Now that Little Sir is already three years old and always eager to do what his big sister is doing, I thought it would be great to have some “lesson” time dedicated to just him. However, because his personality and learning style are very different from Little T, the simple ABC movement game that worked so well for my girl just won’t cut it with him.
So, we’re off to a new adventure with my little boy. We will read books and do some activities based on a letter of a week every morning while Little T does some handwriting work on her own. We’ll get to read books together AND learn the alphabet… that’s why I’m calling this AlphaBooks. What fun!
The following will be the contents of our Learning Basket for each letter of the alphabet. I’m afraid that you won’t find printables here as I am saving on ink and laminating costs! Oh, and we won’t be tackling the alphabet by order (we actually started with “k”), so feel free to jump in anytime!
Books
Books are obviously the most important part of our basket. I’ll fill it with books with names that begin with our letter of the week (a Before Five in a Row book, if possible) plus different series such as the Bob Books and Jane Moncure’s My First Steps to Reading.
First Steps To Reading: A fantastic set that I completed little by little
Crafts
We have several preschool workbooks that I am willing to tear out pages from instead of printing similar ones from the Internet. This will make my life easier too! Those pages can be used for stamping, coloring, cutting, pasting, lacing, punching, and tracing! I’ll also use other materials such as play dough, craft sticks, ribbons, etc!
I didn’t buy a single one in this stash. All of these were gifts!
Letter Shapes
It’s important for a child to see and hold a concrete version of a printed letter. Our old rubber alphabet mats will come in handy as well as our other alphabet collections such as LeapFrog’s Alphabet Fridge Magnet, small rubber foams, alphabet stamps, and an alphabet embossing thingamajig (a gift).
Alphabet fun!
Music
When it comes to phonics music, the only thing I can recommend (due to experience and not anything else) is LeapFrog Letter Factory’s ABC Song. It’s so easy and so effective… sing with me! The “a” says “ah!” the “a” says “ah!” Every letter makes a sound the “a” says “ah!” We have the DVD (watch preview here to listen to the song) but we’ll just sing the song one letter at a time.
Miniature Props
For Little Sir to hold a concrete example of an object that starts with our letter of the week, I will take out our miniature toys and animals. It’s also great for storytelling, playacting, and highlighting a story element. (Read about why we love miniature props here.) If I don’t have anything on hand, I’ll probably just look around the house for a real example!
Owl and kangaroos, part of Forest In My Pocket collectibles
Kitchen Work
Depending on the books that we are reading, we might be able to include some cooking or baking within the week too.
Movement Games
I’m excited to come up with different movement games for Little Sir. Most probably, I will make him run (skip, jump, etc.) on a letter written with chalk on the street, ask him to find a letter (or letter sound) in his alphabet mat, and show him how to form a letter with my body.
I plan to do just one to two activities with Little Sir (plus storytelling) within 30 minutes every day. We just started today, so if you feel like doing this along with us, feel free to ask me questions or suggest some more activities. I will be posting our plans every Monday or Tuesday, depending on how my day goes!
