Choose a letter sound, then have your child find things around your house that start with the same sound. This is great activity to do in the kitchen while making dinner.

“Can you find something in our house that starts with the letter “s” ssssss sound? Stairs, sofa, sandwich.”

Using a red crayon write a short word like “can”. Then ask your child to think of 2 more words that rhyme with “can” and write them under “can” using a different color crayon. 

Using a stick from outside, trace letters in dirt or sand. Tell your child easy two-letter words and see if they can sound them out, such as “it”, “no”, “at”

Word families are words that rhyme. Tell your child the “mom’s” name is “bat” and ask them to tell you all the “kids’” names, like cat, fat, sat, rat, pat, mat, at, and hat. This will help children hear patterns in words.

Explain to your child that sometimes two letters will stand together to create one new sound. The “h brothers” join with other letters to make the sounds:  sh, ch, th, wh and ph.

​

This can be confusing for kids, so make sure to write an example word and use gestures to help them remember the new letter combination.

ch: touch your chin making the “ch” sound

​

sh: Make the “shushing” sound while holding your finger to your mouth

wh: bite into some white or wheat bread

ph: Pretend to talk on your invisible phone

Check out these tips from All About Reading to learn how to teach your child to blend sounds, and stop guessing words.