Teaching your child phonics skills is the number 1 thing you can do to help them become successful readers.
But what exactly is phonics?
Phonics is defined as “a method of teaching people to read and pronounce words by learning the sounds of letters, letter groups, and syllables.”
Great…but still…what do I do to build early reading skills?
Build Early Reading Skills with Phonics Games
Letter Identification
The first level is to teach your child that there are letters and they have names. Fun games in the car and grocery store just pointing out letters can make transition times great learning times.
Another fun activity is matching letters. This can be done with homemade cards – playing memory match with letters written on small pieces of paper. You can also get magnetic letters, print out this alphabet arc and let you child match the letters.
Letter/Sound Match
The next step is to help your child understand those letters all make sounds. One fun way to do this is by having a letter of the week and creating your own phonics tubs. Write the letter of the week on the outside of a bag and collect items that start with that sound.
Rhyming
This stage will drive you a bit batty, but it’s definitely a great stage.
Children need to understand that words can have the same ending sound – or rhyme. You can do a treasure hunt through the house – I found a “cat” can you find a “bat”? Or again in the car or waiting at the doctor’s office, play Rhyme I Spy. You can also buy fun Match It Puzzles where they have to find the pictures of items that rhyme to complete the puzzle.
These skills will all help to get your child ready for Kindergarten and build those early reading skills that are so necessary for life long learners.
Win a Phonics Game
To help you build those Kindergarten Readiness Skills, I’m going to give one lucky reader this Big Box of Words game.
What’s your child’s favorite phonics game?
