It is summer, and nannies and parents every where are searching for exciting, engaging and educational outdoor play suggestions for their children. Sharon Rief, owner of Teacher Resources For Parents, would like to share some fun multi-sensory ways to teach letters and numbers to young kids.
1) Sand or shaving cream on a cookie sheet : Place a handful of sand or shaving cream onto a cookie sheet and have your child write letters with their fingers. While they are writing the letters, have them say the letter and its sound. Once they have completed the task they can wipe the sand or shaving cream away and then write another letter. The cookie sheet can be painted beforehand to make an even more attractive learning surface.
2) Aqua Doodle Mat or Travel Book: This non-toxic ink free writing tool provides hours of good clean fun with its large surface that turns water into color. Once the mat dries, the letters and numbers disappear and make room for new ones allowing for endless opportunities for learning.
3) Wikki Stix, Pipe Cleaners, and Play Dough: These materials are all very inexpensive, non-toxic, flexible, reusable, light-weight, and easy to store and are therefore excellent tools for forming letters and numbers.
4) 3D Chalk: Your kids will have a blast creating eye-popping 3D letters and numbers outside using Crayola’s Giant Colorful 3D Chalk and glasses.
5) “Magic letters”: Crayon Resist is such a fun way for kids to learn letters and numbers by “magically” making them appear. Simply write a letter or number using a white crayon on white paper and let them “magically” appear when your child paints over them using watercolor paints.
These creative play ideas are incredibly affordable. For your convenience we have assembled a shopping list for you on Amazon.com.
A special thank you to Sharon Rief for contributing this article. For more fun and enriching activities go to Teacher Resources for Parents and follow Sharon on Facebook.
To learn more about Sharon’s Child Enrichment Online Training For Nannies email Sharon Reif or call her at (818)730-6820.
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