a positive play experience.

-Planner and evaluater; to set out the activity so that resources, space and timing is appropraite. At the end to document how it went and how to move children on to next step.