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Guess who game

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This simple game is great for developing language, learning to take turns and follow basic rules. It’s a great one to play in the car or the waiting room at the doctors as no props are necessary. It’s also a good meal-time game to encourage children to sit at the table and join in with a group.

Guess Who? Game

You can play with just two players, or as many as you like. One person thinks of someone and all the others have to guess who they are by asking questions. You can adapt the game to suit the ages of the children:

For 3 and 4 year olds: I give clues and they have to guess who I am. So perhaps I say: I have blond hair. I am good at making cakes. I am married to Granddad – It’s Grandma! They will love it if you pick them or their best friend.

For 5 to 6 year olds: Let the children try to be the quiz master, thinking of someone in the family, a friend or maybe a character from a story book. Try the game both ways: with you asking questions for them to answer (‘Does this person live in our house?’ ), and also see if they can give clues. Giving clues is harder but great for them to plan their sequence and consider how someone else might think.

For 7 year olds plus: As children become more aware of the wider world you could pick a famous person or someone from history to use.

Have a go and notice how much language you’re using as you play!

Fine motor skills

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fine motor skills
This week we’ve got ***10 tips for developing fine motor skills: ideas to help children strengthen their grip and improve the flexibilty of their fingers. These are important things for young children to be working on so they can enjoy being more independent, fastening their own buttons and zips. Fine motor skills are needed for writing and drawing too and there are lots of fun ways you can encourage your pre-schooler.

Tip #1 Encouraging your child’s fine motor skills gets them ready for lots of things from tying shoe laces to holding a pencil.

Tip #2 If your child’s not interested in pencils try using chalkboards and sticks in sand instead. Use water and a paint brush too.

Tip #3 Fastening buttons and zips are great fine motor practice so try to allow extra time to let your child fasten up their own coat.

Tip #4 Baking helps children’s fine motor skills: as they knead dough and rub butter into flour they strengthen their fingers.

Tip #5 From around the age of three you can try using scissors: try making these paper lanterns which are great cutting practise.

Tip #6 Choose good scissors & try thin card not paper at first. Try these cutting skills ideas from TeachPreschool.

Tip #7 Lacing is great practice too.  It’s easy to make your own lacing games: try this lacing apple from No Time For Flash Cards.

Tip #8 Peeling stickers is perfect for little fingers. Buy some with your favourite characters on and get sticking.

Tip #9 How about clothespegs for building finger strength? Hang up the washing or make a number line .

Tip #10 Thread a pasta necklace, fill pots using tongs, have a go with tweezers: all great ways to develop little fingers.

Does your child find buttons and zips easy to fasten? How do you help them practise?

Check out our archive for lots more fine motor skills ideas

Encouraging writing

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A great way to get children writing is to send a postcard – to a friend, to grandma, even to themselves. We found this homemade postcard on the way home from school today and as you can see someone has spent a lot of time and effort designing the front and using joined up handwriting for their message. It was lying on the pavement but the address is on it and it’s on our way to school so we’re going to deliver it tomorrow morning.

postcard

Even young children can take part in sending a postcard – drawing, ‘writing’, adding their name, sticking on the stamp, taking a trip to the post office. It helps them understand writing has a purpose. With older children having a penpal or starting a postcard collection can be a fun way to encourage reluctant writers to have a try.

Who could your children send a postcard too?

Happily shared with No Time for Flash Cards and ABCand123

Make an alphabet chart

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While we were making our first autumn craft of the year on Monday we also added to the sensory alphabet we’re working on. Once she’d satisfied her need to do some sticking, L made some leaf rubbings using wax crayons. We cut them out and used them as the background for our ‘l is for leaf’ picture.

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>>> Download our guide to ABCs and 123s here 

 

Crafting with children is such a good way to help them develop important skills: picking out all the autumn colours from the crayon pot works on classification skills, important for maths and literacy, and using scissors to cut out leaves works on fine motor skills.

We also made a ‘h is for hole’ a while ago – turns out a hole-punch is fascinating when you’re 4! Here’s how out alphabet is coming along.

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 My guide to ABCs and 123s

Do you have a young child who is learning their ABCs and 123s, and do you want to make their learning fun? Our ABCs and 123s resource of mulitsensory, play-based letter and math activities is just what you need. See more here.

Alphabet games

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Alphabet games

L is getting more and more interested in letters and we’re using our magnetic alphabet set to play some alphabet games. There are lots of ways you can use letters of course, depending on how old your children are,  but here are two easy games to use with those just starting to recognise letters.

I spy my name

Put a selection of letters on the fridge door (making sure they are all the right way up) and ask your child if they can hunt out the ones which are in their name. We’ve been writing L’s name on drawings, coat pegs, cards to send to friends and so on ever since she was tiny so she’s had lots of chance to get to know what her name looks like. I sound out the letters of her name as I write them and she has learned the sounds, order and shape of them pretty much just by observing this. A child’s name is a great place to start working with letters: they’re pretty ego-centric so they like it being all about them! We always use a capital first letter and lowercase for all the others (so I replicate this with the fridge magnets too).

Letter snap

We put all the letters on the fridge and I select one and say ‘this is an ‘a” and ask L if she can make a match. Snap! She likes to take a turn choosing a letter for me to match – which lets me see how many letters she knows the sound for.

Have you got a set of magnetic letters on your fridge door? How do you play with yours?


Booktrust Booktime website and prize draw

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Have you heard of Booktrust, the UK charity which aims to encourage a lifelong love of reading? Those of you with school age children may have come across their Booktime campaign which runs in partnership with Pearson and the Department for Education. Booktime gives every English reception class child free books to promote a love of stories and encourage family reading: B loved the copy of Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Funnybones she was given.

They have a website which is available to everyone, with games and resources linked to lots of books and which is well worth a look. There are interactive online books read by the authors, including Eric Carle and Ed Vere, and tips for making the most of family reading. There are games you can play too, which include number and colour recognition skills, and recommendations for lots of children’s books whatever topic your kids are interested in.

Eric Carle Prize Draw

This autumn 680,000 copies of Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth by Eric Carle will be given free to all children starting in English reception classes. Booktime are also offering primary schools and libraries in England the chance to win an exclusive artist’s proof from the book, signed by Eric Carle. If you’d like to nominate your school or local library you can enter the competition until 31st October 2010 and you can find full details at the Booktrust website.

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