Waddle on down to the South Pole and start gathering these adorable penguins for a hot game of Pengoloo. Kids love the element of surprise as they roll the two-colored dice and peek under two penguins per turn to reveal their brightly colored eggs. Get a match and declare they’re yours, placing them in order, 1-6, on your patch of ice. Keep it simple for a 4 year-old or step up the strategy and “steal” a penguin from your opponent’s iceberg to make your match. Blue Orange’s signature bright, bold graphics and tactiley pleasing wooden pieces attract kids and adults immediately. A full iceberg declares a winner who has reinforced color and number concepts and built visual memory skills.
Being grumpy is a lot of work. Mr. Fish can’t seem to be cheered up by his convincing pals, Ms Clam, Mr. Jelly (Fish), Mrs. Squid or Mr. Eight (legged octopus). In spite of the efforts by his best-intended buddies, this dreary, sulking fish is convinced he is doomed to a life of mope. An unexpected visitor appears to plant a kiss on our prince to get this grump out of his slump. This charming tale, The Pout-Pout Fish, is filled with strong vocabulary, rhythm and rhyme with stanzas to be sung with your little one.
Tips to Build Language and Literacy:
Model putting words to your emotions throughout your daily experiences. “I’m frustrated, I can’t get this lid open” or “I’m tired and grumpy. I need a nap.” “Please be patient, I can’t help you right now.” Identify and name emotions in stories that you read aloud to your child. “The little girl is selfish—always wanting her own way” or “Grandma is disappointed in her behavior.” Brainstorm words that describe the main character and see how many you can list. After reading a story to a first grade class, I collected fourteen words to describe the “bossy, impolite, ungrateful” little girl. Our little pout pout fish is “glum,” “mopey,” “dreary,” with an “unattractive trait.”
Point out repeated words that are isolated in the text, “Blub, Bluuuub, and Bluuuuub!” Your child will begin to associate the sound with the letter as you stretch out the word and even “read” the word next time you encounter that page.
No child gets bored with this kaleidoscope of colorful objects, animals and people gathered into categories by theme–getting dressed, visiting the farm, making music, or playing on the beach. Each category in Maisy’s Amazing Big Book of Words is introduced with a full-size picture and flap to invite your preschooler into a world bursting with 300 words that are related by theme. Whether your child is at the stage of pointing to hear you label the picture, naming the illustrations or narrating a little sentence, she will delight in this feast of words, all relating to a little one’s experience.
Take the time to name the pictures, describe them, “the three swimming ducklings,” and talk about how they all belong to a group–things we use on a rainy day, animals in the sea, food in the kitchen, or objects for bath time. Naming the category builds your child’s language as she learns to group words by their use or function. Talk about what we do with the items–”We dry off with a towel,” or “we wash with soap,” or “we float the duck.” Talking about the function of objects, helps your child link concepts and builds language skills.
Kids beg to play Animal Soup again and again. It’s a game of match as players race to find their animal dressed in different garb—a lei, scarf, baseball hat or tiara—on the game board. The winner collects an animal disc from the soup bowl! See my full review at Parents’ Choice website.
Clothespins!, This game of strategy requires the player to collect items of clothing by pattern—polka dots, stripes or wiggly lines, or by type—pants, tops or shorts. Finish three laundry lines with three matching articles of clothing and you win. But don’t let the bird steal your laundry! See my full review at Parents’ Choice website.
Ages 4-6
Grab your kiddie frog for a boogie around the lily pads. The trick is that you can’t be “seen” by the googly eyes of the adult frogs or your froggie is frozen in place, unable to advance toward the finish. What kid doesn’t enjoy sneaking past his parents’ watchful eyes?
Each adult frog, painted two delightful colors, lies waiting in the middle of the pond. Roll the dice of colors, match the two colors that come up to the adult frog and pick up one of his bulbous eyes to reveal if he has “seen” you–a green stamp of the frog lets you know “yes” and a blank means “no.” Let’s hope it is blank and you can sneak on past the adults to the next lily pad.
Although this is a game of visual memory, kids love the suspense of taking a peek under the eyes to see if they are caught. In addition, Froggy Boogie is a game of counting, visual discrimination and matching with colors, and requires no reading so the whole family beginning at 4 years can play. I’ve seen families of siblings up to 7 years giggle their way through this game together. Language is enhanced as the players discuss strategy, offer help, figure out whose turn it is and negotiate.
Grab your four bunnies and take off on the path to be the first to capture the carrot. Oops, it’s not that easy. Take your turn, pick a card and see if you advance 1, 2 or 3 spaces unless you get the “click the carrot” card. Then you get to turn the carrot until it clicks and the bottom drops out from under a space on the path. It’s a good thing that you have four bunnies in case you lose one through the hole. Believe it or not, kids love to pick the carrot card, even though they might lose a bunny and definitely don’t advance. It’s just plain fun to click that carrot and see who might drop off the game! Strategy comes into play when a risk-taker advances just one bunny while another child will play it safe and keep several bunnies on the path in case one is clicked off.Fun, engaging games, like Funny Bunny, encourage lots of social language, as kids discuss strategy, cope with winning and losing, explain to others how to play the game and learn to take turns and negotiate.
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Kids three years and up want a little challenge in their games—not everything left to chance! Diggity Dog
s magnetic nose. See if the color on the underside of the bone matches your dog and collect all three before heading home to win. There’s just enough action to keep little hands busy and skill required to keep minds churning. Playing Diggity Dog involves auditory memory (remembering the number of barks), visual memory (remembering where your colored bones are), counting, and conversation negotiating turn-taking and discussing strategy. These are all skills that contribute to language development.
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Get past the guard, drop down the drawbridge and roll up the door of the Folding Castle Play Set and you are in for some fun. The king and queen preside over the castle while the knight can stand guard in the towers, slide open the gate to lock the enemy in jail, hide under the stairs, or chase along the top of the wall. The horse provides an escape or can stay in his stable. Kids love being in charge of the action, which stimulates story telling and builds the foundations for literacy and writing.
Always let your child be the director of the action, not you, the parent. Research shows that parent involvement in pretend play can raise the level of language, but be careful to be a willing participant and not lead the play—that’s your child’s job! Don’t rob her of the opportunity to investigate new ways to use the doors, hiding places and stairwells. This builds language skills as she generates her own stories. The castle is so flexible, that a new story can be told each day as your child invents characters and themes.
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Buy New Wooden Folding Midevil Castle Toy by Melissa and & Doug now
Language enhancing toys have moving parts and opportunities to change the action and therefore the story. Kids can’t wait to enter the Tree House Play Set by Melissa and Doug, traveling up the staircase before someone on the third floor pulls up the drawbridge, relaxing on the swing, pulling a bucket up three levels, letting down the ladder to escape, resting on the hammock or tricking someone crossing the bridge’s trap door! The six moving parts, including pulley-operated systems provide for lots of imaginative play and adventure. With plenty of room to navigate, the tree house accommodates children or siblings of differentages, creating multi-layered stories together and building language skills.
I’ve seen children get inventive, hoisting up characters in the bucket, sending the enemy to the “dungeon” below the trap door and use the swing as a bed. There is no end to imaginative play with this tree house. The set comes with a boy and girl who have been assigned various roles such as princess and prince, but children can’t help bringing additional playmates to the house such as pirates, dolls or critters to joint the action. It adds to the complexity of the story.
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