Concepts to teach a Preschooler

Now that my little on is nearing 2.5 years and attending preschool, I was wondering what all can I do with her, which will be both fun and educational. I spoke to many fellow mommies and searched online for various concepts and came up with the following list of things you can teach a preschooler!

I do many of these activities on a daily basis with my dotty and I'm quite happy to see she absorbs the concepts well and enjoys our learning time every evening. Apart from talking about them, one can download many worksheets available freely on the internet! I hope others can benefit from this!

Language: English/Regional Language Alphabet : speak all letters; recognise capital/written letters, know objects for each letter, phonics

Math: Counting 1-20, speaking numbers, recognise numerals, count objects, make groups

Time Days of the week, months of the year, seasons, time of day, day and night, birthday and age,

Activities: Nursery rhymes and stories,  art and craft, draw human figure, cooking, dance/singing, housework, wearing clothes,shoes and eating on your own, clean up own stuff, pattern writing, matching/pairing, sorting/categorization, jigsaw puzzles,

Personal Grooming and Info: Good habits and manners, table manners, washing hands/face/feet, brushing teeth twice a day, cover mouth when sneezing/coughing, good touch bad touch, self defense, greetings/sorry/please/thank you, know family members' names, know address and names of self, parents,  school, class, teacher etc., civic sense, boy and girl,

Vocabulary: Colours, shapes, fruits, vegetables, parts of body, vehicles, house objects, food and drink items, rooms in the house, clothes, animals, birds, jobs, plants, nature, animal sounds/babies/habitat, furniture, places in the city,

Concepts: more less, same different, position and size, emotions, full empty, before after, sequencing, many and few, part and whole, Opposites, left right, propositions, adjectives and adverbs, verbs,  direction, late early, old new, textures, taste hearing and smell, temperature, odd one out, money, computer parts.

Country/Culture (India for me): national anthem and song, prayer songs and shlokas, family relation names, places of worship/religion,panchtantra/jataka tales, basic facts about the country/city, festivals and their meaning,

Disclaimer: These ideas have emerged out of discussion and research, I do not proclaim any ownership or rights. Also this is just an indicative list to give parents an idea - you can make your own list as per your sensibilities and priorities!

Children or puppets/circus animal?

What is it with parents and their sudden urge to make a spectacle out of their kids in front of other people? I pity those poor toddlers who are made to stand in front of random strangers sometimes, so their parents/grandparents can show off their talents - "beta show aunty your eyes, nose, fingers, tongue.... give flying kiss, say hi, say namaste, say bye.." The drama goes on.

Is it a competition for the kids? "My kid knows more than other kids, is more intelligent/better?" or for the parents? "See I'm such an amazing parent I've taught my kid stuff ahead of his/her age!" What do we gain by doing this? Build confidence in the kid to face the big bad world ahead in life full of competition? Or feel good about our own parenting skills?

Honestly I don't know about how much this helps building confidence. I just see kids being hassled into learning stuff they might not even understand, and performing for every person they come across whether they feel like or not, just like circus animals. And I see highly competitive women who jealously shove their kids into other people's faces to feel superior. I just don't get the point.

Sure, one should teach the kid as much about the world around from day one, but for the benefit of the child, not for showoff. When will parents understand that this whole peer pressure, competition they worry their children will face in the future, is propagated by them only since the beginning? If only we weren't so competitive and judge everyone by certain fixed standards, our children would truly have more room to grow freely.