Bakery Dramatic Play

Pretend play, dramatic play, imaginary play....all the same thing but I use the words interchangeably.

Anyhow we are really enjoying the works of Beatrix Potter right now, specifically The Tale of Peter Rabbit. One of the greatest benefits of reading aloud to Quinn is that she is exposed to concepts and vocabulary that are outside her regular experiences. Peter Rabbit has so many new concepts we are having fun exploring together! One of them was "baker." Old Mrs. Rabbit heads off to the baker's to buy a loaf of brown bread and 5 current rolls. Quinn isn't really familiar with the concept of a baker(y) because we buy our bread on the bread isle at HEB or I make it. So I talked with her about a baker and a bakery. I decided to extend it a little further and I pulled together a "bakery" tote. I raided several other play sets--the slicable sandwich bread is from a sandwich kit. Luckily all the pieces velcro-ed together, so she can cut them apart! The felt crossant is from a breakfast set, and the big loaf is one my sister got her with some other play foods at Hobby Lobby (or Michaels). I put these breads with a knife in a little tote and she loves to pretend she's going to the bakers. She also has some felt cupcakes she sometimes adds in, too.

I encourage you to extend concepts you are teaching to your children through dramatic play--often just pulling together some play props will encourage them to further explore the topic. And this is true for any age---from older infants to elementary students! It also encourages them to use new vocabulary in their play and assimilate these words and concepts into the framework of their minds.

I also encourage you to think outside the box with your children's toys. Just because items came together in a set doesn't mean they have to stay that way, or be used for the purpose they came with. I am constantly trying to find ways for getting more use out of the toys we have by "shopping the toy cupboard" in our playroom and pulling together different items.

Fairy Tales

We've entered the world of fairy tales full force lately! This is a great developemental milestone, as fairy tales are a valuable tool for helping children understand the world. THIS ARTICLE discusses the theses of Bettelheim, an expert on the value of fairy tales for children.

We really love Paul Galdone's work (with the exception of Jack and the Beanstalk which is a little too difficult for Q to understand the way he wrote it). Here are three of our favorites:

We have also been listening to fairy tales on CD in the truck (we like Elves and the Shoemaker, Tom Thumb, and Little Red Riding Hood--off cd's we got at the library.)

Q also loves this youtube channel--she is fascinated with listening to the lady tell the stories. They seem a little annoying to me, but she eats them up! Most of them involve the lady telling the story while she uses flannelboard characters....

I have my reserve list running strong at the library for the next stories I'll be introducing to Quinn in the fairy tale genre!

I love the vocabulary she's introduced to, the strong plot elements (each story has character development, problem/solution, and setting) as well as the great illustrations many fairy tale books provide!

On Vocabulary development

My mother-in-law is the preK director for her district. At an inservice a couple weeks ago with a social studies expert, the presenter discussed the importance of fostering vocabulary development through conversation. She encouraged using "harder" words when we talk to our kids--her point was that if they are learning what the word means anyhow, we can teach them more complicated words and it really won't be harder for them to understand. Her example was using the word "adjacent" when referring to something that is next to something else. I have really been trying to stay mindful of that in my conversations with Quinn.

Often I will do this by using the word she may already be familiar with, and then rephrasing using the new word. For example:
"Your shoes are next to your backpack--adjacent to your backpack. This helps her use context clues to determine what the new word means.

Vocabulary development is such an important part of developing strong readers--if children don't know what words mean, their comprehension is very low. Introducing new words naturally through conversation is a great way to stretch your child's words a little bit!

I've been working hard not to sell my daughter short in our conversations and just limit her to words she already knows. Her daddy is amazing at this, naturally. I am constantly marveling at the words he uses with her in conversations without me ever talking to him about the concept of vocabulary development. Go Daddy!!