READ A PICTURE

Nov 202009
 

by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

We can get lots of information from the pictures we see in ads, signs, books, billboards, and television. Often children don’t know the names for things they see. Naming things in pictures is a great way to build vocabulary.

Children enjoy being asked what they think about what they see. Just listen to their ideas, whether they are reasonable or not. It helps them develop thinking and observation skills. Here are some ways to do it:

1) When you open a book with pictures, have your children look first at the pictures before you read. Ask them to tell you what they see. Sometimes you can explore a whole book through pictures. Here are some ways you could ask questions:

  • What do you see here?
  • What might this story be about?
  • What is happening here?
  • What can you tell about characters from looking at their face or posture? 
  • Are they happy or sad? Angry or calm?
  • Would you like to be in this picture? 

2) Take a food wrapper that has a picture or illustration  like a bag from a fast-food restaurant, or a macaroni box, a canned good, or a cereal box. Ask the children what they see in the picture or on the box. Ask them to name the things in the picture on the box.

  • Does the picture make you want to eat what’s inside?
  • What colors are used in the picture?
  • Does this look like our house or our family?

Then compare several different labels or boxes.

  • Which boxes are most attractive?
  • Which do you like best?
  • See if there are people or animals in the pictures. Are those people smiling?
  • See if there are plants in the pictures. 
  • How are the pictures the same? How are they different?
  • What color is the lettering?
  • Can you tell what’s inside without reading the words?
  • What would you put on a box? 

3) Look out a window, any window, with a child. Pretend that what you see is a picture in a frame. Ask them to name 15 things they see out that window. This simple activity develops attention to detail and can help them in their own drawing or writing.

Send us your read a picture ideas!

 

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

WONDERWALK

Oct 162009
 

by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

This activity is easy and energizing! It helps children learn to look closely at the ordinary and amazing things in the world around them. The thing to do is to keep asking “I wonder” questions. It’s fun to hear what children say while you do this. Their answers may be surprising and unusual, and it’s okay if they don’t make total sense.

Here is one way to do it:

1) With a paper bag in hand, take a walk outside your house with your child. Together collect as many different kinds of leaves as you can, picking up only one of each kind. Ask, “What do you notice?” or “What do you see?” 

2) When you get home, sort the leaves (or stones) into groups. For instance, you could put all the pointy leaves into one group and all the leaves with round edges in another group. Ask, “I wonder why some leaves have points and some are round?” and see what your child answers.

3) Then sort those leaves by some other category like by color, size, texture, or some other characteristic. Let the child choose another way to sort the leaves and say, “Tell me about how you sorted those.”

Ask “I wonder” questions often, such as, “I wonder how plants take water and brown earth and make colorful flowers?”  We may not know all the answers to these questions, but it encourages thinking and creativity in children. 

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

RHYME TIME

Oct 022009
 

 by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

Kids and adults love rhyming words. Rhymes are in songs, in raps, in poems, in ads, in jump-rope games, and just about everywhere. This activity can be done any time, anywhere, and especially when you’re in a silly mood! It helps children learn that it is fun any time to play with words, sounds, and rhythms. It develops their attentiveness and their ability to hear sounds. It develops their vocabulary. Here are some ways to do this:

1) Think of a simple sentence that you say to your children frequently. Then make up a rhyme to match it. For example, with “It’s time to go to bed!” add, “So lay down your pretty head!” Or with “Sit down and eat your dinner,” add, “We don’t want you any thinner!” OR

 2) Think of a word or a simple statement such as, “I saw a puppy dog.” Then ask your child to tell you a word that rhymes with dog and like log, hog, fog, frog, bog. See how many you and your child can come up with. (For older children, try picking words that are more unusual.)

Then see if you and your child can put these words together in an easy little poem with several rhyming words. For example, “I saw a dog who sat on a log. He sniffed at a frog and then jumped in the bog.” If your child offers a nonsense word, that’s just fine. See who can come up with the silliest lines. Go for giggles here and for the fun of sounds. OR

3) Try for a question rhyme: Did you ever try to tickle a pickle? Did you ever try to hug a bug? Did you ever try to eat your feet? You might want to give a reward, like staying up an extra 20 minutes to read, for the special question rhymes. If you come up with rhymes or poems you like, write them down and save them.  That way you’ll get to enjoy them again.

 

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

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