Recommended Age: 3 years and onwards
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the adult must facilitate this game by giving oral instructions
Prerequisites
- The child must be able to listen to and follow instructions
- The child must know how to safely carry a chair
Materials
- A chair
Preparation
- Select a suitable chair to use for the exercise, preferably a child’s sized chair
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know you are going to be playing a game
- Let the child know that for this game we will be using a chair, invite the child to get the chair, indicating where they can place the chair
- Begin by asking the child to sit ‘ON’ the chair
- Now ask the child to stand ‘BEHIND’ the chair
- Then ask the child to stand ‘NEXT TO’ the chair
- Ask the child to sit ‘BEHIND’ the chair
- Ask the child to put a finger ‘ON’ the leg of the chair
- Continue giving the child instructions relating to the function of the preposition
- When the child has had sufficient experience invite the child to return the chair to its place
- Transition the child to their next activity
Variations
- If the child is reading they may look for prepositions in books
- When the child is playing with their toys for example blocks, you approach the child asking if you can play a game with them. Begin giving the child instructions for example, can you put the blue block ‘on top’ of the red block, now can you put a green block ‘next to’ the blue block etc
Notes
- By giving the young child, as early as 2 and ½ years many experiences with oral language games, the child is indirectly preparing for reading. Games which focus on the function of words help the child to understand how language is constructed and the way which sentences are built.
- This activity helps the child become aware of the function of the preposition as a word that indicates the relationship
