Video transcript

[Mum and child are sitting on the floor together sorting coloured pencils]

Mum: You’ve got yellow, you’ve got blue, you’ve got pink. What other colour should we make a pile for?

Narrator: Learning comes in many shapes and sizes, and learning opportunities are everywhere. You can use everyday items in many different ways to help your child learn different things. When your child helps sort pencils, he can try sorting them by colour, size or shape.

Narrator: You can help your child to learn about words, ideas and concepts by playing together.

[Mum and child are sitting on the floor together playing with opposites cards]

Mum: What’s the opposite of open? You pick one. Good girl.

Narrator: If you've got memory cards or opposites cards, you can talk about the pictures on the cards as you play, and about what the word ‘opposite’ means.

Mum: Let’s pick another one. The opposite of high is.... ?

Daughter: Low.

Mum: Good girl. You’re doing really well.

Narrator: If you don’t have a game, why not go on an adventure to find opposites around the house – hot and cold taps, inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, upside down and right way up.

[Another mum and child sit on the floor drawing. Girl writes the letter A and draws a picture]

Daughter: A.

Mum: Good girl. Oh, beautiful darling.

Narrator: Children love to draw and write with pens, pencils, markers and crayons. Adding a scribble or a drawing to a birthday card or learning to write the letters of their name can be great fun. Playing like this helps children develop the fine motor skills they need for writing as they get older.

[Mum and child count coat hangers]

Narrator: Numbers and letters are everywhere, and it helps if you use them with your child in everyday life. When you are putting the clothes away, count the coat hangers with your child. This teaches her about connecting numbers with objects.

[Mum helps her daughter read a counting book]

Mum: Can you tell me how many frogs are on that page?

Daughter: One.

Mum: Good girl.

Narrator: When you're reading, point to the letters and numbers in the book. You can use the opportunity to talk about where else you see those letters and numbers. Are they on your letterbox or in your phone number? Which letter does your child’s name start with? By showing that numbers and letters are useful in the real world, you can start your child on the road to using them herself.

Mum: Back again: 1, 2 ...

Daughter: 3.

Mum: Good girl.

Narrator: If possible, it's good to have a box or bookshelf where your child can choose a book to read.

[Dad and daughter are sitting the couch. The girl picks a shape book from her own bookshelf and reads through the shapes]

Dad [reading the cover]: Shape book. Learn the shapes. [Points to a picture] What’s that one?

Daughter: Oval.

Dad: Good girl. What’s that one? The bed shape?

Daughter: Umm...

Dad: Remember? Rectangle.

Daughter: Rectangle.