Children in Nursery will be learning to:
Take part in simple pretend play, using an object to represent something else (Expressive Arts and Design)
Develop their phonological awareness, so that they can recognise words with the same initial sound, such as money and mother (Literacy)
Children in Reception will be learning to:
Read individual letters by saying the sounds for them (Literacy)
What you need:
A piece of material
A selection of objects beginning with s or a e.g. spoon, screwdriver, suitcase, sausage, ambulance, alligator, apple, axe Make sure that objects begin with s and not sh e.g. shark. (Or click here to download photos of objects)
Ask your child to close their eyes as you hide one of the objects under the piece of material. They should use their magic wand to form the letter a in the air as they say a-a-a-abracadabra! Once they have said the magic word they should pull the material to reveal the object.
Name the object, emphasising the initial sound and talk about what sound it begins with e.g. alligator, aaaaaligator starts with a. If it starts with the letter a their magic trick worked, but if it starts with s then it didn't! Place the object next to the matching flashcard. Repeat with different objects. As your child becomes more confident, they might be able to identify the initial sound and the matching flashcard by themselves.
You can swap roles and ask your child to hide an object for you. Benji found it hilarious to pick an object beginning with s so my magic spell didn't work!
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
Resources:
Head to the Summer Camp area for more activities to help introduce Phase 2 letters and sounds and for ways to introduce letter formation through play.
