Books:

We read tw0-three books each morning after breakfast. This seems to be the best time to get him to sit without wiggling and stay engaged. Here are the books that I got:

• My “P” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncore, illustrated by Rebecca McKillip Thornburgh (there are a series of these for lots of letters and sounds so you will be seeing them frequently on my list)

• Peggy Pig’s Dirty Day by Debbie Rivers-Moore – This is by far my son’s favorite book over the course of the last 11 months. He loves Peggy and all her messy fun. I loves touching all of the objects in the book as well.
• Old Macdonald Had A Farm by Jane Cabrera – This could be my sons NEW all-time favorite book. The words are basically teh words to the song. I know it shows a cow but there are definitely pigs in this book. Whenever my son sees this book he immediately starts dancing! He knows it is a song and loves all of the pictures. I originally got it from the library but am now buying it because eventually they want it back.
• The Three Little Pigs by Patricia Seibert

Activities:

• We have pulled the “P” magnet off of the refrigerator and played with it many times. Also kept it within his grasp on the refrigerator.
• I have a set of letters and number bath toys and we have placed the “P” in the bathtub for playtime.
• At Blogher I received some great Land of Nod wooden blocks. We will pull out the “P” block and play with it a bit and focus on the animals and words on the block.
• Crystal at Money Saving Mom has a great post on making pudding paint for your kids. If you children are old enough this would be a great activity to do while learning the letter “P”. You can even have them practice writing the letter “P” in the pudding.
• Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head – play with them and talk to them about the food but also emphasizes putting on the parts of the face and body that we have been talking about for the last few weeks.

Sounds:

• “Oink, Oink” – I know it doesn’t have the “p” sound but it sure does match up with a pig. I really wish I could video tape for you my sons current “oink”. It is amazing. I really don’t know where he learned it. It is way better than my and is a full out nasal squeal.

Songs:

Looking for some songs to teach your child? Here are some that we will be singing this week:

• Pig Rap – my son is only 11 months old and I am guessing that this song is going to make him “squeal” with delight. Really, all kidding aside, this one is sure to make him laugh.
• This Little Pig Went to Market – this is a great one to reinforce those “toes”.
• Hot Potato – let’s be honest here. Four grown men running around in near leotards is a little scary to me. However, my niece LOVES her some Wiggles. I turned a You Tube video of them on one day and sure enough, my son did too. Something about them just gets you “wigglin’” I can’t explain it, I just report it.

Foods:

• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Pasta
• Popcorn – older children, not my son

What Else?

What else would you do when focusing on the letter “P”? Any activities or games that you have done in the past? No matter the age of the child, feel free to add your favorite books, songs, foods, activities, and more below in the comments section. We would love to hear them and share them with others.

used with permission from Flickr, Creative Commons. Photo property of TooFarNorth.

I decided to start with the letter “e” because my little guy was getting tubes put in his ears this week. (The procedure went fine and he seems to be hearing much better.) But since he seems to already have a knack for pulling on those pieces of skin on the side of his head I thought we might try giving them a name.

Last week I went to the library and looked up books with the subject “ears” and “elephants”. There was nothing scientific about this; I just got books that were available at my library. I didn’t have time to wait around for ordering books from other branches, but I may do so in the future, we will see. I also found a couple other great “e” books along the way. I also went around the house rounding up things that I had that started with “e”, and that are kid friendly.

Here is what we are focusing on for the week.

Books:

We read tw0-three books each morning after breakfast. This seems to be the best time to get him to sit without wiggling and stay engaged. Here are the books that I got:

• My “e” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncore, illustrated by Colin King (there are a series of these for lots of letters and sounds so you will be seeing them frequently on my list)
• Dog Eared: Starring Otis by Amanda Harvey
• Taking Care of My Ears by Sarah L. Schuette
• Elephants by Marianne Johnston

Activities:

• Sometime during the day we sit in front of the mirror and I point out mommy’s ears and Isaac’s ears. I ask him to point to the same. I place his hand on my ear when I am talking about it and on his when we are talking about his ear.
• I have printed out pictures of Isaac’s friends and family members whose name start with E. Like Evan and Uncle Eric. I have placed these pictures on the wall near Isaac’s play toys.
• We have pulled the “e” magnet off of the refrigerator and played with it many times. Also kept it within his grasp on the refrigerator.
• I have a set of letters and number bath toys and we have placed the “e” and the “8″ in the bathtub for playtime.
• Daddy and grandma have also joined the fun when they are interacting with him at playtime.
• You could focus on “eyes” as well but I didn’t want to overwhelm my son. We will do that another week.

Sounds:

My son LOVES making noises. So I am trying to get him to say “eeeeeee” or “eeeewwww”. I don’t know if he will, but we try.

Songs:

Looking for some songs to teach your child? Here are some that we will be singing this week:

• Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Foods

• Eggs – Isaac can’t have eggs yet, so I will skip this one. But I encourage you to serve eggs this week if you child is able to eat them. You might even try reading Green Eggs and Ham and cooking up some green eggs!

What Else?

What else would you do when focusing on the letter “e”? Any activities or games that you have done in the past? No matter the age of the child, feel free to add your favorite books, songs, foods, activities, and more below in the comments section. We would love to hear them and share them with others.