Get ready to ditch worksheets and flashcards in favor of hands on reading games.
Lots of what kids learning in the first few years of school is about memorization: letters, letter sounds, sight words, shapes, colors, numbers, etc. Traditionally these types of things are taught with repetition through worksheets and flashcards.
But that's BORING! Okay, some kids might like those things, but I betcha that MORE children prefer to learn in a more hands on way.
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."
Xunzi, Chinese Philosopher
With hands on reading games like Pom Pom Toss and Read kids are more likely to memorize whatever reading skill they're working on because they're having fun and involved in play. I mean, when have you ever learned something new from a worksheet?
In Pom Pom Toss and Read I focus on sight words as an example, but this game can also be used to practice letters, letter sounds, vocabulary, or spelling.
*As an Amazon affiliate I may make a small commission from purchases made through this post, at no extra cost to you.
Write your 4 target sight words on Post-its and place them in a line like in the picture. Line your muffin pan up with the words so that the rows lead down from the sight words. You can also use letters, vocab words, spelling words, or CVC words.
Have your child toss pom poms into the pan. Whenever they make a "goal," they need to read the word at the top of that row! Play along with them. Celebrate your goals and read out the words.
Got a little one working on learning letters in their name or learning the alphabet? Instead of sight words, just write letters on the post-its and have them yell out the letter name or letter sound when they score a "goal."
I've compiled 16 favorite activities that make learning sight words fun. There is not a single worksheet and lots of these play based activities involve your child to be active. For kids aged 4-5 it's so important to keep learning fun and moving. Little ones are not meant to sit and do busy work; they learn by doing!
Signing up for the kindergarten entrance exam sounds so official and intimidating, even for teachers!
Here are the details on the why's and how's of the entrance exam so you and your child can feel more relaxed about it and even know a couple teacher secrets as to how it's used.
In the summer before kids enter kindergarten most schools ask them to come in and do some kind of assessment in order to determine where they are academically. This can also be called a kindergarten screening, kindergarten assessment, or kindergarten entrance test.
These assessments are not all the same. Some school use teacher made assessments, while others use standardized widely available tests like the Lollipop Test and DIBELS. Many use a combination of assessments.
Does your child need to study for their kinder entrance test? NO!
Kids don't need to "pass" in order to be ready or admitted to kindergarten, which brings me to the next important point. What kinds of questions will be on the test and how are these assessments used?
These tests vary by school, so there isn't a way to determine the exact content, but that is okay, because we don't want to coach kids towards right answers. Rather we want to see what your child truly knows.
I will say that the screening test will ask kids things they don't know, including many skills they'll learn in kindergarten. Don't let that scare you!
If you are wondering "What should my child ACTUALLY know before kindergarten? Is there a checklist?" There is, and I've made it for you, for FREE: check out this kindergarten readiness checklist post and grab your checklist for free, instantly!
The test can take any where from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the set of skills the teachers are assessing.
The lovely Sarah from "The Fabulous First Grade Blogspot" shares her school's kindergarten screening test pdf for free on google drive! It's a great sample of questions that kids can be asked.
Download it:
Kindergarten entrance exam pdf - provided by thefabulousfirstgrade-sarah.blogspot.com
Now this is something that varies by school, but some schools will be outright with the information and others may choose to keep this a bit hush.
Two Main Uses for the entrance exam:
Most often, the kindergarten entrance exam is a comprehensive assessment to determine your child's mastery of pre-k skills but also kindergarten skills like reading and doing arithmetic.
By determining what kids do not yet know, teacher's can help individualize instruction and plan their lessons based on what kids need to know next. For example, it would be pointless to spend a week on each alphabet letter in kindergarten if all kids came in knowing all their letters!
Giving the teachers the opportunity to spend individual time with each student and assessing their needs and strengths BEFORE school starts will help maximize learning right off the bat. From a teacher's perspective, it really beats having to individually assess each child during classroom hours, or let's face it during recess time.
Some schools are not as forthcoming in how they use the tests to determine class placements but generally classes are either mixed ability or by ability.
What does that mean? Well, classes are either made up of kids with varying academic ability levels OR they're by kids in the same ability levels. That is where things can get tricky...
Many schools determine placement based on a child's READING SKILLS assessment. They may even tell you if you ask!
Many believe it would be to best way to target instruction at all levels.
Apparently, many students come in with no letter knowledge and some come in reading. In order to best meet all kids' needs they'd be separated by this determining factor, not necessarily taking into account if a child was really strong in math or other academic subjects.
This is often used with the early bird/late bird kindergartens.
At my previous school, entrance exams for kindergarten were also used to determine student ability. Early literacy/reading skills were the major factor we assessed, but there was a glaring difference.
We were creating MIXED ABILITY classrooms. You see, just because a child is advanced in one area, doesn't mean they're advanced in all areas (and vice versa).
Mixed ability classes help all to excel. In contrast, some research has shown that creating a high achieving vs low achieving class can be detrimental to the students classified as underperforming.
Mixed ability grouping is more equitable and helps lower achieving students. Also, mixed ability grouping allows high achieving students to excel in leadership roles. To read more on the research behind these statements check out this post by learningaccelerator.org.
Will teachers ignore a high achieving child's needs in a mixed-ability class? From my personal experience, I worked extra hard to ensure this wouldn't happen! I was able to not only get my struggling students to become readers. I also met the needs of very high achieving students as well.
It's okay to ask your child's school how placement is determined!
Nothing bad is going to happen. Take a breath, for real. I mean it. Kids are not supposed to know everything on these tests!
This test is comprehensive, and remember when I said it was going to cover kindergarten skills too? They shouldn't know how to delete ending sounds or read CVC words yet, and even if they have never heard of a sight word, that's totally expected! They can't count to 100? GOOD! That means that they haven't mastered kindergarten standards before kindergarten. That's perfect!
The words "assessment" and "exam" do sound intimidating. However, these exams help teachers understand where your child is coming in academically.
By treating this whole experience as an exam, your child may feel a bit nervous or scared. It's super normal! So if they flub up, they'll get lots of other chances to prove what they know. We teachers know this is a big new thing for them!
My recommendation is to not treat it like a test AT ALL.
Here are some ways to explain to your child what they'll be doing:
Walk around the school and point out different spots like the playground, the cafeteria, the library. Building familiarity with the new space will help your child a lot when the first day of school rolls around.
A KinderReady Summer is an 8 week home program made just for the summer before kindergarten! In less than 20 minutes a day, you can easily teach your child the MOST important academic skills listed in the kindergarten readiness checklist. (Did you snag that checklist yet? It'll tell you the real skills your child should know before kindergarten!)
How does this sound? Imagine a weekly email with 5 fun, hands-on activities to do with your child heading your way for 8 weeks. NO worksheets or boring printables, only MAXIMUM fun learning! Plus it's super simple to do, just read the instructions.
The supplies you need? You may already have them! I can send them to you if you want, yup, for real.
These kinder-prep learning activities and games will ensure that your child will master the skills they need to have a smooth and successful kindergarten year.
You know, it might even skyrocket them to the top of their kindergarten class, and best of all they'll be developing a love of learning which serves them their whole academic career. Check out A KinderReady Summer.
As a transitional kindergarten and kindergarten teacher, I've been the person many parents ask, "How do I know if my child is ready for kindergarten?" So I've created a kindergarten readiness checklist and assessment to give you all the info you want, but before you go on, please note...
There is no one size fits all answer for parents because kindergarten readiness depends on a set of academic skills coupled with social emotional skills plus a familiarity for the classroom setting. Yet still this question begs an answer, so I'm going to do my very best to give you all the information you need in order to give your child the best chance at success.
When it comes to academic readiness there is a certain set of skills that if mastered before kindergarten will ensure that children transition more smoothly and have more success picking up kindergarten skills.
Most of those skills are reading and math related since there is an expectation that children have been exposed to numbers and letters for some time before kindergarten. Below is a FREE downloadable checklist that briefly shares the main reading and math skills kids should know before entering school.
In the checklist I mention knowledge of at least 10 capital and 10 lowercase letters. I've had many kids come into my classroom reading and some without knowing a single letter. All made significant progress, but if I were to say what my expectation was of kids, I would suggest kids be confident with at least 10 letters.
Letter sounds is a big skill too. Some kids know them all; some don't even realize that letters make sounds. If kids realize that letters have sounds before kindergarten and know a few of them, that's a really great start.
Just a reminder, lots of schools differ in expectations. I once had a kindergarten class with multiple children ready for division and then at another school where children entered kindergarten with minimal number skills so that I was teaching numbers 1-5.
I'm just trying to give you the best information from my personal experience coupled with knowledge of the kindergarten standards that all students in the US need to meet by the end of the year.
If you're looking for a quick and easy way to assess your children's letters, sounds, and knowledge of numbers you can purchase the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment now for only $4.00.
This assessment is meant to test the skills that children should know or have familiarity with before kindergarten. This is NOT the same as a Kindergarten Entrance Exam, where kids will often be tested on a wider variety of skills that show their mastery of pre-k AND kindergarten skills. Those are much longer and kids are asked about things they likely do NOT need to know yet.
Here's what's included in the 5 page assessment:
It's especially helpful to have the numbers and letters mixed up so kids cannot rely on the order to give them the correct name. Plus all the questions are written out so you know exactly what to say.
Don't keep wondering if your child is ready! Grab your Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and get the proof in your hands!
Below are the list of skills that help to have before kindergarten. If your child has a specific disability that precludes them from being independent in the self care skills, I would make sure to mention it to their teacher during their transitional IEP or 504 meeting before the school year.
I've taught transitional kindergarten for a number of years and have seen a number of scenarios. Ive seen many children enrolled in this extra year of school even when extremely academically advanced. I'm talking about kids coming in counting to 100, writing simple words, and reading short books, all coming in to Transitional Kindergarten which feeds into kindergarten.
As a new teacher in 2010, I asked them why they made this choice. I had not yet had children of my own and wanted to know the motivation behind "keeping their kids back a year."
Since my first year teaching TK, aka transitional kindergarten, I've come to shift my view. It no longer feels like children are "being held back" and feels more like they've been given "the gift of time."
Just because children can read doesn't mean they're necessarily ready for kindergarten. Social skills and parental intuition matter a whole lot.
Parents often chose the "gift of time" if they felt their child was not emotionally mature enough or able to be independent enough to go to kindergarten. Other reasons included social confidence or lack of interest in paper to pencil tasks.
Sometimes a parent can't put their finger on it, but they have this feeling that they need to start kindergarten a year later, and I say, "Go with your gut!" You know your child!
Are you feeling unsure of how to prepare your child for kindergarten this fall? Was their assessment just okay or did it make you want to work on some learning in these next weeks?
You're in luck! I've created a kinder-ready curriculum to teach the MOST important academic skills listed in the kindergarten readiness checklist. It's only 8 weeks long and presented in a way kids love and parents find SUPER SIMPLE!
Each week (for 8 weeks) I'll send you 5 hands-on activities to do with your child straight to your email. All activities are fun and hands-on. So, you'll see NO worksheets or have to enforce that your child do "work." In fact, the kids will be asking, "Hey, what's the next activity?"
All activities are less than 5 minutes to set up and the supplies will be super simple:
These hands-on learning activities ensure that your child masters the skills they need to have a smooth and successful kindergarten year. Heck, it might even catapult them to the top of their class. Best of all they'll be EXCITED about learning.
At an age where they have 13 years of schooling ahead of them (or more), it's vital that we get kids excited about learning. Check it out!
When introducing the concept of measurement to children, we always start with non standard measurement.
At the ages of 4-6, children understand the concept of short, long, taller, etc but they usually have no understanding of centimeters and inches, making those standard units of measurements too abstract for them.
So in preschool and kindergarten we introduce units of measurement that kids can really wrap their minds around. Usually those are regular household objects and toys.
Measuring is a practical skill that kids use when pouring water, comparing who had more cookies, determining who is taller, etc. In this activity kids delve in deeper to understand measurement of length and height with non standard units!
Though measuring length is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we think of measurement, there are actually multiple types of things we measure. Here are some of the standard units we use for these measurements:
Adults are used to pulling out a ruler, measuring cup, or using a scale to measure things. Usually we can visualize something close to a foot or a cup, if we needed to estimate. But children do not have that awareness yet, so instead teach them to measure with non-standard measurement unit.
These non-standard units can be anything but are best when the child selects them and are of high interest: shoes, lego pieces, stickers, race cars, etc. The one thing that they MUST be is uniform in size.
A child cannot measure their height in legos and markers! Instead one unit needs to be used at a time and lined up end to end, just as we would do when measuring with a ruler.
In the United States, the common core standards introduce standard measurement in second grade.
Before then, kids are expected to understand the concepts of measuring objects without using standard measurement tools, like in this first grade standard:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.2
Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end.
In each of these activities, kids use objects instead of rulers to measure length. There are a few rules for measuring precisely that kids should follow when lining up their nonstandard units:
To play "Measuring Me," you'll need blue tape and access to items around the home that are (mostly) uniform in length. Some ideas are shoes, blocks, markers, crayons, envelopes, etc.
While you have the blue tape out, check out TAPE SHAPES!
The non standard measurement unit for this activity is my favorite... snacks!
You can choose anything that is uniform in size, and I recommend items that are easy to line up end to end like pretzel sticks. Of course, a classic and fun snack to use is goldfish.
There may be opportunities to talk about halves or beginnings of fractions in case snacks don't line up exactly. You could also round up or round down...
Want another fun math snacktivity? You'll love PUNCH MATH!
This is one of my favorite math centers for the winter. Kids love to see the family of snowmen and compare their heights from shortest to tallest before measuring them in unifix cubes.
Student in this teacher's classroom measured and compared the lengths of different vegetables during a farming unit. Their teacher made them non standard bean rulers to practice measurement in a developmentally appropriate and fun fashion!
I love this simple yet genius measurement activity. Draw one straight line on a piece of paper and one crooked, anyway you choose. Have kids guess which is longer and then use paper clips to measure which one is longer.
Want a free week of hands-on learning activities that will wow your child? I'll send it right to you!
There is a major math skill that shows up when teaching kids how to separate laundry...SORTING!
Sorting helps our little ones discern differences and similarities, learn how to create categories, and begin to problem solve. Imagine how helpful sorting is in your everyday life.
You sort silverware, clothing, and toys all to create organized systems in your home. At the grocery store, items are sorted by categories for ease and efficiency of shopping. Recess at schools is most often sorted by grade level to keep kids of the same age together.
Sorting happens all the time, and kids need to know how to sort in more than one way in order to make sense of new information as they process the world around them. So let's teach these kiddos how to separate laundry before and after, and lighten your load while keeping them learning!
There are so many ways to separate laundry but for kids these are the main ones you'll want to focus on.
Before washing categories:
After washing categories:
In kindergarten kids need to..."Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count." -Kindergarten Common Core Standards
This activity encourages your child to sort the same objects in more than one way. Also there are opportunities for you to ask your CHILD how they think they should sort and separate the laundry, both before and after washing.
Being able to sort the same group of objects in more than one way shows diversity in thinking. It also engages us to problem solve: What is the best way to sort? There may be more than one answer.
For example, it might be better for the clothes to be sorted before washing by color in order for color not to leak from brights to whites. But since I don't have enough whites on my own, I may have to combine all the sizes to run a load of whites. This will make it harder to sort the laundry afterwards by person!
Go the step further and asking your child to describe HOW they want to sort gives us insight into how our child views the world: Is the size of something a bigger factor than its function? Is it more helpful to do lights together instead of whites? How come? These are critical thinking skills!
I had a giant pile of clean laundry I ignored for about 3 days. I asked Big Sis how we should sort it. She decided by color, so we did that and problem solved as things had more than one color or pattern. But color wasn’t a practical way to sort laundry.
I asked her how we could sort the laundry to make it easier to put away. She said “by house room.” She then made a kitchen pile, a baby pile, mommy and daddy pile and her own. Of course then her sister came and ruined it but that’s life!
For more helpful laundry rules, you can check out this comprehensive article about How to Separate and Wash Laundry.
This is more up to you! Make these rules as a family, and try out different ways to sort. Here are some of the ways to separate we came up with for our clean laundry.
Now that your kids have learn how to separate laundry, they can apply their sorting knowledge to shapes with these 5 shape sorting activities!
Want to teach kids to do their own laundry? Stuffed Suitcase has a guide for what age they should learn what!
If you haven't tried water bead sensory play with your preschooler, get ready for your new go-to summer activity.
Water beads first got popular as a kids' toy when I was student teaching. The kids in my class would carry them in little containers, calling them their babies! I didn't even realize till much later that they are meant to be for flower arrangements. These teensy tiny little balls grow through osmosis in just a few hours.
These are my favorite water beads on Amazon.
I chose them because they say they've passed kids safety testing, but make sure to always use caution when playing with small objects as they can become choking hazards . You get 55,000 beads for under $8!
*As an Amazon affiliate I may make a small commission based on links in this article, at no additional cost to you.
When you first bring out the water beads, they're unbelievably tiny. We inspected them and made observations: what colors they were, their size, shape, and texture.
Next we put them in a container and added two cups of water (for one tablespoon of waters beads). The girls made a "fancy guess" about what might happen and I introduced the word "hypothesis." A hypothesis is a prediction or a fancy guess based on information you already know.
Big Sis had recently watched a Doc McStuffins episode about a toy that grows when put in the water, so she predicted it would grow! In just over an hour the tiny balls were looking larger, like splotchy orbs in the water. After naptime, the water beads were about 20 times the size, at least, and ready for some sensory play.
This is a great activity to do outside especially during the summer!
Just to be clear, the beads will be rolling around. If your toddler is prone to putting things in their mouth, this is probably not the best toy for them. Lil Sis (almost 2) is not inclined to put random things in her mouth. Even still, I'm always cautious and watch her with small toys.
I cut a hole in an Amazon box and put the funnel in the top. Under the funnel, I put a taller clear container for the water beads to drop into. I gave each kid a scooper and a straw. Then I asked them how they could get the balls into the container.
With Lil Sis, she was laughably confused about where the "ballies" were going until I turned the box around. Then, she could see them shooting through the funnel and down into the containers. Since some water beads had grown rather large for the funnel opening, I gave the kiddos reusable straws to use for pushing the balls down.
Keeping my almost 2 year old busy is quite a feat and we sat doing this for around 40 min! If you're looking for more ways to keep a 2 year old engaged in play, check out these 10 ways to play with 1 simple setup.
Big Sis was really motivated to fill her container to the top. She also loved the force the straw created as it pushed the water beads through.
Lil Sis was always turning the box around to check on the beads and where they had gone. She was definitely working on some object permanence, inspecting the box from different angles and looking for where the sensory beads went!
I love open ended play and exploration, because each time can be different. We will definitely be playing with these again.
Teachers of young children talk about one to one correspondence, but what is it? One to one correspondence is counting one object for every number said.
Without one to one correspondence, one will not be able to count objects accurately. When a child is able to count one object per each number said, they also understand that a number represents a specific quantity.
At what age do kids develop one to one correspondence? This can be between the ages of 3-5. In kindergarten, kids are expected to count up to 20 objects with one to one correspondence. In preschool up to 10.
*As an Amazon affiliate, I may get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
Picture this: you're playing a board game. Your child rolls a 5 and they move their piece WAY MORE than 5 spaces, while managing to only count to five. They're not cheating! They lack one to one correspondence.
When given a quantity of objects and asked to count, many kids count faster than they register each object resulting in counting to a number that is MORE than the actual number of objects!
This happens because kids learn counting as a rote skill. Children memorize the number order much earlier than they learn to count objects, so saying the numbers in that order is automatic. For many, they are just saying numbers without any knowledge of numbers representing quantities.
So, we have get them to SLOW DOWN!
The best way to build one to one correspondence is to give children a way to slow their counting. So, I teach my students a counting rule called, "Touch 1, count 1." For every object they are counting, they must either touch it, or move it to another spot completely.
This snack activity, aka snacktivity, is a highly engaging way to build one to one correspondence with items you already have around the house.
For a very basic one to one correspondence activity - perfect for 2-3 year olds, try this build your own board game activity!
With this simple hands-on learning game, your kid will love learning number recognition, one to one correspondence, numeracy, and even arithmetic. Just grab these few supplies and get ready to play.
For preschoolers, I recommend numbers between 1-10. For kindergarteners, numbers ranging from 1-15. Don't go into the teens unless your child has mastered 1-10.
For this version, your child is solely focused on number recognition and one to one correspondence.
To start, present your kiddo with the straw and talk about the numbers they see on the aluminum. Their mission is to uncover their snack by identifying the correct number and punching through the aluminum foil that many times.
Invite your child to play by asking them to punch number 3 three times, number 5 five times, etc.
By punching the straw through the aluminum foil they're forced to slow down their counting and follow the "touch 1, count 1," rule of one to one correspondence.
They'll be thrilled to reveal the snacks underneath with each punch through. For an additional way to practice, you can have them count the snacks as well!
Once your preschooler or kindergartner has a good grip on number identification try this way of playing that builds number sense using more than and less than.
Call out actions such as, "Punch a number that is more than 5. Punch a number that is less than 2."
Another way to play this way is to show them on your hands a number of fingers and ask them to find a number that is more than or less than that many! That way they're "subitizing" the number of fingers, translating that into the number they identified, and then building their knowledge of more and less.
You guessed it: have your child determine which number is the sum or the difference to your simple arithmetic problem, and punch the number the correct number of times to reveal the snack beneath.
Use call outs like, "Punch the number that is 5 +1!" and "Punch the number that is 4-2!"
To scaffold and make this a little less tricky, use your fingers to show addition and subtraction. Hold up 8 fingers, "Punch the number that is this many take away 3!"
Did you grow up learning about positive self talk? I didn't. As little girls in the 80's and 90's, we were not taught to be empowered and confident. Adults focused on teaching us to be humble, not to take up too much space, and not to brag. Awareness and teaching of positive self talk for kids has only recently come into the spotlight.
Social media these days bombards kids with picture perfect images of what life should look like, and studies have shown that children, particularly pre-teens and teens, have become more self conscious and less confident (read more here). Often social media is being used a measure of their like-ability or popularity and effects their self worth. Even at a young age, we need to encourage positive self worth and self esteem building activities.
Although I usually share early literacy and math activities, I firmly believe in teaching the whole child. Children can only learn when their needs are being met emotionally, and if a child is experiencing something emotionally heightened, they may have trouble learning something new until those emotions are addressed.
When we build kids' confidence they feel more ready to take on challenges and deal with issues that arise. For example, a coping skill I have observed even in very young kids is positive self talk to help get through a tough situation. This can be anything from saying to oneself, "I'm a big kid! I can do it," to "I won't give up."
Most recently my friend told me her two year old was talking to himself encouragingly before bedtime in a new place, and he built his own confidence to get through an unknown and scary thing for him.
When confidence is low, kids are less likely to learn. By teaching kids how to use affirmation statements and see the positive things about themselves, we will increase their confidence and their ability to take on new, difficult tasks at home and in the classroom.
I use Confidence Cookies with my own children and the members of The Fun Club to teach about positive self-talk. In this activity our children are encouraged to see themselves in a positive light and speak about themselves positively out loud to us. Not only do I have all the kids do this activity, I also advise ALL adults doing the activity to participate!
When a parent or caretaker participates in positive self-talk, that is modeling the skill for the child, and the adults who care for us are our most important influences.
If your child sees yourself speaking positively, gently, and kindly about your own self; then they're more likely to do the same for themselves. The same is true if they hear you putting yourself down or speaking in a self-deprecating manner. Be mindful of what you say when you think they're not listening!
Download your FREE Confidence Cookies by Forward with Fun.
Keep the confidence cookies in the kitchen in a jar on the table. When you sit down at the table before a meal, have someone pick a confidence cookie from the jar. Everyone at the table has to answer the question. Your kids can even make their own cookies and add them to the jar for even more prompts. Incorporating positive self talk into your day is a process, not just a one time thing, so keep using those Confidence Cookies!
Hands on learning is my secret to teaching reading so kids are never bored!
I NEVER use workbooks or worksheets.
When I say "hands on learning," I mean any kind of learning where your child is actively participating in creating new knowledge or solving a problem. This is also called learning by doing. From your own childhood, did you ever really learn something from a worksheet? I remember the projects, the games, the activities that got me and my classmates up and moving, creating, and solving problems.
Hidden Object is a hands on learning game that combines reading skills with a fun, element of surprise.
What you'll need-
On the Post-its, write the letters your child is learning. If you're child is just starting to recognize letters, I recommend starting with the letters of their name.
In this version, children will either say the letter name or the letter sounds as they lift each bowl on the hunt for the hidden object.
If your child has moved into reading, try sight words or CVC words in a particular word family (on example is the AT word family with words like cat, rat, bat, sat, etc).
Another idea would be to include words that have a new sound they've just learning like digraphs: sh, wh, th, and ch.
This simple hands on game can be used for so many different skills: letter sounds, letter identification, sight words, CVC words, digraphs, etc.
In this instance, Big Sis was practicing reading CVC words (consonant vowel consonant words) that had different vowels in the middle. If I notice her struggling with a specific vowel or letter sound, I would put more words with those sounds on the Post its.
Whenever I discuss early literacy skills like reading CVC words and sight words, I want to reinforce that all the games and wonderful activities are only part of the reading puzzle. The biggest thing you can do for your child to have success with reading from an early age is read to them everyday.
Like teaching your child through hands on learning games? Want to teach you 4-5 year old to read using hands on learning? Check out The Fun Club! Subscribe for a free week of activities right now!
