Rumpelstiltskin Inspires Play-of-the-Day
The story of Rumpelstiltskin inspires today’s play-of-the-day with some name activities. What’s in a name? Lots of fun and learning for kids.
Rumpelstiltskin is the story of a little man who can spin straw into gold. He helps out a maiden and wants her first born in return. When the time comes, the deal will be cancelled if she can guess his name. Who could guess that name? If you do not have a book, you can tell the story to your child. There’s an adapted and updated version of the story in a video below. This book is an Usborne version.
For some fun today, talk with kids about their name. Where did it come from? Does anyone else in the family have that name? Do any friends have that name? Kids can make their name too.
A few ways to make names are to use magnetic letters on the fridge, peel and stick foam letters on anything, rolling out the letters with play dough, or stamping it out with paint dabbers. As early as 2 or 3 years old, children may ‘write their name’. At first, it’s just a few scribbles but these start to look more like letters. Often, there is a fairly recognizable first letter followed by a few more marks. About the age of 4 or 5, most children are printing their own names and maybe the names of other family members too. *Since most programs and schools will use a capital letter for the first letter in a name, followed by lower case letters, this is the best way to start.
Printing names is often children’s first venture into the world of written communication. We can help them in a variety of ways such as lightly printing the letters for them to trace over, drizzling it with syrup on a pancake, squeezing the letters on a plate with ketchup, and printing it out nice and big for them to copy. What better way to start the journey of learning to write than with a name?