Lessons learned early provide the best foundation

Not long ago people believed the best age for early learning was 5 or 6.

Today, thanks to the work of respected doctors like T. Berry Brazelton, educators like Maria Montessori and observant parents, it's a commonly accepted and regularly observed fact that children are, indeed, receptive to learning almost from the time they're born.

There are plenty of public and private venues for early learning opportunities, including Montessori academies, and a huge variety of preschools. But there's also plenty that you can do at home to create a rich and stimulating environment for your young children. And you don't need a lot of fancy equipment.

Everyday activities, from routine chores to playtime, can provide a wealth of learning opportunities for even the very youngest children. Even the simplest chores, like emptying a trash can or putting away clothes, offer not only lessons in responsibility, but provide fine motor skills practice, and education in home economics and health. Letting small children help with cooking can lead to simple but effective lessons in science.

The kitchen actually provides one of the best early learning environments in your home. It can be everything from a science lab to a reading room to an art studio. For the smallest of children, the kitchen provides some wonderful sensory experiences -- just make them safe by doing the usual to keep small hands from hot surfaces and other things that hurt.

If you really want to keep your children busy and learning, throw together some edible play dough or let them string pasta beads. Here's a good twist on the traditional flour modeling clay recipe that your children can help you make:

Peanut Butter modeling clay

1 C. Peanut butter

1 C. Powdered Milk

1 C. Honey

1 C. Oatmeal

Mix all ingredients together and have fun!

Possibly a little messier but certainly fun is to let your children explore form and color with kitchen bubbles. A half cup of water and a half cup of dishwashing liquid, with a dash of vegetable oil can make dishwashing a whole lot of fun for everyone.

The rest of your home can also be a great early learning center. It really helps to keep the TV off as much as possible, for a number of reasons. Children who don't rely on TV for stimulation are a lot more likely to use their own imaginations to come up with things to do -- and if the only things they have to do are not only entertaining but educational, they benefit twice.

You can help make the TV less interesting by creating an environment where young children have easy access to books, paper, pencils and crayons, music they enjoy, puzzles and games.

Make sure toys actively engage children. Things like Legos, blocks and other manipulatives, clothes for playing dress up, fabric remnants and felt story boards will keep even very young children busy for hours.

And don't overlook boxes. Boxes are the next best thing to sliced bread, when it comes to young children. Big boxes can be houses, cars, airplanes, and turtle shells. Little boxes, like shoe boxes, can be turned into all sorts of things and used for sorting things as well.

Keep everything that's for your children where it can be reached, in low bookshelves and on small tables. Be sure to make lessons in responsibility achievable for your children by providing appropriate places for them to put everything away, too. And there's no need to buy a lot of things. Simply rotate items every few weeks. Very small children find old things new again when they disappear for a while and then suddenly reappear.

Do some educational decorating in your children's rooms. Instead of cartoon characters, consider putting up a world map, pictures of planets, and posters of plants and animals. Set up a big chalk or white board easel or paint a wall with chalkboard paint. (And be sure they know only their wall can be used in this way!).

And don't forget all the learning opportunities quite literally in your own backyard. Help your children collect bugs, flowers and leaves, identify things they see, create a nature journal or found object art, and marvel aloud at the world around you.

The opportunities for early learning at home are endless, and can provide some of the most memorable learning experiences for both you and your children.

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