Counting Words
Prep: None / Activity Time: 5 Minutes
In this easy activity, your child will practice listening for individual words in sentences.
At-Home Activities for 5-Year-Olds
Long Word, Short Word!
Prep: None / Activity Time: 5 Minutes
This easy listening game takes no prep time and can be played anywhere and any time you have a few minutes to spare.
Illustrate the Poem
Prep: 15 Minutes / Activity Time: 10-15 Minutes
In this activity, your child will take a familiar poem and add illustrations to it. It might even become part of a poetry book created by your child.
Nursery Rhymes With a Twist
Prep: None / Activity Time: 10-15 Minutes
Children love nursery rhymes. Have fun as you and your child rewrite traditional nursery rhymes with a more modern and silly twist.
How Many Sounds in “l-o-g”?
Prep: 10-15 Minutes / Activity Time: 5-10 Minutes
In this activity, your child will learn to use objects to visually represent the sounds in words. In order to become strong readers and spellers, children must learn to segment and blend individual sounds in words.
Let’s Write Some Rhyming Words
Prep: 15-20 Minutes / Activity Time: 15 Minutes
Activities and experiences with rhyme and alliteration help children become more sensitive to the sounds of language. In this activity, your child will combine her knowledge of rhyme and beginning sounds to begin to write rhyming words.
Guess the Word
Prep: 10 Minutes / Activity Time: 10 Minutes
In this activity, your child will separate the beginning sound in a word from the rest of the word. This is called onset and rime, a very important pre-reading skill.
Take Your Time, Turtle
Prep: 10 Minutes / Activity Time: 10-15 Minutes
In order to be able to play word games, children need to hear the sounds that make up a word. Playing with the sounds in words can help your child understand that words are made up of smaller units of sound.
Race to the Rhymes!
Prep: 5-10 Minutes / Activity Time: 8-10 Minutes
Many 5-year-olds can name words that rhyme when asked. Invite your child to show you what he knows about rhyme with this fun game. It will get your child moving and will help him to practice quickly identifying rhyming words.
Blend It, Show It, Say It!
Prep: 3 Minutes / Activity Time: 5-6 Minutes
Once your 5-year old has mastered learning letters and their sounds, he is ready to begin to put those sounds together to build simple words. Before your child can see how the sounds in words come together, he must first be able to hear how sounds come together. This activity brings your child one step closer to becoming a reader.
National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals
The DOs and DON’Ts of Developing Your Young Child’s Pre-Reading Skills
HOW You Read to a Child Is Important
Top 10 Things You Can Give Your Child to Build Pre-Reading Skills
A Chair for My Mother
Koala Lou
