DD(4 1/2) is all of the sudden loving letters! Especially 'S', which her first name starts with! She is constantly now yelling out "Y! S!" whenever we go somewhere! She's actually doing it right now while watching Sesame Street. Ok, I'm thrilled, because I was a little worried she would never be interested...

This school year, she has taken off! She loves it! Now, my question.....

Is there anything fun that I can do--like hide some letters around the house or something like that? We read to her and she loves for us to write something so she can copy it. "Mom, how do you spell Horse?" Are there any games out there that I can help to encourage her a little?

BTW-My DH and I are not really wanting her to use computer games right now. Thanks.

By Kate on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 09:55 am:

http://www.toyscamp.com/viewproduct.asp?ProductID=CAD232&src=Froogle

Eve, the above is a game my DD has. It is all LOWERCASE letters though. Which is actually great if Sydney needs practice with lowercase. But there are three of each letter and the cards have pictures on them and you spell what the picture is. The letters are in colored rows, so if it's a horse, there will be five spaces and each space will be a certain color, matching up with the color of row the letter she needs is in. The picture in the above link helps explain that. So, she would know the first letter she needs is in the blue row, which narrows it down a bit for her. Each letter tile has pegs on the back and must fit the holes in the card. If it doesn't fit, it's the wrong letter and she can figure that out herself. The next letter, 'o' would be yellow, so again she chooses from the yellow row. The 's' and 'r' are green, and the 'e' would be from the red row. So she can do it all on her own thru trial and error, but she's not stuck trying to choose from all 26 letters, just from five or six at a time.

If you stick 'Cadaco Spelltiime' in Froogle.com, you'll find lots more places that sell it, but I chose the above link because it had a larger picture.

Plain old magnetic letters are always fun, as well as wooden puzzle letters. The problem is there is usually only one of each letter.

By Amecmom on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:09 am:

Great video - "Here Come the ABCs" by They Might Be Giants Deep Discount DVD has it. My 3 1/2 year old son learned the letters and their sounds and sounds out words for me.

Leap Frog has a great thing that goes on the fridge called a Word Whammer. It teaches spelling of three letter words, word famlies, rhyming words etc. We love it!
This is a great opportunity!
Ame

By Cat on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:12 am:

Label things, especially in her room. Like put "dresser", "door", "window", "bed", etc all around. I have almost everything in my playroom labeled. It's great for the kids to see the letters well before they know them. Then they're used to them when they get to the stage Sid's at now. Before you know it she'll be reading! ^5, Sid!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:37 am:

It's really cool when they catch the bug, isn't it?! I was going to suggest labeling things but Cat beat me to it. LOL! Hang up an alphabet chart, make a banner with her name on it. If you haven't already, now is a great time to get foam letters and numbers for the bath tub and magnetic letters for the frig. When you're out and about point out license plates and store signs, etc.. The best thing is to continue read, read, reading to her.

By Tklinreston on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:48 am:

When you're ready to go on the computers, you should check out www.starfall.com. I would go on there on occasions with Josh, my older ds, because he is SOOO disinterested in learning his letters, while Jordan, my younger ds would watch on the sideline. Lord and behold, Jordan learned his entire alphabet at one and a half. He is now two and a half and he knows his upper and lower letters, sounds and can even spell some words. When he goes through his ABCs, he will say "A, make the sound and then say apple, alligator, B, "sound", bat, baby etc and goes through the entire alphabet. Me, my ds and my parents just sit there with our mouths gaping wide open when he does this because we can't believe what we're hearing. He is just crazy about letters.... can't get enough of them and will see shapes of letters everywhere. Whereas, again, Josh would be happy if he never saw another letter in his life. Needless to say, Jordan knows his letters better than Josh, who just started kindergarten. It's amazing how different they are. I don't push Josh because everyone is different and has different interests and I'm sure he'll learn at his own pace. Anyway, check out the site. It's a great learning tool.

By Tklinreston on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:58 am:

Oh, one more idea. We have the BIG foam letters for our floors. You know the colorful ones where you pull the letter out. The playroom is completely covered. We play a version of TWISTER. I tell them to put one hand on "A", one feet on "D" (letters you choose obviously have to be close to each other) and they love getting all twisted up. Also leap frog from letter to letter w/o going over the lines when you land. The squares are big enough that you can jump from letter to letter and it's so cute watching them wobbing around trying to keep their balance w/o falling. If they go over the line, they get tickled. It helps with learning the letters and spelling because I will shout out, for example, "C" "A" and "T". After awhile I will say Josh can you spell CAT by jumping from letter to letter and he does it. Like I said he hates sitting down and learning on paper but this is so fun for him (he's a very physical kid). He learns to spell, gets exercise and learns coordination and control. Good package deal I'd say!

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 11:05 am:

I was going to suggest the magnetic letters for the fridge also. I had those when J & J were young and they LOVED them! It was so cute to see different words practically every time I walked into the kitchen.

By Kellyj on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 01:37 pm:

Leap Frog has a video out too that teaches the sounds that letters make. Lexie found it in her Easter basket and loved it. She had just turned two and after watching it a few times was able to recognize and tell you the sounds that all of the letters make.
We play games while out...I ask her to find a letter and she points it out. We have foam letters for the bathtub and magnetic ones for the fridge. I've been teaching her that words start with letters by spelling out words on the computer (Like mom, dad, cat) and then she does it on her own. We just use word and I use a big font in a fun color. So far she's learned that A is for Alexis, C is for cat, M is for mom and D is for dad. Since the keyboard isn't in any sensible order she really has to hunt for the right letters and gets excited when she finds them.

By Eve on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 02:00 pm:

Thanks, everyone! Some good ideas! I completely forgot about fridge letters. I am going to have to see if I can find the giant foam letters for the floor; that sounds fun.

Ok, who wants to come over and label everything? Trina? LOL ;) I have 2 bins of baby clothes to still wash! Aggh! I'll have to do it though--I know she would love that! I was thinking of getting some wooden letters to spell out her name in her room, since I'm going to do that for her baby brother too. Hmmm....

By Conni on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 07:30 pm:

Eve I recently checked out a book on games to help your child read...

There were so many cute ideas and labeling everything was in that book too!! lol We bought some modeling clay and have been making letters and words with it. This is his fave thing to do right now! (that clay is a mess on the table too. grrrr) We have some Abeka little books that are all about letters and sounds and short words. Blake loves those right now. I bought some index cards and everytime Blake starts a new 'letter of the week' I make an index card (flash card for him). They are working on at, bat, cat, hat, mat, and so on... So I have these words on flash cards and he loves to sit and review them. We make letters in shaving cream on the table. He likes matching the upper and lower case letters too.

A friend of mine told me about a book she got from Barnes N Nobles called 'How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons' (the title is something like that)... She swears by this book. I still have not bought it tho...

Have fun!! Glad to hear she is enjoying school.

By Annie2 on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 08:53 pm:

Getting her on the computer, to do educational games is a good thing; not bad. My kids all thrived on the Jumpstart series. It starts at preschool and stays grade appropriate until end of elem. school. If it is between using an electronic game such as Leappad vs a computer; I would opt for the computer.

I wished that we have stayed in the paper age of writing letters, writing out book reports, looking up information from encyclopedias, etc. Unfortunately being computer savvy is vital in this day. Getting her used to a keyboard and mouse will aid in her schooling. In K, here they do reading tests on computers.

I grew up watching Sesame Street, Mr Rogers, Electric Co and Zoom. I see nothing wrong in watching tv to help learn but I also believe that a 1/2 hour on the computer, with interactive educational games, would inhance her love for learning. IMO, of course.

By Annie2 on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 09:24 pm:

I forgot to add that using playdoe to make letters, tracing letters in a pan of rice, workbooks, finger paints in the tub, making sugar cookies in favorite letters, help her make a dinner with words using a certain letter...spaghetti, salad, soup...help to encourage her to learn her alphabet.

By Coopaveryben on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 10:30 pm:

I got some computer paper and wrote a letter on each page..obviously starting with A and going through Z, then I hole punched them and strung them together. Everyday we would sit down and flip through magazines (Nick Jr. and Family Fun Magazines because they had a lot of interesting pic.) we would cut and paste the picture on whatever letter they went with. He love doing it but even more he loved looking at the pictures and naming the letter and the picture.

By Tink on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 11:30 pm:

The book that Conni mentioned, 'How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons', is a really great book. My ds learned to read using it, very phonemic based and miniscule steps in order to not overwhelm the child. BUT it is NOT a "fun" book of activities at all! It is very drill and repetition based. If you think Syd would respond to that style, go for it! As I said, my ds did wonderfully with it but it isn't the type of book most people expect for teaching a child to read.

By Amecmom on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 09:34 am:

Also, for sight words, I got Randy a package of tiles with a word printed on each. I got them from Staples in the teacher supply section. I choose a few words a week and we play "games" with the tiles. We grab the out of a bag, make sentences with them, and anything else I can think of. He's 3 1/2 and loves them. We also do the playdough and the fridge letters.
Also, I have a wipe erase placemat with lettersfor him to trace. I use the wipe erase crayons which are less messy than the markers.

Just take advantage of the teachable moments that present themselves each day. Most of all, make it "fun" not work or you'kk turn her off.
Ame

By Kim on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 05:00 pm:

Annie, that's how Kayla learned letters and how to read. She started playing the computer at about 18 months old. All the kids went through the jump start series. It does help tremendously and it does prepare them for somputer use.

I think she would like the jump start games Eve.

By Eve on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 10:39 am:

So many ideas-thanks!

Annie-I have no issue with computers. My DH makes his living with computers and our whole house has been networked for years. DD technically has her own laptop. I just feel about computers, how I feel about tv and shows like Sesame Street--I think they are very helpful and fun, I just don't want my DD watching tv all the time and for that to be her only source of entertainment or learning. So, we've made the conscious choice to try to keep her off of the computer as much as we can. She can use the mouse just fine. If she sees me online shopping, she loves to look and knows how to double click and navigate around. I also occasionally pull up the PBS sights and such so she can play a few games. So, I'm not concerned. Just wanted to clarify that I have nothing against computers! LOL

I'm not concerned with reading at this point either and I don't want to push it. I just want something that's fun for her since she talks about letters every single day now! I can't wait to try some of your ideas out. Thanks again.

By Kernkate on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 11:34 am:

Alissa is now into the phase of asking what every word she says starts with.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 11:34 am:

Eve, we used the jump start series also. One of the things you need to know is that locally they start them out in the computer room in Kindergarden.. They have two PC's in every class room that the children work on through out the day and they have computer class. They also... Take a lot of their test for reading and math on the computer. In third grade, the girls read a book and test for the book on the computer. The go to this site at home called Discovery Island it is part of their homework. It is an English site, they are timed and graded on it. Getting her involved in the computer young can only help her. The girls at 8 have pretty good typing skills, I know adults that can't type as well as they do.

This is what we do.. They can do about three lessons in an half hour period, so they go on line for a half hour a night. So it is limited, just like TV etc... Maybe a schedule, as in something she would have in school. From x to y is computer time. From z to a is an educational video. In moderation it is fun and healthy... But I can so see your point about overload...

We had the alpha bet printed of the computer and DK's colored them and we hung them like a border around their rooms. We loved the Letter People.. The school uses them too...

The Land of the Letter People

List of the Letter People and the sounds they make

Enchanted learning

Learning to Read-Reading to Learn


And we labeled EVERY thing.. My Aunt did the same thing with her kids and they actually were reading before they started school. The point was to make the need to read visual. Meaning everything you see has a word with it's own special spelling. Sparked an interest in them. She would say things like go to the *D O O R* and they would have to figure out what that spelled and go to that thing. So I spun off of that and DH and I started spelling things out like, "go to the *C A R*" "we are going to the *s t o r e*" "do you want *m i l k* or *w a t e r*" The only catch, they learned early to sound out verbally spelled words and the whole spelling things to talk between DH and I (like most mommy's and daddy's do, "hey do you want to go get *i c e c r e a m*? ) had to stop because they could figure out what we were saying.

The main point is to make it fun and let them be in control and not to over load them. Once it becomes like work they tend to want to back off..