Reading Letters on the Fridge
One day she was standing on a stool and reaching for the fridge magnets that were stuck near the fridge top. I was just standing there behind her when a thought came. The word "SAMSUNG" embossed on fridge had caught my attention. "Lets try spelling this word to her", I thought. Since she had been playing with capital letters picture tray for quite some time, I knew that she had an vague idea of the letter names and shapes. I thought it might interest her to know that those letters that she plays with can be found somewhere else also.
"What is this Pihu?", I asked her pointing at U. I started with U because that was one letter she loved most in her game. She looked intently at it but did not reply. I said, "U". She looked amazed. Then I read out all the letter names, "S...A...M...S...U...N...G". She seemed enthralled as she realized for the first time that those shapes can be found on fridge too!, the same shapes which she plays with. Then she went over to the start of the word, pointing her finger at each letter and expecting me to pronounce it to her. I did that, again, "S...A...M...S...U...N...G". As soon as I finished, she whooped with laughter. Soon we had a good game going. She would point to letters; I would pronounce them; then at the end of the word we would laugh together. This lasted for some time.
Since then finding letters and reading them aloud had became one of our favorite games. Sometimes I would spot a word somewhere (written in capital and big font) and I spell it to her while she just looks on. Sometimes she spots a word and starts to read the letters herself without my presence (I could hear her voice from another room). I take care to never push it....if she shows even a little disinterest I drop the game.
Category: parenting