ABC's of Active Learning: Multisensory Literacy Activities!

Today on the blog, I would like to introduce Laurie Gombash! Laurie is a physical therapist who loves to teach the alphabet through movement and a range of multi-sensory activities. To capture an array of learning variability gives children an opportunity to learn in ways they understand through their senses. Laurie is sharing her latest book, ABC's of Active Learning©   with us today!  What an exciting resource that would be valuable for anyone working with young children!

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Thanks for this opportunity to guest blog and tell everyone about my new book, ABC’s of Active Learning©. It's the same 26 letters with a multi-sensory twist that provides a lively and engaging teaching and learning experience!

As parents, caregivers, practitioners, or teachers, we realize the importance of early literacy development, but how do we continue to find creative ways to present critical learning skills? More importantly, how do we capture the motivation of our learners who come to us with different strengths and areas in need of continued development?

The ABC’s of Active Learning© targets the whole brain through movement activities, organized games, multi-step crafts, as well as multi-sensory pre-writing activities that can be used and graded for learners of all abilities. With the rise of technology dominating so much of the young child's time, this tool takes learning back to the basics, providing organizing movement activities that help to establish a child who is ready to be an active participant in his or her learning!

For example, for the letter M, Our Marching Band by Lloyd Moss is the suggested read.

• Children can make Monkey Masks by painting white paper plates complete with eyes, ears and mouths to target awareness of body scheme.
• They can use dry macaroni to cover a pre-written letter to essentially “build” a letter they can trace the letter “M” in marshmallow cream, and can write with a magic drawing board.
• They can also taste and smell mangos and take a nature walk and look for mud.
• Lastly, they can lob large marshmallows (or cut out pieces of craft foam, or make pretend marshmallows by crumpling up sheets of white paper) into a pretend puddle of hot chocolate.

To challenge children’s phonological awareness, encourage them to say the words that start with the “M” sound. Learning outcomes from Marshmallow lob include eye-hand coordination, phonological awareness, and gross motor skill enhancement.

All activities are designed to be fun and motivating, while simultaneously providing rich multi-sensory input, improving motor development and learning. This book can stand alone or be a supplement to The ABC’s of Movement® activity cards.   To purchase these products or to find out further information refer to www.ABCsofMovement.com.

Laurie is an experienced physical therapist who has a knack for turning ordinary items into fun therapeutic tools. She is also the brains behind The ABC’s of Movement®, and the webinars, Pushing into the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Pediatric Therapists and Creative Pediatric Treatment Strategies Based on the Evidence available through www.theInspiredTreehouse.com.
www.ABCsofMovement.com
ABCs of Movement on Facebook

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