Department of Education
Kevin Huffman, Commissioner

Play is an important experience for your child's sense of self-discovery. Through play, he will learn to start projects, explore and create. He will also have many opportunities to develop the social skills necessary to form friendships, to cooperate with others and to solve personal problems.

Meaningful Play Experience

Let your child sort laundry. Show him how to put socks in pairs.

Gather buttons of all sizes, colors and shapes. Let him sort or string them by color, shape, size, etc.

Let your child help you set the table. Ask him to put a glass by each plate, a fork and a napkin for each place setting.

Go for walks in your neighborhood. Each day, help your child find and identify different objects such as leaves, trees, etc.

When putting away the groceries, ask your child to put all the canned goods in one place, all of the fruits together, all the meats together, etc.

Read books about different occupations and allow your child to pretend to do what they do and express what he would like to be.

Visit places where people work in the community or show them to your child through books, magazines, newspapers, etc.

Stranger Safety

It is very important to teach your child about strangers.  Teaching your child this poem can be fun and also help your child to remember to be safe.

Turtle Knows

Turtle doesn't talk to strangers,
No matter how friendly they are.
He won't take anything from them
Or get in a stranger's car.

Most strangers are just nice people
That you simply haven't met.
But, sad to say, there are others
Who are bad and a dangerous threat.

Better to be safe than sorry,
Is a saying that's old but true.
So Turtle won't take any chances
And wants YOU to be careful too!

Things You Can Do Everyday To Help Your Child Grow

Play word games with your child. Use words that sound alike and make up silly sayings.  "I see a PIE in the SKY.  Do you see a KEY in a TREE?"  Let your child finish a phrase - Do you feel the HEAT on the________?. Your child could answer SEAT, STREET, BEAT - any word that ended with the same sound as HEAT would be fine.

Have your child pretend he is a bird and act it out, or a leaf, or a stork, or an elephant. Guess what he is. Then you act out something and let him guess.

Talk with your child. Listen and answer him. Ask a question about what he told you. (This will let him know you are listening and do care about what he says.)

Set aside a special reading time each week.  You can call it " DEAR"  time.  ("DEAR" stands for Drop Everything And Read.)   Everyone in the house reads or looks at a book, magazine, newspaper, etc.  You and the adults in your home will be modeling the behavior that your want for your child.

Note: It will be hard to turn off the TV but you can do it if you make it fun.  Set a time limit -- it can be five minutes at the start.  After DEAR time, do something special with your family or your child. You could have popcorn or ice cream and talk about what you read. Your child could draw a picture about what he read and you display it on the refrigerator. You could plan a "theater time" and let your child act out the story - Adults can do this too - It can be lots of fun for the whole family. As a special treat your family could watch a family movie or play a fun game.