Newspaper Clipping Names

     I have an awesome idea to share with you today. It's an activity that will help your kids learn how to spell their names. It's called, "The Newspaper Clipping Names" activity! I have done this particular activity a lot, when I taught preschool. It's a really simple activity to do. All you need are some newspapers, a pair of scissors, a pen or marker, and it wouldn't hurt to have a piece of paper with each child's name written on it. This will help serve as a reminder to your kids, in case they forget what a certain letter looks like. 

     To start, ask your kids to look for letters in their name inside their newspaper. Once they have found a letter, ask them to circle it using their pen or marker. Repeat this until all of the letters have been found.

     When all of the letters have been found, and circled. You and your kids may go through, and cut each letter out. After all of the letters have been cut out, make sure to ask your kids to spell out their name using these newspaper clipping letters.
     Below is my daughter's name made out of her clippings. She had such a great time doing this project that she asked to do it over and over again. Just like my preschoolers that I had taught years before. 

DIY: ABC and Number Books

     When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I was determined to make her an alphabet and number book. I wanted to create a book with the letters A-Z, along with some pictures that started with each letter included. I also wanted to include numbers 1-9, along with pictures that counted up to each number. (i.e. 1 ball, 2 frogs, 3 pencils, etc.) So I did. I pulled out all of my scrap-booking supplies, old magazines, and even an collection of alphabet letters that I had received from Beverly {the director of a local childcare center that I had worked and volunteered for} from years before.  It has been over 4 years since I made this book, and now I can't remember where all of the pictures came from. So I apologize, in advance to those who took the time to take and make such amazing pictures and drawings. At any rate, this is the final product (4 years later).

    This book has seen so much love, and Brooklee literally begs me to read it over and over again. Now, you're probably wondering how on earth I've kept this book without it ripping or tearing to shreds. It was simple, I used contact paper to help laminate each of the pictures. I then made 3 hole punches on the side, and then tied it together with ribbon.

I have always wanted to make another one of these for Saydee, but having two children to take care of doesn't really allow me time to make one. That's when I decided that the printer, some stickers, clear plastic protectors, and a three ringed binder would be helpful.
     Over a year ago, Nikki over at Melonheadz Illustrations had made an ABC Series. I had got the black and white version of it from her, but never used it. Now, I had the perfect excuse. I printed out each letter, colored each with colored pencils, added some stickers, placed each letter in a plastic protector, and then into the binder. It was certainly finished a lot faster than the scrapbook Alphabet Book, and still was just as cute. 


     When I read these books to my daughters, I always like to start out with "A is for Apple" and then I work into the pronunciation. I will pronounce the letter, and then end with the name of the picture (i.e. Ah, Ah, Apple). I do that for each picture included on the page. I always think to invite my daughters to try repeating the pronunciation with me, even if it's not 100% correct. At least, they are enjoying themselves.

When I get to my number section of my books, I always count the objects so that my daughters can learn how to count along.

 I encourage you to make one of these for your kids, and read it over and over. They will love it!

Name Painting

     One important task that a child must learn to is recognize, and write their own name. Allow the child to see their name spelled regularly. At first the child might believe that everything that starts with the first letter in their name, is their name. The more the child sees his or her name, the more he or she will realize that there is something different and special about their name... It is spelled differently than the other words that might start with the same letter.
     I would like to share an activity that might help any child begin to recognize the letters in their name. For this activity, I printed my daughter's name out onto a few pieces of paper. I put some tempera paint in a Styrofoam bowl, and then made sure to grab some paper towels (just in case there was any mess).

The goal of this project to help the child practice writing his or her name, by tracing it. Brooklee loved dabbing her fingers along the lines, just so she could see her fingerprints.

The key to success is to always practice, practice, pratice... and don't forget to make it fun!

Read Along-- So Many Books for Kids to Enjoy

     Children can learn to love books, if they are read to frequently.  I know that kids have their favorite books. They will ask you to read, and re-read the same book over and over again. If you find that you're starting to memorize the words to the story, switch it up. Start singing the words, or give each character a special "voice". Kids love this! You will see it in their eyes.

 

     I know Nursery Rhymes are controversial, but I truly believe that they are fun for kids. Children enjoy singing and dancing to the words of "Ring Around the Rosie".  They also enjoy learning finger plays that go along with Nursery Rhymes-- especially Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Books that rhyme are truly enjoyable-- especially those written by Dr. Seuss. Some of his books are real tongue twisters, and have to be read slowly. I have been known to mess up a number of times, and make kids laugh. Again, this is what makes reading fun!

 

     Another favorite of mine are those books that create music. The reason for this is, I can introduce the book by reading the story but then start singing the words. I also enjoy teaching the words to my kids, so that they can sing along with me. I love creating posters with visuals to help teach my kiddos the words to each song. You can do this too, it's really simple and tons of fun!

     Educational books are great too. They can serve as excellent tools in learning. There are so many wonderful concepts for children to learn from these kinds of books. My home library currently has books about the alphabet, shapes, colors and body parts. As my kids grow, I would like to expand my library to include math and science too.

Now, I would like to make a few suggestions when reading to your little ones:

1) Make it fun. Don't read a book to your child, just because you have to. Make sure that you are enjoying your time that you're spending with your child.
2) Talk about the pictures that you see in the book.
3) After the book has been read, make sure to review it with your child. Ask them questions about the book. Make it a point to help your child think about the story that was just shared. This is especially important, because it helps with their cognitive development.
4) Plan a family trip, or even a field trip, to the local library. Let your kids pick out a few books that they might want to check out and take home.

I would like to thank you for stopping by, I hope you have found some amazing tips that you can use in either your home or classroom.