Learning Through Meaningful Play with the Russian Alphabet Puzzle

As a disclaimer here, I am not following any tried and true advice regarding bilingual education or any experts on linguistics. I am simply following my child. And for now that is enough of a fun and enriching journey.

I understand that there is so much to a language than the written words themselves. There are contexts, subtexts, intonations, etc. My focus now is to enable my child to read books that he might find interesting. We are a long way from that in any language, but I think finding a fun way to introduce specific letters might be the way to go for my child.

My child is no stranger to alphabet puzzles and had received an English alphabet puzzle for a birthday gift. I wanted him to find both the English and the Russian alphabets familiar because he enjoys being read to in these two languages already. And so my search began.

After window shopping on Etsy, I came across this puzzle from BabyGiftBusyBoards. I loved the fun colors and decided to order it. The puzzle looked like it was made with a toddler or preschooler in mind. The letters are easy to handle for hands that might have fine motor control and dexterity, but still have undeveloped control required for writing.

I was very happy to find a Russian alphabet puzzle with carefully designed letters that were easy to read while also easy for small children to handle. This is easier said than done. The Ё and the Й letters are fundamentally challenging due to the level of detail. I loved the way that the artist incorporated these details into the puzzle.

So far, my child has enjoyed learning about the different sounds that each letter makes. He has completed the majority of the puzzle and I hope that he soon learns that he too can read connected letters that comprise words. But that will have to be a story for another day.

Why I'm Starting This Blog

URSTYLE Link: https://urstyle.fashion/styles/2809336
 

Hi Everyone,

I'm starting this blog because I want to document the how and the why of operating as a working mother in 2020. I want to document my experience and also share this experience with my loved ones at some point.

One big goal that I have is to bring back my sense of life enjoyment. We are in the middle of a pandemic and the many burdens because of it are affecting my family. The little ways include not being able to have playdates or go to playgrounds, and not being able to get together with friends for those already rare in-person sanity checks. The big ways are the increased scrutiny of every environment my family is exposed to and the measures that we committed to in order to give us a sense of safety. Most importantly, this experience has made me realize it is important to do what you want now.

And while knowing that being a parent or a caregiver of any  kind is really hard work, especially with the standards put on us by society and those we give ourselves, I want to use this blog to make things simpler, easier, and more enjoyable. I know that’s easier said than done sometimes and my goal is not to sugarcoat things, but to shift the focus. I’m also an optimist and I believe that most people can reach and surpass their goals given enough preparation and effort.

To be honest, my plans for 2020 have been obliterated, so instead I am going to paint a few broad strokes for goals. The most important one is to embrace everyday instead of leaning into this parenting truth of, “the days are long, but the years are short.”