Walk-Along Learning

Have you ever noticed how effectively children, and boys in particular, learn when they are doing something active. I have had some of my best conversations with my children when we have been going for a walk, or baking a cake, or looking for eggs in the backyard.

Today was a case in point. My youngest son and I were walking along when he said, "Mum, you know the word territory, like, 'you are in my territory!' -- that's got four words in it hasn't it, 'ter-ri-tor-y'."

I told him that those sound groups are called syllables, and a syllable is a group of letters that make a single sound group. If a word changes direction, then there are two syllables. We discussed how some words only have one syllable because they only go one direction, such as "crack", but other words change direction, such as hap-py.

I knew he had it worked out when he said, "Some words have two syllables when they go in the same direction twice, like 'poo-poo', don't they?"

Boys will be boys, won't they, even when they are learning!