Rainbows and Kitchens as Teaching Tools: Learning as Family Fun

The first five years of a child’s life are a time of tremendous growth and the parent must seize every teachable moment and make every day meaningful. Children enter the world with basic needs that must be met for them to grow up successfully: love, nutrition, health, social and emotional security and stimulation. Stimulation is very important to a developing mind, but it must be more than watching a video or playing a game alone-even if the program or games are educational. Young children enter the world with a great capacity to learn and parents must monitor what their young learners are taking into their minds.

From birth through age five, children are developing various foundation skills such as, language, thinking, motor skills, emotional, and interpersonal, they will need for the rest of their lives. Children are born with an innate need to discover and explore, and that innate need will grow as they do, if you as a parent, make learning seem valuable to the child. Showing enthusiasm for what your child’s need to learn will encourage your young learner to keep asking questions and seeking answers throughout their life. 

Years of research shows that children are more likely to succeed in learning when their family actively supports them. As a classroom teacher, I can testify to the real world impact of this fact-and the terrible results of the failure of parents to support their children. Parents who spend time with their children in activities allowing them to talk, explore, experiment, and discuss an event demonstrates, to their children, that learning is both enjoyable and important. These fully involved parents, grandparent, and guardians prepare their children to be successful in school, and in life, no matter what obstacles they may encounter in the classroom or life.