The Write Start

This End Up

One of my very favorite books is Not a Box by Antionette Portis. Have you read it? It's simply a story about creativity. And it reveals an indisputable truth about childhood: there are few things in life better than playing with a cardboard box. The possibilities are endless!

 

 

So after a recent package was delivered, my son spent a day in the sunshine with his new boat, rocket ship, truck, (fill in the blank). First he painted it:

 

 

 

And then he "signed" his work with a hand print.

 

 

Not a Box inspires children (and reminds parents) that the most basic things are often the best vehicles for the imagination. Activities like transforming a cardboard box help children to think like a writer does -- making something out of nothing.

 

A few days after playing with this box, my son turned a couple of other boxes into a pickup truck. He added controls and a tailgate and spent many happy hours loading and unloading it with a variety of stuff. Then he did "demolition," ripping it apart bit by bit. (I reminded myself that ripping cardboard is excellent for strengthening the hands as I helped pick up a thousand tiny bits....)

 

Coincidentally, at the end of the week of the cardboard box we went to a local show that my Dad had gotten us tickets for (Thanks Papa!). It was put on by The Paperbag Players. Imagine my delight to see that all of the costumes, scenery, and props were fashioned out of some combination of paper bags and cardboard boxes. Enormous paper towel rolls came to life and were hysterical. They even had a wonderful part where they painted scenes on huge sheets of paper right in front of the audience. It was delightful and Jack was riveted. What a wonderful way to reinforce what he was learning through his own innovativeness. I couldn't have planned it better myself!

 

 

When was the last time you played with a cardboard box with your favorite little inventor? What did it become?

Letter Love

My son is really into talking about letter sounds, although he was never officially "taught" his letters. I first introduced letters by scattering them about the house, putting them as our table centerpiece, for example. For a while our dining room table held a crystal bowl filled with alphabet blocks. What child wouldn't be curious? (And what else would I do with a crystal bowl? Yet another wedding gift I had never put to good use...)

 

So he started with stacking, building, and lining them up which led to "What's this say?" and "duh (the sound of the letter D) is for Daddy" and grew from there. Letter blocks are a great place to start because, if you think of it, learning the alphabet is so much like building. Letters are the building blocks of words, and can be arranged in all different ways to construct different meanings.

Our letter blocks are out on the back deck now, and some colorful wood lowercase letters have found their way to the dining room table. A moveable alphabet of sorts, Jack is combining them to make words from the sounds he knows whenever they catch his eye. Sometimes the light from the window hits them just right -- it seems to illuminate them and *spark* his interest.

Has your child ever discovered something you left scattered about your house?

Let's Grow!

 

I couldn't be more excited about all of the signs of Spring popping up everywhere we look. I can't wait to move some of our indoor activities outside. One of our first projects will be to transplant a lima bean plant that Jack has nurtured through the fall and winter. He waters it carefully each day with his spray bottle.

We love spray bottles! Jack just thinks they're fun. I know they're a GREAT tool for hand strengthening. We put some water in and use them to clean the dining room table, "wash" windows, freshen-up the chalkboard, or squirt the walls of the bathtub. But once spring comes, we'll start spraying outdoors to water the garden, wash the house, or make sidewalk chalk disappear.

I leave a bottle on the front porch and one in the backyard for handy spritzing whenever the urge strikes. And then there are the hottest of summer days, when you can't resist spraying yourself or your buddies!

Ahhh... but I'm getting ahead of myself. For right now, I'm just happy the ground is starting to thaw.

Little Scavengers

I set up a super-simple scavenger hunt for Jack this weekend to introduce him to the concept. I made a list of three things for him to find in the backyard and told him to check them off as he collected them. (He's familiar with the list concept -- we're BIG list-makers). We attached a little pencil to his clipboard with string and tape and off he went. He loved the whole adventure. And the simple act of scribbling in the box (or making a check mark, or an "X" if your child's up to that) is a great pre-writing activity. I think this will be the first of many scavenger hunts for us.

I tried a similar idea with an older (kindergarten) child that I work/play with yesterday. On his list I made some letters of the alphabet and he had to hunt for objects in his playroom that began with each letter. He also loved hunting about.

There's something about clipboards that children find so grown-up and appealing. Have you noticed? (I have to admit I have a thing for clipboards myself!) I hung a clipboard on the shelf alongside my son's desk using a little cup hook, so it is at the ready when inspiration strikes.