top of page
Baby Playing with Building Blocks

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

3-4 years: Services

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

2-3 years: Text

Sing!

HOW: Sing songs that rhyme 

WHY: Tune little's ear to sounds, specifically rhymes

TAG: Rhyme, Rhythm, Phonological Awareness

2-3 years: Text

Recite

HOW: Recite nursery rhymes (Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle, etc)

WHY: Builds rhyming and predictable text skills

TAG:Phonological Awareness, Rhythm, Predictable Text

2-3 years: 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 

2-3 years: Text

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

2-3 years: Text

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 

2-3 years: Text

Silly ABCs

HOW: Sing the ABCs and replace a letter with a word that starts with the letter. A, B, C, dog, E… See if they can catch you.

WHY: It's fun! And helps tune littles' ears to details, while working on letter recognition

TAG: Alphabetic Knowledge 

2-3 years: Text

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 

2-3 years: Text

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

2-3 years: Text

Rapid Rhyme

HOW: You say a word and ask your little to say a word that rhymes with it. Model until your little catches on. Take turns picking the word to rhyme.

WHY: Tunes their ears to sounds; Builds rhyming skills; Prepares for phonemic awareness (a biggie!)

TAG: Phonological Awareness

2-3 years: Text

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

2-3 years: Text

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

2-3 years: Text

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

2-3 years: Text

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.

Watch Me Read

bottom of page