Tots on a Tuesday {"eggy" phonics}

I wanted to let you know about this activity, with some urgency.

"Why?", you may ask.

Well, it is something you could do "On the cheep cheap" if you get into the shops this week, perhaps.

It uses something that very possibly will be reduced as of today, and at least IN the shops, but not for much longer.

I picked this handy item up a couple of years ago, and the younger children have had a lot of fun with it, when doing phonics.

It's these....

Plastic, fillable eggs.  They are perfect for spring-themed crafts, but they can also be used for lots of phonic-themed ideas!

I used them for learning about the letters of the alphabet.  As I remember, they came, inconveniently for my idea, in packs of 24, so I had to get 2 packs!  Silly alphabet having a number of letters MORE than 24. *rolls eyes*

I got my lovely Sharpie pens out, (which I got on offer at Tesco) , and wrote the upper case letter on the top half of the egg, and the lower case letter on the bottom half. Now, having got them out again for Abi, after using them for Susie, I see that I could actually have made them self-correcting.  Had I been a bit more careful about the colours of pen I used, on the colour of eggs, I may have been able to have enough variety to have no same-coloured egg with the same colour of "writing". I wasn't that smart first time round. Silly me. It's not essential, but have self correcting activities is helpful for the child to do an activity more independently. So, if the letter "S" was on a green egg, with red writing, the child would be able to check if they had got the right lower case half, by checking it was a green egg with red writing. 

Clear as mud?

We are currently using them as a matching activity, simply matching upper and lower case.

As we learnt each letter, some months ago, we used each egg to find things that started with that sound, and put them inside the egg.  You could put the items in yourself, and then get the child to open the egg, and work out the sound you are learning based on the item found inside. You could also get the child to draw a picture and fold it up and put it inside, and get them out to look at them again, as a review, when you have finished learning all the sounds.

An older sibling may enjoy getting involved by being the person responsible for finding the items to put in the egg, or by drawing pictures to put inside it, to surprise the younger child as they learn! I love having children help each other to learn.

Here are some pictures of items we have used in our home.

Starburst sweets! Two "S's"!

There are ever so many inventive and fun things you could put inside, that start with the letter you are learning. Edible items never go amiss!!

  You could use it as a lesson in alphabetical order, lining them up accordingly.  You could do it for the whole alphabet, in order, or just use a few and put them in alphabetical order.  If you actually do it slightly differently from me, and write the lower case letters so that they egg half sits flat on the floor when reading, then you can line them up more easily on the floor or table, without them wobbling! It would mean that when you match them up as a whole egg, one looks "upside down", but I don't think that matters.

Another idea is to use the eggs for spelling games.  Spread the eggs on the floor, and get the child to choose letters, randomly, one at a time, until they can build a word. How about spreading lots of little items on a tray, beginning with different sounds, and get the child to cover them up with the correct egg half? Alternatively you could cover items up yourself, then the child looks at them and tells you if the right sound is covering the item up. 

You could use it to do other types of matching - numbers matching with the number word, contraction words, with the contraction on one side, and the two words that make up the contraction on the other, or colours with the colour word. 

You could make the eggs more versatile by having removable words, letters, numbers or labels, that you simply stick on the eggs for each activity.  There's my frugal Scot's side coming out!

I'm sure there are many other things that I have not thought of, that could be done. Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments section, so we can all have fun with them!

I cannot suggest where to get them anywhere outside of the UK, but I can tell you of a couple of UK suppliers. Baker Ross has them in sets of 12, or you can buy 48 for slightly less money. If you know of other Mums who like the idea, and want to do it too, eBay has a bulk buy option, which is the cheapest I have found. I have also seen them in Tesco and Sainsburys, but I am not sure if they will still be available now that Easter is past, or whether they may actually be available for cheaper?

So there you have it - EGG-cellent fun with phonics!

FREE Printable - {alphabet theme}

I wanted to share a quick post about one of the learning resources that I have found. Actually, it's more RE-found.

I have been thinking ahead to Abi starting school officially in September, and wanted to get a head start with some alphabet and letter sound identification.  I had started by getting a great app for the iPad. It's called "Eggy Alphabet" and ties in with the award-winning "Reading Express" programme. It's a great app, which teaches them letter sound, formation and identifying the sound at teh beginning of words.  I will review it more thoroughly when I finally get around to doing my app reviews tab.  *aherm*

I wanted some non-media learning, too.  I was browsing through my newsfeed on FB this week, when my eye caught the Confessions of a Homeschooler updates.  I got down a rabbbit trail of looking at her website again, and found this printable.


Erica has a fabby website, and FB page, called Confessions of a Homeschooler.  She has created some very lovely free printables, particularly for pre-school aged children.  There are a lot of alphabet based activities, and she even has some curriculum you can purchase for VERY little money.  I so appreciate the effort that people like Erica go to, to share these things with other Mums, and so much for FREE.  All the time she must spend doing it is of a huge advantage to Mums like me, who have less creative genius!!

I found these alphabet block printables when looking at her alphabet themed activities which are based upon each letter of the alphabet.  The posts she has on the alphabet are just a FRACTION of the printables you get if you buy the curriculum.  It only works out at about £10, which I think is really great value.

I printed them out yesterday, and laminated them today. One had to wait for one's new laminator pouches to arrive. *aherm*

I already had these blocks to use with them, and they fit perfectly.  For those in the UK, you can also get them here (choose "mathematics" and then "manipulatives" and then "pattern blocks").  I like the Melissa and Doug set, as they are wooden and you also get their pattern boards to have fun with, too.  Well, for your CHILDREN to have fun with!

So, Elijah test drove them for me - after his bath tonight!!!

As you can see, he was rather pleased with his efforts!!

Erica also has a printable with a pattern line, using the same blocks. (You can find it if you look down the page on the link I shared above about the alphabet printable)  Abi had fun with these...

(she was so keen, I didn't even get to brush her hair, post-bath....)

There are 8 different patterns in all, and a line to make up your own. There are endless things you could do with these shaped bricks.  Please feel free to share if you have done anything else with them, or know of a website that shows us what you can use them for!

So, there we have it.  Part of my creative efforts for the last couple of days.  I also printed and laminated something else, but I will tell you about it next week, as I need to iron out an imperfection I spotted in my printable I have made, and want to fix it before I share the file with you all! Erm, well, I will share it at SOME point.... I have a love story to finish first..... *whistles* (or else I will be cyber-lynched by many people....)