Today our early literacy tip is on letter knowledge. You may think of letter knowledge as being able to write letters. Actually there is a lot to know related to letter knowledge long before children can write the letters. One aspect is recognizing shapes. Today I’ll be pointing out some fun ways we can help them recognize and talk about shapes.
Submitted by Saroj Ghoting
Craft: Give a piece of paper and crayon or marker to each child and adult. Each person can draw an oval for the body of the mouse. For the ears make an M or m. Let’s practice making an M in the air with our hand and arm.
Aside: Don’t worry about if your child does this exactly right or not. Enjoy making the mouse and help him squeak and talk. You can also talk about the shapes your child is drawing. Seeing shapes helps them recognize and draw letters as well.
Submitted by Saroj Ghoting
Title: Mouse Shapes by Ellen Walsh
Age Level: 2’s and 3’s; 4’s and 5’s
Craft: Have various shapes cut out, the same ones used in the book. Each PERSON gets a blank sheet of paper. Using shapes, they make a picture. Encourage the adults to talk about all the shapes and also about what they are making with the shapes, both their own picture and their child’s. The adult can write the child’s name on their the paper and find some of the shapes in the letters.
Adult Aside: Playing with shapes is one way to help your child see shapes in letters and to later identify the letters. For example, this is an N the first letter in your name. See how there is a triangle shampe betweenthe lines?
Submitted by Saroj Ghoting
Title: Mouse Shapes by Ellen Walsh
Age Level: 2’s and 3’s
Our next book is called Mouse Shapes. There’s a good story here and also lots of different shapes.
Adult Aside: Helping your child see shapes is the beginning of letter knowledge. We can see shapes in letters.
Submitted by Saroj Ghoting