3-4 YEARS
The foundation
This is when it gets really fun! Vocabulary is booming, questions every minute, curiosity continues. Take ADVANTAGE of this time and build your little's literacy foundation with ABC games, Phonemic Awareness activities, and rhymes.
Activities below progress in difficulty
Pick one activity to focus on each week. As you stockpile activities in your memory, play them anytime. (You're going to be the fun mom.)
TUB TIME, CAR RIDES, DINNER TIME, STROLLER RIDES, ANYTIME!
*Notes newly added activities
Talk
HOW: Sounds silly, but just talk.
WHY: Builds sound recognition muscles and vocabulary. Language is natural, the more they hear the more their ears will tune into the sounds.
TAG: Vocabulary, Phonological Awareness
Sing!
HOW: Sing songs that rhyme
WHY: Tune little's ear to sounds, specifically rhymes
TAG: Rhyme, Rhythm, Phonological Awareness
Recite
HOW: Recite nursery rhymes (Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle, etc)
WHY: Builds rhyming and predictable text skills
TAG:Phonological Awareness, Rhythm, Predictable Text
Read Rhyming Books
HOW: Pick books that have rhythm and rhyme
WHY: Tunes ear to both rhythm and rhyme (this will pay off big time!)
TAG: Phonological Awareness, Print & Book Awareness
Clap ABCs
HOW: Sing the ABC Song and clap with each letter.
WHY: This starts to bring your little's attention to each individual letter.
TAG: Alphabetic Knowledge
Where's the Letter?
HOW: Look for letters everywhere! Look in books, signs, and everywhere you go. Start with letters in your little's name. Simply ask, "Where's the letter D?" Ask your little to point it out. If it's a struggle, you model and point out the letter. Keep trying until your little can do it too.
WHY: Builds those letter recognition muscles
TAG: Alphabetic Knowledge
Sing to ABC
HOW: Sing the ABC song and stop at a letter. Pick a letter like G, tell your little the letter and that you are going sing the ABC song but stop when you reach that letter. Now sing the ABC song, but stop after you say G. Do this a few times, with a few letters. Ask your little to pick the letter. Then when he is ready, have him join you in playing. Take turns picking letters, but try to sing together. It will take a few times and some extra brain power (by both of you) to stop & not sing the whole song.
WHY: Builds letter recognition and understanding there are 26 individual letters in the song
TAG: Alphabetic Knowledge
I Spy a Sound
HOW: Look in your environment. Spy something and give its beginning sound as the clue. Example: swing, say "I spy with my little eye something that starts with the sound /s/." Model until your little catches on. Take turns picking the item and sound.
WHY: Builds sound/letter skills, phonemic awareness
TAG: Alphabetic Knowledge, Phonological Awareness
I Spy a Rhyme
HOW: Look in your environment. Think of a word that rhymes with what you spy. Example: car, say "I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with the word far." Model until your little catches on. Take turns picking the rhyme.
WHY: Builds rhyming skills, phonemic awareness
TAG: Phonological Awareness
Count the Words
HOW: Say a sentence like, “I went to the store.” Now ask your little to count the number of words in the sentence. Use your fingers to count. Ask your little one to say a sentence. Then you count the words to model again. Now it’s your turn to say a sentence and ask your little one to count the words by herself. Continue taking turns until your little catches on.
WHY: When you are first learning a new language, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish where one word ends and one begins. This oral activity helps littles listen carefully and recognize each word in a sentence. This will help tremendously down the road when they learn how to spell.
TAG: Phonological Awareness
Syllable Clap
HOW: Pick words or names and clap out the syllables.
WHY: Being aware that words are made of parts is an important part of the journey on the road to reading. Syllable awareness helps littles tune into the parts that make up a word. This is a building block for the next phase which will be listening for individual phonemes.
TAG: Phonological Awareness, Segmenting
Watch Me Read (Repetitive Text)
HOW: Find a book with repetitive or predictable text (like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"). Read it to your little one many times until you think he is confident enough to 'read' it on his own. This could take weeks or months. It can just be one or two pages, or the whole book.
WHY: It builds confidence. "I can read!" It also helps with comprehension. Often times the predictable text takes active thinking- What comes next?
TAG: Confidence, Fluency, Comprehension
May 28
Cheesecake, figs, and pinot noir.