Teaching Reading Strategies Can Be Fun and Educational

Teaching reading strategies at home to your child before they enter school can help them to excel and maintain an advantage as they progress through their classes. Many studies have shown that early readers perform better in school. Even the understanding of basic letters and word structure has been shown to give children an advantage when entering formal schooling.

If you are considering teaching reading strategies to your baby or child there are many ways to do this which can be both fun and instructional. Making the learning experience fun is an important key to maintaining your child’s interest while allowing them to learn naturally and build self esteem.

One of the easiest ways to start teaching reading strategies is to begin introducing words visually to your baby or child. New information has shown that babies as young as 10 months can begin to make associations between written words and their appropriate definition or object, so don’t be afraid to start this process at this early age.

Though there are many strategies which work well, one of the most widely used is repetition and memorization. To do this, simply begin by writing some basic words on flash cards. These should be words which represent object your baby or child sees everyday. Examples would be Mom, Cat, Chair, Window, Door, and Stove. Begin introducing the words to your child and associating them with the objects they represent. Show the word to your child, say the word, and then point to the object it represents. After your child has correctly identified a word they can be rewarded with hugs, claps, or their favorite toy.

Repeat this several times and you will soon see that your child will associate the word to the object rather quickly. Over time you will be able to introduce a large vocabulary of words to your child and start them on their way to reading sentences in a structured format. This is a very powerful early reading strategy which has proven to be effective for many parents and children. It allows you to introduce the process as a game. This will please them and encourage their desire to continue.

There are a variety of ways all parents can start teaching reading strategies. Just remember to keep it fun for your child and to remain consistent. You will be giving your child the gift of reading which will benefit them their entire life.