Early Literacy Challenge 18: Playing Target

A few days ago, my kids rediscovered the Melissa & Doug grocery cart one of the grandparents got our son for his second birthday. So the grocery cart has been moved from the basement to the living room. The other morning, A and M were fighting over the grocery cart and so I ran downstairs to get our play cash register, which I bought at the ARC for $1.50.

I set up a play Target store just by asking the kids what they wanted to buy at Target and they started putting toys in the grocery cart. Then our living became a Target check out lane. A and M helped put the toys on our window seat (the conveyor belt for the check out lane) and then I rang the toys through. A paid for his toys with play money he had fun putting in his tractor wallet. Maggie got to play with the zipper on one of my old purses. It was simple, fun and we already had what we needed. I think the skills we hit in this imaginative play were early math skills, vocabulary, narrative skills, gross motor (pushing the cart around), fine motor skills (zippers on purses & wallets) and social skills (working together to play and take turns). Plus,  we had a lot of fun.

If you don't have the cash register or grocery cart, you can make your own cardboard box cash register. There are some great ideas already online that you can mimic. You can use a basket to carry instead of a cart to push. Here is also a link to free play money you can print, or you can cut out your own from green construction paper.

Early Literacy Challenge 17: Shape Sorters

Yesterday morning M (now 20 months) and I were playing with various toys from one of the baskets in our living room. She got very interested in our Ikea shape sorter. At first she was really frustrated putting the shapes in the spots, but the more we worked together, the easier it became and by the end, she was doing it on her own (I was still helping her match the shapes to the spots, but she was putting them in the holes on her own).

I named each shape as she worked it into the matching hole and I praised her progress with each new shape she put into the sorter. Next time we play, I will talk about the different colors too. It was enough this time to just talk about the shapes and help her match them to the corresponding spots.

It was just a really fun and simple way to work on shape concepts, fine motor skills, vocabulary, matching skills and M's self-esteem all at once. We sat together for about eight minutes working on this, but because I had all my focus on her, it felt like a really special moment. Once M masters this shape sorter, we will move on to a more complicated Melissa & Doug one with smaller shapes with more variety that she got for Christmas this past year.

Early Literacy Challenge 16: Empty Spice Containers

When we bought our house two years ago, my husband decided to update and get rid of all the old spices in our pantry before moving. I walked into the old kitchen to see him dumping the spices and recycling the spice containers. I was so happy to see him getting rid of the spices because I could finally have some empty spice containers around the house for our son to explore. We recycled all the glass jars, but we saved all the plastic and tin (metal, aluminum?) ones that would not break when being handled by babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

We have played with these over the last few years, but my kids rediscovered them this morning and I pulled a whole bunch I had been saving out from a cabinet in the garage so they could have way more fun.

Both A and M are having fun opening and closing the lids (fine motor skills), smelling the remnants of the old spices (exploring their sense of smell) and A, our three-year-old, was pointing out letters and logos on the spice labels (envrionmental print recognition). Our son took a spice container to preschool yesterday because he said, "I can't forget my ingredients!"

When my kids are tired of playing with these, I am going to put them aside for the play bakery station I am putting together for our library's annual Early Literacy Fair. After the Early Literacy Fair, I will take them home again for our play kitchen.

Books with Movement

These books can be used to have the kids move and act out the story while you read it aloud at home or in storytime.

Dancing Feet! by Lindsey Craig

Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig

Toddlerobics: Animal Fun by Zita Newcome

Croaky Pokey by Ethan Long

If You’re Happy and You Know It! By Jane Cabrera

Dinosaur Stomp by Paul Stickland

We’ve All Got Bellybuttons by David Martin

If You’re Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre

I am a Tyrannosaurus by Anna Grossnickle Hines

I am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines

Nursery Rhyme Books

Here Comes Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie


The Neighborhood Mother Goose by Nina Crews


Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and Other Action Rhymes by Zita Newcome- great action rhymes to use for toddler storytime


Marc Brown's Playtime Rhymes: A Treasury for Families to Learn and Play Together


Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr- great for toddler storytime


Little Robin Redbreast: A Mother Goose Rhyme illustrated by Shari Halpern- great for toddler storytime


Tomie's Little Mother Goose illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Rain & Rainbow Books

Jumping Day by Barbara Juster Esbensen



Puddles by Jonathan London


Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry



Rain! by Linda Ashman



Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle


Meeow and the Blue Table by Sebastien Braun


Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood


The Ants Go Marching edited by Ann Owen

Cookie Books

Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington


The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson


The Cookie-Store Cat by Cynthia Rylant


The Duckling Gets a Cookie by Mo Willems


Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont


Henry Helps Make Cookies by Beth Bracken

Social & Emotional Development Books

My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood by Tameka Fryer Brown

No Fits, Nilson! by Zachariah OHora

Hands Are Not For Hitting by Marine Agassi

Kevin's Big Book of Emotions by Liesbet Slegers

When Sophie Gets Angry-- Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss

Huggy Kissy by Leslie Patricelli

Baby Happy Baby Sad by Leslie Patricelli

Reading books about emotions helps kids learn how to use words to express their feelings. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning has really great strategies for parents for helping their children learn how to understand and express emotions. You can also find book lists with activities on their website.