Greetings!
The Kent District Library is here to provide you and your child with the skills needed to succeed in school and in life. KDL's Early Lit Bits newsletter is full of FUN and simple activities that will help foster that growth. For more information regarding the skills your child needs before he or she learns to read, visit the Play-Grow-Read section of the KDL website. You can also stop by any KDL branch in order to speak with one of our helpful youth librarians. We hope to see you soon!
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Learning with Crafts |
Glove and Plate Puppets
Here's a way to use up leftover paper plates from the holiday season and odd mittens or gloves that have lost their mates. You can skip the paper plate if you wish and glue eyes and decorations directly onto a glove or mitten. (Gloves make excellent bug puppets!) Talking, singing, and acting out stories with children are great ways to help them get ready to read.
Materials
Gloves or mittens
Glue (super tacky glue is best)
Sturdy paper plates
Art supplies
To Make
Glue a glove onto the back of each sturdy plate.
Use art supplies to decorate the paper plates to make people faces or fantasy creatures.
To Use
Children place a hand inside the glove or mitten and manipulate the puppet to act out a favorite story or song.
from Making Toys for Preschool Children by Linda Miller and Mary Jo Gibbs: Gryphon house Inc. 2002
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Book Review |
Dot by Patricia Intriago
"Dot here, dot there. Lots of dots everywhere!" This new concept book will certainly be a hit and perhaps inspire your little artist to create her own book of dots. The text is spare and the dots are vivid, changing color to represent stop and go, or hiding behind a square to represent shyness. In a one-on-one setting, point to the words as you read them and ask your child why the pictures reflect the words. Why do you think these dots are "light?" They look like bubbles! Showing the relationships between words and pictures is one way to get your child ready to read. Because the pictures in the book are large and bright, this book would also work well in a group setting, inviting children to guess what the dots represent without even seeing the words. Reading this together may also spark conversation about opposites, a fun concept to discuss with pre-readers. Playing word games in which your child guesses the opposites of familiar words is another wonderful way to get ready to read!
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KDLville Early Literacy Play Spaces |
The Cascade branch has gone to the zoo with its KDLville space. Children are able to care for the various stuffed animals in the zoo and use pictures to figure out what animal eats what food from the zoo kitchen.
Our animals are some of the best cared for animals around, and enjoyed by all ages!
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