kick it up a notch
Filed Under Stuff | June 28, 2010
Preschool’s over for the year and you’re not only facing a summer of entertaining your tots but you also want to keep their little minds as active as their bodies. You’re no flashcard toting mama but you do want to help lay the foundation for a life long love of learning (you hope!) so why not fight summer brain drain by incorporating the Nogs of Notch Hill into your summer routine?
The creation of a Vancouver-based mother daughter team – Joan Thornton and Nicola Lott – the Nogs of Notch Hill is a learning system that includes stories, games and fun creatures that are actually letters of the alphabet, all grounded in the magical land of Notch Hill. The system is all about playing with your kids in order to teach them to read, write the lowercase letters of the alphabet (and uppercase version is coming soon) and sound them out. It’s an easy, fun way to work in a little focused time with your tots each day and the system comes packaged in a handy tote bag, making it easy to keep track of all the pieces as well as taking it out and about with you on your summer excursions.
Aimed at kids from four to six we gave it a whirl with a four-year-old who was immediately engaged with the stories, colouring and pattern boards. We had to be a little flexible as our little tester wanted to jump around and read more stories and try different activities rather than following the lesson plan and we also recommend building in a few minutes of prep time for yourself to read the lesson and get all your ducks – and play pieces – in a row. After only a few sessions we could already see how the system works to help the pieces of the fascinating reading and writing puzzle fall into place.
And speaking of brain drain, because The Nogs of Notch Hill is all laid out for you and comes with everything you need – right down to a dry erase marker – it requires no forethought on your part. And what mama couldn’t use one less thing to think about?
Nogs of Notch Hill: www.notchhilllearning.com
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