Appropriate grades or age groups:
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School

Estimated time to complete activity or implement technique:
Length of one parent approved captioned tv show or video

Materials needed (if applicable):
1. Television or VCR with closed captioning option. This is found on most televisons or VCR's these days.
2. One captioned tv show or video. There are lots of these available.

Activity set-up/instructions or description of technique:
When your child wants to watch a parent approved show or video, and you really want them to read, how about this interesting compromise: Tell your child they can watch their program, but only if they will watch it captioned. If you keep the volume up and turn on the captioning device, the program becomes the equivalent of a book and tape set with live action, music and background sounds. If you turn the volume all the way down, your child has to read the captioning to get the dialogue so the program becomes a live action book. Either way, your child gets more reading time, you are taking your child from the passive role of tv watcher to a more active role of reading the story, and your child is getting to read something they are really interested in reading. What a deal! I also found that it helped make the connection between the written word and spoken word stronger for my kids and made their skills in reading interpretation skills stronger.

Other suggestions or comments:
Please be aware that I do not advocate television or video reading to be a child's primary source of reading. This is just one way to get in more reading opportunities for your child. My children love to read the captioning and frequently request it themselves.
I would suggest you use this as a way of getting more reading time out of your children during the limited time they are allowed to watch a television program or video. My kids find that it does not detract from the show they are watching and they enjoy the opportunity to read the script.