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Children from birth to age 6 can learn skills before they read. This means knowing that spoken letters and word parts have meaning (phonological awareness). By playing with words and sounds, your child can develop their reading skills.
Here is a list of activities to do at home to help your child learn to read. |
Reading and Rhymes
Read aloud to your child frequently.
- Point out sounds that repeat frequently, such as the f sound in the book “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss (alliteration is when the first sounds of words repeat).
- Select books with rhymes and point out to your child the words that repeat the last sounds or sounds of whole words, such as fox, socks, box.
- Ask your child to provide another word that rhymes with those in the book.
- Play I Spy using rhymes such as, “I spy something you sleep on that rhymes with red” (bed).
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Word Play
- Teach your child to hear the syllables in longer words. Syllables are sounds that make up words. For example, apple has 2 syllables (ap-ple) and banana has 3 syllables (ba-na-na).
- Have your child clap out the syllables 1 at a time.
- For example, clap out the 3 syllables for ba-na-na.
- You can also pull words apart.
- Start with compound words first, such as baseball and cupcake.
- Ask your child, “Say the word baseball, but don’t say base. What is left?” or “Take away the word cake from cupcake. What is left?”
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Sound Sleuth
- Help your child identify sounds. For example, look through a book or magazine for things that start with the d sound. “What animal do you see in this picture that starts with d?” (dog).
- Play I Spy indoors and outside. Ask your child to look for, point at, or say the word for things that start with the b sound. Say, “I spy something you eat from that starts with b” (bowl).
- Then ask them to look for, point at, or say the words with the same last sound, like words that end with s (chairs). “I spy many things that are green and brown and end with the letter s” (trees).
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Sound Swapper
Teach your child how to create new words by “swapping” the sound with a new sound.
- For example, tell your child, “Say the word boat. Now change the b to a k sound (hard c). What’s the new word?”
- You can use colored blocks or candies to show how to switch the sound.
A blue block shows the b sound, a green block shows the k sound, and a red block shows the -oat word part for boat. Then swap the blue block b for a green block k to create the new word coat.
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Get Hands-On
- You can use a variety of crafts and objects with sound and letter games. Ask your child to make letters using soft dough (PlayDoh) or putty. Or have them draw letters in sand.
- Use blocks or pieces of cereal to count out syllables in words (3 blocks placed in line for the word ba-na-na). Have them say the word and point to each block as they say each syllable.
- Have your child make a collage by cutting out pictures that all start with the same sound. Then have them paste the pictures onto paper.
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Where can I find more activity ideas?
There are many more fun ideas, phonological awareness activities, and lists of books, songs, and rhymes on the internet. Go to:
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