Are you facing problems teaching your pre-schooler? May be we can help.

"How do you make em' stay
And listen to all you say? "

This famous line from the movie "Sound of Music" sums up the frustrations of the parents whilst introducing education to their preschooler. Every preschooler resists any kind of force. Reason would fall on deaf ears. If you expect your preschooler to be a dream kid, and willingly learn ABC, you are in for an unpleasant shock. You have to be innovative and imaginative. Just as you camouflage the bitter medicine in honey, learning has to come in the garb of play.

Don't let your child develop negative feelings towards learning, you'll have a more serious problem to tackle than you can possibly imagine. Just surround the child with positive learning stimuli. Play cassettes of nursery rhymes every day. Sing along and when your child begins to talk, encourage him to sing too. He will learn gradually.

Identifying Colours

Buy him toys in bright colours such as a yellow car, red ball, brown dog etc. Point out the colour of the toy you want him to fetch. Sunita Kapadia, mother of five-year-old Rohit says, " Much before Rohit went to pre-school he knew the primary colour as I would point out the colors of the toys he played with again and again. E.g. ` This is a red car, go get your blue ball' will teach your child both the colour and the name of the object.

As they grow older, make small funny rhymes with names of colours to teach them a colour and a value. For e.g. Red, red, don't pee in the bed; blue, blue, clean your shoe; green, green, keep the room clean. Gradually encourage them to make simple rhymes. You would do more than just teaching colours. You would be fuelling his imagination to think.

Decorate a large box with colourful fabric or paper. Make a large hole on top. Drop various objects into the box. The objects should be those with which your child is familiar. Then ask him to dip his hand in the box and feel an object and identify it. Gradually ask him to describe the object.

Prepare photo cards with one visual or more. Ask your child to identify each photo, describe it and gradually lead him/her to weave a story around the photo.

Learning can be made into an enjoyable experience. You will be able to achieve a lot through play than by structured learning. Learning through play will ensure that your child doesn't miss out on the fun element and the entire procedure will be a pleasant one. Later when he begins formal education, the process of learning will not appear as drudgery.

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