Written by contributor Catherine Way of Indirect Observations.

One important skill that emerging readers need to develop is phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is sensitivity to the sound structure of language. Children who can detect and manipulate sounds are phonologically aware.

Until your child understands that words are made up of sounds and we can write these sounds down, they cannot access written language. Some children naturally pick up on this understanding, some need it made more explicit.  As my children are not home-schooled, I try hard not to do “school” work at home (apart from homework).  That means we don’t do worksheets, we don’t have a letter of the day, we don’t use flashcards.

Does this mean we don’t do literacy learning at home? Not at all. Incidental learning is happening all the time. I take advantages of many opportunities to reinforce their learning or bring up a relevant concept. With an emerging reader, like my 4 year old, I read books and talk about letters and words. I write things down for him. I help him write letters when he wants to. And we play games. These things all build his phonological awareness.

Literacy games for emerging readers

Here are some activities and games I use at home, that don’t seem like school work, but help children start to notice the sounds in words. I find that many of these games are fun to play in the car.
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Written by Kara Fleck, Simple Kids editor and Rockin’ Granola mama.

It is almost February and that means loves is in the air and we’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day.

At our house we’re also looking forward to February because the month brings with it Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, and a few special birthdays as well as Chinese New Year.  Did you know that 2013 is the year of the snake?  And, let us not forget that little groundhog on February 2nd.

February in Indiana usually means that Winter has more cold days  and dark nights in store for us, and we’re spending our days by the fire, reading and doing some handwork crafts, and trying to keep the doldrums from setting in.  February may be the shortest month on the calendar, but there are times it seems very long indeed.

I’ve rounded up a few ways to play, learn, and explore this February to help keep those late Winter doldrums at bay.

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Written by Kara Fleck, Simple Kids editor and Rockin’ Granola mama.

Today I’ve got a super simple outdoor play idea for those of you who, like us in Indiana, are enjoying some January snow:  use your Summer sandbox toys in the Winter snow.

As we made our way through the garage on our way to play in the yard after our first really big snowfall of the season, I noticed the kids grabbing the sandbox shovels and pails along with the snow shovels.   It seemed to be instinct for them and it ended up being a lovely way to play.

The scoops, shovels, buckets, and castle molds were great fun in the snow!

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