At a very early age, toddlers observe and learn that their surroundings are filled with sequences, both at home and in their environment. Preschoolers find it interesting to notice these sequences and think about the patterns when they are taught this concept. With the right teaching methods, kids find it very easy to grasp this concept.
Sequencing is an important skill that lays a foundation for the development of reading as well as scientific inquiry. This concept helps children learn to observe and identify patterns that make their world more sensible and predictable. Let us guide you on how to teach your child this important skill with some important information and many ideas of sequencing games and sequencing activities for kindergarten.
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What is Sequencing Order?
Sequencing is the ability to understand how an event occur in a chronological order or as a series, and the approximate duration of those events. An example of duration might be, which takes longer, getting dressed or walking and driving to school?
Sequencing can also be defined as the ability to arrange language, thoughts, information, and actions in a certain order. Understanding sequencing of learning patterns, orders and series, depends heavily on the development of executive functioning skills like attention, organisation, planning, and working memory. Without successful sequencing skills, it’s difficult to follow instructions, speak properly, complete multi-step tasks, and solve problems.
Importance Of Sequencing For Preschoolers
Understanding sequences of events helps children recognize patterns and make sense of the world around them. Sequencing skills are a pre-cursor to learning how to tell time, but they’re also important to the development of other skills such as learning how to read sequences of letters.
Sequencing leads to success with so many daily activities! When children are able to use sequencing skills successfully, they can do the following:
- Recognise patterns
- Make predictions
- Put a series of objects or events in a logical order
- Understand transition words like first, next, and last
- Know the elements of a story like beginning, middle, and end
- Comprehend stories
- Retell stories and past events
- Put words and sounds together in the correct order to communicate
- Follow daily routines at home and school
- Approach an unfamiliar task in a logical manner
- Know when a task is completed
Story Sequencing
What Is Story Sequencing?
Story sequence is the order in which a bunch of events take place in a narrative. In simplest terms, sequencing a story means identifying the main components of a narrative, i.e. the beginning, middle, and end, as a first step towards telling the story in a logical order. Story sequencing is also a precursor for more sophisticated ways of understanding narrative text structure, such as determining cause and effect, which students will need to access more complex text.
Why Teach Story Sequence?
The ability to place events or steps in logical order is invaluable across the curriculum, whether it’s identifying the steps for solving a math problem or the series of events that led to a turning point in history. Learning story sequencing is important because:
- It gives kids the ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narrative texts.
- It enables retelling of a story, which in turn enables summarising.
- It promotes self-monitoring and rereading.
How To Teach Story Sequence
Story sequencing is often introduced and in preschool. Your child may already have knowledge about this, but may not be aware that they are engaging in story sequencing and picture sequencing. There are many ways to structure a sequencing lesson:
- Creating an anchor chart with student input to
- Having the students participate actively in “holding the pen” games
- Reorder movable pictures to practice picture sequencing.
- Read-aloud texts that work well for introducing story sequencing with straightforward narrative arcs and clear sequences of events
Sequencing Activities And Games for Pre-schoolers
Teaching a theory to a child becomes more interesting when you combine it with fun and interesting activities that can make it relatable for the kid. Activities like sequencing crafts and story telling games can help a child learn, understand and practise this skill in a fun and engaging manner, making learning more effective. Check out some engaging ways to teach sequence of events with activities to preschool children.
1. Build A Pyramid
Here is a DIY activity that will help your child practise sequencing. Take 4 cards and number them 1-4. Now, write instructions on how to build a pyramid. Add some pictures or draw an image to represent the various steps. Now shuffle the cards and hand them to your child to arrange them in the correct sequence order.
2. Following a Recipe
Recipes are a great way to teach sequencing and ordering.
For young children, write out a basic recipe on a sheet of paper or whiteboard and tick off the steps as you follow them. Flameless recipes are a good way to begin, for toddlers, like baking a pizza. Keep the ingredients like pizza base, sauce, grated cheese and chopped toppings ready. Let the sequence of assembly be their role.
3. Prepare A Chart Of Daily Routine
A nice way to teach kids about self care as well as sequencing is by getting them to make a chart of a morning routine. Start by brushing teeth, Having a bath, dressing up, combing hair, having breakfast, wearing socks and shoes, and leaving for school.
4. Photo story
Click lots of photographs of a fun weekend outing. Print the pictures and ask your child to arrange these pictures in the order in which the events took place. Apart from practicing temporal ordering, your child will also enjoy the memories of their fun day for a long time to come.
5. Plant A Bean
Kids will enjoy this activity as it brings them closer to nature. Guide them through the process of growing a bean, and let them draw the development in a sketchbook. On day 1, the bean will look just like a bean. On day 2, it will grow a little sprout. On day 7, it might have developed a longer sprout. At this stage, plant it in a small pot and let your child continue drawing how the sappling looks over the pot.
6. Weekend chore chart
This will prove to be a fun way to involve your child in weekend chores. On a large chart paper, write down a few chores that your child must do. Number them in sequence. As soon as your child finishes a chore, they must come and put a check mark next to it, denoting completion of the activity. Let them follow the sequencential order to complete all the tasks.
7. What comes first
Give your child a few pairs of cards and ask them to show what comes first. Eg. Mother comes first, next comes the child. Seed comes first, next comes the plant. Crayons come first, followed by a drawing made using the colours. Ingredients come before the final dish. And just for fun, also let them say what comes first, the chicken or the egg! Let us know if they were able to solve the paradox!
Also Read:
Why Your Child Needs to Learn Prime Numbers
Easy Ways to Teach Your Child Basic Counting
Number Names for Children to Improve Their Math Skills
