Many parents have their preschoolers home from school over the winter break. Now that all of the Christmas presents have been opened, you may be looking for some fun (and inexpensive) literacy activities to keep your little one busy that do not involve screen time. Emergent literacy components include oral language skills, phonological awareness, alphabetic awareness, and print concepts. All of these components have a huge impact on later reading development. Here are three activities Maya and I will be completing over the next few days using a handful of items from Dollar Tree.
1. Snowy Day Writing
Dollar Tree Items: Silver glitter (multipack of 5); snowflake stickers; poster board pre-cut letters
Children love multisensory approaches to when it comes to writing. Using salt and a tray from home, I set up this fun Snowy Day Writing tray. Silver glitter and snowflakes were added to make it more festive. Maya first traced the pre-cut letter, then she attempted to write it in the salt. I must say, this activity was a hit! She especially loved the addition of the snowflakes.
2. Mailbox Phonics
Dollar Tree Items: Mailbox
I don’t know many children who aren’t entertained by mystery boxes. Using letters from an old LeapFrog game, Maya pulled out one letter from the mailbox at a time and had to identify the sound it made. We also came up with other words that started with the same sound. The ideas are endless with this game! You could search the pantry or fridge to find the target letter printed on items. If your letters are colorful like ours, you could also look for items around the house that are the same color.
3. Rhyming Dice
Dollar Tree Items: Dry erase dice
A few months ago, these dry erase dice were all the rage on Instagram among educators, parents, and other professionals who work with kids. I searched high and low and could never find them. While making a Christmas stocking run two weeks ago, I finally found them! I picked up four dice (although only three were used for this activity). Maya is really into producing rhyming words lately and this activity is a perfect complement. I wrote several letters on each side of each dice that could make simple, one syllable, CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Maya rolled the first die to create a new rhyming word. Once all of options were completed with the first die, she rolled the second, then the third. I have so many ideas for these dice!
For just $5, we’ve covered three activities that can be enjoyed time and time again over the winter break. I’ll share videos of us completing them as well on our Instagram stories, so be sure to follow us there!
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