As your child turns 3, here’s a list of ideas to consider teaching your child whether or not they’re going to school.
This will ensure your child’s all-round development.
1. Recognizing Letters and their sounds
Once your child turns 3, they probably already recognize a few alphabet letters. You can start by learning both upper and lower case letters and introducing phonics.
Phonics is a great way to teach your child letters and reading. It prevents rote learning of words and encourages children to relate each letter to its corresponding sound.
You can also start with tracing letters in the sand, a blackboard, or reusable tracing books.
2. Numbers and counting
By age 3, most children can count to 10 or 20. While they still may not be able to understand the practical meaning of counting, it is a good chance to teach them the whole concept.
When you buy vegetables or fruit, ask them to count the pieces. Count the stairs when you climb up and down. Make them count their toys like animal figurines, magna tiles, etc.
Encourage them to start tracing numbers in sand, help them with their pencil grip, and get reusable tracing books where they can practice tracing numbers on dotted lines.
3. Reading books
Now that your child will have a better attention span than that of a toddler, you can read longer picture books and also introduce some books with more intricacies.
choose books that improve your child’s emotional vocabulary, those with funny characters, sticker books, activity books, etc.
Also, keep pointing out the pictures in the book so that your child can relate to the story. Ask your child to
describe the pictures too.
4. Pretend Play
Pretend play is a very important part of your child’s development. Toddlers and older kids can use their imagination to make a world of fun for themselves. They try to imitate what they see around them at home, school, on TV, or in books.
Here are some pretend play ideas:
- Cooking in a Play Kitchen
- Tea party with a tea set
- Looking after a baby doll
- Playing doctor/nurses with the doctor set
- Going shopping with a bag
- Sweeping the floor, dusting the house
5. Drawing and Coloring
Drawing and coloring are wonderful activities for your child to build their fine motor skills. By age 3, most kids move on from just scribbling to making lines and trying to make circles. They can also make a few shapes like triangles and rectangles. You can move on from finger crayons to normal ones as their grip gets better.
Start teaching them to stay inside the lines when the color and help them steady their hand.
6. Puzzles and Building Blocks
Most 3-year-olds enjoy puzzles, magnetic tiles, and blocks. They enhance spatial awareness. They also improve hand-eye coordination and fine and visual motor skills. Start with simple 2-4 piece puzzles and slowly move on to bigger ones.
Toddlers also love playing with building blocks and magnetic tiles and knocking them down too. They encourage imaginative play and let them problem-solve.
7. Paper cutting with child-safety scissors
Using scissors is a skill that your child can work on once they’re 3 years old.
Start by giving them some spare pieces of paper and help them cut it. You can also make clay ‘caterpillars’ and ask your child to cut them.
Slowly move to more complex cutting skills like cutting on the dotted line, curves, zig-zags, etc.
Safety, Manners, and Respect\Now it is time to teach your child some safety rules like:
- not running on the road
- not running away in the market
- being careful while crossing the road
- staying away from strangers
- telling parents when they encounter strange behavior
- holding hands when on the road, mall, etc.
Understanding how to treat others begins around this age. It is important to show your child how to treat other kids and adults with respect and politeness. At this age, toddlers start testing boundaries and explore new ways to get what they want.
