Wednesday

Language and Literacy for Little Learners

Recently I presented at an early childhood conference on the subjects of language and literacy for early learners.  I came up with and copied some really cool ideas for helping to teach young children about literacy and ways to increase language acquisition.  Below are some of the things I presented.  My favorite of all is the cute little "puppets" made simply from gloves, googly eye rings and some homemade hair (made from tying ribbon, string, rick-rack, etc. to simple ponytail holders).  Put all the gloves, eyes and hair in a plastic jar and let children come up with their own puppets.  Then encourage them to tell stories, etc. with their puppet. 


Jar of Puppets...sounds like an awesome rock band or something *wink*

The "hair" is made from a ponytail holder I found.


Ribbon and sparkly trim just tied onto a ponytail holder.  I also glued snowflake sequins to the ends of the ribbon.
My husband said this is Elsa from Frozen...can't you just see her singing "Let it Go"?




I call this one Neon-y...she's always very tired (yawns a lot)


Mother Nature (notice leaf sequins glued on to ribbon)
If this were a green glove, it could be a frog.  I made a cool one from a camouflage glove that looked like a giraffe.  The possibilities are endless! 



Alphabet Pizza: Glue red paper to a pizza pan and let children use magnetic letters on it.

Peeps Carrot and Letter Hunt: Make Peeps and carrots from felt.  Glue a magnet between two peeps and paint on eyes.  Glue two carrots together with a paperclip partially tucked inside.  Add another paperclip to the first one.  Place magnetic letters/numbers and carrots in a basket filled with shredded paper or Easter grass.  Let the Peep search for letters and carrots.



I Spy Game: throw a bunch of toys, nuts, bolts, Barbie shoes (always missing one from a pair!), and any smaller item you can find into a non-breakable jar.  Dump on the floor and play I Spy.  The fun part of this game is that it can continue to grow as you find more objects to add.  You can use this game to teach categorizing (by color, type, etc.), language building, and concentration.



Shelly

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