So, the child has learned to read, now it’s time to reinforce their skills and increase their reading speed. Of course, the best advice is to read more. But five-year-old children can get tired of books. Over the years of practice, we have come up with several games that help reinforce interest in reading and improve technique.
Word Flash
Several cards with syllables and words: ma, mak, mag, mat, marker. Quickly show the card and remove it. If read correctly, receive the card. It’s amazing that usually children quickly focus and begin to look carefully, sometimes greedily at the words. They move on to reading whole words.
Lotto
Who doesn’t love lotto? Gen Z and Gen A children, despite their affinity for technology, also love these games when in preschool. Write down on A4-sized paper words: names of animals, toys, plants, insects, etc. Cut them into cards. Then follow the scenario. You name the card, show it, and the kids must look for the answers on their cards.
Tongue Twisters
Tongue twisters and tongue cleaners help develop a child’s speech apparatus. It’s best to play with a group of children. You can simply print out tongue twisters on A4 paper, and cut them into strips. You say the tongue twister and the children repeat it in turn. Whoever says it closest to the text gets the tongue twister strip. Adding a competitive element adds excitement.
Mystery notes
Try this game in your preschool room: a mysterious correspondence. Here is how I’ve done it with my child.
“Hello, son (the first note usually awaited him near the pillow on the bed). When you go to wash up, on the top shelf in the bathroom, under the soap dish, you’ll find a secret. Good luck! Mom.” And there lay the next note: “I’m very glad you found this note! The next one is in the cupboard on the bottom shelf to the left in the stack of plates, under the first one from the top. Be careful!”… And so on, 10-15 times. The last one must lead to a surprise: a colouring book, a banana, a ticket to the circus – something valuable to the little one. Don’t forget to celebrate their success… “Hooray!!! It’s so great that you finally found it! I’m proud of you!!!” You might develop your own game. By the way, share your findings with Storykate!
My son and I exchanged notes like this. I rolled up my piece of paper – a message in a tube and tied it with a string. He wrote a reply and threw it back to me. Then I, correcting the mistakes, returned the note with the answer to him. Correspondence, or more precisely, vitally important correspondence, is one of the effective ways to create a child’s need to write. The content of your mutual messages depends on the child and his experience, as well as his interests.
A child can write his first letter to Santa Claus, and Santa will reply. And then reading this long-awaited letter will be easier. The book “How to Teach a Child to Read” gives a wonderful example of a correspondence between a girl and her father. Naturally, the father is busy, constantly at work, on business trips. And that’s why he leaves messages for his daughter – long, interesting ones. The notebook that girl Dasha saw near her sofa, as soon as she opened her eyes, she began to flip right away. Because on the cover, there were magical words “To Dasha from Daddy.” Every evening, when the girl was asleep, her dad wrote her a few lines about his affairs, how he evaluates Dasha’s behaviour, what he thinks about her successes and plans for joint outings on weekends. The correspondence between the daughter and father turned into a shared diary, on the pages of which the girl and her father talk about the world.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog article!
