Your little one loves when you teach them, they love when you engage with them! Sitting 1:1 with you (and their sibling) is most likely one of their FAVOURITE things to do. But to keep them from just crawling all over you during this time we have come up with a structure for you to follow with songs, ideas and rhymes to teach and engage your little one/s.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Here is the land, here is the sky. Here are my friends and here am I. We thank the Nyoongar people for the land on which we play and learn. Hands up, hands down. We're on Whadjuk ground.

MY NAME IS...

The simple song is fun for you and your little one to practise saying their names. It is also used at lots of rhyme time/toddler time activies for children to introduce themselves.

"I wonder what your name is? I wonder if you know? Your name is _______, hello, hello, hello".

COLOURS & NUMBERS

This is a great time to focus on colour and number naming. Some simple colour swatches from Bunnings with colours make for a cheap and easy palm card to teach colours to your little one. Teacher numbers can be done a few ways, naming objects, counting on your fingers or by looking at number palm cards. Keep in mind the skill of counting and reading and naming written numbers is different, try to expose your little one to both.

BODY PART RECOGNITION

Starting with a simple rendition of 'Heads, Shoulder, Knees and Toes' is a great way to start teaching body parts to your little one. The song is fun and engaging and also gives the opportunity for you to give some sensory input.

Have your little one sitting in front of you facing you and point out their body parts while giving each one a gentle squeeze. This light sensory input is great for helping to regulate your little one. This firm tactile touch provides proprioceptive information to the whole body.

Is there anything else you'd like to see in our 'morning circle/mat time'? Leave a comment below we'd love to hear from you!