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Monthly Activity Sheets
Print these sheets of rhymes and activities for parents,
daycare providers, and other caregivers to use at home. You might use some
of the same activities in your storytime programs, too. We'll be creating
a sheet for each month of the year.
Activities for Each of the Six Skills:
 | Print Motivation
Tips: This is more of an attitude than a skill. Select
books that get the kids involved -- books with repeating phrases, books with
animal sounds, etc. Read with lots of expression! For lapsit --
provide board books that babies can handle.
Tell the caregivers: Make reading together fun! Let
children see that reading is a useful tool (call attention to grocery lists,
recipes, store packaging, etc.). Keep board books with baby's toys.
Activities:
Bunny Boo Boo
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| Vocabulary
Tips: Books have many unusual words -- words not heard in ordinary
conversation. Use these opportunities to teach new vocabulary.
Don't change difficult words. Clap out big words together.
Tell the caregivers: Use rich language -- kids understand more words than
they use. Teach your child specific names for things like plants, types of
pasta, kinds of birds, etc. When your baby points and says "dog," say
"Yes. That is a big brown dog."
Activities:
Pockets (rhyme -- hold up pictures of the animals); Veggie Vocabulary
(along with stories about gardening or food, help the children learn new
vegetable names with these pictures:
veggie vocab;
vegetable group);
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| Print Awareness
Tips: Run a finger under print sometimes during storytime.
Use nametags. Make large print copies of rhymes.
Tell the caregivers: Point out print in everyday life. Let
your child see you reading.
Activities: Nametags. |
| Narrative Skills
Tips: Pause to ask questions as you read a book. Re-tell
stories using flannel boards, etc.
Tell the caregivers: Pause to discuss books as you read. Ask
your child to guess what will happen next or to repeat what has happened.
Activities:
Raindrops,
Who Am I (see below) |
| Phonological Awareness
Tips: Use rhymes, animal sounds, and songs. For lapsit --
nursery rhymes help babies hear the sounds that make up words (they don't
have to make sense to the child).
Tell the caregivers: Recite nursery rhymes and sing songs with your
child. Talk to your baby!
Activities:
Animals On the Farm;
Rhyming Flannelboard;
Purple Cows;
Five Green & Speckled Frogs (see below); B Words (see below); Say It Slow,
Say it Fast Cards (see below);
Too Many Snowflakes. |
| Letter Knowledge
Tips: Read fun alphabet books. Focus on one letter for
each storytime.
Tell the caregivers: Read alphabet books. Don't drill your
child on letters. For toddlers, learning shapes and "same"
vs. "different" will help your child learn letters.
Activities:
Alphabet Soup S;
Alphabet Soup A; "C is for Cookie" -- the Sesame Street song can be
adapted to any letter (see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BovQyphS8kA);
Bus (Use page 2 of this
document for picking out shapes.); Beginning, Middle and End (see below);
The Three Little Kittens (Recite the traditional rhyme and play mitten
matching using these flannelboard pieces or real mittens:
Mittens for Matching.
Counting Rhymes also help children learn the concept of order --
which will help with reading as well. One example (with simple
artwork) is
Counting Crows. |
Printable Activities
(flannelboard sets, rhymes, etc.):
Note on creating flannelboards: Print the artwork provided on heavy paper (cardstock is best); laminate if
possible; add self-stick velcro or pieces of self-stick felt to the back.
[Links will open Word documents.]
| Alphabet Soup: rhymes for
letter recognition (create your own for additional letters!).
Letter A;
Letter S. |
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Bunny Boo Boo
(An interactive story-song) |
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Setting the Table.
This activity is good practice for putting things in order.
Artwork to
go with this rhyme. |
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Too Many Snowflakes.
Action & Counting Rhyme. |
| The Three Little Kittens. Recite the traditional rhyme and
play mitten-matching using these flannelboard pieces or real mittens:
Mittens for Matching
(Print as many as you like). |
|
Who Am I? A rhyme
that invites participation. Flannelboard artwork is included. |
| Wiggle Worms. Use this
rhyme (Version One &
Version Two) as a
quieting rhyme and also to introduce the letter W. For smaller groups,
you might hand out 5
wiggle worms to each child and have them place the worms in a decorated
"wiggle jar" as you say Version One of the rhyme. Larger groups might
wiggle their index fingers to represent the wiggle worms. Show the
children how to put their wiggles in their laps (or behind their backs or
under their chairs, etc.) -- using Version Two.
 | Use this activity to build
letter
knowledge with books like Wacky Wednesday, Diary of a Wombat
by Jackie French and Adventures of Little Wombat by Vicki
Churchill. |
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| Say it Slow, Say it Fast Cards
[pdf files/Word docs] *NEW
cards added*
Use these cards for
phonological
awareness: print them out, cut them in half and use the halves to say
the parts of the word slowly, then put the parts together and say them
fast: "Air.....plane. Airplane"
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Simple Learning Centers
It seems that what works for most libraries are very simple, portable learning
centers. You might use one of these skill-building centers at the end
of a storyhour or use several in place of storyhour on occasion.
Using learning centers depends on having caregivers work with their
child/children (preferably one-on-one) while library staff encourage and
facilitate. [If you are doing multiple centers, you might post notes for
caregivers -- such as "As you shop for groceries, read the package labels aloud
while you run your finger under the letters. This shows your child that
print has meaning."]
We looked for center ideas that 1) are easy to set up, take down and store; 2)
are made from free or inexpensive materials; and 3) build one of the 6 early
literacy skills. [If you have suggestions to add to our list, please
email sgruber@swilsa.lib.ia.us!]
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Print Motivation Center
Provide plenty of board books, large pillows or bean bags
Create a toddler "book drop" by decorating a cardboard
grocery-size box and cutting several slots for "returning" books.
For lapsit, glue pictures to the outside of an oatmeal box.
You might include a few large letters as well. Put a few beans inside
and cover with clear contact paper. Babies will enjoy the pictures as
they roll the box around.
Create a small "theme library." Devote a small table or
shelf section to a display of books on a single theme. (For example,
dinosaurs, puppies, trucks or bugs.) Decorate the area accordingly.
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Letter Knowledge Center
Large magnetic or foam letters.
Matching socks -- hang an assortment of socks on a
clothesline -- or place them in a basket. Have the children match them
up! Use mittens in winter.
Shape Sorting -- Cut sponges into simple geometric shapes
(circle, square, triangle). Provide plastic buckets for sorting them.
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Vocabulary Center
Veggie
Vocabulary Cards -- print these pictures or find your own. You
might want to put these out with Saxton Freymann books so that the children
can look for the veggies in the books. |
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Print Awareness Center
Grocery Store: Collect cereal boxes and other
containers with large, clear lettering. |
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Narrative Skills Center
Puppets!
Puzzles allow children to use their hands while talking about
what they are assembling. If you don't hear much discussion, stop in
to set an example by asking the children questions. |
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Phonological Awareness Center
Nursery Rhymes -- in books or colorful print-outs.
[Note to caregivers: "Pick a nursery rhyme that you remember from
your childhood and teach it to your child today! Remember to say the
rhyme together at home, too!]
Make-It-Yourself Musical Instruments: gather
containers that will rattle nicely when beans or rice are added.
Provide strong tape for sealing the rattles. Decorate with stickers.
Older children can string jingle bells (think after-Christmas sales) with
macaroni on a strong cord. Sing a song together when everyone has had
a chance to make an instrument.
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