Pre-writing exercises

There are some well-priced and yet educationally very valuable little items in the Smile catalogue, one of which is the Dinkie  range of books. They sell at R25 each and there are eight books in the range, three of which are excellent for practicing pre-writing skills (scroll down to the bottom of the page  for HOW TO ORDER and to see the other books in the range!):

1. Dinkie Dots - 32 fun-filled pages of dot-to-dot activities for children 4 yrs+

2. Dinkie Early Writing Fun - 48 basic writing patterns to prepare your child for formal handwriting, ages 4 to 6 (Take note that this book is included when you buy a Bridge to Learning set)

3. Dinkie Mazes - 32 exciting and challenging pencil puzzles for children 4 yrs +

I came up with a clever way to use these over and over after a quick visit to The Crazy Store earlier today! I bought an inexpensive 'certificate frame' which is basically a hardboard backing to which a sheet of glass is attatched with four metal clips. I enlarged an exercise page from Dinky Early Writing Exercises and slipped it under the glass. The child can now trace the patterns with a white board marker and wipe the glass clean when she's ready to try again! You can do the same with any of the other three Dinky books, too!

Don't take the little book apart to do the copying, though. Let your child practice on the glass, but when he has mastered the movements, let him complete them in the actual book - just imagine how frustrating it would be if you kept practicing something but never have something to show for all your hard work in the end!

The other books in the Dinkie range are:

* Dinkie crosswords - 27 exciting crossword activities for children 8 yrs+

* Dinkie Colour by Number for ages 6+

* Dinkie colour by Shape for ages 4+ (R25)

*Dinkie Crack a Jack 1 and 2 - crack the mathematical code and use it to plot a picture! Ages 7+

How to Order:

E-mail your order to joyfulmama@telkomsa.net

I will then send you a confirmation and details about delivery etc.