At the dinner table

Food time is a great opportunity for your kid to explore new tastes, colours, learn good manners, bond with the other members of the family and - why not - do some language learning without even realising it!

Today's printable is part of our food series and it can be personalised by your child. He could paint it, do some collage, glue real food on it (raw preferably!) such as lentils, pasta, rice or stick food pictures on it and you can then take his art and laminate it. And...voila! Your child's got her very own personalised placemat to use at dinner time! You could also help her make one for every member of the family and use her imagination to customise it.

Don't forget to learn the new words! Here is the audio for them. Your child could also teach the other members of the family!

Bon appetit!

P.S. Maya's creation to follow, stay tuned!

My preschooler is learning Greek

We live in Cyprus and we speak Greek at home with our two daughters. They both attend an English kindergarten. My 4 year old is fluent in both Greek and English. She has a very rich vocabulary and a great sense of grammar and syntax in both languages. What about reading and writing though?

She has started learning the English alphabet at school and the Greek alphabet at home with me. She knows and can identify all the letters of the Greek alphabet and when you spell the word to her letter by letter she writes it on my laptop - she is really good with the computer! So we follow step by step the same fun exercises and the same language and alphabet games you can find on this blog. This is her journey to learn reading and writing in Greek too! These are her first experiences with written Greek. I am amazed with the memory, the dexterity, the dedication and the progress! She loves colouring and enjoys singing the alphabet song and pointing at the letters.

Here is another fun alphabet game we love to play! We use the alphabet cards you can find here, to play the put the letters in alphabetical order game! Maya loves this game and is always very proud of herself when she manages to sort them (with a little help from mummy!).

Αα - Δδ: Colour the pictures

Preschoolers enjoy colouring a lot! I know mine does! Now it is the time to experiment with lots of different colours and through them learn new concepts. Why not learn the Greek letters this way?

This is the first of a series of printables for your child. She will come across a new letter on each page plus a few words which start with that letter accompanied by an image to colour. Today's printable is for letters Αα to Δδ. You could make this into a small booklet when we reach the last set of letters. Just print all the letters, plus a cover page and staple or bind them to make a small booklet! You could also use this booklet as a travel colouring book which will entertain your child when out and about! This exercise is mainly for preschoolers who have just started learning the letters. You can help them memorise the sounds by repeating the words and the letter they begin with.

Here is Maya's letter Αα:

Take Greek to the beach with you this summer!

Now that the summer is near we love to go to the beach. The weather is lovely but we still don't dare go into the sea (brrr, a bit chilly still) so we play outside with our beach equipment (sand bucket, shovels, moulds etc) and tons of sand and water.

What a great opportunity for some fun learning! Write letters and draw images on the sand (simple images like the sun or a fish) and encourage your child to tell you the first letter or even write it - one for older kids.

Summer and beach related words that your kid will easily associate with your beach outing and remember are:

• άμμος - sand
• νερό - water
• θάλασσα  - sea
• ήλιος - sun
• κύμα - wave
• κουβαδάκι - sand bucket
• κάστρο - castle
• ομπρέλα - umbrella
• καπέλο - hat
• ψάρι - fish

Check here for their pronunciation!

You could write down each word on a piece of card and then get your child to match them with the right item/concept. To make it easier and more fun you can avoid choosing words which start with the same letter so that your kid doesn't get frustrated. It's easier for your child - at the beginning - to concentrate on the first letter of the word. Once they identify the sound, they will match it to the sound the letter makes.

Roll on summer! :)

What to do with Αα?

Let's start with Αα.

You can print out this Giant A and colour it, paint it, lace it, do some collage with confetti, magazine cut outs, coloured rice or even lentils with your kid! This is a great exercise for including younger kids too!

For older kids you can try and fit as many Aa's as possible in one page! It is important to not try and correct your child's writing at an early stage, just encourage her to write more and make sure you print out one for yourself to show her the right way of writing it!

Feeling adventurous? Try and fill in the missing letter here! Of course it is always the letter Αα in this particular file. This gives older kids a sense of accomplishment as they manage to both write the letter and complete a word!

You can use the pictures to play the game of naming the picture. Kids identify the object and relate it to the initial letter. This will help them remember the letters, what they look like and connect them to a particular sound, the sound of that letter. Maya and I use these cards to play when we are out and about and we need some good and educational distraction!