This book will help build:

• Letter knowledge - it has large font and clear letters
• Print awareness
• Phonological awareness - it has rhyming text and alliteration
• Vocabulary
• Narrative Skills
• Background knowledge - touches on winter animal activities like hibernation and migration. The content is interesting and makes reading fun!

This book will help kids practice:

• Talking
• Reading

Extend the book with an ice painting activity!

You will need:

• Paint

• Small paper cups or ice cube trays

• Craft sticks (optional)

• A freezer

• Paper

First, dilute and freeze your paint.

I used washable, child-friendly, nontoxic tempera paint. I put some into a tiny paper cup. Then I added water and stirred it up with a craft stick.

Use a separate cup for each color. If you’d like to make things less messy, freeze a craft stick in the cup as well, so that it sticks up from the paint, making a handle. Ice cube trays also work very well for this.

Tip: If your stick won’t stay upright, try using tape or rubber bands to hold it in place.

Once frozen, they resemble ice pops. Just peel away the cup, or pop them out of their tray, and you’re ready to start painting.

I made a nature scene out of construction paper. Green triangles make trees. White ice paint puts “snow” into the picture.

This is very tactile, sensory experience.  It gives a hands-on opportunity to explore science, and it  helps build fine-motor skills.  

You can also just use these ice paints to draw anything you want.
[Picture here:  Blue heart]

Illustrated by Sophie Fatus

This singable story is inspired by a Chilean folktale and will help kids practice singing and talking. This is a great book for building phonological awareness, background knowledge, narrative skills, and vocabulary.

Sing and count along as a young boy collects new pets for his farm two by two.

Practice counting skills, storytelling skills, baby animal vocabulary, and learn a bit about Chilean culture through the bright and playful illustrations.

Here’s a video you can watch to learn the tune of the song:

Practice counting by 2’s with this fun activity!

Each time the book reads “How I love my [number] little pets,” write the number on a piece of tape.

Tape the number to a pipe cleaner or piece of string.

Count out a matching number of beads and string them onto the pipe cleaner or string.

Use this activity to practice counting by 2’s. Can you count up to 16 with the book? Can you count all the way up to 20?

Use this activity to practice counting by 2’s. Can you count up to 16 with the book? Can you count all the way up to 20?

This book helps kids build:

Print Motivation: This one is just plain silly! It can help make reading fun.

Print Awareness: The printing is part of the story; the cows’ notes in the pictures draw attention to print.

Narrative Skills: Plot twist ahead! Can you guess what will happen next?

Phonological Awareness: This book is full of onomatopoeia, which emphasizes sounds.

Background Knowledge: This book will build on knowledge of farms and animals.

This book helps kids practice:

Talking: This book offers the chance to talk about farm animals.

Reading: Reading happens on two levels: reading the book, and reading the notes within the book.

Playing: Go ahead and play! Make animal noises along with the characters. Have fun!

Extend the book with an animal game!

Print out this die template and color it with different animal pictures. If you prefer, practice letter knowledge and vocabulary by writing out the names of the animals instead.

Cut out the shape, and fold along the edges of the squares. The black pieces make tabs that can be glued or adhered with double-stick tape.

Feel free to print on stiff paper or card stock if you wish. That said, I only used regular cellophane tape on normal computer paper, and it worked just fine for me.

Now roll the die and make the sound of the animal it lands on! You can also pretend to be that animal.

The repetition in The Napping House by Audrey Wood can help with phonological awareness because the child is hearing the words over and over. The repetition also gives the books a sing-song quality. Hearing this rhythm of language when you read with your child also contributes to phonological awareness. If you choose to read the book again or do the following craft, your child should now have the background knowledge to anticipate what will happen next and why.

Learn About Story Patterns

Grab these free printables from Kiz Club. You can get them in color or black and white. I printed the black and white version and colored it myself, as is shown in the pictures. With these pieces, you can use narrative skills to retell the story and talk about what happened or what will happen next.

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This book builds:

Print motivation: Because birthdays are fun, and so is this book!

Vocabulary: This rich vocabulary includes words such as “croon” and “fluorescent.”

Print Awareness: From top to bottom, left to right, this book’s printed words—in varying styles, differing sizes, and unusual positions—all reinforce the basic mechanics of a book.

Narrative skills: The words are the ten rules. The stories are all in the pictures. Interpreting images to understand a story is key to reading comprehension.

Phonological Awareness: Strong use of alliteration draws attention to sounds in words.

Letter Knowledge: A large font makes big letters easy to see and recognize.

Background Knowledge: Kids will draw on their own experiences to engage with this book.

This book helps kids practice:

Talking: This is a great book for conversation, as it suggests many open-ended options for birthday celebrations.

Singing: Yes, there is singing involved. It’s the “Happy Birthday” song, of course!

Reading: Plenty of that here, with large font, big letters, and a fun premise.

Writing: This book involves counting on fingers, a fine motor skill that prefigures writing.

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Playing: Close your eyes. Make a wish. Play right along with the story.

Extend the book with a wish jar!

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These are ordinary jars, a mix of plastic and glass. I took one and decorated it with crêpe paper streamers, ribbon, and colorful stickers.

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The wish jar is for keeping track of all your wishes. Just write* your wish on a piece of paper, fold it up, and drop it in the wish jar.

*If your child is too young to write, that’s okay! Anything goes here, so drawing a picture, writing someone’s initials, decorating the paper in your favorite colors are all wonderful alternatives. The point is that there is something on the paper to stand for the wish.

This idea, that something can be symbolized on paper, is the single basic principle of writing. If your child understands that a word or letter or picture has meaning, then your child has grasped a vital pre-literacy skill.

Teach your child background knowledge & phonological awareness with singing, writing, & talking.

Background Knowledge is what your child knows before starting school. Children learn by building on what they know.

Phonological Awareness—hearing the small sounds in words—will help with decoding words.

You can teach these skills with this fun activity!

Keep reading

Let’s teach phonological awareness and narrative skills with BUGS!

First, get your friendly critters here:
Butterfly
Bee
Lady Bug
Smiling Bug

For a more durable bug buddy, print on thicker paper.

Help your child color and cut out the bug puppets. You can attach a straw or popsicle stick to the back with tape.

Next, check out the songs at the bottom of this post. Act them out with your puppets while you sing them! Make up some new songs. Tell a story about the bugs. Talk about bugs.

Coloring, cutting, telling stories and talking help your child develop essential early literacy skills. You are teaching Phonological Awareness (hearing the small sounds in words and learning rhyming) and Narrative Skills (telling a story and understanding sequence).

Keep reading

Pete the Cat is walking along in his new white shoes. He loves his shoes so much that he sings a song about them! As he continues to walk along, he steps into piles of things – each in turn turns his shoes a different color, then wet. Does he get upset? Goodness no, he takes it all in stride and simply adapts his song!

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes (by Eric Litwin) encourages your child’s participation. While reading to your child, have her sing the song with you. Singing encourages phonological awareness - hearing the smaller parts in words – an important skill when learning to read. If you would like to hear the book being sung, you can download it at http://www.petethecatbooks.com/songs/

Notice that there are many words that are larger than the others on the page. Be sure to run your finger under these words as you read them. Also, whenever you ask the repeated question, “Did Pete cry?” have your child call out “Goodness, no!” as you run your finger under the phrase. Not only does this help build his print awareness, knowing that printed words have meaning, but it also is fun for your child! Whenever a child can be part of the reading of a story, it inspires print motivation, the love of books and reading.

When children are involved in singing part of a story or calling out phrases in a story, they are more likely to remember the story and be able to retell it. After reading Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes together a few times, have your child retell it to you. This promotes narrative skills, the ability to describe a sequence of events in order, which is important for children to master before they learn to read.

This book introduces some colors to your child, as well as the color words.  Be sure to run your finger under each color word as you read it. It also includes the words strawberries, blueberries, mud, bucket, which your child may not be familiar with. Learning the meaning of all these new words will help build your child’s vocabulary. Knowing the names of things adds to your child’s background knowledge, everything a child knows before learning to read. Experts emphasize that the more a child knows before learning to read, the easier it will be for him to understand what he is reading.

After reading the book, be sure to talk about what happens in the story. You can talk about what Pete stepped in 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc. Also, ask your child questions, such as, “What color would Pete’s shoes turn if he walked in mustard?”  Or “tomatoes?”  “What might turn Pete’s shoes purple?”  Or “green?” and so on. Talking with your child and asking him questions encourages your child to think and figure things out.

Make a Pete the Cat Hat!

Keep reading

Tiptoe Tiger follows tiger cub Tara as she explores the jungle before bedtime. She needs to tiptoe so she doesn’t scare the other animals, but she keeps scaring them away!

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As you read this story, make it into a game, encouraging your child to play with you by guessing what animal is coming next that Tara is going to scare. This encourages background knowledge as well as vocabulary.

Talk and build vocabulary with your child by discussing what is happening in the pages, and what they think will happen next, building narrative skills.

Extend the Book with a Jumping Tiger Craft

Supplies:

• Orange, white, and black construction paper.
• scissors
• glue stick
• markers or crayons
• 2 paper or plastic cups
• rubber band
• googly eyes (optional)

Steps:

1. Cut out two circles of orange (one slightly smaller than the other), 15 black triangles for stripes, and two white circles (one will be the belly fur and one will me the muzzle fur). If your child can use scissors, encourage them to cut out the pieces themselves. Free cutting exercises are a great activity for children to practice.
2. Once the pieces are cut out, your child can glue them together into the shape of a tiger. Use googly eyes or use the white construction paper to cut out small circles for the eyes.
3. Adults can next take the paper/plastic cup and make two cuts about an inch long on either side of your cup. Take the rubber band and fit it through the slits on one side twist in the middle and then fit it in through the other side of the cup. The rubber band should now be stretched across the inside of your cup.

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4. Next, glue the tiger to the front of the cup with the rubber band in it, making sure that the cup is face down.

5. Finally, stack the tiger cup on top of the other cup, press down slightly, and watch your tiger jump!

The Rainbow Snail is a brightly illustrated picture book with easy-to-read text that is great for teaching colors to toddlers and preschoolers.

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We follow the charming snail and discover all the colors of the rainbow. This book promotes vocabulary and background knowledge.

This book also encourages talking and playing as you describe the different colors of the rainbow: blue like the raindrops, green like the grass and yellow like the sun.

Extend this book by making a rocking rainbow snail

What you will need:

• paper plate
• white, black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple construction paper
• scissors
• tape or glue
• black paint

1. Fold the paper plate in half.
2. Paint the plate black to match the snail in the book.
3. Cut out paper circles making the red one the biggest and purple the smallest.
4. Cut out black strips. Cut out white and black circles for the eyes.
5. Glue or tape pieces together.
6. Glue or tape the circles and the eyes on the plate.

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