Learning Letters

A few weeks ago the activity for the toddlers and parents was to make the child's name with play dough. This is always a great activity since play dough is always so much fun and helps with the development of fine motor skills. Two toddlers sat with their mothers at the table working with the play dough to create their names. One said, "Esta es la letra de mi nombre. Esta es la Y de yo-yo." (This is the letter of my name. This is Y for yo-yo.) He continued verbalizing these connections to letters as he played. The second child matched up the stampers to make letters to the letters of his name already in the play dough. Here were these two children under 3 years old demonstrating early literacy skills that will eventually lead them to read and write on their own! It was so wonderful and rewarding to see this since I've known these two since they were babies who couldn't even crawl. It has always been fun for me to see my own children learn and grow, and it can be just as enjoyable to see it in all other children.

-Laura Hecht