How To Teach Your Child To Read - 10 Ways To Make Learning Fun
It’s never too early to introduce your child to the world of reading. The ability to read can open up whole new opportunities for the children. It offers a source of enjoyment and pleasure as well as a world of learning and potential. It is an important factor for the development of the brain and the key to success.
However, it doesn’t develop organically overnight. They require guidance for their development, and hence parents should provide them the right path for developing the skills and determining their ability to read. Even if it is so rewarding, it might be difficult for many, especially at the early stages of life. However, broadening their horizons and teaching them something new at each step can be made easier with fun and creative reading activities. If you're wondering how to teach your child to read and get them started on their reading journey, then this guide will be helpful. Here are ten creative ideas that you must implement to help your children become independent readers. The major objective behind such activities is to instill a strong love of reading in the kids.
So, scroll down, read, and try these simple and time So, scroll down, read, and try these simple and time tested strategies. It’s time to make learning a positive and rewarding experience.
1. Play Songs And Nursery Rhymes For Phonemic Awareness
What better way than listening to rhymes to teach your child to read? Children's songs and nursery rhymes aren't simply for entertainment; they have different sounds and syllables in every phrase. Clapping on these rhymes together and reciting songs is a fantastic approach to improve phonemic awareness, which is crucial for developing the ability to learn. It will help in calling their attention to sounds and grasping it for longer. Playing songs and nursery rhymes is, indeed, a bonding exercise that will help in building literacy skills for future reading.
2. Make A Simple Word Or Letter Cards
Since children love playing with cards, it’s always a great idea to mix with learning to read. While this exciting approach of teaching your child to read takes a little preparation, it is an excellent idea to improve phonics and decoding abilities. For this, all you need to do is cut out a thick piece of paper in the shape of cards and write words on each of them with multiple sounds. Then you can invite your child to pick them one by one and identify all the different sounds. This is, indeed, one of the best ways to teach your child to read.
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3. Play Word Games With Your Child
Teaching your child to learn to read does not always have to be about books. You can make it exciting and engaging by adding games to the approach. There are ample reading apps and games available in the market; however, our favorite always remains the word games. They are a brilliant approach to engaging your child's talents without having to read a book. Playing such games will help in introducing your child to new words on a daily basis and encourage them to listen, identify and understand the sounds in different words.
4. Reading Aloud To Your Child
Speaking aloud with speed, understanding, and accuracy is perfect for developing fluency in reading. This creative way will help in keeping your child engaged in learning and improve their vocabulary and spelling. It will introduce them to string together phonics of different letters in a word and promote their reading comprehension. Trust us; when it comes to teaching a toddler or preschool child to read, nothing can work better than reading aloud to them.
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5. Ask Questions
This might not seem as creative as other options but it will definitely help in teaching your child to read. Putting up questions while reading is not only encouraging for your child to interact with the book but also effective in developing the abilities. The thought of being asked questions will motivate them to focus more on reading and strengthen their comprehension skills.
6. Act It Out
One of the easiest ways of bringing excitement to the child’s reading time is to add little drama to learning by acting it out. You can act out the story you are reading or ask your child to be the teacher and make you learn the lesson. Since children love to act or perform, making a story come to life will keep them engaged and motivated to read. Trust us; this is an ideal way to teach your child to read without getting bored.
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7. Gift Your Child Interesting Books
Familiarizing your child with books at an early stage of life is a key to reading success. However, you must be very careful while picking the best read for them in order to develop their interest in reading. Initially, it is always a great idea to pick a colorful storybook that has lots of pictures in it. The best way to get the book is to ask your child to choose on their own. The book of their choice or interest will make them eager to read and create a lifelong love for reading. Follow this tip and teach your child to read.
8. Show Your Kid Videos
Harnessing the power of technology will make the reading process enjoyable and motivate your child to improve. Today, there are multiple platforms that have learning videos. You can play them in front of your child and let them learn through it. Since visualizing is a great way of grasping things faster and remembering them for a longer duration, showing them videos will improve their ability to read. It is full of interactive, personalized, and fun learning for your child. Believe us, trying this will let you see instant progress.
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9. Download Word Games On Your Mobile Device
While screentime is not suitable for children, its effective use might help you teach your child to read. Children learn better with animated characters, music, and especially with games. You can download the games that require finding the word, getting the sounds, creating words with letters, etc. Putting your child in a comfortable position of learning will help in the quicker development of reading skills. However, being a parent, you must stay cautious and limit their screen time even if they are learning through it.
10. Make Play-Dough Letters
Children pick up things much faster when taught in a fun way. And what can be better than play-dough? It is a great tool to teach kids the art of reading. Buy your kids the dough and ask them to cut out different alphabets from it. They can also make words using the cut-out alphabets. This will help them learn the letters while having fun. Trust us, by connecting the feelings with the word, you can let your child grow as a reader.
And finally, reading comes with time and practice. Being a parent, you must stay patient with the child and give them adequate time to develop the skills.
The Bottom Line
We hope that this article helped you learn the creative and effective ways of boosting your child’s reading abilities. If you are looking forward to teaching your child to read, these simple ways will fit into your lifestyle and help you build strong foundational skills while having fun. But always remember that you are your child’s greatest support. Hence, you should encourage them to read by making it creative and engaging.
We wish you many happy hours of reading with kids!