Search
User login
Topic “Early Years (0-5yrs)”
Early Years (0 to 5 years)
Use a visual timetable
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using a visual timetable Home made visual timetable with 'finished' box or envelope and Velcro strip. Set of laminated symbols for timetable activities e.g. 'swimming', 'maths', 'carpet time' with scratchy Velcro on the back. You can create symbols cards in PowerPoint with the Commtap Symboliser. | 1. Make a long cardboard strip approximately 10cm wide and 60cm long. Attach a 'FINISHED' box or plastic envelop at the bottom of the strip. 2. Stick a strip of soft Velcro along the centre of the long laminated strip e.g.
3. Arrange symbols of the activities a child will cover for - say - a morning down the Velcro strip. 4. Just before an activity starts help the child put the relevant symbol into the 'I am doing this now' area at the top of the laminated strip. This shows the child what to expect to happen now. 5. When the activity is over help the child remove the symbol for the 'I am doing this now' area and post it into the 'FINISHED' box or envelope. Help the child take the next symbol and put it into the 'I am doing this now' area etc. | This technique helps children understand what is going to happen during the day. Use it with children who are anxious about change or find understanding class routines difficult. It is best to set up a visual timetable before the child comes into school and to set it up for a limited period say from arrival until the first play and then from after play until lunch and then a final set up for the afternoon period. Children sometimes try to alter the timetable to suit themselves e.g. putting play up near the top! This is not allowed! Only the adult in charge can change the order on a visual timetable. If following the set timetable for a given period is very difficult for a child you can make it easier by shortening the time a child must spend on each activity - but each activity must be done a little bit. You can try with just two activities (now/next) see the now/next visual timetable activity below. | |
| Now/next visual timetable "Now /next" visual timetable with 'finished' box or envelope and Velcro strip. Set of laminated photos for timetable activities e.g. 'story', 'outside', 'carpet time' with Velcro on the back. | If the child is resistant to some of the activities it's important to use clear consistent language e.g."first story, then sand". Being able to see a motivating activity coming up may mean that the child is happier to engage in less motivating activities. |
follows familiar routines
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| At playtime puts on/off coat | Make a picture of child with coat on and coat off. Laminate if possible. Show the child the relevant picture before/after play and help take coat on/off. As you do use the same phrase to describe your action e.g. 'Coat on' or 'Coat off'. As child becomes used to this routine stand back a little and see if the child will do own coat? Will child do own coat if you just ask without using the pictures and eventually will the child follow the routine appropriately with no support? | Be consistent with using the picture supports and using the same phrases to describe actions. Allow the child time to make an attempt - even if the coat is wrong way round - if this happens - praise the child for trying e.g 'Good putting coat on - you want more help' |
| At tidy up time puts things away Tidy up box/bag Toys to tidy | ||
| Line up time Picture of line up time |
able to join in action songs with a group of children
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Old MacDonald Pictures of animals A good singing voice!! | Children sit in a circle and start to sing. After, "and on that farm he had a......" a child is chosen to choose a picture and sign the animal. Group continues to sing. Next verse a different child chooses an animal | Always encourage the child to sign the animal name alongside the other children. Ask the child "What's that?" when they choose the animal picture so the child is given an opportunity to spontaneously sign the animal. |
| Wheels on the bus Card with prompts for actions (optional) | Child can point to the card or do an action to indicate which verse to sing next. Give choices, "Shall we sing wipers or wheels next?" etc. | |
| If you're happy and you know it Card with prompts for actions: clap/stamp etc. (optional) | Child can point to the card or do an action to indicate which verse to sing next. Give choices, "Shall we clap or stamp next?" etc. |
turn taking
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Feelie bag Interesting small toys in a bag | Sit child and one other child on chairs in a small circle. Make a show of bringing out the 'feelie bag' and shaking it. Put your hand in and take out a toy. Use it briefly and hand to the child next to you. When this child has had a short go say 'Share with a friend' and if necessary help the child hand the toy over to a peer. Say 'Good sharing' as the child hands over the toy. When a toy has been seen by all offer the bag to a child to put their hand in and take out a toy for sharing Keep going round in the circle till all the toys have been seen | Keep up the pace of these activities so that children don't get too tense having to wait their turn Reward 'good waiting' and 'good sharing' with lots of praise - maybe even a sticker. Some children find waiting very hard and will be helped by having something to hold a small sponge, or squashy ball etc. This is handed over for their turn with the toy and given back after they have passed the toy on. |
| Snack time Small food items e.g. crisps, cut up fruit, biscuits | ||
| Physical games |
Same and different
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Identifying a group of identical things as the same and a final object as different A group of identical objects e.g. red lego bricks/coloured beakers/paint brushes and an object that is quite different. Pictures of identical things e.g. lots of pictures of apples/shoes from the computer. Or photo copy something a number of times Contrast with a different computer image or photo copied item. | Put out the identical objects one at a time and say 'Red lego, red lego' etc 'Look...........the same.' Use a sign/symbol/word to label the things as 'Same'. Make a show of the item that is different. Label as 'Different' with sign/symbol/word. Follow the same procedure with pictures as for working with objects. | Its easier to identify something as different when it is very different from others in the group Extend understanding of this concept to everyday e.g. comment on children who have the same anorak/shoes/dinner and then contrast with a child who is different. |
| Barrier games Colouring -in pictures of house/car/child/snowman etc | ||
| Snap Set of snap cards. |
Activities to develop categorising items by where you find them/location
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Soring by location activity | 1. Print and cut out the resource. 2. Choose how many categories your child is going to sort - it may be best to start with 2 or 3, before making it harder by adding extra categories. 3. Shuffle the items to be sorted. Each take a turn at choosing an item, naming it and placing in the correct location. 4. If your child is finding challenging to name items, use some of the strategies in the word finding information sheet linked above. | |
| Make a collage - Paper - Glue - A selection of pictures from your chosen category. |
Developing the skill of sorting items into categories
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sorting items by category - Printable category picture cards: Or use a seletion of your own real objects or pictures. | 1. Print and cut out the large category cards and the small picture cards. 2. Start by sorting items from teo different categories. 3. Place the picture cards from the categories face down. Explain to your child you are going to sort the items into groups. 4. Each take a turn at choosing a picture card, naming them item and placing it in the on the appropriate category card. 5. If your child is able to sort items into two catgories, next attemp items from three different categories. | If your child is finding this task challenging, you can help by searching for an item together.
If your child is able to do this activity, when they select a card, you could ask them to think of another item that belongs to that subcategory but is not in the picture cards. You could also move on to the activities that involve sorting items into subcategories - click here. |
Categories - to recognise the odd one out
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What's in the bag - Draw string bag - Sets of objects, for example: Groups of pens, cars, Lego bricks. - You could also use objects which differ markedly in texture, for example six normal pieces of paper and a piece of sandpaper. If you do not have obejcts available you could print out and use a selection of category cards below: | 1. Put a group of objects/pictures into a bag and add one clearly different object/picutre. 2. Take turns taking things out of the bag and saying/signing what they are. 3. Comment on the item that is different, for example "look... this is the odd one out" or "this is different" (look surprised, puzzled, make an exclamation). | |
| Odd one out pictures |
Fine motor skills to support writing skills
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Link Cubes Linkable cubes | Play games linking these together and pulling them apart. Who can build the biggest tower? | Have fun with the activities in this area. The activities are designed to build up both skill and strength with thumb and forefinger as a precursor to writing. . |
| Tweezers and clothes pegs Puppets Cotton wool Containers Tweezers Small things to pick up | Can the child put pegs on the puppet's hand/nose/arm etc? Can the child rescue the puppet from the clothes peg monster which has covered the puppet in pegs? Can the child be the clothes peg monster and cover the puppet in pegs? Can the child use tweezers to pull off bits of cotton wool and hide them/put them into a container/give them to a hungry puppet? Can the child feed a teddy small bits of paper balls/sponge etc using tweezers held in finger and thumb? | |
| Card Threading Lace and card with holes | Can the child follow a line to thread the lace through the pre-cut holes? Can the child undo the threading to start again? | |
| Necklaces Beads Threading lace | ||
| Toy nuts and bolts on a board. | ||
| Pegboard and pegs | ||
| Silly putty and small objects to hide | ||
| Stress balls | ||
| Bubble wrap | ||
| Shape sorter |
To order three daily events using pictures
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Picture sequences with first/next/last template This is a preparatory activity for working on sequencing daily events. See also the following (at www.commtap.org): Sequences three or more pictures; Sequences three pictures with first next last; Sequence pictures symbols words Materials required: Your own or commercially produced sequencing cards (e.g. Black Sheep press - see "general resources"), Colorcards - available from many educational suppliers) FIRST/LAST template which looks like this (leaving spaces to put the pictures): FIRST LAST FIRST/NEXT/LAST template, as follows (leave spaces for the pictures): FIRST NEXT LAST | 1. Use the first/last template to model the sequence of first and last. 2. Start with 2 picture sequences of a simple event e.g. 'rain falling' 'girl puts up umbrella'. 3. Talk about the pictures. Ask the child 'What is happening in the first picture?' Discuss the consequences of the first picture (getting wet) and what the girl does (puts up the umbrella) 4. Put the two pictures into the template: one in the FIRST column and the other in the LAST column. 5. Do this with a range of 2 sequence picture stories. 6. Turn the cards face down and take turns to turn them over and put them in the right part of the FIRST/LAST template. Can the child tell the story? 7. When the child is confident using the FIRST LAST template to order 2 picture sequences move onto using 3 picture sequences and use the FIRST/NEXT/LAST template. 8. Follow the procedure for working with 2 picture sequences. | Prepare materials in advance. Give a child time to familiarise him/herself with teaching materials and comment on them if needed before starting the learning activity. Give lots of praise. Correct mistakes gently! You can also look confused if the child tells the story in the wrong order. For children who are having difficulties grasping the connection between the picture sequence and an actual event, start with simple sequences you can actually act out - such as pouring a drink - and match a picture with each step of the sequence - e.g. (1) empty glass, full bottle, (2) pouring from bottle into the glass, (3) full glass, half empty bottle. |
| Photos of school life FIRST/NEXT/LAST template Photos of familiar aspects of school life (use a digital camera to take photos) | To help the child build links between the pictures and real events and their order, show them the pictures when the events are actually happening. |
Organise daily routine pictures on school and non school day
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sequencing Strips Pictures of activities relevant to a school day e.g. break time, different lessons Pictures of activities relevant to a weekend day e.g. going to the park, going to the shops A strip of card with Velcro on it, long enough to fit the whole sequence on it / timeline | 1. Start with just one set of pictures; the school day ones will have the least variation and so should be easier. 2. Go over what the pictures are first. 3. Have the child put them in the right order on the strip to fit their own day. 4. Discuss any variation in routines, and use sequencing language such as 'before, after, first, then, next'. Refer to time for well known points, e.g. start of school, lunch time, home time. Emphasise concepts of 'morning, afternoon, evening, night'. 5. Introduce pictures of activities at home and put in order for a weekend or holiday day. When the children are confident with this, you could give them all the pictures and have them sort them out. | If sequencing a whole day is too hard, either reduce the number of cards or reduce the task to just the morning or just the afternoon. You could also put some of the key markers on the strip, e.g. start school, lunch, go home. When the children are confident with the activity, discuss which things they do both on a school day and a non-school day. See also: "order three daily events using pictures" on www.commtap.org |
| Design an ideal day Pens / pencils Paper Glue Scissors | You may need to model this activity by talking about your ideal day. | |
| Commercially available activities Black Sheep Worksheets: There are several relevant packs, including 'times of the day' and 'days'. |
Name 2d shapes e.g. square
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Shape pairs A set of cards with shapes you are working on - say four with squares on, four with triangles on, four with rectangles on and four with circles on. |
| Make sure you have a go as well as the children. Take your go in the same way as they do, saying the name of the shape as you turn it over. If the child struggles to say the name of the shape, say it for them. Having lots of goes rather than labouring over one go is likely to be more satisfying for the children. Variations Shapes and object pictures Half the cards have the shape picture on, the other half have pictures of objects that are that shape (viewed from an angle that looks like that shape) - for example: book, iPad, ball, clock, door, coin, cheese triangle, end of Toblerone box, road warning sign. To make pairs, you now have to match a shape to an object picture. Call out the shapes for the objects and shape pictures as before. Object pictures |
| Models with 2D shapes Printed cards with pictures of the shapes and their names. Selection of 2D shapes. | Start with a small number of shapes - e.g. squares and triangles. |
Language of order in space eg first last middle end
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sammy Snake's Shopping Toy snake (or some other character) Basket 3 each of fruit, vegetables, cooked foods. Whiteboard and pen | 1. Set out the food in a row of 3, each different type on a different table. 2. Explain to the children that Sammy Snake is hungry, but doesn't know the names of the foods. He needs them to listen to what he says and go and get him the food he wants, in the basket. 3. The children take it in turn to go shopping with the basket. Sammy gives instructions e.g. 'I want the first fruit and the last vegetable'. 4. The children can take a turn to be Sammy. | |
| Monkey's Washing Monkey (or some other character) Washing line Pegs Some clothes (dolls clothes are good) | If any of the children have fine motor difficulties, you will need to help them with the pegs. You can also leave 3 pegs on the line to help with this. | |
| Wind up toys race 3 wind up toys 'beginning' 'middle' 'end' written on cards and finishing line ribbon First next last written on pictures of gold silver and bronze medals | Make sure the course isn't too long! You may need to help the children wind up the toys. You could keep score - e.g. how many times each toy came first / last. You could video them with a digital camera to add interest if necessary, or to use later. This activity will also help to build the link between order in space and order in time: the first toy over the line (time) will also be the first toy in the line of toys (space). | |
| Visual Timetable The visual timetable used in class, or in your small group / 1:1 session | This is not an activity in itself, but is easy to do when you are using the visual timetable. By doing this activity you are helping to build the link between order in space - the order of the items on the visual timetable - and order in time - the order in which the items are actually done. | |
| Life cycles Pictures sequences of simple animal life cycles First next last, beginning middle end prompt card / frame | This activity helps to build the link between order in time - the order in which simple events happen - and order in space - the order in which you put the steps in these events down on paper using the pictures. For more activities to build links between a sequence of pictures and events, see: sequences three pictures showing a practical activity and picture sequencing". |
Before and after in time
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Do the actions Imagination! | Play Simon Says, but change the rules. The important thing is not 'Simon' or 'no Simon' it is to get the actions right. Make sure you use the concepts 'before' and 'after' in the instructions and that the children do the steps in the same order that you do them. E.g. 'touch your head after you jump on the spot'. | At first you should choose to either work on "before" or "after". Once the children respond to each concept appropriately when used individually, use them contrastively, i.e. mix instructions containing "before" with others containing "after". Initially you may need to provide plenty of model responses yourself, you may need to build up the sentence to show how they work: for example say "jump on the spot", then "touch your head after you jump on the spot". Make sure the child listens to the whole instruction before doing it. Make sure that you give each instruction in one go, and not as several short ones. |
| What happened? | Initially provide the sentence to the student in a written format so that they can re-read the sentence and then circle what happened first in one colour and what happened second in another colour. If the student has difficulties with reading these sentences, put a picture symbol above each part of the sentence, for example someone eating a sandwich above "I ate my sandwich", an appropriate symbol for "after" and a picture symbol for "I finished my drink". Software is available for creating sentences like this, for example: https://symboliser.commtap.org. As the student becomes more confident provide the sentence with no visual support. |
Activities to develop the use of prepositions 'in', 'on' and 'under' in a short phrase.
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Hide the toy - Animal pictures or toys - Toy furniture: table, chair, bed. | 1. Place the furniture in front of the child. 2. Ask the child to tell you what to do with an animal of their choosing if they are able to use three word phrases. If they can only use two word phrases, select the toy for them and ask them to tell you where to put it. e.g. under table / on bed (two word level); cat under table / sheep on bed (three word level)
| Allow the child to explore materials and give time to respond to questions. Respond to however the child manages to get their message across (for example if they just point): you may need to demonstrate what you want the child to do using the appropriate language (e.g. "under (the) table"). After the child is familiar with the objects - you can make the task more difficult (and communicative) by putting a screen between the objects and the child whilst they give you an instruction. |
|
|
Support Commtap to keep it online
Thank you for visiting Commtap.
Commtap needs £5,000 per year to cover its basic running costs, we only have £1,000 left. Please make a donation now.
Please read this message as it is extremely important.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to host over 1,000 free activities to support speech, language, and communication development.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to provide free resources to address a wide range of communication needs, including limited speech or language, interaction challenges, and needs associated with conditions such as developmental language disorder, autism, and cerebral palsy.
- Visitor donations mean we can continue to provide resources to support the work of speech and language therapists, teachers, teaching assistants, parents, and carers.
It costs £5,000 a year to cover Commtap's basic day-to-day running costs. We have £1,000 left.
Right now, less than 1% of Commtap's visitors pay anything towards the running of the site.
We know that not everyone is able to afford to pay to access these resources, however, if you can, please make a minimum donation of £10 to keep the site going.
Thank you
Google ads on this page are provided by Google Adsense - and their presence does not imply any endorsement by Commtap. Report a problem with an ad on this page. Log in (for free) to avoid seeing Google ads.
