Bananagrams

I picked up this fun game called Bananagrams recently. It is a cute cloth banana that contains 144 letter tiles. I thought it would be a good way to incorporate letter recognition exercises with Kate's love of tiny things. I underestimated the value of this game as Kate has already learned so much by using the letters.

We haven't been able to follow the rules that the manufacturer wrote, (since Kate is only three) but that doesn't mean that we haven't had a great time playing with this game. Here is a list of the games we have come up with so far:

1. Name Letter Sort
   Put all tiles face up to play. Ask your child to find all the letters in their name. Kate would find all the K, A, T, and E letters and put them into piles. This is also great for hand eye coordination and small motor skill practice.
   
2. Spell a name
   Use letter sounds to help your child spell a name. Kate's favorites are Kate, Mom, and Dad.
3. Letter Search and Count
   Give a time limit for your child to find all the A's. (We count backwards from 20, but your could use an egg timer.) Have them count how many they find after time is up.

Kate carries the banana from room to room, and today we even took it onto the deck to play Letter Search and Count. Kate and her daddy looked for the letters and I counted back wards from 20 as the "Timer." Kate loved hearing me count back wards, and she was so proud when she counted the number of tiles correctly.

I have to tell you, I was beaming one morning when I came downstairs and walked into her playroom to find this on the table:

She had left me a special gift and that memory of finding her first name spelled out will stay with me forever. These tiles are fantastic, and I recommend them for any child who is beyond the age of three (and past the "I put everything into my mouth stage.")