About the Activity
Here's an active, literally hands-on way to introduce the concept of matras to your child; we call this the Active Antics Activity.
Preparation
6 Lipi Tiles® pieces
6 everyday objects corresponding to the Lipi Tiles® pieces.
Activity
Tips
Increase Pace: As your child gets familiar with the matras, increase the pace of the activity using the same pairs of vyanjan-matra combinations. बी मि, घी कि, बी घी कि मि घी बी मि
Mix it up: Once they get confident that they’ve figured out the matras, their actions and their sounds, mix up the pairs! E.g.: गौ, श्री, भू, चे, धै, टी, सो
Word Recognition: You can increase the challenge even more by showing them a word and asking them to make actions for each matra in a word, while reading it aloud. This way you can help them level up their reading skills from letters to words.E.g.: गुरु, खिलौने, बैठो
Gamify: This activity is so fun that your child can master it quite easily. To make it more challenging, reward them with points each time they act and pronounce the matra correctly. But be sure to tell your child clearly that the goal of this activity is not to get more points, but to master matras.
Benefits
The Active Antics activity with Lipi Tiles® is useful majorly in two ways:
Visualise the letter: They visualise how to write the letter using their body movements. I remember when I was a child struggling to learn these matras, it seemed more fun to me to use my head, hands and legs to trace over them. To start with, this was easier for me to do first and then move to actually writing with a pencil in my notebook.
Kinesthetic Learning: Some kids are not comfortable with sitting down still and studying. This activity makes them use their energy and body movements to recognise the letters and matras in a focused way. After this activity, they get excited that they were able to learn something new while jumping around, and you can then channel that energy to let them put pencil on paper.
Step 1
Take the Lipi Tiles® letters and matras and join them to make three pairs of vyanjan-matra combinations.
Step 2
Show your child one such combination at a time.
Step 3
For each combination, do some action to remember the matra and read it out.
For example: For ि - jump left. For ी - jump right. For ु rotate your hand clockwise. For ू rotate your hand anti-clockwise. For ो jump right and clap once. For ौ jump right and clap twice.
Step 4
Encourage them to read out the letter as they jump around.
Step 5
At the end of the activity, build the words for each matra using Lipi Tiles® letters.