Shape Capers

For those with preschoolers who are heading toward learning their letters and numbers, Shape Capers, by Cathryn Falwell, would be a good book to check out from your library.

There are fun rhymes about different shapes that you can sing with your kids. Each one begins with "Shake, shake, shake." Perhaps having some actual shapes around that your toddler can shake while you read would be fun. There are a couple of pages in the back where you can practice identifying shapes.

One of the steps on the road to reading is letter knowledge. When kids first begin to learn their letters, they are really distinguishing the shapes of the letters. Identifying shapes is a good way to prepare for that.

I learned this from the Every Child Ready to Read at Your Library program. Here is their website:

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/ECRRHomePage.htm

It's not the easiest website to navigate, but there is a lot of good information there. For a more user friendly site, try the Hennepin County Library's Birth to Six page:

http://www.hclib.org/BirthTo6/

There are some great booklists there as well.

Happy capering.