Sunday, June 26, 2011

Skip, Jump, Run: The Fun Way to Teach ABC



I taught Little T her ABC’s just after her second birthday. That was before I read David Elkind’s Much Too Early and researched on the benefits of delaying academic training. I have since backtracked and have committed to nurturing her creativity, sense of wonder, and imagination first for these precious early years.

However, to those of you who are about to tackle the alphabet, I wish to share how we did it. It was fun, fast, and easy!

INTRODUCE IT Write a letter clearly on an easel or a piece of paper and introduce it to your child. Make sure to give her time to examine it.

LOOK FOR IT Ask your child to look for the letter on an alphabet mat (like the one pictured above) or a manila paper divided into letter squares.

MASTER IT Children love to move. Once your child has become familiar with the letters, it’s time to remove the visual aid and just call out a letter one at a time with a matching movement activity. Run to D, wiggle to H, twirl to F, jump to Z, etc.

Apart from letter identification, this activity addresses your child’s need to move and develops her gross motor skillsspatial awareness, and listening skills as you give her clues on where it is: behind you, in front of you, near, far, etc.

We also used this technique to teach about colors and a little bit of number identification. Let me know how this works for you!  

Make magic!
mariel




Best Blogger Tips
  • Share On Facebook
  • Digg This Post
  • Stumble This Post
  • Tweet This Post
  • Save Tis Post To Delicious
  • Float This Post
  • Share On Reddit
  • Bookmark On Technorati
Blog Gadgets

6 comments:

sanne said...

mariel! i've been wanting to talk to you about this. thanks for the post! :)

Mariel said...

hi sanne! cosmic! glad to be sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

this looks really fun mariel! :)

Mariel @ The Learning Basket said...

Hi! I bought it at SM I think :) Yes, it's a complete set already :)

Rheea said...

I like the mat idea! Where did you get the alphabet mat? A set is the complete alphabet?

Guest said...

This sure is fun and easy! Thanks for sharing :)