Ask The Preschool Teacher: Question 127

9/13/01 Question 127

Dear Preschool Teacher,
I'm having trouble coming up with some ideas about telephone activity with (3) year olds. Can you please help me?
Off The Hook

Dear Off The Hook,
     Three year olds like to pretend to do what their parents and teachers do. They may be too young to memorize their phone numbers but you can try it!
      Make a play phone book. Just put random phone numbers on the pages and see if the children can recognize numbers. If you want to use real phone numbers, you should get permission from the parents first (in writing)!
      Number play is a good skill to use with a telephone. Practice calling the emergency number in your area, but warn the children it must be an emergency and give some examples.
Jackie
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"

Dear Off The Hook,
     You could play the game "telephone" where each person whispers a message to the person next to them, then at the end compares to what was actually said.
    You could begin to teach them their phone numbers.
    You could talk about telephone manners and practice answering the phone.
    You could talk about "911" and safety.
    You could make a paper telephone and use cut up sponges for the buttons on the phone.
    Don't expect perfection from these little ones, just think of it as a first exposure!
Kris P
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"