First twelve months after giving birth to my daughter my focus was largely on taking care of her, we did do the reading aloud, listening to rhymes etc. But immunizations, starting solids, motor skill development like turning over and crawling etc were the biggest concerns. Apart from the physical developments I was always concerned about the mental development of my daughter. Research show that the first five years of life a child develops 90% of their adult-size brain. And children may fall behind in both academic and social skills if they are not exposed to the right kinds of intellectual, emotional, and physical stimulation. (Talk about pressure eh!!)
So I started looking for various creative and out-of-the box teaching methods along with the tradition methods of teaching.
We all know that first step towards reading and writing is Letter Recognition. I wanted to surround Saanvi with a variety of activities and books based on alphabets to make her familiar with them. We had books, foam letters and numbers, alphabet silly bands, magnetic letters, puzzles, blocks etc.
Bath time Foam letters
were the biggest success in teaching her letter recognition. Using Foam alphabets and numbers, bath time was fun and educative. We played with those foam shapes everyday for months. And every time she remembered some new letters and numbers and colors. Hunting for letters in the bath-tub and then pasting it on the tiles was fun for her. We also practised sorting out colors in the process.
were the biggest success in teaching her letter recognition. Using Foam alphabets and numbers, bath time was fun and educative. We played with those foam shapes everyday for months. And every time she remembered some new letters and numbers and colors. Hunting for letters in the bath-tub and then pasting it on the tiles was fun for her. We also practised sorting out colors in the process. I used to think she will be bored of doing the same activity everyday. But to my surprise she loved the predictability of knowing what activity we will do during bath time. She would jump into the bath-tub and pour out all the letters in the tub indicating me to start playing. Later I read a research that showed that kids react differently to Repetition than adults. For them repetition isn't boring because each time they do a familiar activity they experience it in a completely different way. First she learned the names of the letters, then she learned to associate the name of letter with its appearance, then the sequence of letters (reinforced by ABC song and books).
Another toy that helped Saanvi to associate letter with their name is Leapfrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set
This toy is very multisensory - auditory, visual (color/letter), and tactile.
We pointed out letters in rooms, outside, in books, catalogs, shop fronts, signs, anywhere and everywhere. We stamped letters on paper reciting their names, questioning her and asking her to help us figuring out what alphabet it is. 'Super Why' is one of our favourite shows which helped her pick up on alphabets as well.
Some of her favourite books for ABC's are
Some informative articles and website:
Things I have learned from the process and articles:
1. Keep it simple, keep it fun.
2. If a child gets bored, move on to another activity.
3. Surround kids with activity-rich environment.
4. Read aloud regularly, kids like a routine.
5. Let them lead the activity.
6. Most importantly have FUN.
What is the favourite toy or activity your kid prefers for learning ABC's?
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