Five Creative Ways to Teach Reading


Reading opens up a whole new world to kids.  They can go to strange and exotic places through the pages of a book.  They can learn about history and what others think the future will hold.  Here are five tips for teaching your child how to read and have fun at the same time:

1.  Kids learn about reading with their ears.  Read to a child.  Use different tones for the voices of each character.  The more exciting the story, the more interested they will be.  My kids loved to hear me read the folktale, “The Bremen Town Musicians”.  They loved the way I seemed to make the story come to life. 

As you read, let your kids look over the pictures and the words.  They may not know what the words are at that moment but you are setting them up to learn.  The more you read to them, the more words they can recognize by sound.

2.  Teach them the alphabet.  After all, words are made up of letters.  When they learn the alphabet they will begin to recognize letters within the words.  Use magnetic letters and the refrigerator as your blackboard.  Show your child each letter and say the name.  For lower-case letters, flash cards that show the upper and lower-case letters are good for letter recognition.

3.  In the early days of school, they used to call the book for reading with the letters in it a “primer”.  The third way to teach children how to read is through phonics.  Phonics teaches how letters are supposed to sound.  Instead of using flashcards for this, why not get creative and use items around the house.  When studying the sound for the letter “A”, pull an apple out of the refrigerator.  Finding objects around the house with the sounds familiarizes your child with the names of everything around them.

4.  Now it’s time to learn words.  You can watch shows like “Sesame Street” or “The Electric Company”.  These shows used fun characters to sound out the letters in words and bring them together as words.  Another way is to involve the entire family.  Give each person a few pieces of poster board.  Attach each piece to a different object around the house. 

Since your child is beginning to read, these objects should be one syllable words like mom, dog, cat, and dad.  On the poster board, write them with dashes between each letter, like this:  d-a-d.  Call out each sound with your child repeating after you.  Now, try to get them to put the sounds together and say the word.

5.  Now it’s time to give your child a book.  The last way to teach reading is to let them read it for themselves.  Start with a simple book with one syllable words.  Pictures will help kids with the words if they get stuck on a sound.  The colors in the book should be vibrant and full of life.  If you can find a pop-up book, that will be even better.  After they read, they can pull the paper lever and see the picture rise to life.

Reading is not the easiest thing in the world to teach.  But when kids are young their minds absorb things like a sponge.  Teaching them at this age is fun and they retain more information.  Remember - once they start reading don’t ever let them stop!  


Five Creative Ways to Teach Shapes


Shapes are in everything.  From buildings to furniture, shapes are put together to create other shapes.  Once kids learn about their shapes, they will begin to see them everywhere.  Here are five ways in which you can teach a child to recognize their shapes:

1.  The first way to teach children about shapes is through visual learning.  When I was young I had a toy with shapes cut out of it.  It also came with other shapes that were supposed to fit into the holes.  Over time this idea has evolved into a round ball with shapes cut out of it.  The shape pieces are made of plastic instead of wood, but the concept is still the same.

As the child plays with each shape, call out the name of the shape.  They will repeat it.  The more they play they will learn to recognize the shapes. 

2.  This same toy can also be used for the second way to teach shapes.  This teaching involves fitting the shapes into the holes.  Each shape has its own space on the ball.  A round piece will not fit into a square hole.  Now that they can name the shapes, they must learn how to match shapes with shapes.  Show them this by holding the shapes piece next to the proper hole and then dropping it in.

3.  Using posters is another way to teach shapes.  These posters can be purchased from a toy store or you can use a poster board and create your own.  If you use your own, create animals, houses, automobiles, and trees using different shapes.  This helps children begin to see the shapes within the main shape.  For example, a house is made up of a rectangular frame or a square frame with square windows.  Some windows are round like the doorknob.  There are many shapes to see.

4.  The fourth method is to have a shape scavenger hunt.  This teaches children to identify shapes in their home.  Give a child a shape from your bag of shapes.  Ask them to find other shapes like that one around the house.  Count the number of shapes they are able to locate.  If they can see the shapes hidden in your home, they can identify them elsewhere.

5.  Use educational tapes and DVD’s to teach shapes.  Kids like the bright colors and talking animals portrayed on these shows.  The animals ask the audience children if they see a particular shape.  Your child can walk up to the television and point to the shapes they see.  After a few minutes, the animals will identify the right shape and offer encouragement for those that found it.

You’ll likely be surprised by your child when they learn their basic shapes.  They will see the car wheels as circles and the car as a rectangle (more or less).  Your handclaps will reinforce their learning.



Five Creative Ways to Teach Colors


Our eyes are attracted to colorful things.  Color gives life to paintings, drawings, photographs and television.  If everything were in black and white there wouldn’t be much to characterize what we see.  Here are five great suggestions for teaching your children about colors:

1.  Teach colors through flash cards.  Flash cards contain pictures of items in various colors.  For example, if it was a picture of a bear it would be brown.  The colors are shown as they would be in the real world.  You wouldn’t want a card that shows a yellow sky or a red tree.  The colors on a flash card are very bright so this is a good place to start.  Say each color and let the child repeat after you.

2.  Kids also learn colors through food.  Foods come in a variety of vibrant colors.  When your child asks for something to eat, tell them the color of what they are eating.  Some varieties of foods, like apples and peppers, come in many colors, which also teaches the kids that objects can have more than one color.  Use the basic names for colors like red, green, blue, and so on.  Saying blue-green or orange-red may be too confusing for the kids.

3.  Use paints to teach colors.  Take a giant piece of poster board and lay it on a drop cloth.  Let the children dip their hands in the paint and create handprints on the paper.  Call out each color after they make a hand print.  Wash their little hands and start over.  Kids like to be messy so this teaching tool is both fun and educational.

4.  Take your child outside.  As you pass trees, stones, grasses and cars, identify the colors.  After you have seen a wide variety of colors, point to something and ask your child what color it is.  This exercise may be slow going at first because colors in nature don’t appear in the same hues as they do on flash cards or in a paint set.

5.  Play games with your kids that involve colors.  Use a pole with a magnet attached to a paper clip on the end of a string.  Have fish or some other shapes of objects on the floor with magnets attached to them.  When you call out a color, see if your child can pick up the pieces with that color.  If saying the name of the color doesn’t work at first, hold up a piece of paper displaying the color you want them to fish for.  Not only will they learn about colors, but also hand-to-eye coordination.

There are more games that you can teach your child.  For example, they can find the colors around the house while playing a scavenger game.  The importance of color recognition will become important when they learn about stop signs and other meanings for colors.

Teaching colors doesn’t have to be boring.  Inject a bit of fun into the process!  At a young age, kids are a blank slate.  Fill them up with good learning.


Fun and Educational Games for Toddlers


As toddlers, kids are discovering the world through their five senses.  Kids don’t have to wait until they are school age to begin the learning process.  They can be started off as young as the age of two with a few fun and educational games.

Music is a good tool for learning.  The rhythm and the lyrics teach hand-to-eye coordination, tone and memorization.  Once kids are two years old they can usually walk without wobbling too much.  Their balance is even between both feet and they are learning to jump and run.

These skills are helpful in songs like “Hokey Pokey”.  They learn the right from the left foot and the right from the left arm.  Perform the song once for them and then have them try it with you.  Both kids and parents will get a laugh out of the song and the game.  Don’t worry about how well they perform the movements.  Over time, they will improve.  “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Row, Row, Row your Boat” are also good songs for movement and rhythm.

I can still remember nursery rhymes from my childhood.  Why?  Nursery rhymes are told over and over to kids.  Even though your child can’t read yet, use picture books to tell the story of the nursery rhymes.  When you recite them, use a sing-song rhythm.  Start off with simple ones like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Mary had a Little Lamb”.

Picture books are excellent for familiarizing toddlers with animals and their sense of touch.  The book “Pat the Bunny” has soft surfaces that imitate the furry coat of a bunny.  Children can feel the softness and associate it with a bunny rabbit.  Other picture books have foods and other items in it that kids see in their homes.  After reading the book, you could take your toddler around the house and see if he/she can find any of the book items in the house.

You can take a nature walk outdoors with your child.  This is a chance to teach your child about the world beyond their home.  You can examine trees, leaves and the grass.  Let toddlers feel each thing and see if they can repeat the words that you say.  Taking them outdoors in all types of weather introduces them to the idea of rain, snow, cold, heat and wind.  Tell them that their outerwear will change depending on the weather for the day. 

Kids like to pull things out and spread them on the floor.  Use that behavior as a chance to teach them about fruits and vegetables.  Purchase the fake fruit that usually comes with play kitchens.  As the child picks up each piece, call out the name. 

When your child learns to say the names themselves you can play a game with the food called “Fruit Basket Upset”.  Throw the fruit up in the air.  As you call out the name of the fruit the child has to pick it up and put it in his or her own basket.  The child with the most fruit in their basket gets a prize.

Learning doesn’t have to be boring.  When you start off making learning fun, toddlers will continue to enjoy the process.


Five Creative Ways to Teach Counting


Counting is a useful skill.  Mathematics is based on counting.  Counting lets you know how much of something you have.  Before school starts, you can begin to teach your child the numbers and how to count in order.  Here are five great ways to get started:

1.  The first way to teach counting to children is with fingers and toes.  We have ten fingers and ten toes.  What a perfect way to count the basic numbers!  Start with the left hand thumb and count all the way over to the right hand thumb.  Wiggle each of your child’s fingers as you call out a number.  You can make up a number song involving these body parts to help them remember the numbers.

2.  Use numbered cards for counting.  You can buy flash cards or create your own using poster board and markers.  Construct each number as it will appear anywhere else in your child’s surroundings.  Leave the fancy stuff for when they reach school.  Show the numbers in order so your child again becomes familiar with their order when counting.

3.  Snacks can teach counting.  As you hand your child their snack, don’t just give them the package.  Count the pieces of cereal or gummi fruit on a paper towel.  Take your child’s hand and show them how to count back to you.  This will be somewhat of a challenge since all they will probably want to do is eat the snacks!  It may take several tries.

4.  Now that your child is old enough to walk, use that to play a game of counting.  Play a game of “Simon Sez” using numbers.  For example, “Simon sez, jump three times.”  Your child will have to jump up and down three times.  Count with each jump.  For more fun, you can jump with them.  Make it a family game and have everyone participate in play as well.

5.  With your help, teach your child about counting by writing their numbers.  You will need lots of room so get several sheets of poster board and some crayons.  To avoid messes on your floor, you can use the Crayola® markers that only write on special paper.  Guide their hand and draw each number from one to ten.  As they draw, say the name of the number. 

After a couple of months of practice, they may be able to write the numbers when you ask.  If not, keep working with them.  This is not a race and kids shouldn’t feel pressured.  Each of us learns at our own pace.  The name of the game is teaching them a new skill and that they have fun while they learn.

Once they learn their numbers, why not take them out to a children’s museum or some other place where they can put their hands on play objects.  Group the toys together.  See if your child can count the number of items in each group.  Help them to count if they need it.

Most kids first learn to count on their fingers.  It is like the calculator that goes with you wherever you go.  Teaching them to count will also go with them through life whatever they choose to do.