Skill shelf · putting it in order and saying it · 2 activities, and five more nearby
Storytelling, Vocabulary and Grammar
Where the child holds the floor: five cards laid in the order it happened, and then the story that goes with them.
Story sequence cards are five pictures drawn in felt tip in about four minutes, shuffled, and handed over. Getting them in order is the easy half. Telling what happens, out loud, from the cards, is the half that does the work, because the order forces the joins: first, then, after that, and in the end. That is grammar arriving through the back door, and a four year old will do it four times in a row with the same five cards.
The continent map is the vocabulary one. Seven knobbed pieces, a tray that takes each of them in exactly one place, and seven words worth having in the mouth early. It is one of the few things in the library that genuinely has to be bought; a printed map with card continents cut to match works and is honestly the lesser version, and the activity's own page says why in one line.
For both, the run is the same: put the cards or the pieces down, ask once, and then stop talking. Silence is what a child fills. Everything else on talking, reading and writing is here too, and the rest of it is below.
The two
Ordered by the age they suit best. Each line gives the setup, how long it runs and whether anything has to be bought.
- 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
A set of story cards takes five minutes to draw and lives in an envelope for years. Four sets in a drawer makes this a twenty second activity for the rest of childhood.
Five more where the talking is the point
These are filed under sounds, listening and feelings rather than storytelling, and they build the parts a story is made of. The sound a word starts with. A whole sentence held in the head long enough to go and act on it. The words for how somebody feels, and the breath and mouth control that sits underneath all of them.
- 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
- Mirror Feelings Copycat Your child pulls the face on the card, sees it in the mirror next to yours, and hears you name the feeling that goes with it. 2 min · under 5 min · cards you draw
- 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