Learning Games

Here are some practical and fun ways you can help your child read better. These tips are taken from Satellite Learning Parent’s Guide. Copyright January 1998.

Reading

Record yourself as you read a book to your child. Your child can replay the story over and over. She can learn new vocabulary.

Encourage your child to cut up straws to make different letters. A good game is to cut up some straws and put on the egg timer. See how many letters the child can form with the straws in ten minutes.

Before your child reads anything. Ask him what his purpose for reading the material is. He should read a textbook to extract information. He should read a newspaper to get the facts. He should read a book for enjoyment. Encourage your child to write down his purpose so he can focus on his purpose and therefore understand the material better.

Play reading bingo. Put reading words, phonics sound, prefixes or suffixes on 5x8 index card. Make cards with your child’s most troublesome reading words or phonetic sounds. Siblings can play by using their own reading words. The cards you accumulate weekly can be used to reinforce previous vocabulary words which are often forgotten after the test.

Play reading concentration. Use 3 x5 white index cards. Or add let your child color one side of index cards or purchase colored cards. Write each word on two different cards. After you have written all the words on the cards, place the cards face down. The child has to match the words. Siblings can play too. Include different word lists. Color-code the cards so that each child has a different color and thus matches their own words. The winner is the first one to match all of his words.

Write the alphabet on index cards. Make extra vowel cards. Laminate cards. Put them in a large envelope or colorful bag. Give them to your child for her to play with and to create words.

Get books on tapes read by actors, actresses, or the author herself. Comprehension will increase as your child hears the author’s inflection. Check out your public library or join an audio book club.

Read to your child. Independent readers particularly need to be read too. Many parents stop reading to their child once the child is able to read herself.

Aesop’s’ Fables are excellent to teach your child about the theme, or lesson of a story. You can teach the process of drawing conclusions.

Play a family game of charades: pantomime opposites, synonyms and even homonyms with your children. See if your child can guess what words you are acting out. Then see if your child can guess the relationship between the words (whether they are antonyms, synonyms or homonyms).

Set the egg timer and see how quickly your child can think of synonyms. For instance give your child the word big. Set the timer for your child to come up with words like huge, large, enormous and gigantic.

Form sentences with magnetic alphabet letters.

Try to read Newberry, and Caldecott award winning books. Ask your librarian to recommend some books.

Bethany House Publishers are also known to produce excellent children’s books which stress character development.

Play the can you change my sound game. Reinforce short and long vowel sounds (using silent “e” and two vowel together generally make the first vowel sound- the long one) Turn can into “cane” Turn fed into Feed. You may ask your child’s teacher for suggestions or review phonics or grade level reading/ spelling book.

Play do you know the word game. Write your child’s reading or vocabulary words on index cards. Place them face down. This game can be played with a sibling if you use different color cards with their words on it. Small children can have the alphabet written on their cards. Your child has to read each card she picks up. If she cannot read a word tell her the word. The card is then placed face down again for her to choose. When she can identify all the cards the game is through.

Join Scholastic Book Club at your child school. Visit them on the web at www.scholastic.com

Play Rummy Roots to reinforce Latin prefixes and suffixes.