Learning through Books and Play: Engaging a Child's Mind
My granddaughter Adelyn is just over a year and a half--heading for two. She loves the books that she has with animal sounds. Although she has under twenty words in her vocabulary, she now knows many of the animal sounds. "Roar," goes the tiger, "Ruff ruff," goes the dog, and "Eek, eek," goes the monkey.
Today we played with a monkey head band and a tiger mask. We took turns putting the animal faces on and we both made the sounds. Learning is best achieved from a number of different directions. Animals in stories allow us to practice the sounds; masks and headbands, like the one she is wearing, allow us to reinforce the knowledge. That it is all done through play adds the fun.