Kay still loves putting on her superhero cape and mask and racing around saving people or things that aren't in any danger. I absolutely love it.
And since playful learning works best when it's adapted to a child's interest, using her superhero enthusiasm seemed like a perfect fit for some alphabet practice.
I used our foam alphabet puzzle we got at the dollar store ages ago and hid the letters in "precarious" situations around the yard. Then I mentioned, "Oh no! The letters need help! Where is Super Kay?" She grabbed her cape (with the felt "K" glued to the back, of course!) and mask and was off.
I set up the scenes (we're very much an imagination family!):
"Letter Y is about the be run over by a truck! Can you reach her in time?"
"C is sinking into the sand. How will he get out?"
"K is lost in the jungle. Can you find him?" (Who knew our needs-to-be-mowed lawn would come in handy as a pretend jungle?!)
"E climbed the beanstalk and is afraid to come down. Who will help her?"
You get the idea. Kay loved it. I didn't put out all the letters, only because I couldn't come up with 26 different dangers in our not-very-dangerous backyard. But she didn't care. When she'd saved all the letters, she looked up at me expectantly. "Let's do it again!"
Note to self: Use this super-hero theme in the future too!
This activity is part of Brain Boosters, a series of active learning games hosted by The Inspired Treehouse. I'm getting lots of ideas for my active learner and I hope you do too!
