After our first adventure with the letter O — the one with mirrors and writing in groats — the Mędrki got another letter adventure. Because one lesson per letter is not enough. The letter O stayed with them for a week, and we kept inventing newer ways to illuminate it for the Mędrki from different angles. One Monday morning, in the Mędrki room, chaos appeared — cards lay scattered everywhere, and on the wall hung a letter: “Dear Mędrki, the Mischief Wind has done it again. He scattered your waffle recipe. If you want to eat waffles — first you have to gather the cards, then read and execute. Good luck!”.
In this article we want to tell you why we use such a dramatic form of teaching reading, how the Mędrki specifically solved the Mischief Wind’s puzzle, and what is built in a five-year-old’s head when learning to read becomes a real adventure.
The Mischief Wind — who he is and why he helps us
The Mischief Wind is our own character, who appears every now and then in preschool life and plays pranks. Scatters cards. Hides things. Leaves mysterious letters. He is never seen — but we know he exists, because we see traces of his action.
The Mischief Wind is for us a very useful pedagogical tool. Why? Because he introduces into the day an element of surprise, riddle, drama. A five-year-old who walks into the room in the morning and sees that everything is “different” — does not simply start another preschool day. They step into an adventure.
This is the essence of drama in pedagogy. When the child believes that something extraordinary is happening, their brain enters a state of deep concentration. Memory works better. Engagement grows many times over. What the child learns in that mode stays in their head much more deeply than knowledge delivered in a traditional way.
What actually happened
Stage one — gathering the recipe. The Mędrki, after reading the letter, scattered around the room, looking for cards. The recipe was cut into eight parts — each containing a different fragment. “Ingredients:”. “Mix together:”. “Bake:”. “Serve with:”. The cards were scattered everywhere — under the chairs, behind the window, on the bookshelf, in a flowerpot, in the bag of blocks.
The Mędrki, like well-trained detectives, searched carefully. “Something’s here!”. “Under the table!”. “In the drawer!”. Every find triggered a shout. Gathering all eight cards took about twenty minutes. Some Mędrki found several. Others found two. Some found none, but were given a helping task — sorting what had already been found.
Stage two — assembling the recipe. When all the cards were together, they had to be put in the right order. This is, for a five-year-old, a cognitively demanding task. “What goes first? Ingredients or mix together?”. “And bake — that comes after which step?”. “Serve with — that’s probably last”. The Krasnoludki debated, tried, corrected. This was the first text reconstruction in their lives — the foundation of the later ability to write their own texts.
Stage three — looking for the letter O. When the recipe was assembled, the teacher said: “great. Now your second task. Remember our letter O? Find all the letters O in this recipe. How many are there?”. The Mędrki leaned over the page and started pointing with fingers. “Here is an O in ‘gofr’ (waffle)!”. “And here in ‘mleko’ (milk)!”. “And here in ‘jajko’ (egg)!”. Some Mędrki, still uncertain in reading, checked every round letter — sometimes mistaking Q or D for O. “But Q has a tail!”, the older Mędrki corrected. This was their first chance to learn through mutual correction.
Stage four — looking for fruits with the letter O. After finding O’s in the recipe, the teacher offered the next challenge. “And now: what fruits do you know that contain the letter O?”. “Tomato!” (well, that’s a vegetable, but well done). “Lemon!” (no, no O). “Mango!” (yes!). “Apple” — jabłko in Polish (yes, has O!). “Banana” (none). “Orange” — pomarańcza in Polish (yes, has an O!). “Pineapple” (no O). This was an exercise in phonological awareness — the key skill for learning to read, the recognition that a given sound is in a given word.
Stage five — executing the recipe. Finally, after all the introduction, the Mędrki moved to the kitchen. They measured ingredients according to the recipe — flour, milk, eggs, a teaspoon of sugar, a drop of vanilla, a pinch of salt. Mixed. Fried. The room filled with the incredible, sweet smell of waffles. Some Mędrki stayed at the waffle iron and watched how the dough changed. Others cut fruit for the waffles — apple, kiwi, pear, strawberries.
Stage six — the shared feast. Each Mędrek got their waffles, decorated with fruit. With honey or without. Some Mędrki added extra fruit, some only took what the teacher served. All ate with appetite, as if for the first time in their lives, even though most had eaten waffles before.
What is built in a Mędrek’s brain during such a lesson
Reading as a tool of action. A Mędrek who gathered the cards, put them in order and executed the recipe — learns the fundamental truth: writing is not art for art’s sake. Writing is a tool. If I can read, I can do things. If I can write, I can leave instructions for others. This is the most powerful possible motivation for learning to read that a five-year-old can have.
Phonological awareness. Looking for the letter O in the words of the recipe, and then thinking up fruits with the letter O — these are two key exercises in phonological awareness. The first skill is fundamental for learning to read. The second is trained less often, but is just as important.
Linking letters to meaning. “O” is part of the word “gofr” (waffle). “Gofr” means something specific — it is a delicious cake with fruit. Letter, word, meaning — the Mędrek begins to understand that this is one great living network, in which every element relates to every other.
Detective competence. Gathering cards across the room, putting them in order, matching ingredients — these are all elements of detective thinking. A five-year-old who has once learned to think this way preserves this skill within them for life. “Something’s not working? — I look for why”. “Something’s missing? — I check where”.
Cooperation in a group. Some Mędrki found cards, others did not. Some could read, others were just beginning. Some had a better sense of order, others a better sense of taste. Each Mędrek brought something different — and together the group did the task much better than any individual could have done. This is the first, embodied lesson in team competence.
Why drama in letter learning
Some parents ask: “why so much drama at your place? Can’t you just show the letter on a card?”. We answer: you can. And it gives much worse results.
A five-year-old who looks at a letter on a card and practises it a few times in a notebook learns the letter superficially. Remembers its shape. Knows its name. But has no personal, emotional relationship with it.
A five-year-old who gathered cards scattered by the Mischief Wind, assembled the recipe, found the letters, baked waffles — learns the letter deeply. Remembers not only its shape, but the whole situation. The letter O stays in their head associated with the joy of discovery, the taste of waffles, laughter, team success. This is a completely different quality of memory.
The concept we use in developmental neuropsychology is autobiographical memory — the type of memory in which we remember our own lived stories. In a five-year-old, autobiographical memory is much stronger than abstract memory. That is why learning through adventure, drama, lived experience — works much more effectively than “classical” learning.
What a parent can do at home
Home “letter adventures” are one of our favourite recommendations for parents of five-year-olds. A few ideas:
— Invent your own character. It does not have to be “the Mischief Wind”. It can be “the Bookcase Goblin”, “the Magic Owl”, “the Little Fairy”. What matters is that this character has a personality — leaves clues, letters, plays tricks.
— Hide cards with a recipe. On a weekend morning get up earlier and hide cards with a pancake recipe (or anything else) around the house. After waking up let the child find the first letter: “Something happened here! Find all the cards, put them together, and then we’ll make breakfast!”.
— Search for letters in a newspaper. Open a newspaper together. “How many letter O’s can we find in this article?”. This simple exercise builds phonological awareness and at the same time shows the child that writing is everywhere around.
— Making your own recipe. Let the five-year-old draw their own recipe for something simple — a sandwich, oatmeal, a smoothie. Then leave it in a visible place — and let the child see one morning: “mum followed my recipe!”.
— Letter learning in everyday words. “Look, on the bread packaging it says CHLEB. Do you see the letter C? And the letter L? And E?”. Everyday life is full of text that, for a five-year-old, is a fascinating riddle.
What stayed after our O-adventure
After our day with the Mischief Wind the Mędrki for several weeks spontaneously looked for the letter O in words. “Miss, in the word ‘jogurt’ there is an O!”. “And in the word ‘koło’ there are two O’s!”. “And in ‘okno’ also two O’s!”. Every such find was a reason for pride. Some Mędrki started inventing their own recipes — drawn on cards, added to their home “cookbooks”.
And this is the most beautiful effect of our pedagogy. A five-year-old, once stimulated to this kind of detective thinking, starts looking for letters in the world themselves, starts writing their own recipes themselves, starts building their own letter life. From that life, an adult who loves to read and write later grows.
And it all began with a few cards scattered across the room and one mischievous letter from the Mischief Wind.