Parenting Tips: 5 ways to handle kindergarten kids at home during quarantine time

The widespread enforced school closures due to the coronavirus situation have sent a ripple effect into parent communities, leaving them clueless on what to do with their kids at home. Maybe you are scared, overwhelmed, nervous and worried about your capacity of teaching your kids everything that they would learn if they went regularly to preschool. Don’t worry, teaching preschoolers at home can be one of the greatest things you can do for your child during times like this. Use this as an opportunity to not just teach academic concepts, but go beyond just academics and venture into quality time spent at home as well as other life skills and basic skills that they can learn.

The best way to do this, is by setting a routine. So, set-up a schedule and include your child in setting one up. Let them come up with suggestions and guide them through their inputs. Each activity can be for around 20 minutes each.

Indoor Play Time

Use this time to sing songs and recite nursery rhymes. You can also have a music and movement session with your kids. Playing games like Scrabble can help them improve their spellings. An A-Z treasure hunt with objects found at home is a good brain exercise for the little minds.

Science Time

Kids love observing and experimenting. You can grow a plant or two and teach your child how to water it daily and make sure that it gets enough sunlight. You can also teach your young one how to cook without fire – simple to start by making a sandwich of their choice. 

Exercise Time

It is important that your kids exercise daily. Simple 20 jumps or deep breathing exercises can make a big difference. You can have family yoga time together. Let them also strengthen their fine motor skills by indulging in activities like painting, doodling, clay molding, art and craft, origami, assembling jigsaw, building blocks, etc.

Reading Time

Read a book with them and discuss the story. Let them ask questions and make sure you answer every curious question they have. Use this as an opportunity to work on sight words, learn phonics, discuss story characters, the plot of the story and what do they think how could the story be different. Play letter bingo and cultivate the habit of reading a storybook during bedtime.

Math Time

You don’t need worksheets to teach mathematical concepts. You can teach them one to one correspondence, measuring, number recognition and estimating at home by counting objects at home and doing simple activities at home – measure your height, weight, length of the room, etc using a ruler, measuring tape or hand span.

Give kids the freedom to choose and navigate is the key to exploring and learning. Hence, it is important to use this time productively and wisely ensuring that it has a great impact on your kids.

Contributed by Mrs. Renny Fernandes - Principal of Little Feet Playgroup and Nursery