Regular readers know that my number one passion isn’t paint or even glitter it’s reading, specifically getting kids to love reading. That is why I am so eager to share the free MemeTales Mobile Reader App with you. I have had the honor of working with MeMeTales for some time now . They published my Alphabet Crafts eBook and I act as an advisor on their parents committee. If you read my post about boys and reading last week you will know that one of the biggest lessons I have learned from children I have taught over the years is that it’s more important we get them to want to read than we force them to read what we want them to.
I can tell you first hand that my son loves reading MeMeTales books on my iPod , it’s novel it’s a treat and even though he’s not a reluctant reader I instantly saw how MeMeTales gamified reward system would appeal to those kids who have a hard time getting interested in books. See when you read books on this app you get points, then after so many points you get stickers and earn games too! Best part is it’s free and to celebrate the launch you get access to 20 free books.
So to celebrate the MeMeTales Mobile Reader App launching we are devoting this whole week to crafts inspired by the free books that come on the App. But as I said in January this year here at No Time For Flash Cards it’s not about me, it’s about WE so we are also going to be hosting a linky party every day. Each day the theme will be based on the book featured from the app. Scroll down to check out today’s book and craft.
Here’s the thing, the reason I love MeMeTales is because they are passionate about reading and they know that making crafts, doing activities and keeping the learning going with themed projects will only keep kids coming back to books whether they read them on an iPad, laptop on from a book. Speaking of books at the end of this week of celebration we will be giving away 20 picture books to one lucky reader . Awesome right?! We’ll tell you more about that on Friday .
Today’s Featured Book Alphabet inspired our letter of the week craft below.
N Net
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, some tulle, double stick tape and some candy fish.
- Start by making a large uppercase N on one sheet of paper.
- Make waves if you want on the other.
- Invite your child to come decorate the N however they want. Mine wanted to do one single line on both sides ( I had 2 Ns, I really need some stencils)- glad I snapped the picture when I did.
- While you are cutting it out ( or they can too) have them draw the other fish in the sea, birds in the sky… or not. My son was like ” No thanks I did my line can we glue yet?”
- Cut a small piece of tulle and using double stick tape make a net on the bottom corner of the N. If you don’t have tulle the mesh bags from produce will work great too!
- Add glue – easily my son’s favorite part.
- Pop the N on the “sea”. I added a bit more double stick tape once the N was added to make sure the fish would be secure.
- Add the fish in the net.
- Eat the fish 😉
Do you have an Alphabet activity or craft to share? Add it here :
I love the net!
We’ve done crafts for the entire alphabet, but the week we spent on W was the most fun, so I linked up to that.
Hi! What an exciting week you have planned! So fun! My son loves books too, and I’m always on the lookout for suggestions and ideas. Your site is always a great resource.
A question that’s been on my mind recently relates to learning to read. My son is in the beginning stages of learning to read. He knows all the letters and their sounds and is becoming proficient at sounding out short words and also spelling short words. This has been so fun and so neat to watch his skills emerge. However, I’m not sure what the next step should be. He often tries to sound out a word that doesn’t follow the typical letter sounds, and then he looks at me like “what’s the deal with that?”. So, I’d love some input on how to help him move from being able to sound out/spell phonetic words, to more fluent reading. I admit that I’ve been hesitant to do anything at this point for fear of doing it wrong. Where should we focus next? Letter blends? Sight words? Is there a specific order these things are best introduced in?
Start having fun with simple words ( in word families ) – you can also work on sight words too. A really great post that talks to the level of development he seems to be at is this one from Jenae http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/04/teaching-your-child-to-read-part-3.html
I hope that helps!
Very helpful! Thank you!
LOVE that there is an app for kids books!! It’s not available on Android yet, though, is it?
no not yet just ipad, ipod and iphone right now.
Yay Memetales app!! Crafts/pretend/lesson-driven-play = the best way to direct and support genuine learning in children! LOVE it . . . and that Net!
oh, it’s only for the I-devices? I have Android…that’s a bummer. Looks like a good app, though. I hope they expand thier market soon!
(Sorry if this is in caps, it’s showing up oddly on my end!)