Today's Target: Letter Formation

Once children are consistently Mark Making it is time to encourage the correct letter formations. There are many resources to help this but ultimately it is practice that makes perfect - the key is to keep the practicing fun.

Our four year old has been product testing the My First Wipe Clean a-z letters over the half term holiday and has thoroughly enjoyed himself (and yes he is appearing to be left handed).

Never too late to learn...

I have just been reading this article entitled "I couldn't read or write until I was 27 years old" and it just shows that you are never too old to learn the skills that many of us take for granted. At Littlesheep Learning we sell resources to help children learn to read and write but there is no reason why our educational games couldn't help an adult too - maybe learning in partnership with their child.

If you are an adult who wants to improve your skills try http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/ or http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/ImprovingYourSkills/index.htm for more information.

Today's Target: Mark Making to Writing

Children learn to write by starting "mark making" these simple marks then develop into something more recognisable as writing, from a very young age they will imitate adults, grasping writing tools and making marks on paper or any other available surface! It is important during this development that they are encouraged, as young writers as it is from this that handwriting grows.

Mark-making can be done with a pencil and paper but the wider the range of textures and media that are used the more fun it is and the more children will practice it.

Some suggestions:

• Paint using an easel and brushes
• Chalk on boards
• Draw in sand (wet or dry) with either a stick or a finger
• Paint the playground / wall with water and large brushes
• Draw shapes in the air with a wand
• Finger paint
• Dance with a ribbon in your writing hand
• Draw in cornflour "gloop"
• Draw in salt
• Write with pens on a whiteboard
• Use chunky triangular crayons
• Use felt tip pens or colouring pencils
• Draw in mud with sticks

Learning to hold a pencil and make marks that ultimately lead to writing is a complex development. Young children’s scribblings and drawings are their way of communicating and showing observation of their world and as parents and teachers we should encourage, praise and celebrate their achievements.

Examples of development - writing a weather report by my nearly four year old and my nearly six year old boys.

The scribbled circle is the sun, the sideways wavy line is the "s" (followed by another attempt - that looks like a c), then a recogniseable (but formed incorrectly) "u" and a "n".

There is a whole sentence that is recognisable (one reversed letter and the x to cross out a s which was placed without a finger space) plus a recogniseable picture!

Writing Thank You Letters

Hopefully everyone will have had a lovely Christmas and everyone will have received lots of presents. Now we are in the new year in many families thoughts turn to writing thank you letters. I can remember sitting as a child handwriting my missives to the friends and family who had given us presents and now it is me trying to persuade my reluctant writers to carry on the tradition.

With the advent of computers into family life it is sometimes easier to get our eldest to type his messages as until recently writing was not something that he enjoyed. Typing a letter onto a computer is less personal if it is just the name and present details that are changed and it doesn't show the child's developing handwriting (although we did leave in the creative spellings!) but it does get the job done.

Having done our letters and felt proud that they are all in envelopes ready to post I then stumbled across this link on Filth Wizardry about a website where you can generate a font of your child's handwriting. You download a printable template for your child to write each letter of the alphabet (plus the common punctuation marks), scan it in and upload the image and wait for your font which you can then use in all of your documents. As I said - we haven't tried it yet but there are some great examples on the Filth Wizardry post so you can see how it works. I think we will try this for the birthday thank you letters later in the year - so watch this space!

Personal Customer Service

One of the things I like about owning a small business is that when you get a request from a customer - for example "If there is any chance of any of the order being yellow, great. It is my little boy's favourite colour! Any incentive to write is good!" as the note accompanying an order for triangular pencil grips we can usually fulfil our customers wishes.

New Product: Wipe Clean Alphabet and Numbers

We are pleased to announce the arrival of the My First Wipe Clean a-z Letters and 0-9 Numbers boards at Littlesheep Learning.

These sets are great for encouraging children to write their letters and numbers and are also a great resource to teach children the alphabet / letter sounds and numbers.

The sets contain a sturdy white 30x25cm board with pre-printed dashed letters or numbers on a wipe clean pen (and a spare) and a clip to keep the pen and chart together!

Summer Holiday: Letter Writing

One of the ideas suggested in a discussion with some friends of mine for free / cheap summer holiday activities was playing Post Office/ postman. You can print off some signs / stamps/ passports etc. from CBeebies Postman Pat website, make a cardboard box Post Office / post box and use old envelopes and scrap paper (finally a use for junk mail!). Then the children can have great fun posting and delivering the post to various rooms around the house or if weather fine you can include bikes in garden to deliver to shed etc.

This then reminded me of a post at Let's Explore about making up 'summer fun bags' one of which was a letter writing kit - Amy suggests gathering up odds and ends of cards, stickers, envelopes, etc. from around the house and included a couple index cards with helpful letter -writing words, and names of friends and family for reference. She also has designed some lovely outdoor stationery - do take a look.

Letter writing is a great way to get children to practice their writing over the summer holidays - children love receiving post so see if you can find a relative or friend that they can write to so they get a letter back!

Starting School

Good luck to all children (and parents - we know how hard it is for you too!) who are starting school this week. Don't forget that Littlesheep Learning has lots of resources to help your child - here are our top five recommended products for the rising-5s (as tested by our nearly-5 year old!)

1. First Experiences: Going to School - this mini Usborne book is a lovely gift for a child starting school to explain what happens in school.
2. Key Word Fridge Magnets - a great tool for learning key words (we stock the large size as we think they are more easily manipulated by small fingers) .
3. Number Beanie Bags - fun for all sorts of games to learn about numbers (and reading the written number word).
4. Triangular Pencil (Slim) - a help for children to ensure they form the correct triangular pencil grip when learning to write (we also stock the Jumbo size pencil for children needing a bigger pencil).
5. Picture Word Lotto - a brilliant game for reading skills, matching skills, turn-taking and best of all fun!