Choose three things that happened
Your child can tell you about a trip to the park but gets stuck when the pictures are mixed up. Which part came first? What happened next? Three small pieces of paper give you something to move around while you talk it through together.
Choose an experience you both remember and pick three distinct events from it. They might be arriving at the park, playing on the swings and walking home. Follow what really happened rather than assuming the usual routine.
Draw one event on each piece of paper, or use simple pictures you already have. You don’t need family photographs, a printer or a purchased resource. Before arranging anything, ask your child what each picture shows. You can draw, label or move the cards while your child responds with words, gestures or pointing.
Put the pictures in order
Agree on where the sequence starts. You might put earlier events on the left and later events on the right. Mix up the pictures, then ask:
- What happened first?
- What happened after that?
- What helps you know?
Give your child time to move the pictures and tell you what happened. Listen to the explanation as well as looking at the final order. A comment such as “We played after we went through the gate” connects the arrangement to the experience.
Try using words such as first, before, then, after and later as you talk. There’s no need to add dates, read a clock or write sentences for this activity.
Try a toy rabbit story
If you’d rather use a story, try this fictional one: “A toy rabbit found a piece of paper, drew a picture on it, then put that picture on a shelf.”
Make three quick cards showing:
- The rabbit finding the paper.
- The rabbit drawing the picture.
- The rabbit putting the finished picture on the shelf.
Mix up the cards and arrange them as a story sequence. You might explain, “Drawing comes before putting the picture on the shelf because the story says the rabbit put the finished picture there.” Then invite your child to tell the story while pointing to the cards.
Talk about what the gaps mean
Place the cards in a clear row with even gaps so they’re easy to see. You could say: “The pictures show what happened before and after. The gaps don’t tell us how much time passed.”
This is called an unscaled timeline.
Make the conversation easier
If three cards feel like too much, begin with two. Talk about which event came first, then add the third if your child wants to keep going. If a drawing is unclear, work out together what it shows before deciding where it belongs.
You can also swap the rabbit’s drawing and shelf cards and ask, “Does this still match our story?” If your child isn’t sure, return to the words: “The rabbit put the finished picture on the shelf, so which card needs to come first?”
There’s no need to score the activity. Moving a card, pointing or explaining part of the sequence can all keep the conversation going.
A small Year 1 connection
The Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 Year 1 HASS skills include collecting, sorting and recording information using unscaled timelines, interpreting information and sharing narratives and observations. This little activity practises part of those skills. Recounting past events using time words also features in a NSW Stage 1 teaching example.
Tell the story once more
Invite your child to point to the pictures and say, “First … then … after that …” Listen for how they connect the arrangement to what happened. If you finish with two pictures and a shared explanation, that’s a reasonable place to stop.