Fun "Reading" Game

I heard about this game on Always Learning, an unschooling list particularly for fans of John Holt's books/writing.

The idea is to put the name of an ordinary household item on a post-it (sticky note), then instead of putting it on the item...put it somewhere entirely different.

I had to try it. Princess (5 3/4) loved it. The beauty of it was I didn't explain what I was doing, or invite her to play. I simply wrote out the notes, and placed them in different places around the lounge. She was enthralled in watching cartoons, sick with a cold, and feeling a little bit miserable.

Suddenly she announced very matter-of-factly, "Mum- that says "door" but you put it on the carpet."

And so it began.


She noticed several little yellow notes, and rushed about putting them in their correct places. I didn't have to say anything. Oh, except for a reminder that c and h together say "ch".

And that was for couch...later when she came to "chair" she didn't need a further reminder.

The game was finished very quickly...then she got busy putting them all in a row, and cellotaping them together, then sticking them to the wall. I'm guessing she'll ask to play again :0)

Here is Princess relaxing with a game of Dora on the PS2...she practically never plays it, but thought Tombliboo might enjoy seeing it. She is amazingly persistent when she plays, and on 3 occasions I noticed her about to get really upset because she couldn't do a particular thing on the game. This woudl have been the point, J-Man at the same age would have thrown the controller...I offered to help her, but she doesn't want help- it's her game, and she wants to finish it by herself (J-Man was always perfectly happy to have someone else complete the harder bits). Then the next thing all is well again, and she has made it past the obstacle that was bothering her.

Lastly, here is Tombliboo doing a Pooh Bear puzzle. Thisis the funny face he makes hwen he sees a camera now: