Alpha-Bits cereal snack times have been the inspiration for many great opportunities for letter-based learning and conversation lately. On a recent walk through our neighborhood, I brought along a baggie of Alpha-Bits for Little (age 4) to enjoy. These tiny whole-grain cereal pieces, all shaped like letters, have enthused her and opened a new way to practice sounds. As I shared last week, she’s been motivated by opportunities to sound out words and rhyme, fascinated by letters making words. Prior to eating each cereal letter piece, she announced the letter then made the sounds. “Elllll,” she would pronounce. “/l/ /l/ /l/…”
Inspired by her interest in the letters, I suggested a letter-based scavenger hunt. I asked her to find things around her that started with L. Together, and we pointed out leaves, then she suggested a lion. I laughed. “Good job! Lion does start with ‘L’! Good thing there are no lions in our neighborhood!” We moved on.
The next letter out of the bag was “W.” Luckily, it had just rained, so she pointed out a worm. Then looked up and suggested wind.
Our scavenger hunt continued as we noticed squirrels, birds, clouds, and spiders as she pulled out more letters through the walk. Later, we brought a new bag of Alpha-Bits as a snack during her brother’s soccer practice and played a new round at the park, finding many of the same and many different fall words for each letter.
The activity became more exciting when I suggested we create an Autumn Alpha-Bits Book, taking pictures of objects representing each letter—then using the pictures each as a page in the ABC Book. The activity is taking a bit longer now, as we pull together our book, taking pictures as we find the object. You’ll notice, above, how we’re also taking pictures of the letters and “scrapbooking” them onto the images in Photoshop. Little and I are both excited to complete and print out her book to read to friends and family.
Autumn ABC Words
Need a cheat sheet? I did, too. Here are words I collected (with the help of Little and several friends) that may help you guide your kids in creating an Autumn ABC Book. (Click to enlarge to printable PDF).
About Alpha-Bits
We’ve been using Alpha-Bits as more than a breakfast for a few weeks now. The kids love it as a nutritious, delicious snack (usually dry). And I like that it has 20g of whole grains and 12 essential vitamins and nutrients per 30g serving. Plus, Alpha-Bits contains nutrients to support healthy brain development, like zinc and iron.
More learning activities with Alpha-Bits
When we came home from our walk, we created after-school snacks for the boys with our Alpha-Bits letters, just as I shared last week. This time, we made Ants on a Log and set the table using them as place cards. What a great idea for the next time we entertain–like Thanksgiving Weekend! How cute will the table be this year if, rather than using iced cookies as place cards, we use Celery, Almond Butter and Alpha-Bits!?
See how we used Alpha-Bits as guides for learning writing and pre-reading skills.
