Category: hands-on learning

Infants Can Read?          

Did you know that children show signs of reading as infants? Reading is all about discovering meaning and this is what your baby did  when they first responded to your smile.

Sometimes discovering meaning can be lost with traditional ISOLATED learning methods such letter sounds and worksheets. Reading should follow the natural way that children learn which is through a variety of experiences and following their interests.

Following Your Child’s Interest

If children are offered reading material that follow their interests, then they will want to seek meaning from words. From this desire, they will learn word recognition and phonics skills.

Children learn best from discoveries they make from exploring the world around them. They gather conclusions from their experimentations and creative play. For example, in water play, they learn about volume, capacity, and the properties of water as they pour it cup to cup.

What You Can Do As a Parent

Your job as the parent is to describe their play and provide them with language.  During water play, use descriptive words such as wet, splash, ripples, warm, and cool.  Then expose them to similar words by reading books dealing with water such Splish, Splash Ducky by Lucy Cousins or Spot Goes to the Swimming Pool by Eric Hill.  This is the beginnings of  you making connections with language and play.

The games/activities provided below will  help you make more connections with words through creative play.

Let’s Get Started!

Change the Story

Children should be provided opportunities to apply knowledge from books through imaginative play. Below is a way to stimulate your child’s ability to problem solve, sort information, and develop new ideas through creative-thinking questions. Below is how to do it…

1. Read a story to your child.
2. Ensure your child is familiar with the story.
   • You may have to read the story multiple times to your child.
3. Have your child change the ending.
4. They may communicate their version of the ending through the following…
   • Drawing a picture
   • Creating a sculpture with Playdoh or Clay
   • Creating a dance
   • Role playing with props
   • Simply telling the story

Clues from the Story

The following activity will develop your child’s listening skills. It is also great for reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary.

1. Read a story to your child.
2. Ensure your child is familiar with the story.
   • You may have to read the story multiple times to your child.
3. Gather clues from the story you have read. Clues from the story can include…
   • Characters
   • Setting – where the story took place.
   • The conflict or problem in the story.
   • The story’s resolution
   • Basically anything in the story
4. Let your child guess what you are thinking from the story with the clues you give them.
5. Use descriptive words to describe your clue such as…
   • “I’m thinking of a humongous animal with a large trunk.”
   • Then let your child give you the answer which is elephant.
6. Now let your child think of something and give you clues.
7. Another variation of this game is to have your child get clues by asking you yes/no questions about a mystery item.
   • “Is it large?
   • “Does it make a loud noise”

Treasure Hunt   

This game is great for reading comprehension. It also helps your child learn how print and pictures carry meaning.

1. Read a story to your child.
2. Ensure your child is familiar with the story.
   • You may have to read the story multiple times to your child.
3. Tell your child they are going to do a treasure hunt.
4. Find one vocabulary word, item, or character from the story.
5. If you have the item in your home, you may use it for the hunt.
6. If you don’t have the item, you may draw a picture and briefly describe it on separate piece of paper.
7. Hide the item in your home.
8. Leave a series of notes or pictures to help your child find the item.
   • For example, write “Go to the dining room table” or draw a picture of the  dining room table.
   • On the dining room table, have another note ready stating, “Go to your bedroom” or draw the child’s bedroom.
9. Your child will continue finding and following instructions on notes or drawings until he/she locates the item from the story.
10. Once your child has found the item, ask them to identify the item and how it fits in the story.

Charades

You will need more than one child for this game. This game is great for reading comprehension and promotes in-depth learning. In-depth learning is when you learn about something in various ways. Charades will allow your child to learn words through physical activities, reading, and application (identifying where it fits in the story)

1. Read a story to your child.
2. Ensure your child is familiar with the story.
   • You may have to read it multiple times to your child.
3. Write vocabulary words or characters from the story on index cards or paper.
4. Players will take turns picking these cards from a plastic bag and acting them out.
5. The other players will guess the word.
6. Once the word is identified, then have the child identify where the word fits in the story.
7. Another variation of this game is to have the player draw a picture of the word while the other players guess the word.

Spy a Word

1. Read a story to your child.
2. Ensure your child is familiar with the story.
   • You may have to read it multiple times to your child.
3. Omit a word and let your child fill in the blanks.
4. Let’s say you read a story where a mouse is trying to find cheese.
5. You say “In the story, the mouse is trying to find……
6. Let your child say “cheese.”
7. Keep stating the plot of the story and let your child fill in the blanks.
8. Another variation of this game is to fill in the blanks with silly words and let your child correct you.
9. You state  “In the story, the mouse is trying to find a cat to eat him.
10. Let your child correct you with the word “cheese.”

Have Fun Reading and Playing!

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Also, download our FREE Printable Holiday Card so your children can showcase their artwork to family and friends this Holiday Season!