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Build on What You Watch: A Triangle for Learning
 Young children learn by doing - by interacting with the people and objects around them. To learn, they need to experience things again and again. They need to play, to manipulate, to group and repeat.
To get the most from the TV you and your children watch, create a Ready To Learn learning triangle. Our learning triangle is TV that teaches + storybooks + activities - all related to one theme or skill. The learning triangle can follow any order, at any time.
For instance:
If a program you watch takes you on a tour of a pretzel factory:
- Make pretzels at home, either real ones of dough or pretend ones of play dough or clay.
- Make a recipe chart of the ingredients needed to make pretzels and talk about measuring and sequencing.
- Before or after watching the program, read a book such as "Bread, Bread, Bread" by Ann Morris.
- Make a game out of twisting your body up like a pretzel.
Choose Smart TV
Smart TV - TV that teaches - does so because it is a good match between the social, emotional and cognitive developmental skills of an audience. A 3-year-old is learning very different skills than a 6-year-old. Use a VCR to tape a show and then pick out the pieces that deal with the very things your children are learning about. While you're watching, ask questions, sing along, make predictions about what will happen and have fun!
Extend the Learning with Books
Find books that are a good match to the topics and concepts of the TV show or segments you watch. Don't be afraid to read the same stories again and again. Read aloud each day to encourage children to look at books on their own.
Do Activities to Build on What You've Watched
The learning can grow through activities that are a good match to the theme or skill taught in the TV segment you watch or storybook you read.
Art activities, outdoor play, science experiments, math games, dramatic and creative play, language and word play, music and even the routines of everyday living like walks in the park and cooking dinner - all of these can become learning activities.
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