Letter M-N-O-P
Homeschooling should have the main objective to make our kids learn and recognize all the letters initially and their phonics sound later. By implementing one letter at a time, my objective is to make my kid understand and relate each letter properly by building lots of vocabulary.
Activities with Letter M
We started this week with the word MOTHER. Telling him all the things he should know about his mother and grandmother.
“Five little MONKEYS…….”. By singing and re-telling familiar rhymes and rhyming stories, we develop many skills in our kids like auditory discrimination, a rich range of language, concentration skills, listening skills oral storytelling/poetry skills, phonemic awareness.
Monster Play Playdough is great for little imaginative minds. There is no end to what kids can pretend with playdough. It encourages a multi-sensory experience. This week I took some printed sheets, playdough with lots of props (googly eyes, buttons, ice-cream sticks, toy molds, and more) my son make different funny monster faces.
Moon Stamping Stamp painting has many sensory benefits. It’s super fun and is no preparation activity. I took a sponge , cut it into the shape of a moon and stars, pasted it over a thick cardboard sheet and gave it to my naughty toddler with some paint colors. It was a great hit for my paint lover. Later we have a wonderful storytime discussing the moon and sky.
Mouse Tape Painting
Creating craft with a rhyme “Two little mouse……” Helped my son to relate many new words having lots of fun. Actually, for him it was just a painting , he was not aware that i have created letter M with tape. After painting when i removed the tape, his joyful suprised face was worth to see. Later I made mustache and my son sticked eyes and our mouse is ready.
Mushroom Colouring Scribbling and doodling is an important sign of development in children. Through them kids achieving various fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive milestones. So it’s better to mold them in correct directions. I gave him a mushroom printout , my son scribbled it with colors of his choice. Later he pasted the MUSHROOM cutouts together.
Activities with Letter N
Numbers are considered a basic step of learning. We have done number recognizing activities before,u can read my blog through the link click here. But this time we have done number train to teach him proper sequence. Puzzles always attract him so we have matched the puzzle numbers with the train. This was really fun with lots of learning.
Beads Necklace
Lacing the beads together is a very good activity for improving fine motor skills. There are various ways to play with it. My son gifted me a hand made necklace with lots of LOVE. Matching different patterns, counting, colour sorting are few ways to enhance lacing through beads.
Night Craft
I made some stars and moon and asked him to stick them on a black paper. We had a healthy discussion on the things we see in the night followed up with the rhyme “Twinkle twinkle little star”
Noodles Pretend Play
Playdough play had numerous advantages. And my son shows deep interest in cooking so he made tasty and colorful noodles for us. You can download these play dough free printables from here.
Newspaper Cutting These days Sadhya is much interested in cutting with scissors. I was planning an activity to identify words and circle them but he started cutting it. And didn’t stopped him as he was enjoying it. Later i made some shapes and glued few newspaper stripes to it. My son enjoyed cutting it and forming various shapes.
Nest Painting
We made a nest through hand painting and some birds with finger painting. With which I thought him the importance of keeping bird feeder.
Activities with Letter O
Octopus Craft
Basic colour identification and counting activity. I added few dot numbers on different coloured strips and my son glued it with its matching number and formed a huge octopus with eight legs.
Ocean Flashcards
Ocean animals matching game. Learning about ocean animals is quite fun and with flashcards having attractive prints add more interests. My son matched animated ocean animals flashcards with the real images, very good visual discrimination activity.
Ocean Mask
Ocean world always excites kids . This week we learn lots of new things about ocean animals. Making and colouring ocean underwater mask was so much fun .Then we pretend played about the underwater life .
Onion Painting
Onion stamp painting was another engaging and learning activity for this week. My son gets facinated with vegetables , this week i made him learn about them, how they look from outside and inside, followed by painting.
Activities with Letter P
Pig Craft
I have arranged colouring printables for my son which improves his scribbling skills as well. He has made this PIG by colouring and pasting different parts together. And I have helped him in cutting.
And we enjoyed bookish play too as kids love peppa pig.
Paper crumbling craft
Paper crumpling enhanced fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination of our children. This time I made him learn the difference between fruits and veggies. Identifying the colours of vegetable printout we have and then crumbling paper to glue them together was very enggaging.
To build vocabulary we have played lots of games with different flashcards like- Parts of flower , community helpers, colour sorting , vegetables.
Concept behind was to help him relate objects with day to day lifes.
This is the end of this post. Hope you all find all the activities helpful and enggaging for your child also. Do try them with your kids and share your experiences with me.
Happy learning!
Letters of the Week!
We’re moving through the alphabets and we’ve reached the letter I, J, K & L. I hope these posts have been helpful and relieved some stress while planning these letters to your little ones.
Activities with Letter I
Insects pattern
I have printed some images of insects (if u are good at drawing u can make them with your own) and arranged them to form different patterns. I explained the concept to my son and asked him to rearrange them. It was a level up for him but he leant the concept.
I spy
We played I spy game and had a lot of fun. Whenever I say ‘I spy with my eye something beginning with I’, my son starts guessing the word beginning with the letter I. This is a great game to play with the whole family and can be played anywhere! I have also printed some of the worksheets on “I spy”, and we enjoyed learning numbers with it.
Icecream counting
Counting is great fun if we make it interesting. I made some ice cream cones and labelled them with numbers, initially from 1-5. I formed some coloured circles to look like ice cream scoops. My son has to read the number on the ice cream cone and count that many scoops to glue on the ice cream cone.
Icecream sudoku
Sudoku is actually a game that’s based on logical thinking. Kids learn to think logically as well as develop a mind and thinking process that is highly organized. I already had kids sudoku and my son loves to play with it. So this week we practised that. I have made DIY sudoku as well, will share it soon in my free printables post .
Ice Painting
Paints always play an important role to calm a cranky and angry toddler at my home. It’s the start of summer so this time we had some ice painting. All you have to do is add some water to an ice tray add your child’s favourite colours. Add a stick in between for proper grip freeze and they are ready. Let your child explore their imaginations.
Flashcards
I always prefer flashcards and worksheets, as a great source of learning . We also did some rhyme sessions while Listening, dancing and singing Incy- wincy spider with a rhyme mat.
Activities with Letter J
Jelly Beads Sensory Bin
The easiest way to play with jelly beads is to place them in a large bin and let your little one play with them. I have placed some lower case fridge
magnets along with colourful jelly beads . My little toddler has to place them back over the refrigerator. I have kept some distance between the fridge and the beads bin so that my super active toddler can have his physical workout too.
Jump
J is for JUMP and what’s better than a number jump…? It’s a combo of learning & fun. Jumping involves both sides of our brain and body work together to maintain balance and coordination. We have done a random number jump with a number Sequencing jump. The fun that we had can be seen in my sons face too.
Alphabet Jar
This is a phonics learning and a sensory bin activity where I have filled a jar with sabudana (as it’s my sons favourite) with some miniature alphabets. My Son has to recognise the alphabet and pronounce it beginning sound.
Jack n Jill
I never miss the Rhyme session as it plays an important role for kids development.
Joker Counting
Counting numbers and remembering their sequence is sometimes difficult for toddlers. I Printed some number worksheets, as new worksheets build interest too. Now my child has to find and match numbers, it’s a good one to increase visual discrimination and learning skills.
Joker Tangram
Tangram puzzles have tons of advantages. It helps children to learn problem-solving skills, geometrical concepts, and a lot more. I have used them to educate relationships on basic shapes.
Activities with Letter K
Kitchen Pretend Play
This is the most played pretend play game in my house. He prepares so many recipes and an advantage is he now knows almost all ingredients. Kitchen pretends play has lots of importance-
- It helps in Visual Recognition Of Shapes, Patterns And Colors.
- Increases Self-Confidence and builds their imagination.
- Builds teamwork .
- Teach preparation and cleanup responsibility.
Key Matching
Match the right key with its lock….Isn’t this sounds interesting…?
Again a very simple, no preparation activity. Good for Visual Recognition, build gripping and help in gross & fine motor skills.
Kinetic sand
Building & create imaginations and that too without creating a mess. Kinetic sand play is loved by every child and mom too. It helps to improve fine motor skills, encourages creative thinking and can be squish and squeeze easily.
Kite Counting
These days I focus on counting activities. So we tried the most famous K for Kite Counting. Different colours seem very attractive to kids. This is a very engaging and full of learning activity. I have taken different coloured papers and cut them in a diamond shape to make them resembles the shape of the kite. Few rectangular strips form the tails. My child has to identify the number written on the kite, count the rectangular strips and stick them to the diamond-shaped kite.
K Worksheet
Find the right path for the Kangaroo by encircling the letter K. We have done a wonderful rhyme session with “Two little kittens, lost their mittens…….” as well.
Activities with Letter L
Lacing Vegetables
- This is the best activity when it comes to engagement time. Plus there are lots of advantages as well-
- Improves eye-hand coordination.
- Builds pincer grip.
- Improves attention.
- Develops patience and perseverance.
Lacing is fun but it is not an easy task. Lacing toys are easily available on market but I used a DIY one took a printout of vegetables on thick paper. Punched holes with punching machine and our Lacing activity is ready with some ribbon or lace.
Lollipop Craft
These days Sadhya loves different flavours and colourful Lollipops. But due to lockdown, we are running out of stock. So we did a pretend-play
with paper plate by painting it and decorating with different colours to look like a Lollipop.
Ladybug Pattern Matching
I have made this to test his discrimination skills. Bonus is his joy and learning.
Lamp Colouring
I have drawn a lamp on big sheet and allowed Sadhya to colour it. Later we decorated it with paper quilling art.
Ludo
Summer’s are incomplete without ludo and snakes n ladder….. isn’t it…?
We too have a great family time playing with it.
Ladder
While playing with it we had revised the concept of big-small, counting, numbers and colours.
Lion Craft
Colour, cut and paste sheet.
Another one to beat tantrums. I will add the free printables in my blog, so you guys can download them and use them with your kids as well.
So there were all that we have planned for this week. Hope you all enjoyed reading it and found them useful to make your kids learn and engage. Do try them with your kids.
Happy learning!
How to teach Alphabets!
LETTER E, F, G & H
Activities with Letter E
Egg Stamping
A potato masher helped us a lot. We started by mixing some colours on a plate And then stamped the potato masher filled with colours on the white sheet. Leaving a colourful egg structure.
Elephant craft
The story session becomes, even more, interesting with an elephant prop. Yes, we made an elephant prop with a disposable plate. I gave my son paint and asked him to paint the plate and he hand-painted it creating a lot of mess. But the output created was fabulous.
Eggplant Worksheets
I printed some worksheets on directions. This was the first time we worked on directions. We had a good session, learning was average being a first timer.
Egg Number Counting
Count the number of eggs and place the number corresponding to it. Isn’t this sound interesting.? I made some small eggs from tissue paper(but my son choose chickpeas as smalls eggs). Draw some eggs representing the countable numbers. Ask your kid to count the eggs, identify the correct number, and place them on the nest. I have picture printables, you can draw them as well.
Flash cards for the body parts that starts with the letter E👁️💪👂
Activities with Letter F
Fish craft
F is for Fish we have done easy and interesting fish craft using ice cream sticks and had a gala story session too. Story sessions are very much needed to boost the listening skills of toddlers. They even foster their imagination. Increases their cultural understanding, Enhances their communication skills, and helps sharpen memory.
Farm animal sorting was another activity. The poem 🐔🐓”Old Macdonalds had a farm” 🦆🐝is loved by every kid. We sorted our worksheet reciting the same.
Flower Recognition These days flowers especially “Marigold” attract my son the most. Recognition and matching flowers worked well to improve his virtual discrimination skills.
Fruits play dough was another activity we had done this week. Did you also know that playdough helps kids to develop their cognitive skills, social and emotional skills? There are many other advantages of playdough. My son prepared play dough fruits and had a party with his buddies!
Activities with Letter G
So we took our session outdoors today making the best of the flexibility that homeschooling offers.
Giraffe craft – How could the session be complete with a G for the giraffe. And one looked lonely so extended the family. It was really great while doing this craft and pretending to eat tall trees leaves like giraffes.
Spot the surrounding objects – here are the things he spotted – garbage bin, green grass, green bushes and plant, grey cement, g for ground floor in the lift, and once we reached home he also realized he was wearing g for grey. Some books and worksheets to make him relate to objects better.
Activities with Letter H
H for holes – Sadhya is very much interested in punching holes. It’s a good activity to develop fine motor skills as well. So i made a gaint letter H with hard paper and allowed my son with punching machine.
Hand painting
Paint is always a big hit at my home. It helps to build many skills as well. We painted a beautiful hand-painted multicolored flower.
We learnt many new parts of HUMAN BODY
Gingerbread Alphabet House
I have a printed worksheet, it’s actually an alphabet match house worksheet. Prints are very attractive, so kids enjoy them a lot doing that. I told him the gingerbread man story to build his interest throughout the activity.
Rhyme Session
Nursery rhyme plays an important role in kid’s overall development. For about a week my son is listening to the rhyme, Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. This time I gave my son some colors with an earbud and a rhyme worksheet. Earbud’s painting is mess-free and will teach him to paint with discipline.
Hope you liked our alphabet series . Do try the activities with your kids too.
All the printed worksheets that I have used can also be made at home easily. But if u are not in the mood to draw them they are easily available on the internet. I have attached some links to my free printable blog!
Happy learning!
How to teach Alphabets in a fun way!
Do you have a toddler or a pre-schooler in your home? Do you find them difficult to teach? Do your kid runs away during their study time?
If you find YES to any of the above questions then read this article and try these activities. You kid will definitely find them interesting.
To make my son understand Alphabet and relate them to daily life, I have started an alphabet series. We did activities focusing on a single letter for a week.In this series, you will find playful alphabet activities which will increase your kid’s vocabulary, engagement time, and lots of FUN!
So let’s begin with the letter A. I have started with the letter A as it is the first letter and I wanted my son to remember the proper sequence too.
Activities with Letter A
Sand Painting
Tracing is the initial step for writing skills. I formed a big A and allowed my son to trace it with glue. Later I gave him some sand and thus he formed a giant sand letter A.
Animal Kingdom
With the help of some miniature animals, we have created an animal kingdom. Sorting wild and farm animals discussing their habitat,stories and food they eat.
PlayDough Apple Tree
Playdough has a lot of advantages in the development of kids. I printed a playdough alphabet mat, my son created apples and loaded the tree with lots of fruits. We also did apple counting with the same mats, for numbers 1-10.
Aeroplane Craft
Kids are always attracted to vehicles. To teach A is for AEROPLANE, i created aeroplane cut-outs from coloured papers. My son painted blue sky and clouds and stick the cut-outs in it. Painting with Craft is a big hit at my home it’s too much fun too!
DIY Alligator with Flash Cards
We had a visit to Zoo last weekend. From then my son was fascinated by the sharp and pointed teeth of wild animals. We painted 2 paper plates and glued them together to form the face of an alligator. Triangle cut-outs appear like the teeth.
Activities with Letter B
Bee Craft
This is one of the classic crafts that we had done. Online shopping boxes have given us lots of bubble wraps. I took a large piece of bubble wrap and folded it to form a square or triangle. You can tape it as well to maintain the shape throughout the activity. Give your toddler a few drops of yellow-brown and orange color in a plate and a withe sheet. Let your kids create their own imaginations. Stick some bee stickers at the end. This craft will give them knowledge of bee’s habitat too.
Basket With Buttons
B is for Buttons too. I give him a few of his shirts and asked him to button them up. It was a bit hard for him but practice made him complete his task. I introduced him to the buttoning toy as well. Later we made a basket full of flowers with various buttons talking about the different shape, colours,s and size.
Boat Rhymes
Creating a beautiful riverside set up with some paper boats, trees and stone will attract kids for the rhymes session. He has learnt to make the paper boat as well. Row, Row, Row your boat………
Belongings
We have done some worksheets to teach him the concept of belongings. This is a very important lesson and should be taught at this early stage as well!
Physical Basket Ball play
Physical outdoor play is equally important for the overall development of a child. We had a gala time and have learnt few words as well.
Activities with Letter C
Caterpillar Craft
My three-year-old son isn’t ready for handwriting practice yet, but I like to reinforce the shape of the letters by tracing them. He filled a giant letter C with colorful pom-poms creating a caterpillar.
Cookies Counting
I labeled some circular cardboard pieces with dot numbers and allowed my son to match the numbers with the circular cookies in the JAR drawn on paper. For him, it seems like counting cookie jar.
Cupcakes
Decorate the cupcake with playdough toppings. I took playdough alphabet mat and my son decorated it the way he wanted. Later he pretended to eat a few of them.
Car Tracing
The is one of his favorite activities. He asks to do this at least once a week. I just squirt washable tempera paint on the paper, and he drives his cars around while I get a little work done. This time i asked him to trace gaint alphabets!
Action Words with C
Building some practical words with art and craft is equally important. Reading books increase concentration as well. While learning I formed small storied related to the things he has done throughout the day.
Activities with Letter D
Donut Art
Another masterpiece created by my son. A cardboard shaped donut, few colours, and lots of imagination. If we ignore the mess this was a hit and so engaging!
Dice Counting
I labeled a blank die with the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. Then he rolled the die and colored that number on the DIY number sheet. This activity can be used for color and shape recognization as well. You can ask your toddler to form a circle or a triangle against the number on the DIY number sheet.
Doctor
Pretending is important in child development. Through pretend play/Dramatic play experiences are some of the first ways children learn about their likes and dislikes, their interests, and their abilities.
Dinosaurs Please refer the link for all the activities related to dinosaurs. LINK
And that’s our look at letter A, B , C & D. We hope you found some fun things to try!
I Will come up with more interesting FUN learning activities with other letters too. Till then,
Happy Learning!
HOW TO IMPROVE ARTICULATION IN TODDLERS
Is your toddler finding it difficult to articulate certain words? Are you looking for activities to enhance your little one’s speech proficiency?
If yes, then the article will be very helpful for you.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS ARTICLE
* Defining Articulation?
* Misarticulation Therapy
* TIPS & TRICKS to overcome an articulation
* Exercises
* Articulation Activities For Toddlers
What is articulation?
Articulation refers to a speech disorder. This can be of any type – delay in speech, poor sound production, omitting/ adding certain sounds or sentences, slurred speech, and more. Sometimes children find it difficult to utter certain sounds. In most cases, children outgrow these issues with the advancement of time. But if they exist for a longer time, then it can be an articulation problem. And you should contact a doctor or speech therapist. There are many reasons behind articulation problems in children such as weak muscles, less control over the tongue, problems in the respiratory system, or any kind of speech immaturity.
Misarticulation Therapy
This is one of the most-effective treatments for articulation problems.
The speech therapists diagnose the issue and explain the exact place and manners of articulation that are affecting the use of sounds. And then they work on the auditory process of those particular sounds. For instance, most kids face a problem with the words “r”, “ch”, “sh” so they will make your
child learn the right way to produce that particular sound.
Articulation is the process by which sounds are formed when your tongue, jaw, teeth, lips, and palate alter the air stream coming from the vocal folds.
It is not wise to expect a child to speak like an adult. A child will take his time to pronounce sounds. As teeth also play an important role to form
the sound. Kids produce sounds as per their teeth development. As air passes through the teeth gap missing a particular sound. Some sounds, such as “p,” “m,” and “b,” are learned in the initial years of age. Other sounds, like “s,” “r,’ and “l,” often are not completely mastered until the early school years. It is considered that children should make all the sounds of English by 8 years of age. Articulation problems may also be related to a weakness of the oral muscles, if it is so consult your doctor.
My Journey
When my son was about 2 years he started using sign language to explain his feelings. Being parents we often understand what he was trying to say, resulting he stopped saying few words that he used to say earlier. As time passed he sometimes becomes aggressive when we were not paying attention or understand his signs. As new parents, we got worried and consulted a doctor as if he might be having any problem in the vocal system (deep in the heart we were knowing that he is not having any disorder).
By GOD’s grace, everything was normal and thus we visited a speech therapist. Our speech therapist started with Hindi vowels. As most Hindi vowels/consonants are pronounced from the throat, upper pallet,
tough, lips, lower pallet, and teeth, this will help to strengthen vocal muscles. Along with speech therapy sessions I decided to work hard with my kid at home also.
Along with hindi varnmala, we tried some tricks and excercise too which helped us to overcome articulation issues:
Tricks
- Use clear and easy speech for your child to follow easily.
- Encourage kids by repeating the word they say correctly. This will boost their confidence too.
- Never repeat/imitate incorrect words said by your child.
- Always inspire your child to talk and interact with others.
- Don’t interrupt in between your child’s conversation.
- Use the misarticulated word correctly with emphasis. For Example: If the child says, “This is lellow colour,” you can say “Yes, that is a yellow colour. Is yellow is your favourite colour?. Would you like to have a yellow car?” And so on.
- Remember Encouragement here is like medicine.
- Use the targeted sound frequently.
- Encourage talking.
- Work patiently by focusing on one or two sounds for a week at a time.
- Playing is a good way to communicate and it also builds motor skills and many other benefits. Let your kid be a BOSS, follow his/her instructions, this will not only encourage them to speak but will build lots of confidence and will develop ruling skills.
- Hand gestures also play an important role, they will help the child to associate a word with a meaning and build their vocabulary.
Excercise
- Ask your kid to sweep his tongue as rapidly as they can from side to side across the upper teeth. Repeat at least 10 times.
- Stick the tongue out, extended as far as you can, and move it rapidly up and down. I made this one competition to give him some motivation.
- Stick honey or chocolate at the upper pallet of your kid’s mouth and ask them to lick it with their tough, this will strengthen their tongue.
- Apply their fav chocolate around the lips and let them lick them. I know this sounds messy but believe me it’s like an exercise with fun.
- Blowing bubbles is good for lip and cheek muscles, also it’s fun and kids will play with bubbles without even knowing it’s therapy.
Activity
- Make a picture book of interesting pictures containing a misarticulated sound. Have fun reading the book and talking about the pictures.
- Prepare a chart as listed below. This will build their vocabulary and u will notice the words they are having trouble speaking to.
- Sing songs and recite poems and nursery rhymes that contain the target sounds. (my sons week area was the sound ‘ya’, ‘r’, ‘la’, ‘va’, ‘sh’)
- Select four or five common household words containing the target sound and use them frequently during the day.
- If possible use phonics Flashcards or picture books to create stories.
- Fishing for Phonics: Draw some fish on different colored papers, cut them out, and write words with your target sounds on them. Attach paperclips to their “noses” and place them in a bucket. Create a fishing rod from a wooden spoon/ ice- cream stick, string, and a magnet for the hook. Ask your child to fish. Then recite the word on the fish that is caught.
- Play I Spy with your child. Prepare your kid’s room by hiding objects starting with the targeted words. Challenge your child to find and name the object around the room. For example, if he’s working on the “ca” sound, challenge him to find a car or a cake, or a toy cat. You can also take the help of I spy cards which are easily available from the market or you can also create them on your own.
- Playing with Flashcards: I always consider Flashcards as a major part of learning. This time I have pasted them on the floor creating a road. it was really fun, to see my son driving his toy car over the flashcard road saying the word/ picture printed on it.
- Narrate daily routines: Before going to bed, narrate the things he has done throughout the day. This allows for a larger variety of words to practice in different settings.
- Learning with bowling: Bowling is always fun even in kids. Now the trick is, you have to place each plastic bowling pin on the top of a card(any card of your choice). Once your kid throws the plastic bowling ball at the pins and knocks them over, they will find a card for each pin that was knocked over. This game is great for super-active kids because it keeps students moving and learning at the same time.
Misarticulation is not something that cannot be treated. Therefore, parents should not be panic; rather they should stand by the children and treat
them in the best possible way.
My son started his unstoppable talk 15 days after we started our sessions. But we continued to bring more clarity in his speech. This article is equally helpful for kids with lisping (totlana) too.
Hope you find this article helpful!!
