Play, Build, and Learn Spatial Relationships

Help your child with important vocabulary building by leading him through some easy, at-home activities that help him understand basic spatial relationships and the words used to describe them. Watch him acquire new vocabulary to express direction and position without even realizing that he's learning! These activities that involve building, ordering, and rearranging materials also develop strong observational skills.

What You Need:

• Empty boxes and canisters
• Paper
• Pencil

What You Do:

1. Have your child build and arrange objects that have been gathered from around the house as he pleases; explain visible spatial relationships, using the terms listed below. Can he build a school? A castle?
2. Go on walks together and discuss things he observes, such as playgrounds and buildings. How are they put together? Are the windows below the roof? Are there plants inside the buildings? Is the basketball court next to the slide?
3. Encourage him to assist you as you put away groceries and toys. Try rearranging some easy-to-move furniture, while using prepositions and other vocabulary to describe how objects relate to each other in terms of position and order. Once he has has gotten the hang of these new terms, challenge him to describe structures and objects' positions in terms of their spatial relationships. Is the toy truck near or far from the kitchen table? Is it above or below it?
4. Now it's time to practice with sight words! If you are doing this activity with a child in his beginning stages of reading, jot down some of the vocabulary listed below in large letters on separate pieces of paper. Read each word aloud with him, so that he can connect the spoken and written word for each new term.
5. Have him help you place words and phrases like "over," "under," "next to," "near," and "far" in appropriate locations around the room. For example, the word "under" can go under the table, while the word "between" can be placed between a chair and a table. Make sure you say each word aloud with him and reinforce its meaning as you continue through this exercise.

Vocabulary to use:

• Over
• Under
• Beneath
• Beside
• Near
• Against
• Along
• Around
• Next to
• Far
• Inside
• Outside
• Underneath
• Top
• Bottom
• Middle

Practice this important new concept often. It's important not to push a child who is getting frustrated or not ready to move onto more advanced learning. Instead, reinforce what he has already learned, and gradually add new ideas into the mix.