Learning Tamil can be fun! Here are some fun and interactive ways to introduce Tamil letters and words to children.
Lego Blocks
This was probably one the first activities I did with my daughter to help her learn Tamil letters. You just write Tamil letters on the sides of the blocks and stack them. You can use any stacking type toys you already have to do this. This helped in learning the order of letters, and was an activity my daughter enjoyed very much.
Letters Hopstotch
Who doesn't love hopscotch? As a child, this was a really fun game to play. Often, we played just with numbers. But why not change it up a little and play with Tamil letters? You can have you child say the letters as they jump on the corresponding box, or just ask them to jump on a specific letter box. You can even take chalk to a park for this activity.
Sensory Rock Matching
Here’s a fun sensory play idea to help children with letter recognition. Identifying letters and matching them to sounds helps develop the skills children need to read. Here I wrote letters on a paper and rocks and had my daughter match them.
Matching Animals
Repurposing already existing toys in your house is an easy way to help teach new words. Animals are some of the things that are most interesting to children. Here, I took some puzzles they had, traced them on a piece of coloured paper and wrote the Tamil word and had them match them while saying the Tamil word for the animal. You could do this for anything you have; fruits, vegetables, household items, kitchenware, etc.
Tamil Letters Colouring
Colouring is a fun activity to help children learn and recognize Tamil letters. Simple, big and bold sheets perfect for young children. This just helps them see the different letters and build awareness of letter recognition.
Window Paint
Sensory play is always fun. Here I filled a ziplock bag with paint, attached it to the window with painter's tape, and just traced different Tamil letters with my daughter's fingers together.
Matching Colours
Colours are some of the early words you can teach your toddler. I just cut out different colour construction papers, with the Tamil names for different colours on one, and a blank laminated strip in the same colour and had my kids match them together.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
This was a free printable I mailed out to those on my mailing list, and I've heard back from parents they have had fun with it! You can use something like this, and write down a list of items to find around your house, in the kitchen, in the backyard, anywhere really in Tamil and English and have your child find them. This will help them learn new words, while helping build their print awareness.
Alphabet Cookie Monster
Here’s a free and fun way to reuse old cardboard boxes. Draw a character your child likes, cut out some cookies and write different letters on them. Ask your child to feed a specific letter cookie to the character, while sounding it out! For example, while the Cookie Monster “ate” இ, I will make the “ee” sound in the Cookie Monster’s voice. This helps making learning sounds fun.
Read!
This is the best way to help your child learn Tamil. Reading to them in Tamil helps them hear words they would not always hear in regular speech. It also adds a sense of excitement to language. When children read books they enjoy, they will be more interested in hearing stories, thereby building their vocabulary and their love of reading. This is why I created The Magic Crystal and the Superheroes. Reading in any language helps to build pre-reading skills.
What are some activities you've tried that have helped? I'd love to try them!