Teaching Tuesday--Alphabet and more

Couple of ideas for you today.  I've tried the first one, but not the second one ... yet!  I just found it tonight while doing a search on the internet and I'm excited to try it out.  And I'd love to hear how it works for any of you as well.  Sounds fun.

Water table:

Materials:

Large dish pain

Measuring cups

Teaspoons

Plastic animals or toys

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't afford a large water table.  They look like a lot of fun.  And I know my 2 year old would love one.  So what's a mama to do?

Water table in miniature.  Take a large dish pain and fill with water.  You can do this in your kitchen if you're brave enough, but we stick to the backyard.  Take out lots of measuring cups, teaspoons, plastic dinosaurs, small animals.  Whatever you can get your hands on.  This is a great sensory activity and loads of fun.  I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but this miniature version is a lot of fun and opens up a lot of conversation about temperature, texture, activity, etc.  Your child will love it.

Alphabet Dominoes:

Materials:

Poster board

Scissors

Marker

1. Cut the poster board into 1" x 2" pieces.

2. On each piece, write 2 letters (like dominoes).    

3. For younger kids, use only upper or lower letters.  For older kids, you can mix up upper and lower case letters.

4. Connect them as you would regular dominoes, matching up letters.  Challenge your child to make new designs.  

5. Talk with your child about letters, words that start with them, the sounds that they make, etc.

6. This activity can also be used for shapes, colors, animals, etc.  Let your creativity go crazy.