No Time For Flash Cards

preschool activities, preschool crafts, and preschool books.

  • Blog
  • About
    • Terms Of Use
    • Disclaimer
    • Holiday Gift Guide For Kids
    • Advertise
    • In The Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Bloglovin
  • Preschool Activities
  • crafts for kids
    Preschool Crafts
  • Preschool Books
  • sensory alphabet activity
    Letters & Numbers
  • For Teachers
  • Toddlers
  • Preschool
  • Kindergarten
  • Elementary

November 11, 2014 | 5 Comments

If you have 30 extra minutes to work on literacy what would you spend it doing? Simple ways parents can help their kids read.

help your child read

If you had 30 extra minutes to work on reading what would you spend it doing? I get asked this question a lot. 

After reading with them, to them, and listening to them read or tell you stories? Well that depends on the child but I will try to answer this question in a very general way to give all of you some ideas of what you can do to make a big impact with only a little time. These are my go to skills that are easy for parents to help children with and that make a big difference when kids get a little extra practice with them. Here are just a few ways parents can help their kids read.

 

Toddlers & Early Preschoolsensory alphabet activities

 

Play with letters. Incorporate them into your play with magnetic letters, letter stickers, and alphabet blocks. Make special note of letters that are meaningful like the first letter of their first name. As you play , abel the letters but leave drilling or quizzing to the teachers in their future, there is no room for drills or quizzes in play.

 

Here are some letter play ideas :

Stamp & Match
Salt Tray Letters
Alphabet Cookies
Shell Letters
Alphabet Sensory Tub
Alphabet Playdough
Touch & Feel Alphabet

 

Preschool & PreK

letter sounds

 Letter Sounds

This is the next step to playing with letters. Now your child knows almost all the letter names and hopefully many of the sounds as well. These games work on both these skills.

Here are some games and activities for letter sounds and recognition :

Flip Top Phonics
Letter Sound Pound
Unlock The Letter Sound
Princess Phonics
Letter Sound Match

 

PreK & Early School Agethe one thing you should do to help your kids learn to read

Starting to Read { simple words )

Play with rhyming. Rhyming is such an important phonics skill but what I love about it is that it’s packed with play. No parent or child wants to spend the small bit of time they have together fighting about learning. Rhyming games can fill that need for fun and for learning.

 

Here are some great rhyming games:

Rhyming Dominoes ( adjust the words to your child’s level)
Rhyming Tag
Rhyming Jars
Rhyming Peg Board
Find & Rhyme

 

Kindergarten

sight word activities

Learning to Read { reads a little but not fluently yet }

Sight Words

Make sight words fun. When I say sight words I am not just talking about true sight words that can’t be decoded by sounding out but also the high frequency words that your child will encounter over and over while reading. When they can read them quickly without decoding them it makes reading easier. They can spend the time sounding out the bigger harder words instead.

Here are some great sight word activities that are FUN and worthwhile. Instead of the words used in these activities substitute with the list of  sight words from your child’s teacher. If you don’t have one ask for the one they are using :

3D Word Search
Sight Word Dominoes
Outdoor Sight Word Game
Sight Word Jump & Grab ( Hands On As We Grow)
Sight Word Target Practice ( Toddler Approved)

School Age

vocabulary

Reading Independently { and fluently}

 Vocabulary. When children are learning to read much of the focus is on the mechanics of reading, the sounds the letters make and how they work together. Once they start to read we shift a lot of the focus to the meaning of the words and text they are reading. We focus on comprehension and one way that parents can really help with that is to work on boosting vocabulary ( another is simply asking your children “What did you just read?” while reading together).  When we expose our children to a big buffet of words it makes reading easier because they recognize the words and can decode it more quickly as well as understand their meaning ( and thus the text) with more ease.

 

Here are some fun ways to work on vocabulary with your kids :

Tips for working on vocabulary with your kids
Word Window
Muffin Tim Word Game ( Growing Book by Book)
Word A Day Cards ( Teachmama.com )

 

These are just appetizers for literacy intended for those 30 extra minutes you may have. As parents I see our role as scaffolds to support our children at whatever level they are at. For more about literacy check out Raise A Reader on Scholastic Parents. Amy Mascott and I share tons of ideas to work on literacy with your children.

 

Filed Under: For Parents, Preschool Activities, Reading | 5 Comments

Like this post? Share it with a friend!

Become an Email Subscriber

Sign up above and receive all new No Time for Flashcards posts directly in your email inbox.

You may also like these posts

winter circle time activitieshow to teach letter sounds
Next Post: Letter Harvest Corn – Alphabet Craft for Kids
Previous Post: Pinecone Painting & Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

5 Comments

  1. Sarah says

    November 11, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    Great ideas! Love that you grouped them together like this. My son is not yet 4 but he’s already starting to show interest in reading and knows a lot of words already. However, he’s not ready to write! I’ll try some of these ideas.

    to Sarah" aria-label='reply to this comment to Sarah'>reply to this comment
    • Allison McDonald says

      November 11, 2014 at 1:14 pm

      Thanks! My 4 year old is the same way. She is into sounding out words but writing is still a way off.

      to Allison McDonald" aria-label='reply to this comment to Allison McDonald'>reply to this comment
  2. warwick says

    December 14, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    Good activities for children

    to warwick" aria-label='reply to this comment to warwick'>reply to this comment
  3. Gail says

    August 28, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    Finally! Information that is developmentally appropriate!

    to Gail" aria-label='reply to this comment to Gail'>reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. Link Love - Week OneThe Surly Housewife says:
    January 6, 2015 at 10:21 pm

    […] post is a must read! Simple activities at each stage/age to help your kids learn to read. And most of them are under 30 […]

    to Link Love - Week OneThe Surly Housewife" aria-label='reply to this comment to Link Love - Week OneThe Surly Housewife'>reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search For Activities

Now In Paperback!

Buy NOW

All Activities

Become an Email Subscriber

Sign up above and receive all new No Time for Flash Cards posts directly in your email inbox.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Bloglovin

Copyright © 2008-2023 • No Time For Flash Cards - ACM Media LLC • Site Design by Emily White Designs