By being able to navigate in time, a child can structure their day, understand the sequence of events and develop their planning skills.
For this reason, sooner or later parents are faced with the need to explain the concept of time to their little one, which sometimes becomes a real challenge for adults.
Below you will find tips to help you achieve this goal.
We tell the child what day, morning, evening and night are
The first step should be a simple explanation of time.
The easiest way for young children to learn the concepts of day and night is to start the conversation with your child's usual routine: at breakfast, say, "It's morning, the sun is up. That means a new day is beginning."
Then explain that morning is followed by day, then evening - at this time the sun gets tired and begins to prepare for sleep, and then night - at this time the sun sleeps.
Use only simple words and clear images in conversation. To help your child remember these terms, repeat them often.
The concepts of morning, afternoon, evening and night should be associated with everyday events that occur in the child's life.
Morning can be associated with the moment of awakening and breakfast, afternoon – with going to kindergarten and other things, evening – with returning home and dinner, night – with sleep.
This approach will help the child understand that the day is divided into four main periods.