Monday, March 28, 2011

Another Way to Encourage Children's Writing

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

What do you get when you take a box:


a few paper towel rolls,


and add a little clip art, some paint and a lots of imagination?

............ a portable toddler writing centre!


Inside, children find both regular and colour pencils, crayons, a glue stick, small envelopes, a writing pad made with scrap paper, erasers, a ruler that was made with cardboard and a fine tip marker, and stamps downloaded from Easel & Ink. 

As early as 18 months, some children are able to hold markers, pencils and crayons. Thus they begin their first attempts at writing and although we may not be able to decipher the text they happily present to us, these are their first steps toward what will later develop into letters and pictures insha'Allaah. 

As parents and teachers, we can help children in this process by providing crayons, pencils, markers, scratch paper, erasers, and all sorts of goodies that children love to "write" with. Keeping these accessories handy encourages children to begin to attempt writing insha'Allaah.We can also help by cheerfully acknowledging those doodles and scratches when the little ones show them to us. By acknowledging these attempts with comments such as "Masha'Allaah! What a wonderful truck you've drawn" or "That is a very neat letter C masha'Allaah!" (or whatever they have told us their writing/drawing is) we are helping children feel that what they have attempted and contributed counts and that we truly value it. And as children begin to understand that print conveys meaning, they are also beginning another incredible journey...learning how to read insha'Allaah.

This little writing centre is portable and while I say toddler writing centre, the portable part and all other aspects of it really go right up to Kindergarten. So grab a box, some paper towel rolls, some paint and imagine away! Whatever you and your children design, it will be "write" on target insha'Allaah!

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

10 comments:

  1. Bismillaah

    As Salaamu Alaikum

    I love this idea Mashaa'Allaah!!!! I will try this when I finish all my packing Inshaa'Allaah. Baraka'Allaahu'Feekum for posting this and for such a benefical blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Assalaamu Alaikum sis

    Masha Allaah looks great! I feel like having one for myself!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As salamu aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

    Mashaa Allah, it's...it's amazing!!! Jazaki Allahu khairan...I will try to make it insha Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow oh wow! mashaAllah, you have just awesome ideas in that brain of yours (smiles). JazakAllaah for sharing.

    Umm Muhammad Saalih

    ReplyDelete
  5. Waalaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

    @ Umm Suhailah: Wa iyaki! walhamdulillaah. Oh, packing, yes that does take a bit of time eh? *smile* May Allaah make it easy for you.

    @ Umm Maimoonah: Jazakillaahu khyar. If you want the clipart that I used for this one, let me know. I can email it to you insha'Allaah. And if you and Maimoonah make one then you can play with it too insha'Allaah! *smile*

    @ Mujahida: Alhamdulillaah wa jazakillaahu khayr ya ukht Mujahida. If you would like the clipart that I used in this one, also I can email it to you insha'Allaah *smile*.

    @ Umm Muhammad Saalih: Alhamdulillaah *smile* wa jazakillaahu khayr!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mashaa Allah! Yes, yes...I'd be veeeeery happy to use your clipart insha Allah, jazaki Allahu khairan! Only...I've tried to find a box like this one but I was not able. *sad*
    Insha Allah I will seek it in the souq. I think this kind of box is better for this purpose. Insha Allah khair. *smile*

    Was salamu aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

    Tayyib insha'Allaah, I'll send it to you *smile*. Umm..for the box, did you check your local copy centre? They often have boxes like those and sometimes some products you buy come packed in those type of boxes. If you order books from the internet sometimes they come packed in those type of boxes too (but usually they are not deep enough inside). Insha'Allaah, you are able to find one *smile*.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wa aleikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

    Mashaa Allah, you're so kind! Thank you so much, ya ukhti! Can I hug you?! *smile*

    ReplyDelete
  9. As Salamu alaykum Sister,

    Masha Allah. I am so happy to see this blog. I have started alhamthulillah homeschooling my 3yr old. But I think I am too slow, cos I dont get enough time with a newborn also in t hands. !!!
    I keep searching for ideas and I hit yours when I was searching for arabic alphabets game. Is there any site like starfall.com or gudli.com for arabic sister? pl let me know. Also, I am browsing your archives still to find so many ideas. Masha Allah..!!

    I am in a Yahoo group called Muslim Homeschoolers. Are you in there too???

    wa Salam,
    Anisha

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have my blog in Tamil, which is a regional language of South India. I am putting a buton of yours there, :)

    ReplyDelete

In an effort to reduce the amount of spam comments left on the blog, Anonymous posting has been disabled. Insha'Allaah, this will not be inconvenient to any of the readers.