Phonics Jumping... We have one of those giant foam alphabet mats and we use it nearly every day. As I type this Rhiannon is playing one of my favorite games with it. She took out a box of flashcards that has words and pictures on them. She stands on the first letter and then jumps to the next letter as she sounds out each word and tried to figure out what word she is jumping. Then after she guesses she turns over the card and can check for herself (since she uses picture/word flashcards). Sometimes when I think we need to burn energy - we jump their names or I sound out the letter and they need to find it or I show a lower case letter and they need to find the uppercase.

Or we play colors and they jump from color to color. Or jump their ABC's (most often the letters are not in order) and then sometimes backwards. We have a lot of fun and get some energy out at the same time. Another game we play on the mat - it to take objects from around the room and place them on the appropriate letter they begin or end with. They really enjoy our mat games. I am looking for the numbers foam puzzle to do this with numbers as well.

Peace,
Tenn