Reading is one of the most beautiful habits that we can transmit to our children, because it is not only a way to exercise our brain, but it allows us to cultivate our mind and transport ourselves to other magical and wonderful worlds.
If you are a lover of reading, you surely want to convey that love for books to your child. A nice way to start doing it is to teach him to read. We share you 11 tricks to teach children to read.
Attract them to reading
Children are curious by nature, but when they observe us doing something, it attracts their attention and their curiosity increases. Before we start teaching them to read, we must attract them to reading and books, and The best way to do this is to set the example: to see us reading a book.
In Babies and more Six things you should do when you read to your children Buy her books
In addition to setting the example by reading books to our liking, another way to start bringing them closer to the books and to familiarize themselves with them is to buy children's books. Let's make sure they are suitable for their age and that they attract attention.
Remember that children learn through play, so the more colorful a book is, it will probably attract you more. Find books that have flashy illustrations and if possible, of your favorite characters.
Read it daily
Once you have a couple of books for them, read them daily. So little by little they will expand their vocabulary and learn new words. In addition, they will become familiar with the stories, which will help in the future to more easily identify the words when learning to read.
Something I do when I read my daughter and that a friend who is a teacher advised me, is that When I read a story, I pointed with my finger under the word that I am saying out loud, so that you pay more attention and see that they are the ones who tell the story.
Cards to learn the alphabet
Now, it's time to start reading! There are various methods to teach children to read, but if we want to follow the traditional method, the first thing we will have to do is teach the letters individually. The easiest way to start is by teaching the vowels and then moving to the consonants.
You can make cards to practice and then play to identify the letters. At this time just focus on learning to recognize them and calling them by name, later they can include phonemes.
In Babies and more, do your children ask you for the same story over and over again? Do it, repetition is beneficial for your learning Play to identify the letters in different places
When children are learning to read, it is common that they pay particular attention to all the words that surround them and that before did not seem to notice, like the signs in the streets or in the supermarket. Usually this happens since they are learning complete words, but we can start from before doing it with letters.
While they go to the supermarket, wait for a stop at a traffic light or have a brochure in hand, you can help them identify each letter. For example, If the sign says "Vegetables", ask him and help him identify the letters. You may only identify the vowels and only some consonants, but do not press or despair. Remember to do it as a game: celebrate when you can do it correctly and support it when in doubt.
Practice the sound of each letter
Once your child has become familiar with the alphabet, they can begin to practice the phonemes of each letter. This is important so that you can later read the words correctly, making the connection between each written letter and the sound or pronunciation that we must give.
You can support yourself again with cards to be used to show you the alphabet, now adding your phoneme while practicing, saying: "this is the letter 'eme' and is pronounced 'mmm'"As I recognize the sounds, then you can show him how the "m" sounds when you put it together with a vowel like "a", and so on.
Cut the words into syllables
Another trick to teach children to read is trim the words into syllables using cards and making it a game. You can say a word and ask him to put it together with the syllables, or give him a word by placing the cards in a messy way and that they (with your help, of course) put each syllable in the right place.
In Babies and more Children prefer to read books on paper and not on a screen Play to complete words
Another fun way to learn to read and practice letters and words is playing with incomplete words or phrases. This can be, omitting a letter in the case of single words, or omitting a word in the case of sentences.
Remember give you several options so you can choose the right one and always support you. If he fails at the first attempt, tell him to try again, but without pressing him, because the idea is that learning is something fun and enjoyable for him.
Help him memorize words he uses frequently
A good trick to teach him to read is allow you to memorize the words you use frequently. Some people consider that by memorizing them they are not really reading, but knowing them by heart will help them identify these syllables in other words and it will be easier for them to learn new words.
You can too teach you complete words on cards, which are about topics of your interest, such as family names, food, characters or animals, so that they are learned globally and then can begin to form sentences with the cards.
Lean on videos of songs
Now with YouTube in our hands, we can lean on countless resources to teach our children to read: from videos of songs and rhymes, to exercises and fun games that can reinforce reading. Simply do a simple search to find many examples that we can use at home.
Activate subtitles on movies and shows you watch
Finally, a trick that also helps children learn to strengthen their reading and practice it, is activating subtitles in movies and shows I watched on TV at home.
With these tricks, and a little patience but a lot of motivation and enthusiasm, you can support the teaching of reading to your child. Remember that it will always be easier for them to learn by playing and that each child learns and matures at their own pace. Don't push it and make learning to read a fun activity for both of you.
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