Concepts

Concepts are important words for children to understand to be able to follow directions, especially in kindergarten and first grade. These are words that give specific information about time, space or place, quality, and quantity. Teachers, parents, daycare providers, etc. use these little words all the time when they speak to children and often assume children automatically know what these words mean. This is a very wrong assumption to make, however, and these concepts can be learned easily with just a little time reading a book everyday.

Generally speaking, concepts of time and space usually are some of the first concepts children understand. If you are a parent or caregiver of children you will notice these words in the lists below. Some of the words listed below are later developing-around kidergarten age or so. Space concepts include words such as "on, in, off, under, over, below, above, up, down, next to, far, near, around, beside, underneath, in a row, seperated, together, lead, follow". Time concepts include words such as "first, last, second, third, fourth (etc.), next, before, after, day, week, month, hour, minute, during, following, while, begining, ending, start, finish, morning, evening, daytime, nighttime, early, late".

Quantity concepts include words such as "all, none, more, less, few, several, many, all gone, some, one, more than one, as many as". Quality concepts include many different describing words, like "healthy, ill, sick, well, big, little, small, large, dark (color), light (color), heavy (weight), light (weight), happy, sad, shiny, dull, hot, cold, warm, and all color words (such as red, blue, etc.)".

If toddlers and young children have difficulty understanding concepts, it becomes almost impossible for them to follow directions or understand conversations and other things people say. This can adversely affect learning in school as well as their ability to socialize with others.

I sat and read a book to my youngest son today called Go, Dog, Go!! In it are most of the concepts children learn as little two and three year olds. It is a great book for early concept development and I frequently tell the parents I work with to get a copy of this book to read to their children. It is rhythmical to read and there are not a lot of words on a page.

The pictures look a bit dated but they are cartoony and it keeps their attention because the dogs do silly things. I even get my son to point to different pictures I describe. We could spend hours with this one book every week. That's how much he loves it! So check it out at the library and see if your children like it. Like I said before, it's full of early developing, "easier" concepts children need to learn to be more successful communicators.

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