Pre-School Resources - Phoenix Education Centre

Pre-School Learning

Easy activities parents can do at home

The NI Pre‑School Curriculum is built around play‑based, holistic learning that supports children’s natural development and curiosity.

Below is a simple, ready‑to‑use sheet you can print or keep on your phone.

1. Personal, social & emotional development

Goal: Build confidence, independence, friendships, and emotional awareness.

Try at home:

Feelings Talk: Ask “How are you feeling today?” and let your child choose or draw an emotion face.
Helping Hands: Give small responsibilities (tidy toys, help set table).
Play Dates: Encourage sharing and turn‑taking through play.

2. Physical development & movement

Goal: Develop coordination, balance, strength, and fine motor control.

Try at home:

Gross Motor Play: Jumping, hopping, dancing to music.
Fine Motor Fun: Threading beads, using tweezers to pick up pasta, playdough squeezing. Bing Videos
Outdoor Time: Nature walk, ball‑throwing, climbing safely.

3. Language development

Goal: Build listening, communication, early literacy, and vocabulary skills.

Try at home:

Story Time: Read daily; talk about pictures and ask “What do you think happens next?”
Chatty Moments: Describe what you see on walks (“Look! A big red bus!”).
Name Writing Practice: Encourage drawing and mark‑making—they don’t need perfect letters yet.

4. Early mathematical experiences

Goal: Develop early number, shape, pattern and problem‑solving skills.

Try at home:

Sorting Games: Sort toys by colour, size, type.
Counting Everywhere: Count steps, apples, cars driving by.
Pattern Play: Make simple patterns with blocks or socks (e.g., red‑blue‑red‑blue).

5. The arts

Goal: Encourage creativity, imagination, music, and expressive play.

Try at home:

Art Station: Crayons, paints, collage materials—focus on creativity, not the end product.
Music Time: Sing nursery rhymes, clap rhythms, dance freely.
Imaginative Play: Dress‑up, pretend shops, puppet shows.

6. The world around us

Goal: Develop awareness of the environment, people, nature, and early science concepts.

Try at home:

Nature Hunt: Look for leaves, insects, clouds—talk about what you notice.
Water Play: Pouring, measuring, floating/sinking objects.
Real‑World Involvement: Bake together, plant seeds, explore how things work.

A typical daily learning routine (optional)

Short, natural play-based chunks that fit real family life.

Free play (20–30 mins)
Story time (10 mins)
Outdoor play (20 mins)
Creative activity (10–15 mins)
Snack + self-help skills (independence practice)
Calm time/quiet play (10 mins)

Key principles of the NI pre school curriculum

Parents can keep these in mind during everyday interactions:

Children learn best through play and hands‑on experiences [ccea.org.uk]
Learning should be holistic, not rigidly academic at this age [daynurseries.co.uk]
Focus on what children can do, building confidence and independence [daynurseries.co.uk]
Adults support learning through interaction, encouragement, and observing interests [daynurseries.co.uk]

Pre-School English

1. Listening & attention

Goal: Help your child listen carefully, follow simple instructions, and tune into sounds.

Try at home:

Listening Walk: Go outside and listen for birds, cars, wind, dogs. Ask: “What did you hear?”
Simple Instruction Games: “Touch your toes… now find something red.”
Sound Matching: Make animal noises; let your child guess the animal.

2. Talking & communication

Goal: Build vocabulary, encourage conversation, and help children express ideas.

Try at home:

Daily Chat: Talk about everyday life — shopping, cooking, getting dressed.
Open Questions: “What was your favourite part of today?”, “What do you think will happen next?”
New Words Game: Introduce words like smooth, bumpy, gigantic during play.

3. Stories, books & early literacy

Goal: Develop an interest in books, storytelling, and understanding print.

Try at home:

Shared Reading: Read daily. Pause to talk about pictures, characters, feelings.
Prediction Play: “What do you think happens next?”
Environmental Print: Point out signs, labels, logos when out and about.

4. Mark making & early writing

Goal: Encourage drawing, scribbling, and early attempts at writing — all important pre‑writing skills.

Try at home:

Drawing Time: Provide crayons, chalk, paint — let them explore freely.
Name Play: Write your child’s name and let them trace or cover letters with stickers.
Writing in Different Materials: Shaving foam, sand, mud, rice trays.

5. Early phonological awareness

Goal: Help children notice sounds in words — the earliest step before phonics.

Try at home:

Rhyme Time: Sing rhyming songs (Twinkle Twinkle, Humpty Dumpty).
Silly Rhymes: Make up rhymes together: “cat–hat–zat–brat!”
Sound Spotting: Play “I spy” using sounds, not letters: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with mmmm”.

6. Imaginative & pretend play

Goal: Build storytelling, vocabulary, and confidence expressing ideas.

Try at home:

Role Play: Shops, doctors, superheroes, cafés — encourage conversation.
Puppet Stories: Use teddies to retell favourite stories.
Story Builder: Start a sentence and let your child finish it:
“Once upon a time there was a tiny dragon who…”

A simple daily english rich routine

Morning chat: Talk about plans for the day
Story time: 10 minutes
Play: Pretend play or small toy storytelling
Outdoor listening walk: Even 5 minutes
Mark‑making moment: Drawing or tracing
Bedtime story: Relaxing language exposure

Pre-School Maths

1. Counting & number awareness

Goal: Help your child recognise small quantities, begin counting, and understand “how many”.

Try at home:

Count Together: Count steps, apples, cars, toys during tidy-up time.
Snack Maths: “How many grapes do you have? If you eat one, how many left?”
Number Hunt: Look for numbers on doors, buses, shops, remote controls.

2. Sorting & matching

Goal: Build early problem‑solving by grouping items based on similarities.

Try at home:

Laundry Sorting: Sort socks by colour/pattern.
Toy Sorting: Sort toy animals by size or type.
Nature Sorting: Leaves, stones, sticks — sort by size, colour, texture.

This supports the curriculum focus on early categorisation and problem‑solving through hands‑on play.

3. Shape & space

Goal: Help children notice shapes, spatial language, and properties of objects.

Try at home:

Shape Hunt: Find circles, squares, and triangles around the house.
Building: Use blocks or boxes to build towers — talk about tall, short, under, on top.

Puzzle Play: Jigsaws encourage shape recognition and matching (highlighted in NI pre‑school guidance).

4. Pattern & sequencing

Goal: Support early reasoning by recognising and creating patterns.

Try at home:

Simple Patterns: Make sock patterns (stripy/plain/stripy/plain), or block patterns.
Rhythm Patterns: Clap‑clap‑tap, clap‑clap‑tap — ask your child to copy.
Nature Patterns: Arrange stones/leaves into repeating sequences.

5. Early measurement concepts

Goal: Build awareness of size, weight, capacity, and comparison.

Try at home:

Water Play: Use containers to explore full/empty/half-full.
Size Talk: Compare “bigger/smaller”, “heavier/lighter” using toys or groceries.
Baking Together: Pouring, measuring, and scooping help develop mathematical language.

These kinds of experiences are encouraged in the NI curriculum through real-life, play‑based activities.

6. Problem solving through play

Goal: Encourage thinking skills, decision-making, and perseverance.

Try at home:

Construction Challenges: “Can you build a bridge for your car?”
Obstacle Courses: Work out how to get over/under/around objects.
Everyday Questions: “How can we share these biscuits so we both have the same?”

The NI guidance emphasises ongoing problem‑solving and hands‑on learning opportunities to build reasoning skills.

A simple maths rich daily routine