Creating a Literacy Environment                                       Developing Language Skills

Reading Activities                                                               Math Activities

Extending the Story                                                             Activities

Emerging Writing Skills
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Creating a Literacy Environment

Set a small space aside for reading.  This can have a couple of large pillows for you and your child to sit on.  Add a small bookcase containing books you and your child have collected from garage sales, gifts, book clubs, or the store. Visit the library on a regular basis for story time and to borrow books.  Make sure your child selects books that are age appropriate and of interest to them. Have your child tell you a story using a picture as a guide.  These pictures can come from magazines, books, or greeting cards. Include children when you make a list, such as groceries shopping or to-do lists. Point out words on signs, boxes, magazines, etc. Write down your child’s words when they make up a story from memory or pictures. Encourage family and friends to send your child e-mail messages. Ask child to make predictions concerning the story and then read to see if they come true.  At some point in the book just pause and ask your child “What do you think will happen next?”  Making predictions is a very important reading skill. Make sure your child sees you read something every day. A first step to independent reading is “pretend reading”.  Repeated reading of a child’s favorite book will lead to pretend reading as well as expand the child’s vocabulary. Make sure your child has a choice.  Let them choice the book or reading activity they are most interested in performing.  By giving them a choice, they will maximize their own learning.  They will not feel forced to perform a task that may have very little meaning to them.  If your child chooses a book that is too advanced, describe what is going on instead of reading the print.  You can also let your child read the book to you by making up words to go along with the picture.  Do not be alarmed if the words do not match the pictures.  Everything is a learning process and your child may not have the experience to accurately relate what is going on in the picture. Choose books for preschoolers with easy to grasp stories and colorful characters.  Books on ABC’s, numbers, and other beginning “concept” books are good choices.  Nursery rhyme books are also good choices, since learning to rhyme is an indicator of reading readiness.  Of course, always try and get books on your child’s interests and hobbies. To make listening to a story more fun use different voices.  This will help your child comprehend the nuances of a story. If your continually child begs for one more story at bedtime try giving them a book and see if they will read on their own. Before beginning to read a book, show the child the title, author, title page, how to hold the book upright (not upside down), where to begin reading.  Point to each word as you read so that your child will understand that words have sounds and make up a sentence.

 
 

Reading- these activities will assist preschooler’s emerging literacy skills

Gritty Letters Materials: sand or salt, shoe box lid, letter cards Procedure: Pour sand or salt into the lid of a shoe box, select a letter cards and have child draw the letter in the sand. If necessary, you can direct the child’s hand for the first few times and then allow the child to practice on their own.

Letter Bingo Materials: cards with a 9 square grid, dried beans, call letters Procedure: Write a letter in each square of the cards, draw the call letters one at a time and place a bean on each of the letters that appear on your card.  Allow your child to see and touch the letter card so they may better match their letter.  You can play till all letters are matched, only the corners are matched, or a line across, down, or diagonally is matched.

Fishing for Letters  Materials: construction paper, fish pattern, magnets (try and find the magnet rolls which are one single strip and can be cut with scissors, they also have a sticky side), washer, string, and a dowel, clear contact paper Procedure: Trace the fish pattern on the construction paper (you will need 52 fishes when done) and cut out.  On half of the fish write one capital letter and on the other half of the fish write the lower case letter.  Cut a small piece of the magnet and stick to the side of the fish that is blank.  Tie one end the string to the dowel and the other end to the washer. Play: Scatter the fish on the floor letter side down.  You may want to begin with all capital letters or all small letters. Later you can mix them up.  Use the dowel as a fishing rod and pick up a fish. If the letter is said correctly the child may keep the fish.  The fish is thrown back if the child does not identify the letter correctly.  The person who catches the most fish wins. Variation I:  Add the sound.  To keep the fish, the child must say the letter correctly and give the corresponding sound. Variation II: Tell a word that begins with that sound.  If the child catches a fish with the letter “S” they must tell you a word that begins with the letter “S”.

Touchy Feely Letters  Materials: letter tracers, scissors, sandpaper, cotton balls, poster board Procedure: To make rough feeling letters: Trace letters onto sheets of sandpaper and cut them out.  You will also need to trace the same letters onto poster board.  Glue the sandpaper letters to the poster board letters.  The next set of letters are soft feeling letters.  Trace the letters onto the poster board and cut out.  Pull the cotton balls apart and glue onto the letters cut from the poster board.  Allow your child to trace the letters with their finger while saying them out loud.  As your child says the letter, help them to think of words that begin with that letter.  As they improve, encourage them to say words on their own.  You may want to give hints and describe objects for them to guess.

 
 
 

Extending the Story

These activities are listed to give you ideas to make reading come alive for your child.  The more exciting books are the more your child will want to read.  These are just a few ideas and I am sure you will be able to see many ways to add projects to you and your child’s reading time.  You do not have to do an extended activity each time you read a book.  Reading should be for fun and when necessary relaxing.  These are just activities to perform on the weekend or a rainy afternoon.

 
 

The Three Little Pigs Ever wonder if the house made from bricks is the strongest?  Why not re-enact the story with you child.  You will need to improvise just a little.

First read the story and discuss the different building materials.  Which do you think is the heaviest? (straw, sticks, or bricks)  Can you really blow down a house made of straw? What about sticks or bricks?  Which house took longer to build?  After the discussion, build small houses out of the different materials.  This is where you may need to improvise.

To build the straw house, cut some bristles from a broom. (Trim the dirty end of the bristles.)  Lean the pieces of straw together like a hut or lean-to.

To build the house made of sticks, simply gather some twigs from your yard or park and build in the same fashion as the straw house.

To build the brick house, gather some small stones and stack them one upon the other in a square shape.

Now blow really hard and see which houses you can blow down.

Be sure to discuss the results of your experiment after your child blows down the houses.

 
 

Little Red Riding Hood  Take the book Little Red Riding Hood along with a picnic basket to the park.  Sit under a tree and read the book.  After reading the book, enjoy a nice basket of food.  While eating, discuss the story and why this is fiction.  Talk about the parts of the story that are not real and why they could never be true

 

The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar by Eric Carle  After reading the story, make a salad out of the vegetables the caterpillar ate.  Let your child assist with the salad and call out the ingredients in the order the caterpillar ate them (allow them to use the book as a guide.)  As you eat the salad, talk about rather or not a caterpillar really does turn into a butterfly.  Ask your child to describe any caterpillars and butterflies they may have seen.  Ask your child what other types of food the caterpillar might eat.

 
 

The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar by Eric Carle  Write your own book titled Very Hungary ______ Allow your child to choose the subject and to dictate the words to you.  They can always write about themselves along with all the things they like to eat.  After you have finished writing the story, help your child illustrate the book.  Read the book to each other as often as possible.

 
 

The Boy and The Quilt by Shirley Kurtz  This book contains simple to follow instructions on how to make a quilt.  You do not have to do anything this elaborate to extend the story.  Start with a heavy grade of paper such as a piece of cardboard.  Glue pieces of cloth to the cardboard.  If possible cut the fabric into shapes and overlap them to form a quilt square.  After the quilt square is dry, frame and hang on the wall.

 

Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk  After reading this book, follow up with your own tea party (this is wonderful if your child is having a friend over.)

Make Spider Cakes  Materials: cupcake, white frosting, 8 shoestring licorice pieces, and a gumdrop Procedure: Spread the icing on the top of the cupcake and place a gumdrop in the center.  Stick 4 of the shoestring licorice  pieces on each side of the cupcake.  Eat Up!

Teddy Bear Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy  Read the book while eating teddy grahams.  Encourage your child to read the book to his/her teddy bear(s).

 

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl  After reading the book, look for dandelions to for your child to blow.  If the season has passed or you can not find any dandelions, let your child blow bubbles.  Discuss how the bubbles float on the breeze just like the seeds.  Talk about important the wind is to plant seeds and wonder how far the seeds can blow.

 
 
 

Emerging Writing Skills
 
 
 

Make sure your child has access to a variety of writing tools.  These should include pencils, crayons, markers, and different types of paper. Make sure your child has a place to write whenever the mood strikes. Allow your child to assist you in writing thank you notes. Encourage your child to dictate letters to you to send to relatives and friends. Let your child read their “scribbles” to you.  The scribbles may not resemble anything legible, but your child is beginning to understand that written characters make up words. Write down any stories your child makes up.  This will also encourage them to read on their own. Encourage your child to keep a journal.  They can draw a picture of something they did or would like to do.  Try not to set any parameters on their journals.  Allow your child to dictate a sentence or write one on their own concerning the picture.  A few minutes a day is all that is needed for this activity, so they could have a set time to write in their journal. Give children old deposit slips, address books, memo pads, etc. to write on during their pretend play. Make a book.  Fold several sheets of paper in half, then staple in the middle.  Have your child dictate a story for you or write one on their own.  Either way, make sure your child draws pictures related to the story for their own reference.  To get started, make a book with your child. For example, “The Snowman” pg. 1 Draw a picture of a house sitting in a field of snow.  Add some falling snow, a tree, and the moon.  Write a sentence concerning the picture.  You could write, “All night long, the snow fell.” Page 2 you could draw the house and two children.  Add the sentence “Lets build a snowman.”  Page 3 you could draw the children and the snowman with the sentence “The children built a big snowman.”  Page 4 could contain the snowman and a big bright sun.  The sentence could be “Boy is it hot!” The last page could contain just a puddle of water and ask the question “What happened to the snowman?”  The simpler the story the better.  Your child will enjoy reading the stories you write together over and over again. Praise your child’s inventive spelling.  Do not correct.  Your child is showing you that they are learning the relationship between print and speech.

 
 

Developing Language Skills

The following activities are offered to assist preschoolers in developing their language skills.  Most of these activities can be done in the car, waiting in line, and walking around the neighborhood.

Say nursery rhymes.  You may need to start and have your child echo what you say.  Then ask your child to repeat the words that rhyme.  They may not be able to in the beginning, but repeated often enough they will be able to tell you the nursery rhyme and the rhyming words if lots of encouragement is given.  When they get it right show excitement. Choose a color.  Look around the room you are in and pick a color.  Ask your child to name everything they see that has that color. Describe that object.  Pick an object and ask your child to describe it.  In the beginning, you may need to ask leading questions, such as: What color is it?  It is as big as a …  What is it used for? Etc. What do you see?  Show your child a picture.  While looking at the picture, describe what you see.  Ask your child what they see.  Now, hide the picture and ask your child what they remember seeing in the picture.  Encourage them to use complete sentences. Visit different places.  While at the zoo, park, museum, etc. try to encourage your child to tell you what they see.  Describe what you see to your child. What’s in the bag?  Place odds and ends in a bag.  The items can be anything (a lone sock, piece of yarn, cardboard roll from toilet paper, scrap of material, crayon, legos, etc.) Have your child reach into the bag and with their eyes closed choose an item.  The child describes the item and tries to guess what it is.  You may want to review the items in the bag before having your child choose an item.  Another way to play this game is to have your child choose an item with their eyes closed and you describe the item for your child to guess. I am looking for….. Before going for a walk, choose a color you will be looking for as you look around your neighborhood, shopping mall, or doing errands.  Try to see how many things of that color you can find.  Always use complete sentences. (I see a green car. or There goes a black cat.)  Encourage your child to use complete sentences when they spot their color.

 
 
 

Math Activities

Matching games. Help your child build thinking skills.  One way of matching is to allow your child to group the groceries into categories. (can food, fruit, vegetables, etc.) Sorting games. Also helps your child build thinking skills.  One game to play is to give your child a muffin tin and things to sort.  They can sort colored paper clips.  One color per muffin hole. Count.  Count everything.  Ask your child to count how many apples are in the bowl.  After they are finished, take one away and ask how many are left.  They may have to recount from the beginning, but after practice they will be able to tell you. Estimating.  Place no more then 10 like items (m&m’s, beans, pennies, etc) in a clear cup.  Ask your child how many objects they think are in the cup.  After they guess, count the objects and see how close they are to the exact amount.  As they improve, add more objects. I am thinking of a number.  Tell your child that you are thinking of a number between 1-5 or 1-10.  When they make their first guess, tell them higher or lower. Once they understand higher and lower, change to more than and less than.  As their skills improve use numbers greater than 10.  This is a great game to play anywhere or at anytime. Take away Box.  Prepare a box with about 10 items (less if your child is only 3 or is having a hard time counting items.)  Place a stack of index cards with one number per card written on it.  Child draws a card and removes that number of objects from the box.  Be sure to count out loud with your child. Money Game.  Place 3-5 coins in your hand.  Let your child see them.  Close your hand and have your child guess how many of each type of coins were in your hand.

 

Activities
 
 
 

Color Search Tell your child you are going on a color search.  Each person will go around the house and gather up items of a color they choose before going on their search. To make the game easier, give your child a bag to place the items in to carry. You may want to set a limit as to how many items each person will bring back, since the items will have to be put back in their proper place.  After you have gathered all the items, take them out of the bag.  Name each item and their color as they are removed from the bag.  When the bag is empty, count the items and place them in groupings. (all clothing articles in one group, toys in another).  After the game is complete see who can put the items back into their proper places the quickest.  Make sure you view each others work and make comments on how well or not the items were put back.

 

Old MacDonald Had a Farm  Materials: farm animal cards Procedure: As you and your child sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm have your child point or pick up  the card that represents the animal sound.

 
 

KayDee@KayDeesplace.com

 

 

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