One Simple Thing - Thursday - Treasure Hunt Bottles

One Simple Thing you can do today to strengthen your child's pre-reading skills is to create Treasure Hunt Bottles! Fill an empty plastic bottle with 3/4 cups of rice and add small items such as paper clips, bottle caps, and buttons. Add more rice, until all items are hidden. Close the bottle tightly.
Supervise your child closely (possible chocking hazards) as she turns the bottle slowly to discover the objects inside. Name the objects as they are found and explain their use.
For older children, model writing the name of each item on a piece of paper, drawing a picture of the item beside it.

After all items have been found and named, encourage your child to gather small toys and other items, and help him make his own treasure hunt bottle. Model writing down each item he adds to the bottle (or let him write his own list if he's interested).
Have fun asking friends and relatives to hunt for all the treasures in the bottle!

Babies will have fun shaking the treasure bottle (leave about 3 inches headroom in the bottle, for a great rain sound), and exploring what items they can uncover by moving the bottle (supervise closely). This is a great cause and effect activity for little ones! Have fun as you explain the names of all the objects in the bottle!

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