Learning Through Play

As the new school year approaches - in whatever format it may take - I can't help but think about September 2019 when my nephew started Kindergarten. During Back to School Night, his teacher announced that the children would be expected to learn 90 sight words by the end of Kindergarten. Throughout the year, he struggled with various aspects of school; who could have guessed that the toddler that refused to speak would be such a chatty 5 year old! By March he had settled down and was doing really well. Then life changed for everyone. Like most parents, my sister-in-law turned into a full time teacher to a Pre-schooler and Kindergartener, in addition to everything else that she does. Trying to teach those sight words became a bit of a trial. We brainstormed a ways to make reinforcing them fun. Here are a few ideas that may help make learning letters, numbers, shapes, and sight words a little more playful:

• 
  Use play dough or shaving cream to make letters, numbers, or even spell out sight words. When playing with shaving cream, children can write with their finger or a popsicle stick. These activities are also a great way to help develop fine motor skills.
  
  
  
  
• If your children are like my nephews, they seem to have boundless energy. Challenge that energy by having them use their gross motor skills. Create a game by writing sight words on the driveway or large pieces of paper and have your child jump on the words that you call out. Miss Andrea from Hickory Corner put a different spin on this and had her daughter throw water balloons on the sight words.
  
  
  
• 
  Go on a sound hunt in your house; place letters in muffin tins, baskets, or bins and challenge your child to find items that start with those letters.
  
  
• Write a few sight words on a balloon; each player must read the sight word closest to him/her before tossing the balloon to the next player.
  
  
• Play bingo with letters, numbers, shapes, or sight words.
  
  
• To help with counting and number identification, turn paper cups upside down and write numbers on the bottom of the cup. Poke the corresponding number of holes in what is now the top of the cup. Have your child count out the correct number of pipe cleaners and poke them through the holes.
  
  
• Use numerical flashcards and count out the correct amount by building with blocks/LEGOs, or create piles with any small manipulative that you have around the house.
  
  
• 
  Add a little math to snack time and count out the number of fruit snacks, chips, cookies, carrots, or whatever snack you may prefer. Practice a little subtraction or counting backwards as your child eats.
  
  
• Create shapes out of glow sticks, popsicle sticks, or pipe cleaners.

Here are few books that will also help to develop letter, number, and shape recognition, all available at the Mercer County Library System:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming

Dr Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert

SuperHero ABC by Bob McLeod

Bob Books. Sight Words, Kindergarten. Stage 1 Starting to Read by Lynn Maslen Kertell

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews

Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 by Bill Martin Jr.

Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Shapes with Little Fish by Lucy Cousins

- by Michelle C., Robbinsville Branch