There are so many fun early literacy activities that kids can enjoy before they start to formally learn how to read! We love these playful ways to engage with words and letters.
My daughter Anna loves art. She’s been drawing and painting since she was a baby. She is also my first child to NOT learn to read on their own by kindergarten. She knows how to write her name, her family’s names, and a few other words, and there’s plenty of evidence that there is no problem with kids learning to read AFTER kindergarten. In fact, there is some evidence that kids who learn to read later actually understand what they are reading better! Our local public school, while excellent in many ways, pushes early literacy more than I would like. That fact was one of many reasons Anna is homeschooling this fall.
Teaching Kids to Read: Play to Their Strengths
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Anna’s literacy classes so far this year focused mainly on listening to audible books, looking through books on her own, and being read to by me, Mike, and the other kids. But when Timberdoodle offered me the chance to review I Can Doodle Rhymes, I knew I’d found a kindergarten literacy program that Anna would love!
Sure enough, my little artist jumped right in. We’ve had the book for about a week, and Anna is close to completing it! She’s thoroughly enjoying drawing the different rhymes.
She’s picked up a few sight new sight words, too. It’s no surprise to me that my artist understands sight words more intuitively than phonics.
My eleven-year-old daughter LOVES words, and she finds the rhymes in the book pretty entertaining!
Anna’s still a ways from learning to read, and that’s fine! I love, however, the way this book is teaching her to pay closer attention to the way words sound. She loves humor, too, and this book is full of fun situations!
I Can Doodle Rhymes is part of Timberdoodle’s kindergarten curriculum kit. We highly recommend their curriculum kits as a starting point for building a year of school work for your kids. You can customize the kits to meet your particular educational needs.
More Fun Early Literacy Activities for Kids Just Starting to Learn to Read
There are many fun ways for kids to interact with words when they are just starting to learn letters, their sounds, and simple words! These are our favorites:
- 5 Simple Ways to Teach Kids Letters
- Tips for Learning Letters and Their Sounds
- Simple Letter Matching Game for Preschoolers
- A Fun Way to Learn Letters and Spelling
- No-Mess Paint Writing
- Benefits of Journaling for Kids (even when they can’t even write yet!)
- How to Teach Writing and Storytelling
- Playful Literacy and Math Activities Kids Love
What are your favorite early literacy activities for kids? Please sure in the comments and on my Facebook page. You can also tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
So great that she loves art! My son didn’t learn to read until sometime in 1st grade.
That does look pretty fun! My daughter would have loved this when she was in kinder.
I agree that there is no need to push kids to read early. Those who are ready will let you know :)
Great roundup of advice for literacy! Sharing!
Thanks, Mia!