Hopscotch

Have you ever played hopscotch before? I think hopscotch is an universal game.  I spent my childhood in Korea and remember playing the game with my friends in school yard. We called it "Naeng-Jang-Go" meaning refrigerator.  It looks like a refrigerator.  At that time, the school yard was not covered with concrete but covered with dirts and sands all over.  We just drew the hopscotch box on the ground and started playing the game during recess, after school, over the weekend, and any free time.

Hopscotch requires SKILLS! A child needs visual skills and eye-hand coordination skills to toss an object (i.e. beanbag or pebble) to a targeted number.  He/she also requires physical skills to hop on one foot, to switch to two feet, to maintain balance on one foot, etc.  Hopscotch encourages social interactions when children play it as a group.

These are my first graders in the picture.

We practice throwing the beanbag to the target.

We use color dots for visual cues.  Child hops on the green single dot with his/her one foot.  Red dots for two feet.  I usually make the activity either easier or harder by adjusting the space between red and green dots.  For some of children, it is not easy to switch their feet (one feet to two feet, vice versa) and to hop at the same time.

In the school where I work, we have a pre-drawn hopscotch box in the school backyard.  When the weather gets better, children can play hopscotch after lunch.
You can play hopscotch with your children.  Be creative drawing your own hopscotch box at your local park.  You can draw it with sidewalk chalks.  Have fun playing~!     

Toss the ballon. Read the letter.

I introduced a balloon tossing game on a previous blog post, which was published on March 6th 2015. That was a group game. Two groups of kids toss a balloon to each other and try to tell the alphabet letter that was attached to the balloon.

This is another balloon tossing game.  The child is instructed to toss the balloon with her hand and tell one letter at a time when she toss the balloon.  This is a great and simple eye-hand coordination activity.  However, it can be not too easy.  The child has to locate the balloon and hit the balloon with her hand.  At the same time, she has to spot one letter and read it out loud.  If things are happening all at the same time, you know it may not be easy to handle.  It doesn't mean that the child cannot do the activity.

So can this activity be modified? Of course!!  These are the things that you can change to make it a little bit easier.

1) Size of the balloon: Make the balloon bigger.  Therefore, child can track the balloon and toss it easily.

2) Less number of the letters on the balloon: Do not write so many letters on the balloon.  Less number of letters will be easy to spot one at a time.

3) Draw shapes: If child did not master all the letters yet, start with different shapes.

4) Use colors: You can write letters with different color markers.

5) If you want to make it more fun or more sensory, you can drop some beans or uncooked rices in the balloon.  It will make some sounds each time your child toss the balloon.

Enjoy playing~!  

Capital and Lowercase Teaching Order by Handwriting Without Tears

There are many programs to teach children alphabet letters.  I would like to share a resourceful website and it's about teaching and learning alphabet letters.

Have you ever heard of the Handwriting Without Tears? The Handwriting Without Tears program provides developmentally appropriate, multi sensory tools and strategies for children to learn alphabet letters more effectively.

I would like to draw your attention to their teaching order.  The Handwriting Without Tears does not introduce alphabet letters from A to Z in alphabetical order.

(The following words are from their website. You can visit Handwriting Without Tears and read more.  They also provide free printable worksheets.)

Teaching Order

The Handwriting Without Tears® developmental teaching order helps children master handwriting skills in the easiest, most efficient way. As a result, children can transition quickly from learning the mechanics of handwriting to focusing on content and meaning—in all subjects. 

Capital Teaching Order

Developmentally, capitals are easier so we teach them first. The capital teaching order helps teach correct formation and orientation while eliminating reversals. Learning capitals first makes it easy to transition to lowercase letters.

Lowercase Teaching Order

We teach lowercase c, o, s, v, and w first because they are exactly the same as their capital partners, only smaller. By teaching capitals first, we have prepared children for nearly half of the lowercase letters that are similar in formation.

Enjoy teaching and learning!

Swap the scarves!

This is a fun game which encourages visual skills, eye-hand coordination, and motor coordination skills.

A simple rule! Throw your scarf and catch your partner's scarf. Swap the scarves.

It looks simple but you have to try this with your child. Throwing the scarf and looking at the other scarf to catch it at the same time is not too easy, especially for younger children.

Enjoy playing~!

Mother's Day Card

Mother's Day is right around the corner. So the theme of this week is Celebrating Mother's Day.  We talk about Mother's Day, date (orientation to time), why we celebrate Mother's Day, and what we can say to mommy.  Then we make our special-special Mother's Day card. This is how we make the card.

First, fold a paper in half (white side out). Then trace the child's hand. Make sure child's thumb and index finger are directed towards the folding edge of the paper. So when you unfold the paper after cutting, you have two identical hands on the entire paper.

Try to make the half heart shape with the thumb and index finger on the paper.

Cut the shape of the hands.  Try not to cut the index finger and the thumb on the folding edge. Try not to cut off your fingers on the paper.

Unfold the paper and paste it on a contraction paper. Make sure your have a heart shape in the middle. You can glue another color paper for the heart shape and make it stands out.

Then you can decorate the card. You can write sweet messages to mommy. You can draw some flowers and hearts on it.  You can also use different materials for decorations such as pom-poms, pre-cut forms, and so on.

We used some scrapbook materials for this.

Have fun~! Happy Mother's Day~!!

Letter band

As mentioned in the previous post on 03/08/15, letter reversals are not uncommon to see among children up to the age of 7 years old.  As children's little brain becomes mature, they will improve the sense of their body. They will learn left and right side of their body and their surroundings. As they develop the sense of directions, they will be able to differentiate those mirror image letters (i.e. letter b and d, p and q). 

This is my kindergarten student. Although it is not uncommon to see the letter reversals at this age, you surely want to encourage your child to learn the directions of the letters.

He is holding a thick rubber band around his hands.  I ask him to stretch it out as much as he can, which will provide him sensory input and enhance attention span.  I put those letters with velcro, so I can simply detach the letters and change letters.

Then I call out a letter, either b or d at a time. He will touch the letter with his thumb (letter b with his left thumb and letter d with his right thumb).  When you call out the letter, do not make patterns such as calling out b, d, b, d, b, d and so on.  Make it unpredictable.

If you want to make it as an eye-exercise activity, you will simply ask your child not to move his/her head while looking at the letter. If your child keeps moving his/her head, then you gently place your finger on his/her chin to provide tactile cues.

This activity can be used not only for the letter reversals but also for letter recognition.  Is there any letters that your child get confused? Put those letters on the rubber band and practice, practice, practice.  Your child can get kinetic and sensory input by stretching the rubber band, eye exercises (visual shifting & tracking), and enjoy time with you!

Enjoy learning~! Enjoy teaching~!