Getting Ready to Go Out

Materials You Need: None

What You Can Do Together: When you go outdoors (to play or go to the shops, etc.), consider make a game out of getting ready. You can say something like, “Let’s get ready to go out. Can you get your hat and a ball?” or “Will you put on your sweater and open the door?” Use two or three different tasks or directions, making it fun and creating steps to do before you do something fun together. Thank your child for following these directions.

At other times during your daily routines, you can also help your child carry out tasks in this way — for example, when getting ready for sleep (“Please get your toothbrush and turn the water on.”)

What Your Child is Learning: Your child’s thinking is improving as he or she learns to remember more than one direction at the same time. Also, your child is improving their understanding of words and sentences, which strengthens language and literacy development.