Homr Practice Activities
- Letter Identification and Reading
- Fine Motor Skills
- Math
- Communication
- Listening
- Writing Skills
Letter Identification and Reading
LETTER IDENTIFICATION
Letter Name Recognition - Go through a set of alphabet cards with
your child (these may be store bought or can be created at home -
index cards can work well). Take out those he/she does not know
and review those he/she does not know.
Alphabet Slap Game - Spread out the alphabet cards. Say a letter
and have your child slap the card. Continue until all or most of
the cards are identified.
Alphabetical Order - Mix up the alphabet cards and have your
child put them in alphabetical order.
Reversed Alphabetical Order - Mix up the alphabet cards and have
your child put them in reverse alphabetical order, from Z to A.
Missing Letter - Put the letters in alphabetical order. Have your
child close his/her eyes while you remove one or more cards. Have
your child open his/her eyes and identify the missing letters.
Vowels and Consonants - Identify which letters are vowels (a, e,
i, o, u) and which ones are consonants (the other letters of the
alphabet). Explain that letters have letter names as well as
letter sounds. Have your child divide the alphabet cards into
vowels and consonants.
Consonant Sound Recognition - Follow the same instructions as
Letter Name Recognition, only check for letter sound recognition.
Tracing Letters in the Sand - Materials: A shallow pan filled
with sand. Trace a letter in the sand with your finger and have
your child copy the same letter in the sand. Have your child say
the letter name, the letter sound, and praise your child for
his/her correct responses.
Letter Hunt - Pick a letter and see how many everyone in the
family can find. Look on street signs, cereal boxes, envelopes,
in books, etc. Make it a game!
Sandpaper Letters - Cut the letters of your child's name out of
sandpaper. Glue these onto a piece of cardboard so your child can
trace his/her name with his/her finger and identify each letter.
Play Dough Letters - Draw a letter on a piece of paper and have
your child roll out pieces of play dough and fit and mold them
together to make that letter's shape. Have your child try lots of
letters and have lots of fun!
Magnetic Letters - Place magnetic letters (capitals and
lowercase) on the refrigerator or a cookie sheet. Help your child
find and put all of the capital letters in one group and the
lowercase letters in another. Next help your child match the
correct capital and lowercase letters (B with b, H with
h, etc.). Talk about the letter name and the sound that it makes.
Grab Bag Materials: A cloth or plastic bag filled with 3-4
letters (the magnetic letters might work well for this activity).
Have the child close his/her eyes and reach into the bag of
letters and select one. Based on his/her touch only, have him/her
identify the letter. Have the child pull out the letter from the
bag to see if he/she is correct. Variation: After your child
pulls the letter from the bag, have him/her write the letter on a
piece of paper, say the name of the letter and the letter's
sound. Try mixing upper and lowercase letters in the bag as your
child's skills develop.
Letter of the Day Materials: Newspaper, construction paper,
pencil or crayon, scissors. Choose a letter for the day or go
through the alphabet in order, assign a letter for each day.
Trace the letter for the day on construction paper and have your
child color it and cut it out. Give the child a page from
yesterday's newspaper and ask the child to circle the
letters on the page that match the letter of the day (both
capitals and lowercase). Give assistance as necessary. Snacks,
activities, meals, etc. can all be chosen because they start with
the letter of the day. Example: On "A" day, apples can be the
afternoon snack, visit Andy or Anne for play, go to the aquarium,
identify all the As on signs, billboards, and businesses along
the way.
Post-it Notes - Write single letters onto small Post-it Notes
and place them on items in the house that begin with the sound
made by that letter. Ask your child to identify the letter name
and the name of the item. The next step would be to ask your
child to put the Post-it Notes on items around the house. Then
he/she can show you the items that he/she labels (help your child
make corrections if necessary; keep it positive).
Alphabet Book - Cut a piece of paper into fourths, staple them
together on the side, and write an alphabet letter on the cover.
Using a magazine that is no longer needed, your child can cut out
the target letter and/or pictures that begin with the target
letter and glue them onto the pages in the alphabet book. Label
the pictures.
READING
Read to Your Child Daily - You may want to establish a nightly
routine of a bedtime story. Allow your child to select the story
that he/she would like to hear, even if you have already read it
100 times. Repetition is an important part of learning how to
read. Often point to the words while you read to help your child
make the connection between the oral word and the written text.
Allow Your Child to Read to You - At first your child will
probably just read from memory, sometimes creating a slightly
different version of the story. Accept his/her version during
this early stage of reading development. A feeling of success can
inspire a child to want to learn more letter sounds and more
words, and that will lead to improved reading accuracy. Please
provide guidance when necessary to your child by assisting
him/her in developing the important basic skills (i.e. learning
letter sounds) that will enable him/her to confidently acheive
the next level of reading.
Talk with Your Child About Stories - When reading to your child,
start asking questions about the story. Ask how the characters
are feeling. Talk about the sequence of events (beginning,
middle, and end). Ask your child to predict the ending or make up
a different ending. Sound out words together. Look for words that
start and/or end with the same letter, words that rhyme, etc.
Have a Variety of Reading Materials - Select different types of
books and have a wide variety of reading materials for your child
to choose from (i.e. magazines, newspapers, recipies, nursery
rhymes).
Keep Books in a Special Place - By providing a special place for
your child to keep books, you will send the message that books
are important.
Point Out Print in the Environment - Signs, menus, cereal boxes,
banners, etc.
Get a Library Card for Your Child - Make frequent trips to the
library and let your child pick out books that interest him/her.
Give Books as Gifts - Select high quality books that have
detailed illustrations. Write a personal message to your child on
the inside of the cover. Be sure to sign it and include the date.
As your child grows up, these books and messages can bring back
fond memories, especially if your child had the opportunity to
share some special time with you while reading the books.
Reading is a Special Life-Long Skill - Reading is a very
important skill that can help your child discover interesting
opportunities and reach his/her full potential. Please do all
that you can to help your child get off to a good start with
positive early reading experiences.
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are used often in school, especially when
writing, coloring, and cutting.
Suggested Activities to Improve Fine Motor Skills
* Give your child opportunities to put together puzzles, complete
dot-to-dot worksheets, build block towers, color within lines,
cut and paste on lines, fold paper designs, and string beads.
Give positive and corrective feedback.
* Allow your child to hide and retrieve marbles, buttons, or
beads from play dough. Emphasize the use of thumbs. Also,
encourage your child to use both hands to make balls and other
shapes with play dough.
* Give your child plenty of opportunities to practice tracing
lines and pictures. After tracing over a shape, have your child
draw smaller and larger samples of the shape.
* Guide your child in learning how to independently fasten
clothing such as zippers, snaps, buttons, and tying shoe laces.
* Encourage your child to draw pictures with pencils, crayons,
markers, and chalk. Provide stencils and templates of shapes,
letters, and numbers for your child to use.
* Let your child string spools of thread with buttons, macaroni,
or fruit loops. Encourage your child to create a pattern.
* Give your child opportunities to play in sand or water by
filling and transferring the contents into various containers.
* Provide marshmallows and toothpicks and encourage your child to
build a person, house, etc.
* Have your child match lids with their paired jars or containers.
* Let your child use tweezers to pick up various objects such has
cotton balls, beads, and pom-pom balls.
* Have your child duplicate patterns or configurations of beads
and/or blocks with and without the use of a model.
* Have your child tear paper, use a hole punch and scissors for
art projects.
* After seeing a shape, letter, or number, ask your child to
reproduce it on paper.
* Playing games such as Marbles, Pick-up Sticks, Jacks,
Operation, and Bed Bugs all help develop fine motor skills and
good hand-eye coordination.
Math
Below are some activities that your child can do at home to help
develop his/her math skills.
Logical Thinking
* Classify blocks by size (i.e. small, medium, and large)
* Sort crayons, markers, and pencils into containers
* Sort laundry
* Sort objects, such as buttons, keys, coins, pasta, cereal,
fabric or paper scraps, marbles, balls, stamps, postcards, jar
lids, leaves, shells, playing cards, etc. and explain why
* Sort toys for storage, such as zoo and farm animals
* Go on a shape or color hunt (in a book/magazine or around the
house)
* Compare sets using the terms more and less (i.e. "There
are more crayons than pencils.")
* Estimate how many items are inside a grocery bag - count to see
if the estimation was correct
Measurement
* Measure shoes, height, length of table, etc. with yarn or hands
* Use blocks to build towers with length or height equal to other
objects
* Count the number of steps it takes to get somewhere
* Measure ingredients for cooking
Shapes
* Hunt for shapes throughout the room
* Hunt for shapes in a magazine, cut them out, and paste them on
a page
* Create a drawing using a variety of shapes
* Trace shapes then color them
* Use 20 inch long shoelaces or string to create shapes or
numerals by placing the laces/string on top of shapes or numerals
that are written on paper
Numerals
* Tell how many of each body parts a person has - How many eyes,
ears, chins, fingers, etc.
* Use ten index cards - on the left-hand side of each, write a
numeral from 1 to 10 - then, on the right side, punch a matching
number of holes with a hole punch
* Number the inside bottoms of six paper baking cups from 1 to 6 -
place the baking cups in a 6-cup muffin tin - get 21 counters
(pennies, small buttons, beans, etc.) - identify the numerals in
the bottoms of the paper baking cups and drop in the
corresponding numbers of counters
* Make a blank book by stapling 10 pieces of white paper together
with a colored paper cover - write "My Counting Book" on the
cover and number the pages in the book from 1 to 10 - look
through magazines or catalogs and tear or cut out small pictures -
glue one picture on the first page of the book, two pictures on
the second page and so on
* Practice counting - by the end of the school year, your child
should be able to count by 1s to 100, count by 10s to 100, count
by 5s to 50, count by 2s to 20, and count backwards from 20
* Count the telephone poles as you pass them when in a car- this
not only practices counting but also gives children a sense of
rhythm and its relationship to time and space
* Look for numbers in the environment, like the numbers on street
signs, storefronts, or license plates - talk about the different
things people use numbers for: like finding things, naming
things, or giving out other information like prices
* Parent thinks of a number between 1 and 10 (or 1 and 20, etc.) -
give your child clues like "bigger" or "smaller" and ask him/her
to guess the number - this will help your child develop a "mental
number line" as he/she thinks about different numbers and how
they relate to one another
* Practice basic addition and subtraction (i.e. "We have 3
plates and 3 bowls on the counter...how many all together?"
or "We bought 5 apples and today we ate 2 of them...how many
apples do we have left?")
* Play board games, using a spinner or dice
Patterns
* Make patterns with beads or blocks (i.e. red, blue, red, blue,
or red, red, blue, red, red, blue or red, blue, green, red, blue,
green)
* Explore patterns in wallpaper, gift wrap, clothing, furniture,
music, etc.
* Create patterns using sponge painting, collage materials,
geometric shapes, gift wrap, wall paper, etc.
Communication
Verbal communication skills are very important. Activities that
could prove to be beneficial include those that encourage your
child to label objects, to identify the function of common
objects, to increase his/her working vocabulary, to develop
expressive (speaking) and receptive (hearing) language skills,
and to demonstrate knowledge of concepts (i.e., size,
shape, quantity).
Suggested Activities to Improve Verbal Communication Skills
(Verbal Processing)
* When describing objects to your child, use terms that associate
the concepts of size, shape, color, and function with the objects.
* Have your child create a �theme collage.� He/She will need to
choose a theme, search for appropriate pictures, and integrate
those pictures categorically (i.e., by shape, by texture, by
size, etc.). Discuss the creation.
* Have your child demonstrate knowledge of concepts, directions,
and function by verbally labeling objects and using those labels
in sentences.
* Play games such as "Show me something that is big (size), that
is red (color), that looks like a triangle (shape)."
* Demonstrate to your child similarities and differences by using
pairs of objects. Give examples of how two objects are alike
and/or different. Ask your child to repeat what you said and then
identify any similarities and/or differences that he/she has
noticed.
* Give your child opportunities to match opposites (e.g.,
big/small, dark/light, cold/hot, light/heavy, etc.).
* After naming a general category, have the child give examples
of as many items as he/she can think of that belong in that
category (e.g., people, places, zoo animals, pets, toys, etc.).
* Play "Twenty Questions" (i.e., have your child guess what
object you are thinking of by asking questions related to its
physical properties and functions).
* Play a word game in which you say a simple word. After hearing
the word, your child will repeat the word, use it in a sentence,
give its opposite (if possible), and draw it (if possible).
* Read a short story and have your child come up with possible
titles for it.
* Ask your child to retell a story in his/her own words.
* Encourage verbal expression by showing a picture and have your
child create his/her own story about it.
* Give your child a simple shape (cylinder, ball, box, etc.) and
ask the child to imagine all the things it could be (a bracelet,
the sun,a house, etc.).
* Read a story to your child. Have your child answer questions
about the story using complete sentences.
Listening
Good listening skills are very important, especially at school.
Suggested Activities to Improve Listening Skills (Auditory
Processing)
* Tape record everyday sounds and ask your child to identify them.
* Have your child close his/her eyes while someone creates a
sound somewhere in the room, and have him/her identify the
location and direction of the sound. Then, have the child open
his/her eyes to check accuracy.
* Have your child be as quiet as possible and tune into the
subtle sound of his/her environment (e.g., traffic, clock
ticking, heater buzzing, etc.).
* Put different items in a container, have your child shake it,
and identify what an item is by its sound.
* Play simple tunes and have the child identify each song.
* Have your child follow directions by using song games (i.e.,
instruct your child to listen for specific words or phrases).
* Repeat rhymes and occasionally leave out a word or phrase. Have
your child complete the missing word or phrase. Songs, tongue
twisters, and finger plays are often enjoyable as well.
* Songs and finger plays that incorporate auditory memory and
sequencing skills are helpful because of their repetition (i.e.,
Old MacDonald, etc.).
* Tell a poem or short story and have your child retell the
poem/story. Also, have your child orally answer questions about
the poem/story.
* Start a sentence or story and have your child finish it.
* Create sound patterns by clapping hands, using an instrument,
and/or making body movements. Have the child repeat these
sequences. Then leave out a certain sound and have your child
tell what the missing sound was.
* Send your child on errands with an oral message to relay.
Encourage your child to repeat the message aloud to
himself/herself before passing on the message. Gradually increase
the number of verbal directions.
* Have your child pretend he/she is a telephone operator or
waiter/waitress and must remember specific messages or orders.
* Face away from your child and make specific requests. Then have
your child repeat what he/she heard.
Writing Skills
Please help your child develop his/her writing skills. Encourage
every effort that your child makes with writing! Writing can be a
great motivation for children to learn letters and sounds so they
can write down their ideas. Children are practicing their phonics
skills when they write. When drawing, encourage your child to
label the picture and sound out the words the best that he/she
can. Help your child become self-reliant. If he/she asks how to
spell a word, help your child stretch out the word so he/she can
hear the sounds. Guide your child through the spelling process,
but do not get in the habit of always spelling words for your
child. If your child's sound knowledge is low, then give your
child plenty of assistance to get him/her off to a good start,
but encourage your child to become more independent as soon as
possible. Make each writing experience a positive one!
Developing Good Writing Behaviors
* Provide a variety of materials for your child to use when
writing (i.e. paper, pencils, crayons, markers, note pads, cards,
post-it notes, clip board) and a handy place to neatly store
those important materials (i.e. storage box, drawer, shelf).
* Provide a special writing area for your child to use (i.e. a
desk, a place at the kitchen table, a spot on the coffee table).
* Provide a special place to display your child's writing (i.e.
refrigerator door, small bulletin board).
* Accept what your child writes. Children go through various
stages when learning to write (scribbling, drawing pictures,
random letters, inventive spelling). Answer your child's
questions about writing and be encouraging.
* Write notes to your child and put them in special places (i.e.
on a mirror, in a pocket, on a pillow). Also be a good model. Let
your child see your writing. After all, he/she wants to grow up
to be just like you!
* Provide real reasons for writing (i.e. thank you notes, grocery
lists, reminder notes, short letters to family members or
friends, stories, signs).
Some fun ways to practice writing -
* Use finger paints - Your child can smear finger paints on a
piece of paper and write his/her name and/or various letters with
his/her fingers. Encourage him/her to spell words and provide
some guidance when necessary. Your child can "wipe the slate
clean" to write more words and letters.
* Use a salt box - Line a small box with black paper and add a
thin layer of salt. Your child can write letters in the salt.
Gently shake the box to "clean the slate" and start over.
* Tracing/Drawing Activities - Draw shapes, curly lines, zig
zags, and mazes, and ask your child to trace them with a pencil.
Then see if he/she can duplicate the drawing by himself/herself.