I love child-led learning. When I’m helping a child learn a new skill I try to put them and their interests at the centre of any activity. Little is starting to be very interested in letters and writing and I’m always looking for ways to encourage her to explore these ideas. So when she discovered this beautiful green caterpillar in the garden we used it as a springboard to play.
She was wondering where the caterpillar’s head was and we were talking about the spiral shape it had made as it curled up. We grabbed some outdoor chalks and tried to copy the shape ourselves. It’s great for children to try making all sorts of marks – not just using paper and pencil, and not straightaway trying to write letters.
Then we talked about the word caterpillar and what sound came at the beginning – which lead us on to writing a ‘c’.
And also inspired the next letter for our touchy-feely alphabet: c is for caterpillar.
This week why not get some chalks and see what shapes you can make?
I too am a bit fan of child led learning. I had a great afternoon at the school today watching maxi in his environemnt and it was great. Most of, if not all our learning at home is done this way
Glad you had a good afternoon with Maxi. I love it when I’m helping at Little’s pre-school, getting to see the otherside of their life away from home.
Saw your link at Not Just Cute and popped over to check out your sensory activities to go with the alphabet. Very nice ideas.
Really enjoy reading your posts.
Have a nice week,
Colleen:)