FINGER PUPPETS!

I love Finger Puppets. They are the easiest way to engage the youngest audience. They are extremely easy to make or if you are not very creative, they are extremely easy to find. The picture above is the "Little Scholastic Old MacDonald" that I got as a baby gift when my son was born and has become a staple in my children's singing routine.

From all my years doing Mother Goose Time at the library, I always made sure to have finger plays and finger puppets dispersed throughout the half hour to keep the children engaged. Babies can stare at fingers for hours and it is so easy to sing along to a hand gesture. Some of my go-tos include "Open, Shut Them", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Where Is Thumbkin?" and "Mr. Sun". For those who are a little more self-conscious, bring on the hand puppet! While babies and toddlers don't really care what your voice (or the caregiver's voice) sounds like, if you feel like it matters then this is the perfect way to have the little ones focus on something else. Puppets are brightly colored and can guide you while you sing (ex: each animal on your fingers), so you can get as expressive as you want. 

If you are arts-and-craftsy, you can make your own puppets for so many rhymes and songs. I personally used the same glove and made adhesive "Green and Speckled Frogs" (five with a speckled log in the middle) , "Five Little Monkeys" (with a mother and and a doctor in the middle) and "This Little Piggy" for each of the fingers. It was easy to do three back-to-back "puppet shows" or just one or two depending on the time and audience. 

Using your fingers and puppets to engage babies and toddlers is a great way to enhance their early literacy skills. Get your hands moving and get singing! 

My Favorite Purchases For My Kids...

When it comes to buying toys for my children, I always think to myself "How many times will this be used"? Certain toys are definite staples in a house with babies - soft and large balls to roll around, ring stackers, fake keys (even though they always want the real ones), stuffed animals and board books. However, I have made some purchases for my children that I definitely second guessed at the time, but have become staples in enhancing early literacy in my toddler's day.

Every child loves to "push the buttons" on their parent's laptop or computer, so I figured it was obvious I should get my son his own laptop. At first I found the sounds of the "Little Scholar Laptop" extremely irritating but then my son started to mimic what he heard and walked around saying "The letter "w" says "wha". I then realized this was probably the best $18 I ever spent. Within a few months my son was able to make the sound of most of the consonants and with the help of "Wheel of Fortune" my son was able to recognize all of the upper case letters. There are also other games on this "computer" including "find the letter" or "spell the word". There are so many of these "laptops" out there (I know LeapFrog makes a similar one) so if you were debating it as a gift for your one year old the answer is absolutely go for it!

Remember those wooden blocks from when you were a child that had letters, numbers and pictures on them? When my son got them as a gift for his first birthday I thought to myself "What a great thing to regift since we have so many other types of blocks". I am so happy that my son ripped the box open because they truly play an integral part of his early literacy education. He can build a tower and then I help him spot the letters that spell the word "tower". Now that he knows the letters and numbers, we spend a lot of time focusing on the pictures on these blocks. It helps to expand his vocabulary and the pictures vary from elephants to ice cream cones.

One time I was shopping in the pharmacy to quickly pick something up and my son decided it would be a great idea to reach out of the stroller, grab a box of Munchkin foam letters and numbers (a bath toy) and open it up in the store leaving me no choice but to buy it. When I took them home, I played with the idea of letting these be special for the bath, but realized he would never play with them there (maybe when he starts to spell we can have spelling bees at bath time). Instead, I put them in a bin and we play a game called "pick a letter or number and tell me what it is". We take turns and we can do this for a half hour easy. You can even make this game yourself, no need to buy the foam letters. It has evolved with my son's knowledge and now when we pick a letter we also have to say the sound it makes (if you pick a number you obviously don't have to make a noise).

I love every musical instrument that my child owns. I love when he plays songs on his piano and gives them titles (my personal favorite, "Be Careful"). I love when he plays his xylophone and sings along. The instrument I love the best is his own two hands, when he hits a surface and says "I am banging like a drum". Music and rhythm is so important and helps a child focus and enjoy playtime in a totally different way. So don't worry if your pots and pans become a drum set, your child is exploring the world and learning a ton!

TV TIME!!!!

The trick to getting the most early literacy out of television is to watch with your child. Yes, you could just plop your child down in front of the TV or iPad or computer with an "educational show", but sitting with your child and bringing up aspects of what they are watching or review after the viewing can be extremely valuable to your child. If you are not home during the day with your child, preview the shows yourself and tell your caregiver what you approve and do not approve of.

Some of my personal favorites:
Super Why (PBS Kids) - this may be one of the most underrated shows on TV but it has an incredible amount of value when it comes to early literacy. My son 100% learned all of the lower case letters from watching Princess Pea spell in every episode. There is singing, reading, letter recognition...anything you can ask for in a 24 minute period is pretty much in this program. It was definitely a great find.

Sid The Science Kid (PBS Kids) - you know your child really pays attention to the screen when he takes a cup of water and pours it into another cup and says "I playing Science". There is something really special about this show. Every episode has the same structure: Sid wakes up, eats breakfast, goes to school, learns, plays, gets picked up by his grandmother, reviews what he learns and then heads to bed. Repetition is so important, think of all the choruses in songs and nursery rhymes! You get an added bonus of learning something educational in the field of Science and let's be honest, a kid who can sing about an inclined plane is very impressive looking in the supermarket!

Little Einsteins (Disney): A show that incorporates famous pieces of art with famous pieces of classical music. Adventure, singing, problem solving...everything a two year old wants in a television program that can make a mother relax while her child watches back to back episodes.

Of course there are so many shows dedicated to the toddler set it is so easy to just let your child watch whatever is on at the moment. Someone recently asked me why I let my son watch Thomas the Tank Engine because it has "nothing of value to offer a child". I told her that my son learns all about emotion from Thomas and Friends. When an engine does something wrong they usually frown and my son would say "Percy looks so sad" or "Emily looks troubled". When an engine gets praised you can clearly see "Thomas is so happy" or "James is so excited!". Learning emotion and how to express feeling is a huge feat in the land of toddlerhood.

My advice is pick and choose programs you believe your child will learn the most from and ask them questions about what they are watching. Make them tell you about the episode so that they are storytelling and expanding their vocabularies. If your child is too young for that, ask questions about specific parts. I do that a lot with my son and ask "What were they looking for?" or "Where was the dog hiding?" He can then answer "A key" or "In the kitchen" and recalling what he saw makes watching television an early literacy moment.