Kids learn best when learning is fun!

Changing a sound involves focused attention and practice!  It can be tedious.  It can be very tedious.

The best way to get to the new sound is through fun and play!

Recently, I’ve added some pre-K children.  I use target responses in interactions to teach new sounds. I want children leaving me with responses that can be immediately used in their “real world”.  With me, as this little fellow collected these cuisenaire rods, he used  “thank you”, “both”, and “with mine” to get to the target “th” sound.

Once the rods were collected, the little guy had time to build.

Here’s what he built!  That, folks, is a football stadium!  And he explained his construction.  The green blocks represent the grassy field.  The shorter towers with a red lower part and beige single cube on top are football players.  The tall random towers are the spectators!  And this construction gave me a new way to  introduce a new vocabulary word, “spectators” and a new sound.

Clearly, this little guy will be athletic.  He’s already thinking along those lines.

And as he was changing his sound, the learning was fun!