Ahoy There, Me Hearties!!

ARRR!! Saturday, September 19th be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!! Arrr!

Well, shiver me timbers! What better way to celebrate than with a fun Discovery Toys product! Let's take a look at

Ahoy, Pirate Pete!

Ahoy, Pirate Pete is a fun, interactive change-the-story book where kids can choose different elements of the story to have the adventures unfold different ways each time.

How do you do this?
Well, when you first receive your book, you will punch out little pictures and place them in the correct place in the book. This is your first learning task!! Visual discrimination and matching, plus work on fine motor skills to stick in the little tabs!!

As you read the book with your child, you are given options for how you want the story to unfold. Do you want Pete to have a pet dragon or a pet bird? Do you want Pete to look in the sky and see a bird or a spaceship? Once you choose, take the picture and place it in the story. The stories are endless!!

How can you use Ahoy, Pirate Pete to increase your child's speech and language skills?
Use this versatile book to help your child in:

Responding to Questions About Stories: After you read the book, ask your child questions. Who is on the ship? What did Pete see? Where was the octopus? Since the story changes every time, it's an extra challenge for your child! You're really helping his listening skills!

Retelling Stories: The ability to re-tell information is vital in your child's school success. He needs to be able to listen and attend, remember details, organize information and then tell the information in grammatically correct sentences with appropriate vocabulary. That's a lot!! Help your child by reading the book a couple of times and then having him tell the story--first with the book, then see if he can do it without.

Learning Vocabulary: You can even use Ahoy, Pirate Pete as a sneaky way to teach vocabulary! Categorizing (or putting similar words together) is a fantastic way to teach vocabulary. So, take all the pieces out of the book and have your child categorize! Put all the food together, all the ocean creatures together, all the things that fly together, etc, etc. Have your child label each item and tell you what the groups have in common. Lots of fun while learning!

Practicing Articulation Skills: Ok, as a speech-language pathologist, I love pirates!! Why? They have truly mastered the R sound!!! AARRRR matey! First, you should know that the /r/ sound isn't expected to be mastered until after age 6-7 or so. You should also know it's a really hard sound to learn!! But, pretending to be a pirate is a really fun way to practice the /r/ sound! So, on each page when your child sees Pete, have him make the "Pirate Sound" of /r/!! Just don't forget to tense up that tongue and raise the back.

Well, Shiver Me Timbers!! That's a lot of fine things you can do with this book! It is surely some great booty to your treasure chest of Discovery Toys swag! Smartly head on over to me website and get yer lads and lassies Ahoy, Pirate Pete!

Fair Winds and Happy Sailing to you, Matey!!
~Marcy
FoxToyBox