Tracing Boards

Now that we have had a chance to play around with the boards for a while, we have come up with a few ideas on how you and your little ones can get creative with them!

What materials to use:

-When using the Alphabet Boards try smaller dry goods such as beans, rice, seeds, corn, lentils, coloured rice etc.

-For the dots on the number boards use coloured wooden beads, fabric pompoms, felt balls, marbles, play dough balls, dried chickpeas, etc. 

-Get creative and use some natural materials you find around your yard or garden such as small rocks, tree buds, leaves, flowers, seedpods, etc.

Activities to learn from:

-Ask the child to use the dry goods and fill in the letters of their name. This will help them to identify which letters make up their name and where the letters are in the alphabet.  

-You can try filling one letter at a time while saying the letter and sounding it out.  If you're working on specific letters that day, try filling in the uppercase and then flip the board for the same letter in lowercase.  We have found this very helpful.

-Place the board in a cookie tray and fill with coloured rice.  Ask the child to find the letters of their name or whatever letters you're working on that day with a paint brush.

-Grab a white piece of paper and place it on top of the board. Use a flat crayon or edge of pencil crayon to colour over the letters.  Ask the child to find the letters of their name and colour only those in. You might have to assist with the placement of the letters but they will get it after some practice.  

-Using the wooden stylus provided, get the child to trace the letters/numbers so they can start to recognize the correct way to write them.

-When counting on the number board, it helps to use the same colour of material for the "10" dots on the 11-20 side so children can identify that it's the same across to 20 and that you're only adding one more number as you count up.

As I said, these are only a few of the ideas we have played around with so far.  Let us know what other fun activities or materials you and your family come up with as we would love to share and learn new techniques!

Take me to the boards!