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THREE IN A ROW
Skill Development: Alphabetical sequence.
Construction: Make 26 alphabet cards about the size of regular playing cards. Write a letter on each card and shuffle the deck.
Playing the game: Two or three people can play this game. Each player is given 3 cards and the rest of the deck is stacked in the center. The object of the game is to get 3 cards with letters that are in sequential order. In turn, each player takes one card from the top of the stack until he or she can put down three cards that have sequential letters. Each time a player draws a card from the stack, he or she must discard one of the cards in their hand. Players should never have more than 3 cards. The player may or may not use the card that is drawn from the deck. For example, a player who has d and e in his hand needs either c or f to win the game.
I AM THINKING
Skill Development: Perception of Rhyme
Activity: Start by talking about words that rhyme like pat and rat or can and man. Then say "I am thinking of a word that rhymes with bag. It is red, white, and blue. What is the word?" (Flag) When your child is comfortable let them try to make up some for you to guess. This is a great activity for riding in the car or at the grocery store.
TONGUE TWISTERS
Skill Development: Auditory Perception of Initial Consonants
Activity: Make up sentences in which the same sound occurs more than once in the initial position. For example, "Betty baked a big batch of butterscotch brownies". Ask your child to identify the sound that is heard most. Let your child make up their own sentences. Challenge your child to create longer and longer sentences. You can also try to say them 10 times fast or draw a picture to illustrate the tongue twister.
ALPHABET DICE
Skill Development: Alphabetical Sequence
Construction: Cover 4 dice with masking tape. Write one letter of the alphabet on each side of each die, from A to Z. Fill in the four remaining sides with any letters you would like.
Activity: Choose one die and roll it. The person must then say the next four letters in sequential order. Example: The die lands on the letter T. The person must be able to say U, V, W, X.
PACKING MY BAG
Skill Development: Understanding of Initial Consonants.
Activity: The adult makes up the first sentence about a place they can travel to. The child will then finish the second sentence by naming things that they would take with them. The first letter of each item must begin with the same sound as the place they are visiting. For example, the adult might say, "I'm going to the farm." The child might say, "I'm bringing a friend, food, a fish, and a fox."
RHYME TIME
Skill Development: Rhyming
Activity: The first person in the group says a word. Then go around the group each saying a word that rhymes with the first word. You go around the group until there are no rhyming words left. Then the person who thought of the last rhyming word says a new word to rhyme with.
PLAY WITH YOUR WORDS
Skill Development: Encouraging children to play with language.
Activity: These books from the Reading Rockets web site encourage children to find rhymes, hidden letters, tongue twisters, plays on meaning and missing punctuation. When you sit down with one of these books you are sure to have some word play fun!
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Busy Buzzing Bumblebees & Other Tongue Twisters By: Alvin Schwartz (Ages 6-9)
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Gooney Bird Greene By: Lois Lowry (Ages 9-12)
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Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives By: Ruth Heller (Ages 6-9)
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My Very First Mother Goose By: Rosemary Wells (Ages 0-3)
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On Beyond Zebra By: Dr. Seuss (Ages 3-6)
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Punctuation Takes a Vacation By: Robin Pulver (Ages 6-9)
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Scranimals By: Jack Prelutsky (Ages 6-9)
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The Hidden Alphabet By: Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Ages 3-6)
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The Wonderful O By: James Thurber (Ages 6-9)
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There's a Frog in My Throat: 440 Animal Sayings a Little Bird Told Me By: Loreen Leedy, Pat Street (Ages 6-9)
SURPRISE BOX
Skill Development: Auditory Perception of Initial Consonants
Activity: Fill a small box with items such as an eraser, a pen, small toys, a spoon, a key, etc. Start the activity by having the children pull out an object one at a time. The player must name the object and then give another word that begins with the same sound. Each correct word is worth 2 points. To make this activity a little harder you could have the players rhyme with the object they have picked.
COLLAGE FUN
Skill Development: Auditory Perception of Initial Consonants, Reading Readiness
Activity: Choose any letter of the alphabet and write it in the middle of a blank piece of paper. (Construction paper works best.) Then talk about the letter and the sound it makes with your child. Then let your child look through magazines and cut out pictures of things that start with the letter you have written on the paper. You could make this activity more of a challenge by writing a word instead of a letter and having your child look for pictures that rhyme with that word.
PICTURE THIS
Skill Development: Oral Language Development
Activity: Cut out a picture from a magazine of something that you child is not familiar with. For example the picture could be of a family at the beach. Discuss what is happening in the picture, including the main idea, the people, colors, animals, feelings and objects in the picture. You could even help your child make up a short story to go along with the picture.
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