Little Lessons, Big Discoveries
Sit under the tree and take your time. Nothing here has to be finished, and nothing has to be rushed.
This one is for the two of you
In the games, Kibi reads everything out loud, so a child can play on her own. These lessons are different. They are written for you to read aloud, so your voice carries the words while your child does the noticing.
Sit close. You read, she notices. A few minutes together is worth more than an hour alone, and at this age your voice is most of what makes it stick.
Sound it out with Kibi
Tap a letter to hear the sound it makes, or let Kibi walk through the whole word slowly.
Can you read what is on the screen?
sun
Choose what to explore
Tap a lesson to open it. Each one takes a few minutes and needs nothing you do not already have at home.
Matching colors to everyday things around the house.
Ask your child to find something red, then blue, then yellow. Let them choose where to look.
Sorting by one quality at a time is the beginning of every kind of classifying that comes later.
Counting from one to five, touching each thing once.
Count the petals on a flower together, real or drawn. Touch each one as you say its number.
Touching while counting is what teaches that each object gets exactly one number, which is harder than it sounds.
Finding circles, squares and triangles in ordinary things.
Look out of a window and name one round thing, one square thing, and one pointy thing.
Recognizing a shape whatever its color or size is the same skill letters will need very soon.
Spotting one uppercase letter and telling it from its neighbors.
Pick the first letter of your child’s name. Hunt for it on packets, signs, and books all day.
A child who owns one letter, usually their own initial, has a doorway into all the others.
Hearing the very first sound in a spoken word.
Say a word slowly and stretch the first sound. Sssssun. Then let them try one.
This lives in the ear rather than the eye, and it predicts later reading better than knowing letter names does.
Matching a face to a simple feeling word.
Take turns pulling a feeling face while the other guesses it. Let the silly ones count.
Naming a feeling calms it. A child who can say grumpy is already halfway out of being it.
Noticing small living things on a slow walk outdoors.
Walk to the end of the road and find three things you have never noticed before.
Attention is a muscle. Ten slow minutes builds more of it than an hour of being entertained.
Deciding why some things go with each other and one does not.
Put four spoons and one fork on the table. Ask which one is the odd one, and why.
The why matters more than the answer. Explaining a rule is early reasoning out loud.
Two little things to try right here
No printing, no setting up. Just tap.
The Mixing Pot
Tap two colors and see what they make together.
Pick two colors.
Count the Fireflies
Tap each firefly to catch it, and watch the number grow.
0
For grown-ups
None of this needs to be done in order, and none of it needs finishing. Pick the one that
suits the mood in the room. A lesson abandoned halfway because something better came up
is a lesson that did its job.