Your child will play a ball rolling game with you to learn about how a sentence is made up of individual words.
Learning Area(s): Reading and Writing; Physical Development
MATERIALS
- Ball (any size)
LET'S PLAY
Sit on the floor opposite the child, about three feet apart.
Explain to your child that you will be saying sentences and breaking the sentence apart into individual words.
Choose a simple sentence to say aloud, for example, “The dog is brown.” Repeat the sentence slowly a few times. Ask your child to say the sentence.
Now explain that as you say each word in the sentence, you will roll the ball back and forth to each other: “The” (roll ball to child), “dog” (child rolls ball back), “is” (roll ball to child), “brown” (child rolls ball back).
TIPS
- Begin with simple three- and four-word sentences and gradually work up to longer sentences and bigger words.
- Sentences don’t have to be serious—they can be funny or silly! Adding humor may increase your child’s interest in the game.
- As your child gets the hang of this activity, let her make up sentences to use in the game.