Teaching your child to read can start at any stage, no matter how small they might be. But how do you begin your child’s reading journey? Despite what some people may believe, reading is not a natural process but rather requires substantial teaching of the correct skills, such as phonics and articulation. However, At Keren’s Nursery, we offer a range methods that can be used to help get kids into books and which can be adjusted based on children’s needs or abilities. Below, we’ve outlined some of these effective tips for how we can help teach your child to read in a practical and engaging way.
Build Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. This is an essential part of reading and often one of the first things children need to conquer in their reading adventure. Here at Keren’s Nursery, we encourage the use of nursery rhymes, as they can be a great way to build phonemic awareness and are super engaging for young children. As an exercise, you and your child could clap together in rhythm to a song in order to introduce the idea of syllables. Then, once they’ve had some practice with that, you can ask your child to finish a rhyming word in a nursery rhyme. For example, you say ‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great…’ and let your child finish the line. This is of course dependent on your child’s age, but nursery rhymes can be a fantastic way of getting children familiar with words and sounds.
Observe The World Around You
As children grow, the world around them can be a key influence on how they develop. Therefore, to engage children with books and words, it might be effective to create an environment rich in print and novels. That includes posters, labels, signs, and anything with words on it! Here at Keren’s Nursery, we have created an environment to match this perfectly, allowing children to have access to a wide range of prints and novels which can positively stimulate their brain. Children will likely be able to make connections between sounds and letters the more they are exposed to them. When you’re out, it could also be a good idea to point things out and model what the letters sound like. Ask them ‘what sound does that letter make?’ or ‘what rhymes with that word?’. Engaging your child with the print-heavy world around them can increase both exposure and understanding as they learn more and more about sound-letter association.
Utilise Technology
Reading should be fun for kids, the more they enjoy it, the more likely they are to do it of their own accord. Implementing interactive videos into your teaching methods can be great for maintaining engagement and allowing children to learn in a more independent way. Numerous sources can be found online for reading lessons, a quick search on YouTube will result in hundreds of options for your child. However, just be sure to watch the videos first in order to make sure that the content is age and ability-appropriate.
Read Together Daily
By sitting down and reading together, your child can pick up a number of skills that are not always obvious from an adult’s perspective. When reading to them, you are demonstrating to your child how to pronounce words, how to pace sentences, and generally what a fluent reader sounds like. Plus, by making it a part of your daily routine, you can establish more of a bond between the two of you and reading which may encourage a further love of reading from your child. Never underestimate the power of routine.
Be Patient
Finally, the key to teaching your child to read is to be patient. Every child learns at their own pace so even if you feel you’re not making progress, stick with it and make your methods as enjoyable for your child as possible. Though it is also important to not overdo it, your child should learn to read gradually over time from routine and the reading-based activities mentioned above. Perhaps you could try mixing up activities if things start to plateau, or let your child pick out their own book choices either from your own collection or from a library. Either way, be patient with your child and implement a variety of methods to, hopefully, instil a love of reading from a young age.
