Teaching the World of Words

Help your child build his reading skills with these activities, games, and ideas.
by: Trish Kuffner, author of The Children's Busy Book

World of Words

Help your child build reading skills with these activities, games, and ideas.

Directions

The following ideas are adapted from the U.S. Department of Education booklet Helping Your Child Become a Reader.

  1. Point out letters and challenge your child to find and name specific letters in signs, billboards, posters, product packaging, books, and magazines.

  2. On each page of a blank notebook or scrapbook, have your child draw or glue a picture representing one letter of the alphabet. Help him label each picture with the appropriate letter.

  3. Let your child decorate a box or shelf to hold his books. Help him arrange his books in any order he likes.

  4. Ask your child to act out a line or two of his favorite poem, rhyme, or song.

  5. Make a travel journal with your child. Each evening, write in a blank notebook or scrapbook about the day's special event. Later, glue in photos.

  6. Hang a message board in your kitchen. Leave simple notes there for your child and encourage him to leave notes there, too.