We know what it’s like: your kindergartener is inquisitive, energetic, and always wanting to learn more about the world.
As a result, they’ll quickly start to develop their reading skills — which can often take us adults by surprise!
To give them a little nudge in the right direction, you’re probably looking for some ways to help your child with their reading. Kids in this age group love fun, short games and activities that give them the chance to practice their reading skills. But don’t worry, there are lots that you can try at home!
What should kids be reading by kindergarten?
Kids’ reading skills develop quite a bit between late preschool and kindergarten.
You may notice that they can now predict what will happen next in a story, are starting to recognize familiar words in print, or are able to read and understand some simple words.
Kindergarten kids may also be able to identify the different sounds in short words and retell the main ideas of a story.
All kids develop at different paces, so don’t panic if your child hasn’t quite nailed all of these yet — they’ll get there in their own time.
To help them along, the below activities for kindergarten reading are sure to make learning to read a fun and enjoyable time for you and your child.
4 fun kindergarten reading activities and games
Make the words
This is great for kinesthetic learners. For this activity, you will need either playdough, bendy straws, plasticine, or anything else your child can mold into letter shapes.
Start by helping your kid to manipulate the materials into each letter of the alphabet. Once they have all the letters, help them to form simple words, or let them have a go at putting letters together on their own.
They may also be able to use the letters to make specific sounds, so encourage them to do this by giving them sounds to try and create.
This is a great way for your kid to show you what they already know! They might already have some awareness of the letters needed to create simple words, or the sounds that individual letters make.
By making letter learning a fun game, you also help cement new knowledge in their developing mind, too.
Block building
If you have some old Jenga around the house or some basic building blocks that you can write on, this reading game is the perfect choice! You will also need some bright, colorful markers.
Before you get your child involved in this activity, use your markers to write a simple word or sound on each of the building blocks. It’s a great idea to use a different color for each word, if possible, as this will help your child to link words with specific colors in their memory.
For this game, follow the normal Jenga rules. But each time your child removes a block from the tower, get them to try and read the word that is written on that block. They may even be able to try and put it in a simple sentence (or you could help them with this).
This is also a fantastic game for your little one to play with their siblings or other kids. Learning to read is always more fun with friends!
They’ll need your supervision to help with some of the words, of course, but over time they’ll start to read more and more of them on their own.
Scrapbooking
For this activity, you will need a scrapbook or drawing pad, colorful markers, coloring pencils, paints, photos of family or friends, images of places and things, and some glue.
Start by helping them to cut and stick the images of family, friends, places, and things into the pages of their scrapbook or drawing pad. Then you and your child can begin labeling the people, places, and objects in the pictures.
They may not be able to write these words themselves yet, but watching you forming the letters on the page is a fantastic way for them to learn.
Your child can make the pages of their scrapbook as bright and colorful as they want! Encourage them to get creative — they can use pencils, paint, or anything else you have around the house or garden (within reason…!).
To help your child’s reading skills really benefit from this activity, go back to the scrapbook every so often. Point at the pictures and labels and ask your child to read the words out loud.
Family message board
This activity is one you can add to your little one’s daily routine.
Have you got a chalkboard, whiteboard, or paper message board that you can hang up somewhere around the house? Anything will do — it just needs to be something that you and your family can easily write messages on every day.
Friendly tips: this activity works best if you hang your message board at your child’s height. You want them to be able to easily see it as they walk around the house.
Use your message board to write simple words and messages. This can be a few things you need to pick up from the shop, a place you’re planning to visit at the weekend, or even a few new words that your kid has recently learned.
Encourage your child to have a look at the message board each day and ask them to read the messages out loud to you. There may be some they need help with, and if that’s the case, read them to your child instead.
Over time your kid will pick up on new words, recognize ones they are familiar with, and may even be able to write some words on the message board themselves.
With these four activities, your kid will be reading full sentences in no time at all!
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Link will appear as 4 Fun Kindergarten Reading Activities + Games That Children Will Love: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 26, 2020