Our book, reading and writing activity, resources, and a step-by-step guide all in 1 page.
Our Book:
How to Hide a Lion
Written by Helen Stephens
Book
Synopsis
What would you do if you found a lost, lonely lion hiding in your garden? Everyone in town is afraid of the lion, except for a young girl named Iris, who tried to help the lion stay hidden. However, nothing stays hidden for long. Will the lion be accepted by the townspeople in the end?
A warm-hearted story about an unusual friendship between a girl and a lion. Accompanied by vibrant illustrations and an exciting plot that will spark meaningful conversations, children will be sure to love this imaginative book by Helen Stephens.
Our Dialogic Reading Video
Link to our dialogic reading video: https://youtu.be/xJLEZsN_mcw
Our Writing Activity
Our writing activity engages children through sensory play as they trace out letters on shaving cream directly or use a shaving cream sensory bag with letter cards as a card.
Through our writing activity, children will be able to:
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Form upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet.
Please continue to scroll to view our resources, step-by-step guide and a video tutorial for our writing activity.
A Parent's Guide for Our Writing Activity
Dear Parents,
We have written a parent's guide to explain how you can carry out our Nursery level writing activity with your child, as well as to share with you questions that you can ask your child during the activity to facilitate his/her learning.
Please click on the button below to access our parent's guide for this writing activity.
Thank you!
Writing Resources
A Sensory Play Experience
Shaving Cream Sensory bag OR Shaving cream on plate/tray
Letter Cards
Alphabet Worksheets
A Step-by-Step Guide for our Writing Activity
Tune-in Activity: Body Letters Alphabet
Materials Needed:
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The Body Letters Alphabet Song
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Yourself!
Main Activity: A Sensory Play Experience
Materials Needed:
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Shaving cream
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Zip lock bag OR a large plate/tray
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Writing Material of your choice
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We recommend using a writing material with a wider width. For example, a whiteboard marker
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Letter cards
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You can find our letter card templates here
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Optional:
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Food colouring
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Decorating materials (For example, pom poms, glitter)
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Worksheets
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This is for children who are in the Nursery 2 Level and have started learning how to write
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You can find our worksheets here.
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Instructions
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Watch the Body Letters Alphabet Song on YouTube to get familiarized with how you and your child can achieve forming the letters with your body.
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Begin forming the letters of your choice. You can either start with forming the Letter A or only form the letters in a word that you are trying to make. For example, your child’s name. The freedom is completely yours! 😊
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Take a photo after each letter is being formed and review it with your child.
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Using the photo, trace out the letter formed using a finger to get familiar with the letter strokes.
** We recommend that the letters that you are forming in this warm-up activity be the same as the letters that your child will practice writing in the main activity.
Instructions
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Depending on you and your child's preference, you can either create a shaving cream sensory bag or simply spray some shaving cream onto a big plate/tray.
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Shaving cream on plate/tray:
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After spraying an adequate amount of shaving cream onto a plate/tray, use a disposable spoon to create a smooth and flat surface.
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If you would like to add food colouring, you can add some, mix it well, before flattening the surface.
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Shaving cream sensory bag:
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After spraying shaving cream into the Ziplock bag, you can add a few drops of food colouring or decorating materials of your choice into the Ziplock bag as well.
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Close the Ziplock bag tightly and try to get as much air out as possible. If you added food colouring, squish the bag to mix the colour well.
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Our tip is to spray just enough such that when the shaving cream is evenly distributed around the Ziplock bag, there is only a thin layer of shaving cream. This is to ensure that the letters written on this sensory bag can be seen more visibly.
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Use duct tape to completely cover the opening of the Ziplock bag to ensure that the contents inside do not come out.
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Use a blutack or scotch tape to paste the sensory bag and letter card against a window or wall while your child is engaging with this resource.
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Afterwards, place a letter card above either the plate/tray or the sensory bag and demonstrate how to write the letter before your child attempts to do so
Additional resource for children in
the Nursery 2 Level:
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We also have fun and engaging worksheets for children who have started learning how to write as well.
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Each worksheet consists of a mini activity and tracing of both the upper-and-lower case for that particular letter.
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Each worksheet is clearly labelled at the top (Worksheet #1, Worksheet #2, etc.) and if images are needed for that worksheet’s mini activity, you can find these image strips clearly labelled according to the worksheet number at the end of the document as well.
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As these worksheets consist of activities that require cutting, pasting, colouring and writing, we highly recommend that parents be beside their child while he/she is completing these worksheet activities.
Closure Activity: Upper-And-Lower Case Matching Activity
Instructions
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Using our letter cards, you can conduct a mini quiz with your child to recap the upper-and-lower case letters in the alphabet
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Place an upper-case letter card in front of child
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Hand your child 3-5 lower-case letter cards and have him/her match the correct lower-case letter card to the upper-case letter card in front of him/her.
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You can repeat steps 1-3 several more times with your child.