Animal figurines, dolls, action figures, cars. Do these seem like toys your child enjoys working with? Maybe you have thought, How can I make these toys educational? or I really need to work with my child on their reading skills, but they are only interested in cars. We have a game you might be interested in, one that has been tested, tried, and loved by children in the classrooms here at Living Montessori!

Turn their toys into a fun interactive game that will help them with their pre-reading skills (with variations for children who can already read)!

Benefits:

Builds phonological awareness, builds interest in working with letters, and allows your child to get creative with things they already have.

Materials:

Items from around your home (toys, kitchen tools, art supplies, etc.), Letters (for variation).

Instructions:

1. Sit with your child with a basket of items (or toys) from around your home. Allow them to look at the objects before you begin.
2. Tell your child to close their eyes while you hide the items (still somewhat visible).
3. Tell your child I spy something that begins with the sound ______. Can you find it?

Age/Difficulty Variations:

• For younger children (Infants-2 years), do not hide the items. Place them all in front of the child at the same time. Use very few items to begin with. For infants, you may begin using letters only, to develop early phonological awareness before you name beginning sounds of items.
• For older children (Ages 5-Elementary), ask for the ending or middle sound in the word. Use more items. (Ex. I spy something that ends with the sound ______. Can you find it?) Try incorporating items that a child might not know a lot about. For example, do this in the kitchen, and have them find objects that are used for cooking.

Note:

In the Montessori classroom, we teach the sounds of letters, not the names of the letters. We want a child to recognize that E says Eh not EE.

Check out more about pre-reading activities and reading readiness by Montessori by June Reading Readiness Guide.

We hope you and your child enjoyed your day 2 activity of the 15 Days of Winter Break Activities series! Show us how the activity went by tagging us in pictures on Instagram and Facebook!
Instagram: @ lmeclife
Facebook: @ Living Montessori Education Community

Coming Next For Day 3: Melting Snowballs Experiment!

You will need baking soda, water, vinegar, a container or tray, and a baster/Pipette or Pitcher.