Pre-Writers Club - Egg Soup

Phase One: Aspect Five - Alliteration

Objective: To explore how different sounds are articulated, and to extend understanding of alliteration.

Literacy - Reading and Writing (40-60+ months):

Hears and says the initial sound in words.

What you need:

Gather a selection of small objects that will fit inside the plastic eggs. Make sure that some of them begin with the same sound e.g. boat, bead, button, ball but also include some objects that start with a different sound e.g. wheel, pompom, marble, coin. I chose the letter b because Benji's name begins with B so he is interested in this sound. It doesn't matter which letter you chose.

Begin to make egg soup by adding water to a bowl and then cracking the eggs into the soup to reveal the 'ingredient'. As the add the ingredient help them to say the word and hear the initial sound "yes, that's a ball, b - b - ball".

Let your child play and make soup. Recite the ingredients they have added and emphasise the initial sound. This will help to draw your children’s attention to the way we start each word and form sounds.

You could extend the activity by only including 'ingredients' that start with the chosen sound. As you crack the eggs, decide whether you can add them to the soup or not e.g. "wheel, w-w-w-wheel, no that doesn't start with a b, it starts with a w sound". It is easier if you use sounds that are very different to each other to begin with.

Serve up the egg soup and pretend to eat it.

This aspect develops children's understanding of alliteration, where words start with the same letter or sound. They listen to the beginning of words and hear the difference or similarity between them. They begin to explore how different sounds are articulated and practise making them. This helps when they start to listen to the sounds in words to help spell during Phase Two.

If you have a go at this activity and share any photos on social media I would love to see them. Please tag @miniwritersclub and let me know how you get on.

Anna