Thursday, June 23, 2011

Materials in your Mailbox

Did you know that some of the most wonderful pictures for stimulating language in children come free right to your home in your mailbox?  Next time you open your box and find it overflowing with children's catalogs, resist that urge to go directly to the recycling bin.  Instead, take a minute to flip through the pictures inside.  These catalogs are typically full of brightly colored photos of kids doing an array of fun activities.  You can use these by either asking you child to "tell me about this picture" or you could cut them out, paste on a sheet of paper and let your child tell or write a story about it.  Encourage them to name the children and to include where the children are, what activities they are doing, what they will do next, etc.  You can ask them what the kids in the picture are feeling or what they might be saying.  You can even take it a step further by talking about a time you and your children might have done the same activity or by actually jumping in and doing the activity right then.  Without realizing it, you have just taken your junk mail and turned it into a rich language interaction with your child.  Before you know it you'll actually be going online to request those catalogs.  Go ahead ~ the mailbox is the limit! 

Please share any ways that you use these activities with your child.  I'm sure others would love to hear - I know I would!

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