oy. Ask your child to circle all the words that begin with the letter b.
5. Number Recognition and Counting
- Grab two dice and a piece of paper with the numbers two through twelve written on it. Have your child roll the dice, count all the dots, and circle each number until you’ve rolled them all.
- Make counting part of everything. Have them count how many spoons are on the dinner table, how many socks you are folding.
- Use spare change and teach them the different amounts each coin represents. Then have them count out a specific amount like 55 cents.
6. Sounding out Letters
- Teach your child that letters represent sounds and that each one makes a different sound.
- Overemphasize the first sound in words to help your child hear the difference.
- Find items around the house that begin with the same sound and have them identify the letter that makes that sound.
7. Reading Readiness
- As you read to your child, run your finger under the words as you move through the sentence. This will teach them that words move left to right and top to bottom.
- Clapping out syllables of words (example; Pu-ppy has two syllables, A-man-da has three syllables)
- Playing a word game that separates the beginning and ending sound of a word. This allows them to put the sounds together to guess the word (example; say we are going to play a game. I am going to say the beginning and ending sound of a word, and you tell me what the word is. What is the word if I say b-all (ball), m-an (man), c-at (cat), com-pu-ter (computer)
- Read to your children every day using tools like song books, picture books, rhyming books and alphabet books.
8. Following Directions & Paying Attention
- Give your child a simple set of two and three step directions to follow. It could be something like; put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, and turn on your nightlight.
- Play the classic “Simon Says” game with them. It’s a great game for following directions and paying attention to the changes in the words.
9. Develop Social Skills
- Teach your child to express their feelings in a way that isn’t aggressive or involve crying.
- Give your children the opportunity to interact with other children in early learning centers, church or at the park.
- Talk about problems they might have, don’t just tell something is wrong, explain to them why it is.