Activity Name: The Magic “S” Game:
In “Pies, Pies, Pies!”, Pig learns that he can turn one pie into many pies by adding the letter s at the end of the word “pie”. Try playing this game with your child and some of her friends for a fun and exciting way to explore how an “S” can turn words into plurals.
Related Episode: 106 A. Pies, Pies, Pies!
Age Range: 3-5
Skills: Recognizing the Letter “S”; Understanding Plural Words by Adding the Letter “S”.
Subjects: Literacy and Language Development.
Materials:
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Cards with pictures of animals and the name of the animal printed below the picture. (You and your child can make these cards by cutting out pieces of paper and pasting or drawing pictures of animals on the card and writing the name of the animal below the picture).
Note: All animals selected must be ones whose names can be made plural by adding an “s” at the end. Some suggested animals are: cow; dog; cat; kangaroo; chicken, pig; frog; elephant; duck; bird.
- A card with the letter s on it. (The letter s should be the same size as the letters on the animal cards).
- Popsicle sticks (optional).
- Wand or stick (optional).
Directions:
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Each player, except for one, holds one of the animal pictures in her hand. They can hold the cards facing out for everyone to see. The player who isn’t holding an animal card, holds the magic “S” card.
Optional:
- Glue the cards to popsicle sticks to make them easier to carry.
- Place the “S” on a wand or stick, so that it looks like it’s on a wand.
- Every player except for the player with the magic “S” card walks around pretending to be the animal on her card, moving and sounding like that animal-mooing if she is a cow, quacking if she is a duck, etc.
- One player walks around the group carrying the magic “S” card. Whenever the magic “S” player decides, he stands next to the end of the word on one of the players cards (the cow, for example) with the magic “S” card and says “Cows, cows, come out and play!”
- All the other players then have to go and stand by the chosen player and pretend to be that animal. After a little while, the person with the magic “S” gives the magic “S” to the chosen player and the chosen player gives her card to the person who had the magic “S.” Then the players continue around and the new magic “S” holder gets to choose someone else.
