Likely, your child has already begun synthetic phonics exercises in school, so making time for fun letter and sound games at home will benefit them.
Other activities can aid your children’s development of essential abilities, including speaking, listening, and numeracy. If you need clarification on what your child is doing in class, you can learn more about it by visiting our school section and selecting the appropriate year group.
Here, we’ve compiled our top five suggestions. We hope you enjoy putting them to the test!
Sports and recreation
1. Playing rhymes
Rhyming stories like Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo are good to listen to and participate in.
Play rhyme-based activities or sing a rhyme with action.
Make gimmicky rhymes. What, for instance, is a smelly elephant called? A stinky plant. What’s the name of an elephant who watches TV? An elephant!
2. Phonics games
With letters and sounds, play snap or bingo. Write letters on scraps of paper or playing cards to make your flashcards. For each letter, make two. Use them for snapping. Another option is to create an eight-box bingo card with a letter in each box. As the bingo caller, turn the flashcards into a pile with the fronts facing up.
Phonics fishing is fun! Ask your youngster to “fish” for a particular sound using homemade letter flashcards, paperclips, a magnet, a string, and a stick.
When you’re out and about, play “I spy” games (for instance, “I spy something beginning with a…,” utilizing the letter sound). See our sound chart for assistance with letter sounds.
3. Games of memory
Perform “Kim’s game.” a few things on a tray (for example, a crayon, an apple, a building brick, or a toy car). Look, cover, remember, and check after that!
Discuss, take pictures of, or write down a few “events” from a joint activity. Can your youngster recall the proper sequence?
Try to remember the list as you shop together!
4. Audio games
Play party games like “Simon says,” which are great for honing your guests’ speaking, listening, and remembering abilities without them even realizing it.
Find photographs on the internet and discuss the instruments used while listening to music.
5. Action videogames
Encourage your youngster to create or repeat a story to you (or any other willing family members!) in a puppet theater you can make out of cardboard boxes or a towel draped over a chair.
For your child to dress up as a character and act out favorite stories, have a lot of fun playing dress-up at home with costumes and toys. You can discover many inexpensive costumes and props in charity stores.
Play games like “What’s the time, Mr. Wolf?” but write them down instead of saying the times for them to read.
6. Interactive games
I use magnetic letters to spell names and short phrases on the refrigerator or radiator.
Create your child’s name or short phrases like “mom” using modeling clay.
Play jigsaws together and talk about where the proper pieces can be found.
7. Video games
Watch TV shows that are based on novels, then read the books. Start with Little Princess, Katie Morag, or Charlie and Lola. Please talk about the characters’ traits that they like or dislike.
Look for websites like Little Kingdom, story-telling TV shows, or phone apps.
8. Games for car rides
Play “The cook’s cat is an outstanding cat,” or “The cook’s cat is a beautiful cat,” or “The cook’s cat is a brilliant cat,” and so on, and then make up your variations (for instance, “The doctor’s dog…”).
Play this loud version of “Who Can Spot That?” in your automobile. It’s a lot of fun, but consult the driver before you start this one first! Choose a sound or a word to use as a call when you see the things you are watching for. Say “Bang!” for a yellow car, “Buzzz!” for a bus, and “Wow!” for a bird, for instance.
Listen to a book on audio.
9. Activities outside the home
While shopping, ask your youngster to help you find the items you need by reading product labels together.
Check with your neighborhood library or community center to learn about any special events or clubs.
Try to go on a few outings or gather some information related to the subject or assignment in school.
10. Sharing books of all genres.
Continue reading all sorts of books to your child, including picture, pop-up, informational, poetry, eBooks, and print books. And the books that were leveled in school and brought home. For fun, videotape or film your child reading them!
Why not pick a book to read aloud from our collection of free eBooks?
