Today, Veronika and I focused on two important words: in and out!

First, we played an in/out game with a basket. Fill the basket with any favorite toys, then alternate putting them in and taking them out. We started with a big pile.

One by one I moved the items inside. “In,” I said each time, as she watched. “Out” was more fun, because with each one, I handed it to her for some exploration.

Come on out, cricket!

I realized, though, that this version of the game involved way too many toys. There was so much to play with and touch that “in” and “out” got lost in the verbal shuffle.

Instead, we played a second round using her fantastic shape boxes; these were perfect, as each one (in rectangle, triangle, square, and circle varieties) contains only 4 items of the same shape.

This time I simply said “out out out” or “in in in.”

Once that’s done, you can still focus on these words all day! I made a point of saying the words everywhere we went: in and out of the car, in and out of buildings, in and out of bed, etc.

Think of all the ways you can teach the concept during the day, and make a point of emphasizing it for your child. He or she will soon tune right in to these two simple –  important! – words.