Fine Motor Folly: Letter Recognition!
Let's Play LETTER DETECTIVE!
The Goal:
Some children in pre-k and kindergarten recognize letters easily. Others find it hard to tell the differences between 'B' and 'D', for example. Some of this difficulty is because "visual perceptual" skills are still developing.
There are a few components to visual perception . . . one is "visual discrimination". Good visual discrimination means a child notices details in an object. For example . . .
A giraffe has a long neck. A rhinoceros has a horn. Children don't have much difficulty with these visual details.
But letters are harder! 'E' and 'F' look a lot alike! So do 'C' and 'S'.
How do we improve visual discrimination?
The Game: LETTER DETECTIVE!
First, choose a letter for the entire class or for the individual child you are working with. This may be a letter he has learned to read already or a letter he is learning now. Or choose a letter in the child's name. Let's choose 'L'!
Second, TALK about every detail of this letter.
"L has straight lines."
"L has a line that goes sideways and a line that goes up and down."
"What does 'L' remind you of?"
A boot? A leg with a foot at the end of it? A chair you can sit on?
Third, become Letter Detectives! The child or children must walk around the room and look EVERYWHERE for 'L''s. Holding the 'L', the child can look at the letter to remember what it looks like. The child might be surprised how many 'L''s he finds. As the child becomes more advanced, stop holding the 'L' and ask her to rely on her memory of what an 'L' looks like.
Hints for Homeschoolers: Play this game in several rooms in your house. Look for the letter on the spines of books, on the writing on baseball caps. Continue when you're out and about with your kids - look in stores, look on signposts!
I hope this is fun for you and your little ones! If you enjoy this blog, follow me on Facebook (see link below). I LOVE sharing games, activities, and ideas to help kids master skills!
