#freefromtrash Magazines

Day 8: Magazine
Tate is really into reading lately. Mommy Brag Warning: He even wrote his first word (besides his name) without help yesterday!!!

 "POTS"... except it is supposed to say "STOP" but he did it all by himself! :)

So I have been gathering activities to promote reading and early literacy. One of his favorites is a busy book I made to take with us on vacation for an eight hour car trip. I printed off various activity and coloring pages from a lot of different websites, slid them in sheet protectors and put them in a 3-ring binder. He is able to write on the pages with dry erase markers, erase it and do the activity again.

 Step 1: gather magazines... I could only find 2 magazines.

 I found some catalogs and journals at work, but not very good sources for pictures.

 Apparently, I needed to ask my husband because he came up with A LOT more!

 Step 2: cut out simple pictures

Step 3: find some printable alphabet tracing pages (i.e.: alphabet tracer) or make your own

 Step 3: use your magazine "clip art" and have your child glue or tape the pictures on the back of letter they start with. This may require some help. Tate picks a picture and identifies it. I ask him, "what letter does b-b-brush start with?" When he answers with the correct letter, he glues or tapes it to the back of the tracer. I ended up writing the word under the picture for an extra visual.

This is a lengthy process! You may want to sort it and just do a few letters at a time. This is also just one idea. There are plenty of variations! Mix up the clip art and have the child circle the ones that go with the corresponding letter, etc.

 Step 4: slide them in a page protector or laminate them

 Step 5: put them in a 3-ring binder. Now your child can practicing tracing their letters on one side and they have pictures on the other side.

Mayer also likes the activity pages. At 19 months, he just likes to color on the tracer page. The picture side is good for promoting his vocabulary. He can talk, when he wants to, which is rare. So when we look at the pictures, I identify them and if I know the sign, I use it. I try to use the speech tools we learned when Tate was in speech therapy, but they seem lost on Mayer. He either ignores it and moves on or just looks at you like, "You just said the word, why do I have to?" He will be re-evaluated in September to see if he still has a delay and as of right now, I see more speech therapy in our future...