In this bag I have: a bowling pin, baby, elephant, pheasant, cereal, pretzel, tea pot, sword, hand-held mirror, Christmas stocking, dinosaur, coin, dog, fork, baby bottle, hair drier and magic lantern.Here are a few ideas for using the itsy-bitsy miniatures as learning tools:
1. Lay out 5 or more itsy-bitsy miniatures. Choose one itsy-bitsy miniature and start telling a story using the itsy-bitsy miniature as the subject. The next player chooses another itsy-bitsy miniature and continues the story. Why is this a great activity? It encourages your child to really listen to the story. She needs to know what is happening in the story so that she can add her part. Plus, it helps her to think quickly. It promotes humor since the stories often turn out funny.
2. Lay out 5 or more itsy-bitsy miniatures. Ask the players to look at them closely and then close their eyes. Take one itsy-bitsy away. Ask "what's missing?" Why is this a great activity? It is a great thinking skill. It requires your child to say the items over and over inside her head. This helps your child to develop her inner voice, which will help her learn speech and self-correct her speech.
3. Lay out 5 or more itsy-bitsy miniatures. Ask the players to look at them closely and then close their eyes. Take away all the itsy-bitsy miniatures. Ask "What were they?" Have the player say all the itsy-bitsy miniatures. Why is this a great activity? It is a great idea to teach your child to make up a sequential story in their head to remember the order of the itsy-bitsy miniatures.
4. Lay out 15 itsy-bitsy miniatures. Have your child arrange them into groups, according to things that are the same and different. Have your child explain their reasoning. Why is this a great activity? Use this to teach some vocabulary such as: classifying, groups, sets, categories, same, different, fewer, longer, heavier, lighter, bigger, smaller, etc. This will help your child greatly in math.
5. Lay out 5 or more itsy bitsy miniatures. Have your child arrange them in some order such as their favorite, the biggest, the fastest, or the shiniest. Then you can guess the reason. Why is this a great activity? Again, it is a great way to teach vocabulary, comparatives and superlatives which are important math concepts as well as language concepts. Teaching about adding -er and -est to words as well as most and more.
6. Lay out 5 or more itsy-bitsy miniatures. Talk about the beginning letter sounds. Are any the same? Put them in ABC order.Why is this a great activity? Developing phonemic awareness is critical in learning to read. Having your child recognize beginning or ending sounds helps prepare then for reading.
7. Lay out 15 itsy-bitsy miniatures. Say the name of one of the itsy-bitsy miniatures as you separate the sounds. Your child will need to listen carefully and choose which itsy-bitsy you are saying. For example, say (ch) ---- (i)-----(k)-----(en) Why is this a great activity? This activity will help to develop phonemic awareness. Put some time in between the sounds to make it more difficult. For an older child, spell the word and have them find the itsy-bitsy.
8. Make a mystery box. Cut a hole in a box. Put your itsy-bitsy miniatures inside and have your child reach into the box without being able to see into the box. As your child feels the objects, guess what it might be. Pull it out and see if you are right. Why is this a great activity? It provides a sensory experience through feeling each object's shape, texture, dimensions, and weight. Aside from being fun, it also helps the child to produce mental images of objects they have seen and touched.
9. Lay out 15 itsy-bitsy miniatures. Say, "Find something that begins with the "t" sound. Your child will pick up an itsy-bitsy miniature. Ask your child to name the object to confirm it begins with the correct sound. Say, can you hear the "t" sound in the word "train?" to reinforce the concept. Why is this a great activity? Again, you are encouraging phonemic awareness and the sounds at the beginning of words.
10. Lay out 5 or more itsy-bitsy miniatures. Say, "Find something that rhymes with log." your child will then look at the itsy-bitsy miniatures and find one that rhymes with log (maybe, "dog"). Why is this a great activity? Encouraging your child to rhyme helps her to develop phonemic awareness as well as recognize beginning consonant sounds. It will help with reading as your child gets older.
A bag of itsy-bitsy miniatures is so easy to carry in your purse. You'll have learning opportunities at restaurants, doctor offices, or any place you sit and wait! Have fun collecting your own itsy-bitsy miniatures.
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