Role Playing Builds Language

Role Play: Creative Learning Fun

Role playing, also known as dramatic play, helps children develop creativity, confidence, and language skills that are so important for learning to read.
  The theatre doesn’t need to be fancy. The stage can be steps, under a table, or some chairs. Then add clothes and hats for costumes and stuffed animals or dolls for more characters.
  If you plan to take your children to a new place, practice first at home by creating a little play. Children have amazing talents and creativity. They love to be silly and have fun.

Act Out Everyday Situations

Acting is Fun
  Some situations you might act out include: riding a bus, opening presents and saying “thank you” at parties, taking turns, going to the doctor or dentist, grocery shopping, banking, riding on an airplane, going to a nursing home or church, getting a hair cut, going on a train, to a play or school concert, sports event, or movie.
  To role play a bus ride set up chairs for the driver and passengers. Then take turns being the driver with stuffed animals as passengers. Put on jackets and hats for costumes. Take along backpacks, snacks, stuffed animals, a schedule, map, and fare. 
  Adults, children, and stuffed animals can talk through what will happen and what rules are needed for safety and courtesy. Practice giving the fare to the driver and practice courtesy by smiling and saying, “Hello.” Children may practice entering and leaving the bus, sitting, and saying “thank you” to the driver when they leave. 
  The courteous driver may use a pretend microphone to announce places around town and greet passengers. After the ride sing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." If possible, go on a real ride and point out landmarks.
Playing at Home
  Adults sometimes forget there is a new world out there every time children go somewhere for the first time. Role playing at home helps them feel more secure, gives them the words they need to express themselves, and helps prevent tears.
  Take a few pictures while role playing or experiencing the real thing and make a little four page book with a sentence and picture on each page. Preschool children can dictate the story while you write a few short sentences with correct capital and lower case printing. They may memorize the words or tell the story using the pictures, often one of the first steps to real reading.

Museum Characters Make Great Role-Play Models

Children’s Museums and Community Theatre classes have many fantastic opportunities to role play. During your next library visit pick up books about first experiences. At home act out some favorite books, videos, or stories. Include stuffed animals that talk with creative voices. 
Photos: Fran Darling: fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest
 

Great Gifts for Fun and Learning

Regular LEGOs for older children

 When birthdays and holidays come around, grandparents want to give special gifts little ones. While there are many expensive, electronic and mechanical toys available, often the lasting favorite toys are simple and easy to use. Good toys for young children encourage discovery, learning and creativity. They are sturdy and easily handled by little fingers.Here are some gifts recommended by teachers and parents who have seen these toys in use at home and in preschool.

Teacher Recommended Gift Ideas:
All kinds of art/craft supplies like pencils, drawing paper, crayons, washable markers and paints (with supervision), child scissors, glue, colored paper.
Play-dough (store bought or made at home) and little rolling pins, cutters, etc.
  Large plastic connecting pieces like giant Legos, Duplo 

Large LEGOs or Duplos for smaller children

(Regular sized Lego blocks have too many little pieces for very young children.) About age four kids are ready for regular sized Lego pieces.
  Easy wooden puzzles, bath toys, magnetic alphabet letters and number (with supervision) and easy to catch balls for inside and outside. Inflatable beach balls work well inside during cold months.
   Large cardboard building blocks—perfect for stacking and making all sorts of roads, towers, etc. (Search  for Giant Building Block sets by Imagiday, Imagibricks or Melissa Basic Cardboard Blocks.)
  Sandbox and snow toys—plastic pails, shovels, diggers, trucks, etc.,

Easy wooden puzzles

simple to move cars and trucks.
   Baby dolls, simple musical instruments like whistles, drums, horns;  play tools, things for playing dress-up, magnifying glass, piggy banks (Savvy Pig), inside play tent, a snugly blanket, and stuffed animals for imaginary play.
Books Best
  The number one recommendation is BOOKS!  Children need to be read to several times each day if they are to become readers,
  Look for books that introduce the alphabet, colors, shapes other beginning concepts in a creative way like  “Now I Eat My ABCs” by Abrams, “Pets ABC” by Dahl,  “Achoo! Bang! Crash! “By MacDonald, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Martin, “Click, Clack” by Cronin and “Mouse Paint” by Walsh “10 Little Rubber Ducks” by Carle, “Counting Kisses” by Katz, “Shapes” by Crowther, “Too Big, Too Small, Just Right” by Minters,  “I Stink!” by McMullan, “Yes” and other books by Alborough , and “What Will Fat Cat Sit On?” by Thomas, “Llama, Llama” by Dewdney, “Can You Growl Like a Bear?” by Butler, “Sheep in a Jeep” by Shaw and Apple, “Chickens to the Rescue” by Hillelman, “Corduroy” by Freeman, Moon books by Asch, “Very Hungry Caterpillar” and other stories by Eric Carle,  word books by Richard Scarry, “Where’s Spot?” by Hill,  “Go Dog Go!”, “Put Me in the Zoo” and other titles by Seuss.
  Check book lists at your library, the All-Time Best Books for Preschoolers, Top Books for Toddlers at "http://www.parents.com" www.parents.com, or Trelease-on-reading.com.
Sketches: Mark Nowicki
Photo: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Kids Love Photos and “Kahoot.it”

Show Your History - in Photos

Most basements and attics have photographs, loads of snapshots going back several generations. They sit in boxes or layered in photo albums divided between family members.  Photos are a record of how families looked and lived. They are a history waiting to be shared among new generations of young children who are fascinated when someone says, “Look you have the same eyes and smile!”
Take Out Photos
  Winter is a good time to bring those pictures into the sunlight and place them where young children can see them whether they are organized or not. After all, there is always next year.
   Plan a short sharing time. Look for pictures that may be interesting to them. Is there a picture of Mom covered with mud in the sandbox?  Young children can relate to this. Are there photos showing off a string of fish, helping to dress a deer, or sledding down a hill where there are houses now?
  There are probably yearly school,

Remember What Happened?

holiday, birthday, and religious celebration photos with entertaining stories attached.  This is a good time to let young children know that parents and grandparents have had all kinds of experiences happen to them, too. There have been happy, proud, sad, and scary times.
  Are there pictures of family members or loving pets that have died?  Did you know that Fluffy Jason is buried among the raspberry bushes?  Talking through an event and visiting the resting place may help young children who have lost someone or a pet.
  Go back as far as you can into the pictures of your family history. If another family member has one you are missing, put that on your list to ask for copies of the missing pictures so you have a complete set.
  When showing a picture of great grandpa talk about his cutting down trees for heat, raising Belgian draft horses, or going down into the mines.
   If you see an old piece of technology like a dial phone or phonograph, talk about them.  What? There were no on- line videos, cell phones, or TV’s?  What is a typewriter?
  Discussions like these could lead to a family outing at the local museum, library or another trip to the attic or basement.
Kahoot.it
  If there is a teen in the house introduce them to kahoot.it. It is an application to make

View How-To Slideshow (link below)

your own family quizzes when everyone has a cell phone or other device.   Teens can work with grandparents to make a quiz about family pictures and involve all the generations at family gatherings. How much do members know about family pictures and their history? The application is free, fun, educational, and easy to use. Children may have already used it in their classrooms. 
Get Started with Kahoot.it http://www.slideshare.net/mansoorkhan386/kahootit-game-pin
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest