What do kindergarteners like

Even without rain boots. Get out the glitter glue and make a birthday card for your child. Take in a pet that needs a home —and a child's love.

Give your toddler a chance to fight his own battles in the sandbox or on the playground before you intervene. Hold off with the barrage of how-was-your-day questions if your child comes home from school grumpy and tired.

You can always get the rundown at the dinner table. Cultivate your own rituals and traditions: Taco Tuesdays, Sunday-afternoon bike ride, apple picking every fall. Ask your kid to teach you how to do something for a change. And once you get the hang of it, be sure to tell him what a good teacher he is.

Let your child wear her dress-up clothes to the supermarket. All month if she wants to. Let your child overhear you saying something wonderful about her. Stay up late to see the full moon. Check when the next one will be on FarmersAlmanac. Print their childhood photos so they have something physical to look at one day.

Don't be in a hurry to tell your kid to let it go. He needs to vent too. Cook heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Crank up the music in the middle of homework and have a dance party. Listening to stories and singing songs are also high on threes' lists of likes. Books that have playful text and silly rhymes are almost sure to be a hit. It can be tiresome when a child insists on wearing only green shirts or sitting only in the blue chair.

It's important to be caring, understanding, and - above all - patient. Here are some ways to assist children in exploring their likes and dislikes:. Help children modify the environment to fit their preferences. Personal learning styles have an impact on the environments children feel comfortable in.

For example, some children will work best near the window where it's bright, while others prefer dimmer light. Help children choose from what is available. If a child can't have his favorite food for a snack, for example, guide him to pick the snack option he likes the most.

Support children's feelings. It's important to let children know that you understand their feelings and that you appreciate their preferences. For instance, you might say, "I know you really love dinosaurs, and we will play with the dinosaur models tomorrow, but now we are going to read about trains.

Mention a football team or a particular color and you'll quickly find out the strength of some kindergartners' likes and dislikes. While they've outgrown the rigid preferences of 2-year-olds, fives and sixes are still very particular about what they like and dislike. The major developmental difference that occurs is kindergartners' growing ability to analyze and express opinions.

Five- and 6-year-olds are making major leaps in the development of language, reasoning, and deduction. As part of this growth, the process of liking and disliking matures from an emotional response to higher-order thinking in which children use the skills of observation, comparison, and evaluation.

Whereas younger children will offer a simple yes or no when asked if they like something, kindergartners will explain why and how they like or dislike it. At this age, children are not only able to express their preferences but can also discuss and compare their likes and dislikes. As they talk and think about their preferences, kindergartners learn to express themselves and listen to others.

Most important, they learn that we all have our own likes and dislikes. Of course, these discussions can be problematic. Passionate opinions can clash, and feelings can get hurt. However, this is an important learning experience for children - part of having preferences is being able to express them and to accept other people's. These conflicts offer children a good opportunity to apply problem-solving skills and learn to discuss ideas openly and without judgment.

Discussing children's likes and dislikes helps them express and understand their preferences. Here are some suggestions to try:. Make sharing preferences a regular part of group discussions. Help children learn to share their preferences by asking them what they like and what they dislike about the activities, storybooks, songs, and other things that you experience together.

Guide children to explain their likes and dislikes. All kids have their own silly phrases or strange habits , but what is up with some of the random and weird stuff they ALL seem to love? I'm not talking about Elmo, Elsa, or Captain America here, either. I'm talking about the nontoy, noncandy, untraditionally fun stuff our kids just can't get enough of, and like nearly everything that comes with dealing with a small child, it's pretty much nonsense.

Fear not, mama — your little freak show is actually quite normal, because nearly every kid loves at least one of these completely random things. Though I'm willing to bet that most kids ahem, like my own can proudly check off all 16 from the list. Our Family newsletter is a little parenting cheat sheet, delivered to your inbox daily. View On One Page. Photo 0 of