Two-year-olds love to play and explore, and may not be ready for phonological awareness games that require attention to parts of words. However, it never hurts to expose your child to different ways of listening and playing with words. In this game, Cabinet of Curiosity, you'll combine a two-year-old’s love of games and their natural curiosity to create a sneaky game that develops attention to language. Your child won’t even know he is learning an important skill!
- animal pictures
- tape
- cabinets
Step 1: Tape an animal picture to the inside of a cabinet door at your child’s eye level. Make sure each animal that you choose makes a distinct sound.
Step 2: Tell your child that there is a secret animal on the inside of the door and you want him to guess what it is.
Step 3: Use the first line of the rhyme to give your child a clue to the animal. As he opens the door, say the second line and repeat the beginning sound of the animal name. Be sure to ask your child the name of the animal.
This animal makes the “Tweet, Tweet” sound.
Is it a /b/ /b/ bird? Is that what you found?
What animal did you find? That’s right! A Bird.
This animal makes the “Woof, Woof” sound.
Is it a /d/ /d/ dog? Is that what you found?
What animal did you find? That’s right! A dog.
Place a picture of the animal on the front of the cabinet. Say the rhyme and let your child find that one picture.
Place more pictures in more than one cabinet door. Say the rhyme and let your child open the cabinet doors until he finds the matching animal.
