Learning Gifts for the Holidays (ages 4+)

Holiday Madness

November already?  WHAT??? And you’re already thinking about giant chocolate chip cookies with milk for the jolly fat man in red.   Then there’s the big, towering tree🎄 that needs decorations. But more important than the decorations: what are you going to put underneath the tree?

Gimme gimme gimme

Sure, you can go with the standard toys that all tots get.  You can buy plush stuffed animals, big plastic cars or trucks that make those annoying sounds that kids can’t get enough of.  You can splurge on tech, like tablets which seem to make it into the hands of younger and younger kids and toddlers by the day.  There’s always the aunt or uncle who has to buy the cutest little pair of tiny Air Jordans 👟or Gap sweater and other name brand clothing.

A Fitting Gift

Or…you can go with toys that aren’t as expensive, but for kids who are coping with phonological awareness they are perfect, maybe even life-changing.

You know how chicken soup🥣 is good for almost any malady?  Well, reading is medicine 💊for children struggling with articulation, phonological disorders and phonological awareness. Really, being read to and learning how to read addresses a whole host of issues.

Reading helps to establish that connection between a baby’s awareness to his caregiver through the sound of their voice.  Rhyming books help a child establish phonological awareness by learning how to rhyme and pick out words that rhyme. The best rhyming books I’ve ever come across were written by Dr. Seuss. Having a child repeat what you read will help him work out his phonological disorders and hopefully get past them.

One book that is made for a classroom curriculum but is also a wonderful resource for parents is Phonemic Awareness: Playing with Sounds to Strengthen Beginning Reading Skills.  It starts with a discussion on phonological awareness, and then moves on to practical ways that a child can learn. There are rhyming exercises, games to learn sounds and much more.

Reading📖 may not lead to giant leaps forward in meeting goals, but it can certainly make consistent growth possible.

A is for Apps

There are also apps that you can download on your phone📱 or tablet to educate and entertain your child.  ABCmouse is an app with hundreds of lessons, and literally thousands of individual learning activities. ABCmouse teaches reading, math, science, art and colors, and music.  Another good app is HOMER: Kids Learn to Read, which starts with the building blocks of reading. These apps and others come with a price tag, but the right ones will prove invaluable in teaching phonological awareness and other important skills.

Learning Toy “Ninjas”

Then there are toys so colorful and interactive they seem to be regular toys, but are in fact learning aids.  A good example of this is LeapFrog Tad’s Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set. With this toy, a child can learn his letters, words for that letter, phrases, how that letter sounds, etc.  The game provides hours of learning “camouflaged” to look like fun and enjoyment.

Children will always want toys🔫.  But books, specific apps and special toys will help prepare minds to learn and flourish.  That is infinitely more important than any temporary fun a toy may bring.