Thursday, October 6, 2016

Making Reading & Counting More Interactive


Book + Magnets = Learning Beyond the Pages 

Ten Little Princesses

 
https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Wooden-Princess-Magnets/dp/B00ND5XOFC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475787721&sr=8-2&keywords=melissa+and+doug+princess+magnets

I'm always looking for new and fun ways to extend Annalee's learning beyond the pages of a book and make stories come to life. Added elements make story time more fun for me, too! Enter "Ten Little Princesses" and these Melissa and Doug magnets, and these two items went beyond a logical pairing and are more like a match made in Heaven. The colors of the book illustrations and magnets coordinate in a way that make it seem they are made for each other.  Adding the dimension of magnets makes the concept of counting more tangible and fun. I had purchased this book at Barnes and Noble in the children's sale section that is always there, but it looks like Amazon is still cheaper than the B&N sales price, and then lo and behold, for Annalee's 1st birthday, she was given the adorable Melissa and Doug princess magnets. Annalee at 21 months old now is finally at a stage where she can follow instructions throughout the duration of a whole book (on some days). After placing 10 princess magnets up on her magnet board, I have her take down one princess each time a princess is subtracted in the book and then we count the remaining princesses left on the board. She seems to gravitate more to this book now after having the added dimension of the magnet play. We don't own the book below, but I'm thinking of purchasing in the spirit of Fall and Halloween and pairing them with some Halloween magnets like the ones from Wal-Mart below.

https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Little-Monsters/dp/140833402X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1475789121&sr=8-2&keywords=10+little+monsters