Literacy-Enriched Play Settings

After reading Building a Foundation for Preschool Literacy by Carol Vukelich and James Christie, I've been thinking of ways to create what they call "literacy-enriched play settings". Simply put, these play settings provide materials for children to explore reading and writing while they play. While playing in a literacy-enriched play setting, children:

• Learn why people read and write
• Practice the conventions of reading and writing
• See reading and writing as something they want to be able to do

I've made a few additions to our spring flower sensory tub and the girls are loving it! Next to the flower tub we now have a tub that holds a cash register, a wallet with pretend credit cards, two phones, a small notebook, a clipboard with plain paper, and a cup with pens and colored pencils.

To introduce the materials, I suggested to Julia that we set up a flower shop. While she was arranging some flowers I pretended to answer the phone and take an order from a customer. I asked the customer questions and wrote the order on a page in the notebook. Then Julia and I worked to fill the customer's order. Julia decided that I should pretend to be the customer and pick up the order. She rang up my order, swiped my card, and gave me a slip to sign my name. Soon Julia was answering her phone and writing down orders. In the picture above she is using the flower sign to help her spell "pink daisies". Another time I suggested that we make a sign for our flower shop and draw pictures of our arrangements to make advertisements. It only took a few suggestions and a little modeling from me for Julia to understand what to do.

Here Lauren is writing down an order. She doesn't write any letters yet but her writing is a series of lines that look similar to letters. By the way, what can be cuter than a little bumblebee working in a flower shop?

The girls will now play flower shop for over an hour! I spent about ten minutes to gather the materials for an activity that provides tons of fun and playful learning. By using this flower shop the girls:

• Learn why people read and write- to remember a customer's order, to make a sign, to make an advertisement, to sign a credit card slip
• Practice the conventions of reading and writing- write from left to right, use resources to help with spelling
• See reading and writing as something they want to be able to do- for over an hour!!

I am so excited to try some more literacy-enriched play! I'm thinking we can try a restaurant, a pet groomer, a bakery, a pizza shop...

Sensory Tubs

The girls have enjoyed two new sensory tubs. The spring sensory tub has a base of styrofoam covered with a thin layer of paper grass. A basket holds several silk flowers, small pots with foam and paper grass, and flower cards on dowel rods.

The girls pretend to plant the flowers by poking them into the styrofoam. They can use the flower cards to label their rows of flowers. I am planning to add a few more materials to this tub to make it a more literacy rich play set. I'll write a follow-up post when I'm done.

The ocean sensory tub is simply a tub of water and plastic ocean animals. This tub combines the sensory experience of splashing in water with exploration and imagination. As the girls play with the animals they often act out what we have read about sea creatures. Such play allows them to gain mastery of new information. One day Julia pretended the octopus sprayed his ink to get away from a moray eel. Another time I heard her talking about one of the animals escaping from his enemy. Oral language develops as the children communicate using newly acquired vocabulary. This has been a popular activity that is as fun as it is educational!

Spring Play Dough

We have been so excited to see the wild flowers growing on the side of the roads lately. Wild flowers are even popping out of our play dough! The girls have been exploring green play dough and silk wildflowers.