We spend time almost every day right now playing a game that A calls ‘milestones.’ It’s the system we’ve devised so that he can cycle in the neighbourhood without getting too far away from us. The basic premise is very simple: we agree ‘milestones’ that he will ride ahead to, and then stop completely while we catch up. On busy stretches, the milestones are very close together. In the park, they are farther apart. The game is obviously very good for developing willpower and patience - having to stop at a milestone and wait when you really feel like zooming ahead is hard! - but the game is also fantastic at developing listening skills and receptive language, which helps with reading readiness and information processing.
When we’re out and about, I try to find something more interesting to serve as a milestone than a black lamppost or the next car - a bright yellow skip, a white brick fence, a tree with many pruned limbs. If I sense that A is in the right mood I will ask him to suggest milestones, and they are usually fantastically descriptive and show he is observing his environment very carefully: his are usually things like “the dark red car that needs a wash, on the left” or “the blue door house with the growing flowers”. We go the same routes frequently so I try to see what new things I can spot along the way, to make sure that A needs to keep listening to my instructions rather than riding along to the usual stopping point.
waiting for his next instruction…
Around age 3 is when many children begin to have a huge explosion into language skills, including laying the foundations for reading. The series of Montessori “I Spy” games rely on receptive language skills to help children decipher the sounds within words. A is very strong in his expressive language skills, but the focus required for receptive language is something he could use more practice with. Games like our cycling milestones strengthen the overall ‘listening muscle’ and help grow his ability to quickly process information that he hears, all while giving him some of the gross motor activity that he really needs.
Listening games cross over into our mindfulness practice - the silence game, mindful listening to the garden birds, or to a single note decaying on the piano. Like receptive language games, these practices help A to learn how to focus on an aspect of his surroundings and to grow his patience, but the mindfulness exercises are focused on noticing the environment as a means of increasing feelings of calm.
Some other receptive language games you could try:
A drawing instruction game: give instructions to draw fast/slow, with straight or jagged lines, with specific colours
A movement instruction game: hop like a rabbit, run to the small white cushion, hold your left hand over your head
Board games like Listen To Clues are great for both descriptive and receptive language development