Bounce and run, time for fun

4 - 6 years
Everyday ways to help your child with literacy and numeracy
Father and child playing tennis

Developed in partnership with Education Services Australia

Sports and games are full of opportunities to develop your child's vocabulary and counting skills while having fun. These ideas will get you started:

  • think of sport-related words that begin with a certain letter
    While we're driving to the beach, let's try to think of five swimming-related words that begin with 'b', then 'e', then 'a', then 'c', then 'h'.
  • as you're playing or watching a sport together, notice all the different verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs
    What did the commentator say instead of 'bounce'? That's right, 'dribble'  what a cool verb! Let's go outside and practise our dribbling!
    Do you think we know more nouns for cricket or gymnastics? Let's make a list over dinner.
  • play guessing games on a sports theme
    You use me to play tennis. What am I?
  • challenge your child to count in different patterns while playing ball games
    Let's count each bounce of the ball: 1, 2, 3, ... 
    Too easy, let's count two for each throw: 2, 4, 6, 8, ...
    Great, now count backwards from twenty for each catch: 20, 19, 18, ... Can we get to zero before we drop the ball?
  • measure how long it takes your child to run a certain distance, then ask your child to measure for you.
    Let's time how quickly you can run to the tree and back. Wow, 12 seconds, that's fast. My turn!



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Last modified
7 April 2020