Greek4Kids out and about: ELC playtime

Here at Greek4Kids we encourage play! Play has an enormous role in our children's lives and its benefits are unique.

Most of our activities are based on fun learning. Playing is an integral part of our lessons. You can use our printables, our games, our exercises to teach your child or students Greek through play. What about other fun ways to promote learning?

An outside the class or home environment can enhance learning and offer new possibilities. Children absorb new knowledge very quickly and are readily open to new stimuli. In our effort to provide you with more fun learning opportunities we are starting our new feature:  

Greek4Kids out and about. 

Places you can visit, such as the beach, the theatre, the library, a restaurant, a museum, a playground, a store, a friend's house, a local event etc.

We are starting this series of posts today with a weekly playtime session:  

Tuesday playtime at Early Learning Centre.

When:
Every Tuesday, 4:30 pm to 6 pm

Where: 
At ELC stores around Cyprus 

Cost: Free  

What is it all about:
One and a half hours of free play, crafting and browsing books with your little one.

Our thoughts:

We particularly love the book corner where you can sit with your child, read a book, flip through the pages and discuss the pictures. A fantastic opportunity to teach your child new words, talk about different concepts and trigger their imagination! 

Another favourite is the farm and jungle animals stand where you can play with the different animals. practice their names and different sounds they make and even role play by setting up a farm for them! 

The crafting table is a great opportunity to get creative with your little one. Teach them the colours, the different textures or craft supplies and let them express themselves. 

A great opportunity for parents to spend some quality time with their child, although it may not be suited for children older than 7 due to the nature of the toys and books.

 

This is the way!

Another song to sing along with your child! You can use this song when she brushes her teeth, when she combs her hair, when he gets dressed to go to school or washes his face in the morning.

A lovely song about daily routines that can be sung to the tune of "This is the way...".

Click here to download the printable to laminate or even add it to a booklet where you would keep all the songs for your little one to sing!

More on the numbers

This is a lovely activity and it will get your child hooked on the numbers! Cut out the numbers (symbols and words) and then stick them on the wall at an appropriate level for your child to be able to reach them and pick them up. Shuffle them around and then help your child put them back in the right order and match the symbol with the correct word!

At the beginning you can use the colour matching version (click here for symbols and words). This way your child will practice the numbers and the respective words for them by matching the colours. Later or for children who can already recognise the words you could use the B&W version (click here for symbols and words).

Alternatively you could play this game on the floor or even take it with you when you go out for more fun learning!

Five Little Ducks - Τα 5 παπάκια

This is a lovely song to practice the numbers. It is called "5 παπάκια". You sing it to the tune of the nursery rhyme 5 little ducks. 

 Use the printable to laminate it or print it on a card paper and hold it for your child to look at it while you are doing the singing. It is a very cute song and you can do some lovely crafts to accompany your singing too!

My dear friend Vanja has a lovely blog called Emma's Lunch, full of craft and other child-friendly activities! Great inspiration! Here is an easy tutorial on how to make a very cute chick that you could use to make your own little family of Mummy Duck and Ducklings. Make sure you search through her blog for more fun, adorable, child-friendly activities and ideas!

Alphabet Bingo Greek style!

Who doesn't like Bingo?! Lots of fun and excitement! Alphabet Bingo is just the game for a family or friends gathering. Practicing the Greek letters is the added bonus! :)

Play the game by printing out all the letters of the Greek Alphabet found here (uppercase or lowercase for variation) and placing them in a pouch or a box big enough for your hand to fit. You could print them on card paper for added durability. Then print out those Alphabet Bingo Cards, write letters in the boxes making sure you don't put the same combination of letters in two separate cards and that you don't put the same letter twice on a single row and voila! Your Alphabet Bingo Greek style is ready to play!

Get your homemade popcorn and refreshments and enjoy a game or two!

Do you like fruit?

And vegetables too? Now that the summer is here and lots of seasonal fruits and vegetables can be found at the market, it is a great opportunity to teach your kid (and even learn yourself!) the names of fruits and vegetables in Greek.

An easy activity is to visit an open market (more appropriate and fun now in the summer) and go around asking your kid the name of a particular fruit or vegetable in Greek.

At home you could cut up some fruit for your kid and let her name them for you! if she finds the right name, she gets to eat that fruit (or vegetable). A great way to encourage your little one to eat more fruit and vegetables!

Here is a printable with the names and pictures of fruits and vegetables as well as some fun activities for your child.

One to hang on the wall

Maya and I are setting up a "Greek Corner" where we hang up Maya's work in Greek and all the printables we are interested in seeing over and over again. This letter table (printed out in A3) is one of them).

You can cut individually each word from the "words-table" and practice pinning them onto the picture they relate to.

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! :)