Right now, many of our students are at home more than they are at school. So today I’m sharing 5 life skills at home that families can do with their children. They’re quick and easy skills they can be working on around the house that require little pressure or prep. But, they’re also great skills for helping prepare our students as they grow, and to improve their independence.
1. Following a Recipe
So many of my students love when we cook in the classroom – or even anything to do with food! Following a recipe is a huge life skill – that has a lot of transferrable skills to other areas of our learning too.
The recipes can be as easy or as hard as you like – mix them up. Join in with your children and have fun with them. Let them be creative when they’re making their own cakes or pizzas.
Don’t forget this is the perfect time for lots of incidental language..
Roll. Mix. Soft. Hard. Cold. Hot. Spoon. Fork. Weigh. Crack. Slimy. etc.
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2. Looking After Pets
If you have pets at home, this is another great opportunity for your children to be working on life skills. Can they help to feed them? Change their water? Take the dog for a walk – also great for getting in some fresh air and exercise! What about bathing them? Grooming them? There are so many tasks to look after our pets everyday, and lots of great opportunities for us to involve our children.
I love to use the following resources with my students to help them understand about looking after pets;
3. Getting Dressed
Getting dressed is a skill that’s often overlooked for how important it is. It’s also a really hard skill for many of students in the sense of finding appropriate clothing to wear – nobody wants to be wearing a vest top and shorts in the middle of winter!
Through the year it can be really hard for us to work on skills like independently getting dressed. Especially if you’re on a time limit and you need to get out of the door by certain time. Having more time at home generally means you’re going to have more time to work on these skills.
Start simple – getting them to find a pair of socks to wear. Then each time they achieve a skill, add another item of clothing for them to independently get dressed with. Finally, once they can independently dress themselves, start encouraging them to choose clothing that’s appropriate for the weather.
This social narrative is always a great visual tool for me to use with my students to help them understand appropriate clothing in different types of weather.
I also like to use this one for my students to follow to help them get through the process of getting dressed independently.
4. Doing the Laundry
I don’t know about you, but here – theres always laundry to be done! Get your children involved and have them help you sort out the laundry, putting it into the washing machine. And then when it’s washed – get them to put it into the dryer or hung out on the line to dry.
Note: Be very careful of having children help put the powder/capsules inside – especially if you have children who would be tempted to play with/eat/smell it. I tend to just stick to the clothes sorting and having them help me push the buttons – another great opportunity to work on language.
I also like to use this task box activity with students to help them identify clean and dirty laundry.
5. Cleaning the Bedroom
In our classroom, everyone helps to tidy up. And this is a skill you can definitely work at home. One of the rooms that I always recommend to start with is their own bedroom.
We use this adapted book for students to follow along and clean up their bedroom. Nothing beats a clean bedroom – and it’s something that can have a hugely positive effect on our children.
Let your children take ownership of their bedroom – teach them how to look after it. To tidy up after themselves. And how to keep the area clean and tidy.
When you’re ready to progress to the rest of the house, this cleaning adapted book is the perfect visual tool to help your children.
Have you been working on life skills at home with your children? If so, share the skills you’ve been working on in the comments section below to give other families ideas.
I hope you found this blog post about life skills at home helpful. If so, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues on social media.
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