Reading is something that we all know we should do with our kids. It’s always super fun, right? Well… sometimes my kids don’t want to sit and read. Despite our pretty awesome and inspiring Literacy Corner, I still have to convince them sometimes to sit still and make the reading a little extra fun to hold their attention. I don’t have to do much to spice up our reading adventure, after all they’re just toddlers. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve!
3 Ways to Spice Up Reading with your Toddler
Costumes
Cash LOVES to wear hats right now. So I brought all of my hats down to his room and just keep them in the literacy corner. When we read we all wear a hat {little brother included} Next book = next hat! If he wants to wear a new hat you got to read a new book! Cash even LOVES putting hats on Wyatt. Confession Alert: one day we did actually get pretty distracted by the hats and spent most of our Block Schedule playing dress up instead… oops! We have a few other costumes in the room too including a superhero cape {Thanks, Aunt Kelsea} and a Ninja Turtle mask Cape {Thanks, Grandma Tammy} along with pirate costumes and even a sword. Bonus points…. I read in a different voice when I’m in costume! Cash totally gets a kick out of that.
I Spy
Sometimes we don’t even read… we flip through books and just play a bit of I Spy. I ask Cash, “Can you find the lion?” “Can you find the words?” “Can you count the pirates?” and we just flip through the pictures. I think that helps Cash get a break from sitting and listening. He also likes to flip through and just point to things asking what the word is. Or we “picture read” where I ask him to tell me what he sees happening on a page. This gets him VERY involved in the story and illustrations which build his creativity.
Phonic Phones
Big surprise! Kids love to hear their own voice! Ha ha! I’m sure we ALL knew that, but even as early learners they like to hear themselves READ! Cash will go through an animal book and just say the sounds each animal makes, Moo, Oink, Neigh… guess what? That’s READING! Seeing an icon and associating a phoneme combination that needs to be translated audibly… ta da! Sounds that
each letter makes are called phonics and the child hearing their own pronunciation builds awareness. Pretty soon we’ll be able to jump from “Cow
says Moo” to “F says efffff” and that the combined letter phonemes for C-A
& T says cat. Early scaffolding folks! Phoneme recognition sequences are key!
I made my phonic phones with pipe couplings I found at Goodwill for $0.99 each and some decorative tape!
Welcome to Mom School! This post is one of many Homeschool Preschool Lessons with #MySweetandSticky {Cash & Wyatt} As a former educator, I wanted to give them their best start before heading into public schools. (Which we LOVE!) On occasion, and throughout the summer, we continue our At-Home Learning. Cash is my Science Guy and Wyatt can’t get enough Sensory Play. Join us for every Sweet & Sticky moment.
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We do the I spy but I’ll be adding the costumes to my arsenal!
That’s awesome! Thanks for the comment! 😉