Your child will practice recognizing beginning sounds in words and create a collage of pictures that start with the same sound.
Learning Area(s): Reading and Writing; Physical Development
MATERIALS
- Large piece of cardstock or construction paper
- Magazine pictures or printed clipart pictures or photos
- Marker
- Child-safe scissors
- Glue stick
LET'S PLAY
Sitting together at the table, choose a letter of the alphabet. You may want to start with the first letter of your child’s name because that letter usually has the most meaning for the child, or any other letter the child chooses. Review with your child the sound that the letter makes, and focus on the sound during this activity more than the name of the letter. Using a marker, write the uppercase and lowercase letters in the center of the page.
Next, help your child find and cut out pictures of items that begin with that letter sound and glue them to the paper. For example, if the child chooses the letter D, ask your child, “Which picture starts with the /d/ sound?” He might cut out pictures of dogs, daisies, drums, donuts, etc. As your child chooses each picture, emphasize the beginning sound of the word and have your child repeat it.
For a stronger connection to the child’s world, using photos of familiar items or people can be helpful. When finished, your child might want to hang up his collage for everyone to see!
TIPS
- Younger children will often need help using scissors and/or a glue stick. Demonstrate these skills for your child and use “hand-over-hand” assistance if needed. Remember that these skills take lots of practice to master!
- You can simplify this activity by showing your child two pictures that begin with different sounds (e.g., kite and banana) so your child can make a distinction between only two letter sounds at a time.
- If the child is interested, this activity can be repeated until an entire ABC book is created using each letter of the alphabet.