Littlemummy.com

Guest post by Sara

I’m a mum of two boys, and like most typical boys their age, computer games are more interesting than learning.? I wanted to help them develop their literacy skills further as I felt they were a little behind and a teacher at the school recommended to me a book by Pie Corbett

One of our favourite games is “tell a story”. We try and get as many of the family involved, from youngest to oldest.? You simply sit in a circle around the room and take it in turns to tell part of the story. Each person has one word they can add to the story. So it goes like this:

Mum: Once

Dad: there

Son1: lived

Grandad: a

Grandma: wobbly

Son 2: tooth. And so on.

Every time someone says an unexpected and rather humorous word, the whole room erupts in laughter.? On every occasion we have played this game, it has become a contest for who can say the most unexpected, funniest thing. Usually it’s Grandad

Another of our games is to grab a sports watch or a stop watch.? Each of us take it in turns to start with a word e.g lap and then you have 60 seconds to think of as many words as possible. The only catch is that you can only change one letter at a time.? With the my oldest son who is nearly 10 we choose 4 letter words e.g lane

So my youngest would get given his word “lap” and then the stop watch starts so he starts reeling them off tap, nap, nip, sip, sit, sat and so on and so on until the stop watch keeper (usually dad) shouts STOP!!! It is actually a great game to play in the car or on the train, and it surprises me how excited the boys get when they are playing it

The last of my 3 games to help with literacy is the character hot seat. Its a great way to tell fairy tale stories but with a twist.? You select the person to be interviewed and get them to sit on “the hot seat”.? You then take it in turns to ask your character questions. Its the job of the person in the hot seat to remember the story and answer them correctly. When we play it we all have a big X on a piece of paper, and if the person gets it wrong we all flash up our X cards and make a noise like you would hear in family fortunes or Britain’s Got Talent.? The kids fall about laughing as soon as the noise is made! It then becomes the job of the person who has been sitting in the hot seat to pick the next hot seat victim!?

I’ll give you an example using Humpty dumpty.? My oldest son is chosen to be Humpty and so he sits on the hot seat (usually the Pouffe). The we take it in turns to ask questions like; Were you sitting on a wall? Were you pushed or did you fall? Did it hurt when you fell? do you feel the same now you are back together again? Some of the questions are just for role playing and uses a child’s imagination, whilst every now and again you can throw one in that may make the person get the X card, e.g did the queen put you back together againSo there are my three fun games that will teach your kids literacy without them realising that they are learning.

If you want more tips on how to make learning fun you can buy the book Pie Corbett wrote called “Jump start literacy” It has been a God send as now learning time is disguised with fun times instead.

Have fun.