Age 5 · Talking, Reading and Writing · 6 activities
Talking, Reading and Writing activities for 5 year olds
Six activities that suit a five year old, and a note on each about what changes when the same box, cards or rope get used at five rather than at three.
Five is the year a child starts telling it to somebody who was not there. A four year old narrates for people who already know: the cards go in order and the story is the order. A five year old builds in what the listener is missing, names the people, and goes back to put in the bit she left out. It is the same Story Sequence Cards on the table, and a completely different thing happening over them, so hand her the cards and be the one who does not know the story.
The second change is that sounds stop being just the front of a word. At four, Cardboard Post Office and Sound Drop sorts pictures by the sound they start with. At five, the same shoebox runs on end sounds, then on the sound in the middle, which is the hardest of the three and the one that reading leans on hardest.
Most of this shelf arrived earlier and gets harder by being asked a harder question rather than by being replaced. Three-Step Instruction Hunt goes to four steps and then five. Continent Map Puzzle stops being a shape puzzle and becomes naming, which is why it is filed under talking as much as under thinking.
The six at five
Ordered by the age each one suits best, youngest first. The list is built from each activity's whole age range rather than its single best year, so all six suit a five year old, whether they were made for three or for seven. Every line gives the setup, the play time and whether anything needs buying.
- Cardboard Post Office and Sound Drop Your child holds a picture card, says the sound its word starts with, and posts it through the slot marked with that letter. 15 min, once · 10 to 20 min · household only
- Straw Blow Ping Pong Race Your child blows a ping pong ball across the table through a straw, and races it to a strip of tape at the far end. no setup · under 5 min · household only
- Three-Step Instruction Hunt You give three instructions in one breath, and your child goes and does all three, in order, without help. no setup · 3 to 5 min · nothing at all
- Blindfold Rope Path Walk Your child follows a rope laid along the floor with her eyes closed, finding the turns with her feet while your voice tells her what is coming. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Story Sequence Cards Your child puts four or five cards into the order the thing actually happened, and then tells you the story they make. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Continent Map Puzzle Your child lifts each continent out of a wooden map by its knob and puts it back where it came from. 1 min · 10 to 20 min · has to be bought
Each of these pages carries a ladder of three to six rungs, with the signal that says your child is ready for the next one. At five, most children are somewhere in the middle of it rather than at the bottom.