About the Activity
When we teach our children something new, there is bound to be some confusion. There are some letters that seem very similar and kids may find it hard to differentiate them.
This week, we’re going to do the Trace Trick activity - where we will be taking some Lipi Tiles® letters that look similar and tracing them on a blank sheet of paper to better visualise their differences.
Preparation
A sheet of blank paper
Some crayons
6 Lipi Tiles® pieces that look similar (example: द, ई, इ, ड, झ, ढ)
6 everyday objects corresponding to the Lipi Tiles® pieces.
Activity
Tips
The Trace Trick activity can be done in a lot of different ways.
1. Groups of Similar Letters: You can repeat this activity with a group of letters that look similar. Although Lipi Tiles® have been designed to be colourful to reduce confusion, it’s a good idea to bring your child’s attention to the shape of the letters to differentiate.
For example,
ख, थ, य
घ, ध, छ
झ, इ, ड, ङ
ण, प, म, ग
क, फ
द, ढ, ट
च, ज, ञ
र, श, स
त, न, म
ठ, व, ब
2. Test their Letter Recognition: This is also a great way to test their letter recognition by asking them to identify the letter that they have traced. You can try this once they seem confident of the letters they have learnt.
3. Objects with the Letters: At the end of the activity, I’d always recommend you to use objects in your house that start with the letters - so that even if your child gets confused, they remember the letter using the object.
4. Ask your child to help you clean up, and share the work. They own these stationery materials, and it’s theirs to keep safe and organised.
Benefits
The Trace Trick activity with Lipi Tiles® is useful in a lot of ways:
Visualise the letter: When they colour over the Lipi Tiles® letters, they’re coding the shape of the letter in their memory. Traditionally, the only way you and I learnt these letters is writing them over and over again. This may not seem that attractive for a child today -
Leverage their creativity: which is what we’re trying to change with these hands-on activities that use all their senses and get them engaged in their learning through their creativity.
Writing Preparation: Even though the different colours of Lipi Tiles® letters help them in creating these quick shortcuts to memorise and recognise the letters, this activity brings their attention to the shape of the letters and how they can best recreate it with their favourite colours through writing.
Step 1
Take the Lipi Tiles® letters and paste them on a table using sticky tape.
Step 2
Place a blank sheet of paper over the letters.
Step 3
Hold down the paper and let your child use a crayon or pencil to trace and colour over the letters.
Step 4
Encourage them to read out the letter as they trace.
Step 5
Then, let your child use a marker or a sketch pen to write over and trace the letter.
Step 6
At the end of the activity, build the words for each object using Lipi Tiles® letters.
