Author: Sarah Childs

Involve your child in meal planning. Ask them to choose how to organize the meal. Can they do it by color or family favorites? For example, they could ask family members which dish is their favorite. Then help your child draw or write a menu based on everyone’s picks.

Use a letter, like B, to begin every word you say. Instead of “Hello, how are you?” say, “Bello, bow bar boo?” Encourage your child to use the same letter to begin the words of their response: “I am fine, how are you?” would become “Bye bam bine, bow bar boo?” How long can you… Continue reading Begin Every Word with a Specific Letter

Is your child curious about spelling? Take turns going back and forth spelling a simple word like “cat.” You say “C,” they say “A,” and you say “T.” Add a twist and help them spell the word backward with you!

Start this game by choosing a letter. See if you and your child can think of a sentence that uses as many words as possible that begin with that letter. If you chose the letter M you might say, “My mother made meatballs.” What other M words can you both come up with?

Come up with a word of the day, like “play.” As you and your child go through your day, point out moments or things you see that remind you of the word of the day. You might say, “Look, those dogs are playing!” Encourage them to find their own examples of the word of the… Continue reading Word of the Day

Have your child look for letters or numbers in a specific order on signs and license plates. You can say, “Can you find a one and a two next to each other?” or “Can you find an A and an E next to each other?” Take turns and see who can find the most.

When you’re out running errands, put your child in charge of the list. Have them help list out a few things you both have to do that day. When you finish each task, cross it off the list together!

Pick a letter with your child and try to find it everywhere you go. Take turns calling it out when you see it. If they see an apple for the letter A, then you have to find something next. See how many things you can find. Four? Ten? More?

Encourage your child to point out the different kinds of wheels they see. Talk with them about what you both notice. Do they see big wheels on a truck or thin wheels on a bike? What else can they think of that has wheels?

When you’re out with your child, talk about sounds. When you hear a sound, tell them what you hear and chat about where you think it is. “I hear a bird and I think it is in that tree.” Ask what they hear, and where they think the sound is coming from. Take turns being… Continue reading The Sound Game