Each sound in a word is important. To help your child begin to read, practice this game of listening and naming each sound in a word.
What you'll need:
* Pictures of objects that are familiar to your child, cut from magazines or newspapers. The names of the objects should have three sounds such as s-u-n, m-a-n, d-o-g, c-a-t, p-i-g, and c-o-w.
What to do:
* Sit across from your child at a small table or on the floor. Put the pictures face down in the middle of the table.
Tell your child, "Let's play a game called 1-2-3. You pick a picture. When I hold up one finger, you say the first sound of the word describing the picture. When I hold up two fingers, tell me the next sound. When I hold up three fingers, tell me the last sound."
"Let me show you how." Select a picture and say the word, for example, sun. Hold up one finger and say s. Hold up two fingers and say u. Hold up three fingers and say n. "The sounds in sun are s-u-n."
"Now, you try it." Your child picks a picture and names the picture. "Good, that is a dog. Tell me the sounds in dog." Hold up one finger for the d. Then, hold up two fingers for the o. Then, hold up three fingers for the g. "Good, the sound in dog are d-o-g.
* Do this again with other words. If pictures with three sounds are easy for your child, you may want to find pictures with four sounds.
READ*WRITE*NOW Activities for Reading and Writing Fun - May 1997
