If you had 30 extra minutes to work on reading what would you spend it doing? I get asked this question a lot. 

After reading with them, to them, and listening to them read or tell you stories? Well that depends on the child but I will try to answer this question is a very general way to give all of you some ideas of what you can do to make a big impact with only a little time. These are my go to skills that are easy for parents to help children with and that make a big difference when kids get a little extra practice with them. Here are just a few ways parents can help their kids read.

Play with letters. Incorporate them into your play with magnetic letters, letter stickers, and alphabet blocks. Make special note of letters that are meaningful like the first letter of their first name. As you play label the letters but leave drilling or quizzing to the teachers in their future, there is no room for drills or quizzes in play.

Here are some letter play ideas :

Stamp & MatchSalt Tray LettersAlphabet CookiesShell LettersAlphabet Sensory TubAlphabet PlaydoughTouch & Feel Alphabet

 Letter Sounds

This is the next step to playing with letters. Now your child knows almost all the letter names and hopefully many of the sounds as well. These games work on both these skills.

Here are some games and activities for letter sounds and recognition :

Flip Top PhonicsLetter Sound PoundUnlock The Letter SoundPrincess PhonicsLetter Sound Match

Starting to Read { simple words )

Play with rhyming. Rhyming is such an important phonics skill but what I love about it is that it’s packed with play. No parent or child wants to spend the small bit of time they have together fighting about learning. Rhyming games can fill that need for fun and for learning.

Here are some great rhyming games:

Rhyming Dominoes ( adjust the words to your child’s level)Rhyming TagRhyming JarsRhyming Peg BoardFind & Rhyme

Learning to Read { reads a little but not fluently yet }

Sight Words

Make sight words fun. When I say sight words I am not just talking about true sight words that can’t be decoded by sounding out but also the high frequency words that your child will encounter over and over while reading. When they can read them quickly without decoding them it makes reading easier. They can spend the time sounding out the bigger harder words instead.

Here are some great sight word activities that are FUN and worthwhile. Instead of the words use din this activities substitute with your child’s sight word list from their teacher. If you don’t have one ask for the one they are using :

3D Word SearchSight Word DominoesOutdoor Sight Word GameSight Word Jump & Grab ( Hands On As We Grow)Sight Word Target Practice ( Toddler Approved)

Reading Independently { and fluently}

 Vocabulary. When children are learning to read much of the focus is on the mechanics of reading, the sounds the letters make and how they work together. Once they start to read we shift a lot of the focus to the meaning of the words and text they are reading. We focus on comprehension and one way that parents can really help with that is to work on boosting vocabulary ( another is simply asking your children “ What did you just read?” while reading together).  When we expose our children to a big buffet of words it makes reading easier because they recognize the words and can decode it more quickly as well as understand it’s meaning ( and thus the text) with more ease.

Here are some fun ways to work on vocabulary with your kids :

Tips for working on vocabulary with your kidsWord WindowMuffin Tim Word Game ( Growing Book by Book)Word A Day Cards ( Teachmama.com )

These are just appetizers for literacy intended for those 30 extra minutes you may have. As parents I see our role as scaffolds to support our children at whatever level they are at. For more about literacy check out Raise A Reader on Scholastic Parents. Amy Mascott and I share tons of ideas to work on literacy with your children.