More Preschool Learning Stuff

I’ve been working with Elijah & Josephine on coloring/drawing and learning letters and numbers. I began to realize now that their English is picking up quite well, just how far behind they are in these areas. When they color pictures, they basically just scribble. They can (mostly) sing the alphabet song, but they don’t get what it means yet. They can count too - Josephine only sort-of, but Elijah does pretty well.

So, on one trip to Walmart, I picked up this book. (I also got a few other books, but they are for a little later - after we've gotten a little ways into this first book.)

The first section is for learning to make lines - not just scribble. It actually has paths the kids are supposed to follow with a pencil or crayon. I am making photo-copies of the pages as we go so we can go back and redo and review the pages as needed. I also have them color in certain shapes or pictures, which I think is helping them learn shapes and vocabulary. They also are learning their colors, as we’re only using primary-color crayons and no pencils at this point. I have them tell me what color they want and if that’s not really the color they wanted, I have them say the correct color before handing one to them.


We’ve only been doing this a couple times, but so far, I think it’s going well. We are going to try to consistently work on it in the evenings while Kaylen is sitting at the kitchen table doing her math homework. I think it’s a little distracting for Kaylen, but it's worked out OK so far. I also can be preparing supper at the same time, so that helps too. Multi-tasking is a requirement in our house, where we only have a couple hours at home on week-nights (if that) before baths/bedtime.

At the same time, we’re working on them being able to write their names - although starting very slowly, with the first letter of their names. Elijah actually came home from daycare one day with a piece of paper with a bunch of upper-case letters and numbers 1-20 on it. I think they periodically test the preschoolers to see what letters and numbers they recognize. The letter “E” was the only one that the teacher circled. :) Josephine recognizes her “J” also – although they don’t focus on that in 3-year-olds’ classroom. Elijah can write his “E” fairly well now - although we’re still practicing it, as sometimes it’s sideways or looks like an “H”. Josephine can trace her letter “J” really well, and can free-hand draw the hook part of the “J”, but then gets confused by me having her put the line across the top. She’s starting to figure it out though. When we have “E” and “J” down, then we’ll work on “L” and “O”, which I’m guessing will be a little bit easier - they already know what a circle is and (sort-of) how to draw one!

The biggest thing I’m struggling with right now is helping Elijah hold a pencil or crayon correctly. The new big crayons I got are triangle-shaped, so I think that’s helping. But, he doesn’t hold his wrist down on the table when he’s writing/drawing. I’ve held it down for him, but sometimes he gets frustrated because he struggles to move his fingers to color/write, while still holding onto the crayon correctly. It’s really hard for him to write without moving his wrist instead of just moving his fingers like he’s supposed to. I guess it’s just something we’ll keep practicing though - he’s just not that coordinated yet with the small motor skills. I need to mention it to his daycare teachers - I’m sure they will work on it with him too, they just probably haven’t noticed. Hopefully it improves quickly, because he’s beginning to color/draw more and more, and I don’t want him to continue practicing it wrong. Better to correct it at the start, right? I can’t always sit by him and hold his wrist down the whole time he’s coloring, though. I had a funny thought about trying to find a wrist brace with a heavy weight on it, but probably not an option - ha! He’d probably get really mad at me then! :) Has anyone else had this issue with their child(ren)?