Four and five-year-olds are getting excited. They are ready to learn to read and they can feel it. They stand poised on the edge of fantastic discoveries about the World of Words and are ready to plunge right in. Make their first forays into reading more pleasant with these games and activities.
This selection is suitable for most older preschoolers and kindergarteners. As with all learning games, you should play when both adult and child are receptive and in good moods. Play the games that your child enjoys. If a game is too hard right now, try again in a few months. If a game is too easy, try to increase its difficulty by using the advanced options provided. And remember that many people actually enjoy activities more if they are easy! There is a lot of power in playing with concepts in review. These activities can be used to review, reinforce, and build confidence. It’s perfectly acceptable to play the “easy” ones because your student will be practicing and internalizing vital skills. Follow your child’s lead and do what is fun. Finally, play together. Some of the most valuable aspects of these activities are the examples you provide and the bonding that you and your child will experience. When you play together, you create an understanding that learning is important and fun. You also send a message of caring and support to your child. How can you miss with a combination like that?
Building Letter Recognition Skills
Look for letters all around the house! Children will find letters lurking in the living room, hiding in the kitchen, or waiting in the bedroom. They are hiding on labels, within instructions and on appliances. You can look for specific letters or try to find the whole alphabet. Be sure to talk about the job that each letter is doing, too.
Make or purchase a set of letter cards. Scatter the cards face up around the play area. Call out a letter and have players rush to stand on it.
Use a highlighter marker to color the target letter in an old newspaper.
Building Rhyming Skills
- Read or recite rhymes and leave the last word off of the end of a line. See if your child can fill in the bland with the missing word.
- Make up rhyming couplets and use them like riddles. For example: I sit on a log. I am not a dog. I am a ____.
- Gather three items or pictures whose names rhyme and put them into a bag. Add one more thing that does not rhyme. Pull the things out one at a time and name them. Have your child identify the one that does not sound the same on the end.
- Choose a word family, such as -ap. Put sounds in front to make rap, sap, lap, and so forth. Try sounds that don’t make words, such as fap and see if your child can hear the silly word.
Building Comprehension
Play this common children’s game with longer and more complex directions. Gradually increase the complexity until players are following three and four step directions.
Use a commercial deck with pictures, a regular deck of playing cards, or cards you make yourself. This game builds short-term memory skills and will help your child prepare to keep information in mind to use later. Turn all of the cards face down and have players take turns turning over two at a time to find a pair. Make the game easier or harder by adjusting the number of cards in play.
Encourage your child to retell stories by acting them out. Use puppets, props, shadows, or other dramatic aids. Look for increasing accuracy, conversation and detail to see your child grow and develop in this area.
- Read a familiar story or poem together and leave out a word or insert an extra word. See if your child can hear the mistake and identify it.
Building Phonemic Awareness Skills
- Make lists of words that begin or end with the same letters. Think of words that have two or three syllables. Make words that have the same medial sounds.
- Make alliterative sentences. See how many words that all start with the same sounds players can put together into sentences that make sense.
- See if your child can guess the words you say when you say the letter sounds slowly and in a disjointed way. For example, to say the word no, say the n sound, then say the long o sound. Your child will need to blend the sounds back together to form the word. This is a wonderful way to practice one of the skills necessary for sounding out unfamiliar words later on.
Want to learn more about readiness and preparing your child for reading? Check out these great books:
Every Child Ready to Read
130 Prereading Activities for Preschoolers
Preschool Readers and Writers
Art Across the Alphabet
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© 2006 Sandra Fleming
