Last week, in my Sharing Books, Building Brains blog post, I wrote about the difficulty I have had with not being able to send my kids to preschool due to scheduling and lack of child care. It is a worry to me that my kids may fall behind their peers who are able to attend preschool. I am not an educator and nor do I know how or what to teach my children to ensure they are ready for kindergarten. Making sure they have the early literacy skills needed to become successful readers tops that worry list.
I am lucky to work with many experts in just this area, who have helped me come up with activities to help with early reading that are fun and not overwhelming to me as a mom. They are games that can be played for a couple of minutes here or a couple of minutes there, don’t take a lot of explaining and usually leave my children asking for more.
This week’s five games are all about raising your child’s Phonological Awareness or helping them understand that words are made up of smaller parts. Words are made up of syllables, syllables are made up of letters, letters have individual sounds.
Please note, your kids do not have to know that this is what they are learning, it will automatically happen while you are playing the following games:
Clean It Up!
When it is time to pick up all the toys that have become scattered about you can make it fun and educational. Tell your child that you see something that needs to be picked up and it starts with the letter B, /b/ (make the sound a b makes), B. Your child can then start by picking up the ball or the bulldozer or the book. Keep going until the room is clean.
This game helps children think about the individual sounds in words, by isolating initial sounds.
