The best way to fine tune your child’s reading skills is to find time to practice every day. And most kids learn better when they’re doing something they want to do, not because they have to. These kid-approved activities and games are fun and help build reading skills. They’re simple enough to make part of your routine: during playtime, at meals and snacks, or when you’re out and about.
These kid-approved activities and games are fun and help build reading skills. They’re simple enough to make part of your routine: during playtime, at meals and snacks, or when you’re out and about.
Recommended Activities
At the beginning stages of learning the alphabet, start by concentrating on the letters in your child’s name, especially the first letter. Children enjoy learning about their names. These are their favorite letters!
As soon as your baby begins to "coo," you can respond to these early attempts at communication by "cooing" right back. These back- and-forth baby talk conversations let your infant know that what she has to say is important to you!
Songs are a perfect way to introduce even the youngest babies to syllables, because in music, each syllable gets one beat. Being aware that words can be broken into smaller parts is a critical pre-reading skill – and this can be introduced just by singing to your infant.
At this age, toddlers have begun to understand the value of language as a means of communicating. Although you will likely understand only about half of what your child is trying to tell you, you can still encourage her language development in a variety of ways.
By exposing your child to rhyming words at this young age, you are helping to lay the groundwork for how language works. As your child gets a little older, she will build upon this foundation by noticing and playing with the sounds within the rhyming words.
Toddlers are keen observers and excellent mimics. They also love repetition and rhythm. By combining these skills and interests, this activity can help your child to begin to develop word and syllable awareness.
Babies and toddlers are constantly listening to and absorbing the sounds of language they are exposed to in the environment. By encouraging your child to listen carefully as you speak, you are helping to nurture his listening skills.
By playing games that invite your toddler to repeat sounds, you are helping to show her how to play with sounds and language. We recommend beginning with your child's name, because it is her favorite word!
The ability to imitate sounds is an important first step toward being able to talk. At this age, your toddler is continuing to experiment with language in new ways. Encourage your little one to play with the sounds of language in fun ways.
At this age, your baby is likely beginning to babble and produce a variety of sounds. To build on this stage of language development, encourage your child to echo you as you make some of his most commonly produced sounds.
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