What kinds of things should my child know by age four?

Question

I decided not to put my three year old in preschool this year (we are trying to resolve her issue with encopresis). I plan to put her in next year. What kinds of things should she be learning right now. I'm trying to come up with some lesson plans that I can do with her at home a couple days a week. We do a craft almost everyday (she loves to do them), we're working on cutting skills with safety scissors, working on number and alphabet recognition and we are practicing tracing. I also do felt board stories with her. I'm trying to keep it fun.

Answer 1

My 3-year-old learns alphabet recognition and phonics (he knows what the letters all "say"), numbers, a Bible verse and story per week (it's a Christian school), then they have two-week themes. He'll learn about the ocean, what kind of fish live in the ocean, etc. The next week, he learns about Autumn (the changing colors of the leaves - complete with appropriate crafts to solidify the point - how it gets colder and darker earlier, what months are in Autumn, etc.). In December, he learns about Christmas (several weeks, covering Christmas trees one week, Christmas traditions one week, and the birth of baby Jesus one week).

He also is learning about weather and days, weeks, and months. Every day in circle time, they look out the window and put the magnets in their room up to show what's going on (there are magnets for sun, clouds, rain, thunderstorms, windy, hot, cold, snow, etc.) and then there are also magnets showing what you would wear for diffrent kinds of weather (so on a cold, rainy day, they would put the "cold" magnet and the "rain" magnet up, along with a "coat" and "umbrella"). Beside the weather board, there's a calander, and they go through "What month is it?" and "What day is it?"

Music is used in several different ways. Some songs (Father Abraham, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and the Hokey Pokey) encourage movement (and the latter two also reinforce knowledge of body parts). The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, and Little Bunny Foo-Foo work on fine motor skills, and The Wheels on the Bus also works on recognizing people (they include the bus driver, mommy, daddy and baby).

They work on various "science" projects (easy things like watching a bean sprout and grow) and some very basic math (he knows three math problems: 1+2=3, 2+2=4 and 1+3=4). The math problems are done VERY slowly, and it usually takes about two weeks of going over it before he really remembers what the answer is).

Games like "Freeze Dance" get them up and moving, and they think it's pretty hilarious to "freeze" in strange or awkward positions.

Three-years-old is a wonderful time to work on a second language, so they have "Spanish classes" once a week (they learn how to count to ten in Spanish, and words like water, bathroom, boy, girl, please and thank you, etc.) He's also learned a few simple signs for sign language ("thank you" "I love you" and "I'm hungry", for example). I don't know about the sign language, but in addition to what they're learning in school, for Christmas Santa is bringing an InteracTV game system with some games, including a Dora the Explorer one that works on Spanish vocabulary. There are all kinds of toys/books/games that feature Dora and most of them include Spanish.

Have storytime, of course, but work it in to your curriculum. For example, if you're learning about snow, find a children's book that is about snow (at different times of the year, Barnes and Noble have themed tables for children's books, so in December, it's easy to find books about Christmas, Hanukkah, snow, etc.) Work in projects/snacks to match the story. If you read "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie", work with her to make and decorate cookies (you roll out the dough, then let her use cookie cutters to get the cookies.). If "Green Eggs and Ham" is read for storytime, have green eggs and ham for lunch (concentrated green food coloring in scrambled eggs works well).

One game my son likes is to match colors and items. There's a computer game on pbskids.org (a GREAT site, both of my kids like it, just carefully monitor what she's doing on there) where Grover from Sesame Street is trying to pick out fruits and vegetables that match certain colors. So the child moves the purple eggplant to the purple bin, the orange carrots to the orange bin, etc. That gives him a good opportunity to work on his colors, but also to learn about various fruits and veggies (they explain a little detail about the produce).

Encourage pretend play, using a toy kitchen or something similar. Assuming your daughter has a baby doll, show her how to "take care of it". Provide dress-up clothes of all kinds ("Princess" stuff, but also firefighters and doctors and stuff).

I know that's a lot, but I hope some of it has given you some ideas. I think it's awesome that you're doing all that with her at home.

Answer 2

Everyone is so concerned about what a child learns but really by the age of 4 your child would be doing super if they can separate from parents easily, learn to take turns, able to share needs and wants to adults, and you can keep up the academics as long as your child enjoys it.
I am a preschool teacher and have been for several years.

Answer 3

Sound like your doing a great job, and there are many very good suggestions here.
Keep with things she enjoys (like craft) and alphabet,numbers, shoes, etc. But helping you around the house will make her happy being with you and being helpful and teach her lots ie: "pass me the green peg" (when putting out the washing, or , "we need 2 cups of flour" (when making a cake).

Answer 4

I am doing the same thing also, my cousin is a teacher she said to do things like cutting out shapes and matching them, matching colour's, my friends daughter is in school and they have a singing circle, they do their alphabets, numbers and colour's, my son does all of that he is three but he cant write any of it, he can draw shapes though. Be sure and not push her though or she wont like it, as soon as my son starts getting frustrated I stop.

Answer 5

There is great book called, Kitchen Table Play and Learn by Tara Copley. It is written by teachers that want to teach their children pre-school.... There are lessons, suppliy list, etc. It is fabulous!! You can order it from www.amazon.com. Three year olds should be playing and having fun, read books to her, play outside, point out colors, count leaves, fun stuff.

Answer 6

Sounds like you are doing a GREAT job. Also try counting and maybe simple pattern recognition. Songs and music. Socialization is also important at this age so have a lot of playdates.

Answer 7

They will are good for health, however if you are asking which is better for diet in this instance all vegetables would do well

Answer 8

Sounds like you are doing a good job already. Following directions, the differance in objects, letter sounds are some more things you could try.

Good Luck:)

Answer 9

She should be learning how to spell/write/identify her name, numbers, letters, shapes, days of the week, and colors. I used to work at a day care center that was for kids that age.

Answer 10

well i think she should know the basics and don't pressure her.shes gonna learn with time.thats how everyone did.Your lesson plan is good,u should put her more into the alphabet and numbers,that would help her later.