A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: C

In this new series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too!

If you follow our blog posts, you may already know that I am documenting our German language learning journey. You can find quick links to our previous posts and the reasons behind them on our Language Learning Adventure page. 

C is for...

COLOURING IN

Who doesn't love a bit of colouring in?! This can be a relaxing but engaging activity, used to calm things down after a more full-on activity. It's cheap and cheerful and suits all ages!

Ideas for using in language learning:

• Create flashcards - Use simple pictures to represent the vocabulary you have been learning. Each picture could be on a separate piece of card and you could write the word in the foreign language on the back. Children can either colour in the picture if they say the word correctly, or have them colour them all in and use them to learn the vocabulary. 

• Lie down to colour - My children love to do this! But what they don't realise is that the position they are in promotes strength and helps to build the fine motor skills needed for holding writing and drawing equipment properly.

  

  Colouring in an Easter picture with some basic vocabulary.

• Theme it - If you are learning about a particular topic, find or draw a picture that represents it. For example, a beach picture including objects found on a beach which will make up the vocabulary you are teaching - bucket, spade, sea, sun, umbrella, etc. The scene can be coloured in as you learn each word, or as an end of lesson activity to help reinforce vocabulary. You do not need to add text, especially for non readers. However, it is always good for school age children to begin to recognise how the spoken word looks written down. 

If you remember, make blank copies of the pictures you find or draw, to use again in the future!

CUTTING AND STICKING

Using scissors is an important skill that needs to be taught. It's a simple activity that can be used in almost every language learning lesson if you put a little thought into it.

Ideas for using in language learning:

• Learn vocabulary - Simply print out or draw pictures to represent the vocabulary you are focusing on, or for older children - let them take ownership and have them draw some! For younger children, start by 'boxing' their pictures in squares so they have straight lines to follow. For more dexterous children, they can try cutting around the outline of their pictures. You can then play games with them, like pairs (if you have them cut out doubles), or "say it, find it, say it" type games - you say the word, the learner finds the picture and repeats the word to reinforce learning.

• Use a catalogue -  Old toy catalogues or magazines are great for cutting up! You could ask the children to find and cut out items that are a certain colour, or a certain number of things to help with counting. All their finds can be stuck down to create posters, which you can add target language to if you want to. There are so many ways to use these!

  

  Click here to visit Babyfoote!

• Use playdough - This is a great way to build up strength in little hands to help them with fine motor skills. You can get plastic playdough scissors or even use child safe craft scissors. Have the children make dough sausages and cut them into pieces to practice counting, then stick them back together again to practice counting backwards! Let them make playdough cakes and pizzas and cut them up to count. If you make your own playdough, even better! Let them help you mix and kneed to warm up their muscles!

Don't forget to supervise children with scissors, and always make sure they are safe for children to use.

Have you got any activities beginning with C which could be used to help learn languages? I'd love to know! Why not leave me a comment below? If you missed A or B, you can find them here! And don't forget to check back soon for the next letter in the series - D!

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Finding joy in the little things: We are still very new to this language learning journey at home, but it does give me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when I hear either of my children say a word in German when pointing to a picture or an object, especially one they have proudly coloured in or made from playdough! Even better when they do it away from home, so you know they really have committed that word to memory!

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I'm linking up this post with these fabulous blogs:

    

I’m also taking part in the Mummy Monday linky with Becca from Becca Blogs It Out