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At home, you can provide your child on hands on activities, which are interactive and engaging, develop critical thinking and learning (“Teachnology,” 2012). Activities may include: reading and storytelling activities, puzzles, daily household activities like cooking, science experiments, making playdoh etc. Children can learn in social environments and through observation (“Teachnology,” 2012). Think of activities that provide discovery, are active, task based and collaborative (“Teachnology,” 2012). In addition, while working with your child make sure to ask open-ended questions and support critical thinking (“Teachnology,” 2012).
You may want to provide activities that can give you opportunities to scaffold. These activities aren’t too easy for your child but provide them with a challenge instead (McLeod, 2010). This area is called the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which was introduced by the theorist Lev Vygotsky (McLeod, 2010). Here your child needs you to help them with a task in order for them to master it later on their own (McLeod, 2010). For example cooking. Teach them the steps in baking a cake. First you read the recipe, then you pour out and measure each ingredient etc. Show them how to measure the first one and get them to measure in the next ingredient with help. Eventually they will be able to master how to measure the next few ingredients on their own. Providing a child with the appropriate assistance will give the child a boost to achieve the task (McLeod, 2010).
You may want to provide activities that can give you opportunities to scaffold. These activities aren’t too easy for your child but provide them with a challenge instead (McLeod, 2010). This area is called the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which was introduced by the theorist Lev Vygotsky (McLeod, 2010). Here your child needs you to help them with a task in order for them to master it later on their own (McLeod, 2010). For example cooking. Teach them the steps in baking a cake. First you read the recipe, then you pour out and measure each ingredient etc. Show them how to measure the first one and get them to measure in the next ingredient with help. Eventually they will be able to master how to measure the next few ingredients on their own. Providing a child with the appropriate assistance will give the child a boost to achieve the task (McLeod, 2010).