Beneficial Buddy Reading

When I taught 5th grade, one of the activities that we used to do quite a bit was "Buddy Reading" to the kindergarten kids.  It truly was a mutually beneficial (symbiotic, anyone?) relationship between the two vastly differently-aged kids...and something I highly recommend for parents with kids of multiple ages.  It's as easy as asking the older child to "be the teacher" to the younger child.  The older child (OC) will most likely love having the responsibility of being "in charge" of the younger child(ren) (YC), and will take his role very seriously.  The YC will love this because chances are good she looks up to her big brother and wants to be just like him.  (Added bonus is that it buys you 5 minutes to load the dishwasher!)

If your older child is not quite old enough to read the story, he can still teach the younger child by pointing out colors and identifying animals, cars, trucks, trees in the book.  If you only have one child, let her be the teacher to your pet dog or cat, or even a stuffed animal.

Changing up normal reading time makes it that much more exciting, and letting your child be the teacher will add even more fun to reading.

Book Report: Baby Max and Ruby - Birthday

My two year old is over the moon for the TV show about two bunny siblings called, Max and Ruby.  If you (and your children) haven't seen it, it may be something to consider DVRing.  To tie in a bit of educational, non-TV activity, the book series is a great complement.  We got a copy of Baby Max and Ruby: Birthday by Rosemary Wells and Katie just loves it.  The words could not be more simple and there really is no plot (but then again, we're talking about books for 1-2 year olds), but the pictures are fun and exciting to her.  In fact, each picture of a present in the book has a bow that slightly raised, giving your child a tactile surface to keep him interested while you read the words on the page.  This is a great book for young kids, and if you're really ambitious you could extend the book to include lessons on sharing and sibling rivalry.  We found it online, but with shipping costs, it almost makes more sense to find it your local bookstore or big box store.

Additions and Updates - What's New at Letter Learning

We've been hard at work expanding our line of kid-friendly, educational greeting cards and are pretty darn proud of our newest additions.  (With a baby due any second, expansion seems to be a big theme around here.)  Anyway, here's what we've added.

All Capital Letter Cards:  We had some very thoughtful customers write in and let us know that they're kids' preschools start by using only capitals. The idea is that the upper- and lower-case letters together is a bit too confusing for the youngest writers, so they simply focus on one strand at a time.  We happily obliged with the following two new cards.  (More coming in the near future).

Teacher Appreciation Cards:  As a former teacher, I can't believe this one slipped under the radar until now.  What teacher wouldn't want to receive a thank-you card from her student?

We also have some pretty sweet new Valentine's Day cards and have updated a few of our other classics.  See everything at http://www.letterlearning.com  We couldn't possibly show you everything here, so take a few minutes to check out our site. 


You can save 20% with promo code "THANKYOU20", so what are you still doing here?!

Got other suggestions for cards?  Please share!

Never-ending Endings

Kids of all ages love hearing stories.  They also love making up their own stories.  Tonight, for a quick and easy change of pace, read just half a book/story to your child and challenge him to come up with his own ending for the story.  It doesn't matter if it's a new book that you've never read, or an old favorite, your child will (most likely) love coming up with his own sequence of events.  More than just fun, this piques children's imagination and keeps them excited about reading.  There are literally endless possibilities, and you can take turns coming up with alternate endings.  Your child will love hearing what kooky new twist you come up with and will no doubt have critiques on how it could be better.  Instead of the Brown Bear seeing the Red Bird, let your 4 year old throw in a pink polk-a-dotted parakeet.  Instead of the Three Little Bears scaring Goldilocks when she wakes up, have them invite her to stay for more porridge, fall in love with Baby Bear's neighbor friend who stops by to play and live happily ever after.  Whatever you do, make reading an adventure.  Make it fun and once your child sees how much fun you're having, he's sure to jump right in!