*for ages 3-6

Learning to read is undoubtedly a very important life skill, one that determines all future success. But how do you get your child ready to read? Read on for some activity suggestions, to help children develop reading readiness skills, to help them turn into independent and confident readers:

SKILLSET #1: DEVELOPING VISUAL IDENTIFICATION & VISUAL DISCRIMINATION SKILLS

Why These Skills Are Important

To be able to read, a child has to be able to identify and differentiate between letters first. Also, syllables, word groups, word families, etc. have their base in identification. These following activities help children develop and sharpen their identification and differentiation skills, getting them ready for reading.

#Activity: Sort The Card

You Will Need: Any solid coloured paper (2-3 different colours) that can be turned into a card, a pair of scissors
How To Play: Cut up the paper to create square-shaped ‘cards’ of two different colours. Ask your child to identify the colours. Keep adding more cards of the same two colours, and task your child with sorting them into same colour piles.
Level Up: You can move from 2 colours to 3, then 4, and so on. You can even teach shapes from this activity, by cutting the cards into circles, triangles, etc.

#Activity: The Card Pattern

You Will Need: The cards created for the earlier activity
How To Play: Show your children the colour cards in a pattern like “Red, Red, Blue”. Repeat this pattern. Now, ask your child to make the same pattern, by themselves. You can even try this activity with multiple different patterns, and with more colours, depending on your child’s learning level.
Level Up: Switch it up by utilising solid objects like balls or books, then teaching them to match pictures, and finally, match letters.

SKILLSET #2: DEVELOPING VISUAL MEMORY

Why These Skills Are Important

A critical factor that determines a child’s strength in reading, spelling, and writing, visual memory also helps boost awareness, mindfulness, and alertness in daily life.

#Activity: Can You Spot The Change?

You Will Need: Any ordinary household item your child sees everyday.
How To Play: Shift a routine item (maybe a pillow from the sofa or bed) away from its usual spot, making sure your child does not see you do this. Then, ask your child to move around the room, and identify what has changed.
Level Up: Gradually, as they get well-versed with picking up visual cues, increase the number of items being moved to 2, then 3, and so on.

#Activity: Which Picture Comes First

You Will Need: Picture cards, or flashcards

How To Play: Show your children 4 pictures in a row, then ask them to recollect the order they were shown in. This activity can also be turned into a number learning exercise, with questions like ‘What was card number 1, do you remember?’ and so on.
Level Up: You can start with pictures, and then move to letters (which don’t necessarily have to be introduced in order of A, B, C, D, and so on).

SKILLSET #3: DEVELOPING AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION & AUDITORY MEMORY

Why These Skills Are Important

‘Auditory Memory’ helps children recall what they hear, while ‘Auditory Discrimination’ helps them identify sounds and words correctly, both of which are a prerequisite to learning to read.

#Activity: Trace The Line

You Will Need: White paper, coloured paper, glue
How To Play: Stick the coloured paper onto the white, at the bottom, in a straight line. Ask your child to trace this with their finger. Switch the coloured paper from the bottom to the top of the white sheet, and ask your child to trace it again. You can then move the coloured strips all over the white paper, including to the left and the right.
Level Up: They can slowly move to tracing zigzag lines, or lines of more than one colour each. Slowly, you can ask them to trace over letters too.

#Activity: Storytime

You Will Need: Storybooks for your early learner
How To Play: Depending on which hand your child prefers to use, sit on their right or left. Slowly, open and close the book multiple times, then while reading aloud to them, trace the sentences from left to right. Ask them to turn the page. Repeat with every book you read to them.
NEVER sit opposite them, as they cannot see how the pages are turned, etc. in this position.
Level Up: Over time, you can not only ask them questions about the story (like, ‘Where did Pan sit?’) to help them recollect, but also ask them to put the story in order, or recreate their own story, using the characters in the book.

Early readers can practice reading with the SquareTales Reading App, along with practicing multiple pre-reading activities to help develop foundational reading skills.

Loved these ideas? Get more fun tips and expert advice in our (absolutely FREE) special ‘parent and child’ SquareTales Sunday webinar series. Register here: https://squarepanda.app.link/e/webinar2106

Join our exclusive, content-only, Square Panda club, to view this series live: https://squarepanda.app.link/etribe

Credits: Written by Sanjana Shukla (Content Writer)

Start homeschooling your kindergartner with the SquareBox, and with no learning loss. Keep reading to learn more.

Which means, these early years are incredibly important for your children. So, if a child is not learning in this period, there is a potential for great learning loss, the repercussions of which will be felt for years and years to come. That’s also the reason why the school closures due to the pandemic are keeping your children safe at home, but might just end up negatively affecting their education and overall development.

For a company whose entire raison d’etre is early literacy, this was unacceptable. And that’s why, we’ve come up with a whole new learning tool-the SquareBox!

WHAT IS THE SQUAREBOX?
A homeschooling kit for kindergartners, the SquareBox is an actual box (square-shaped, of course) that we’ll be sending your way, each month. Combining digital and physical learning, the SquareBox helps your child receive the best educational experience possible.

WHY SHOULD I SUBSCRIBE TO THIS?
Uniquely developed to enhance a kindergartner’s essential skills, the SquareBox boasts the following features:

• Square Panda’s Educational Tools: Our very own multisensory early literacy tools are included in this kit, to be introduced in a phased manner so learners are not overwhelmed.
  We’ll be giving you:
  • The Square Panda multisensory phonics learning system (see how our games work, here)
  • The SquareTales Reading App (learn more about it, here)
  • More educational tools, as they release in India.

• Guides:
  You have the SquareBox. Now what?
  To help and guide you through the entire set-up process, to tell you where to start, and how, we created a ‘Quick Start Guide’, and a ‘Parent Guide’ (also available on our website to download). These two guides will help you learn more about how the SquareBox works, to help you become a great teacher to your little one(s).

• Planners:
  For all those parents wishing they had a detailed blueprint to teach their children for every day of the week, throughout their school year, we have something for you too! We created planners for the year, each month, and every week, so you never have to worry about what to teach them.
  These planners are structured as per a carefully designed curriculum, introducing thematic units to keep your children engaged and learning. As the complexity increases, so do the challenges, as does the skill level.
  The yearly planner comes to you in Month 1, and the monthly and weekly planners are sent every month.

• Additional Learning Material:
  With every month’s box comes learning material to support your kindergartener’s education, including flashcards, conversation booklets (to aid them as they start to speak), 5 sets of SquareTales physical printed books (to be used from Month 2), and even sticker sheets (to be used as rewards for your little learners).

• Develop Essential Foundational Skills:
  The SquareBox has been developed to get children ready to enter school, teaching them skills like:

WHAT DO THE WEEKS LOOK LIKE?
Typically, a week will be 5 days of digital + physical fun learning, followed by 2 days of fun play. Instructionally appropriate, these activities are a mix of educational and social; we’re teaching them about using their fingers to make shapes, and we’re teaching them to value housework, too, with fun cleaning exercises.

WHAT IT GIVES MY KIDS?
The SquareBox ensures your children are still learning even while they are away from school, without realising they are learning.
Our bite-sized lessons (only 45 minutes per day) are perfect for their little attention spans.
Don’t have 45 straight minutes to spare? Don’t worry, our program is flexible too!
You can schedule their learning AROUND your own schedule, for the best experience for both you and your kindergartner.

IDEAL AGE GROUP
The SquareBox was developed for children in kindergarten only. For queries about other age groups, please contact us at 022-49394444 or email support@squarepanda.in.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS AFTER I GET THE SQUAREBOX?

WHERE CAN I GET IT?
For details about the subscription plan and how to get a SquareBox for your kindergartner, visit our website.

The pesky virus that is waging war on the planet might be responsible for shutting down schools, but don’t give it the power to derail your child’s education too! Subscribe to the SquareBox today! Learn more at www.thesquarebox.in.

Credits: Written by Sanjana Shukla (Content Writer)

*While this article is aimed for parents of children in junior kg, the main points apply to parents with older children too.

Scene: You are on your sofa. Your child is scribbling away on the wall, while their study books lie abandoned under the sofa. The television they insisted be turned on, blares loudly in the background. You make one more attempt to get your young child to sit and study with you. Suddenly you realise, it’s time for a Skype call with your boss, and your hair isn’t even brushed yet!

Sound familiar?

This scene repeats in hundreds of homes across India, and even the world, as you read this article. Parents and families everywhere are scrambling to balance all the tasks that have suddenly landed in their laps.

Square Panda is here to help. Use the below suggestions to balance your schooling at home, with working from home.

– Share The Work: You don’t have to do each and every task by yourself. Ask your partner and family to share in the responsibility of managing your house and your child’s lessons. For convenience and a lighter workload, you can even plan your work in shifts.
An example: If you are doing the cooking, let your partner and child clean the table and dishes. That way, your child develops their motor skills, and also understands dignity of labour.

– Plan In Advance: You do need to know what to teach your child a few days or weeks prior, to avoid confusion on the day in question. Laying out everything clearly ensures that there is repetition of certain essential tasks, but allows you to space them out far enough that your child is not bored.
An example: Select a theme for the week, like plants or vehicles, and set all your activities during that period to this theme. If you want to teach them numbers, do it using plants/vehicles. Use plant/vehicle examples to teach them about different colours.

– Introduce Self-Learning Activities: Allow your children to learn independently allow you to attend that Skype work call in peace, satisfied that your child is engaged in a fun learning task.
An example: Task them with creating their own storybook (see how). This little craft activity gets their hands moving, their creative skills are completely engaged in making up a new story, and they are then more enthusiastic to read this book they have authored.

– Plan AROUND Your Own Schedule: Create (or find) a program that allows you flexibility to work with your schedule.
Examples: You can plant engaging scientific facts into your bedtime stories, your cooking time can be their play time-just hand them some dough and let them unleash their creativity. Everything you do can be a source of learning (for more ideas, watch this webinar on Montessori learning by our incredible guest speaker, Ms. Jayamala Jadhav).

Want more on schooling your kids at home? Watch this space for more…Until then, check out our amazing early literacy products here and here.

Credits: Written by Sanjana Shukla

*for ages 3-5

Do you find yourself suddenly thrust into the role of teacher? Struggling to ensure your child learns just like they would in school?

Cast those worries away with Square Panda’s handy tips to teach young learners at home.

Set Up A Special ‘Learning’ Space: Create a special learning space for them and fill it with all kinds of colourful stationery, just like a preschool or junior kg class would. This designated space puts children in the right frame of mind to study, and actually encourages them to seek out study time. But remember, children shouldn’t be hounded to study constantly; give them their space. And the best way to do that is…

Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.: Make a daily learning plan to help your little one study, but keep it flexible. Think of it like guidelines, rather than a rulebook to follow. Schedule their lessons around your own daily work; you can even break up these lessons into mini pieces to be conducted throughout the day (like teaching them about taste during breakfast, enhancing their digital literacy while you work on your laptop, introducing them to cooking instruments and new food vocabulary while cooking, and so on). Whether you are teaching them after work, during lunch, or even early in the morning, one thing you must remember is…

Mix Physical Activities With Learning: Let your creative brain loose, and come up with multiple fun multisensory activities for your children to enjoy. Everything can be a play-learn opportunity.
For example: Have to cook? Great! Hand your kids a little dough and let them make shapes from it.
Working on a spreadsheet? Get your kids actual sheets of paper and a crayon. Let them go wild doodling anything their hearts desire.
Lots of cleaning to do? Task your little ones with becoming your helpers; hand them mops and brooms and let them clean away!

Include Their Hobbies Too: They might be little, but they have their own opinions, likes, and dislikes too. Make sure to incorporate all such activities into their learning. If you draw a blank, ask your little ones what they want to do, or even learn. Then, follow their instructions to the best of your abilities.

It’s Not School, And That’s Okay: You are NOT their teacher, and their home is not school. No one expects this from you, either. This current situation demands new roles from all of us, and we must adapt as best we can. Enjoy the advantage of this unexpected time with them; take advantage and bond with your little ones.

Keep coming back here for more fun and educational articles on schooling at home during the lockdown, parenting, early literacy, and everything in between, right here.

Credits: Written by Sanjana Shukla, Illustrated by Aaron Gomes