Learning letters with Play-Doh

The other morning, whilst we were still in Pyjamas, the littles asked to get the good old Play-Doh out. Now, when we do this, I also get out an assortment of rolling pins, cutters, rubber stamps for them to use with the Doh, but this time I thought that I would add some old magnetic letters, largely for Freddie’s benefit (Sasha is still too small really). I had these stashed away, as I had bought them for our magnetic chalkboard wall, but they didn’t seem to stick well on there (boo!).

So now they had a new lease of life!

Freddie loved sorting the letters out in to colours, and took great delight in showing me the letters he recognised (more than I thought, preschool is clearly doing a great job! 😉 )

I really enjoyed this activity with him, as I got to work with his interests and he told me words he wanted to spell and stick into the doh, some of which he recognised which made me proud – ‘Freddie’, ‘Nanny’, ‘Grandad’, ‘dog’, ‘cat’, ‘train’ and ‘tram’ to name but a few.

It’s just a great way of introducing letters to your child, as they love sticking them in the play-doh, but can then carry on and do, say, some cutting, before coming back to the letters again. It encourages them to take an interest in the letters, without foisting it upon them if you see what I mean?

Only really works well though if you are proactive too and ask them lots of questions “which letter is a ‘d’?” “can you find me a green x?”, “what word do you want Mummy to spell now?” etc etc.

Quite a taxing activity on my brain before breakfast, but a worthwhile one!

Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.