phonological awareness
what to do after kids learn their abc’s: next steps to reading
Many parents know that their children need to learn the letters of the alphabet, but what happens next? You’ve got a ton of alphabet books, you point the ABC’s when ...
family playing cards: take ‘em, make ‘em, then play!
A few years ago, I burned the midnight oil way too close to the finish line, in an attempt to create Family Playing Cards for Maddy, Owen, and Cora. And ...
magazine activities: creative, crafty, sneaky-learning fun
We are huge magazine fans over here. We love finding them in the mailbox, reading them, playing detective with them, crafting with them, and learning with them. When they arrive ...
fabulous, fancy game to practice tricky sounds: s, t, r, l
It’s Cora’s Sparkle-icious Game. That’s what she calls is. But I don’t care what she calls it because all I know is that she wants to play it–like every single ...
alphabet letter splash–keeping cool with the abc’s
Who says playing with the letters of the alphabet can’t be a fun and exciting outdoor activity? Who thinks that all letter-learning involves a pen and paper? Who knows a ...
getting ready for kindergarten: short e picture-word sort
One of the best activities for practicing early word learning is the picture-word sort. Nothing takes the pressure off of reading like adding pictures since a huuuuge chunk of early ...
playing with numbers: counting, matching, spelling, and more!
My Owen has been enamored with numbers from the time he was teeny. He’s got a brain for numbers, he’s got a thing number puzzles, and he’s got a way ...
building words outside, on the fly, WordWorld-style
Cora and I were just hanging around out front last night, relaxing in the breeze and getting some fresh air while Maddy, Owen, and my husband hit the driving range. ...
wordfeud, words with friends and word-building with kids
My game-guy Owen has recently fallen hard for a game I’m currently all wrapped up in–Wordfeud. It’s the same deal (I think) as Words With Friends, and it’s an app ...
word building, name building (and crossing the line)
I try really hard to mix things up for Owen and Cora during homework time; some days they just color. Some days they paint. But at least 2-3 times each ...
playing turkey feathers: matching beginning sounds
Today I brought out one of my old Words Their Way favorites–Turkey Feathers. It’s a really simple game that I used with students to practice long vowel patterns, but any ...
