Learning how to read is one of the most important life skills to master. Knowing how to read is essential for job applications, driving, going to the grocery store – just about everything in life. Opening up an old textbook filled with dull language and bland content is no one’s cup of tea – that’s why it is important to find fun ways to help your child love reading. Below are some fun tips on how to make reading a hobby rather than a chore.
Shannon Titas, youth services manager at Shaker Heights Public Library, says learning how to read is an essential skill and is one of the most important things a parent can help teach to their child.
“We know from research that kids start learning the skill that they need to learn how to read at birth, that it starts right away,” Titas says. “So as soon as they’re born, we can do things to get them prepared.”
“You need to learn how to read to just be able to function,” says Beth Smith, center director at Sylvan Learning Center in Westlake. “If you buy something new, you have to be able to put it together by reading the instructions. Reading is important if you’re learning in school or learning in everyday life. You’re reading if you’re driving — there’s traffic signs that you’re reading so that you know what to do and know where to go. So reading is basically part of your whole life.”
Encourage fun, interactive ways of learning how to read with your child. Parents are kids’ first role models, and children learn almost everything they know from watching them. The parents should engaged with reading and show their child how important it is to learn how to read.
“Children look up to their parents,” Smith says. “As a parent, you’re teaching these kids life skills and things they need to know and are shaping them. Children learn so much from a parent; they learn vocabulary, they learn to talk from their parents. When the parent is interacting with the child and doing fun games, they’re seeing that reading is fun. The child is not sitting and having a strict reading lesson, but rather having fun and enjoying what they are learning. They’re just learning naturally from (you).”
Smith emphasizes to start at an appropriate reading level for the child, rather than a reading level too high, so the child doesn’t feel defeated. It is important that the child has a positive experience while learning.
“So we’re really walking them through using their senses and not just looking at the book and reading it,” Smith says. “We use iPads with our instruction as well. We have video games and learning games to apply what they’ve learned. So, if they’re looking at different letters, we might match the letter to a picture that starts with that letter or the capital letter to the lowercase letter, depending on what they’re doing. So we do different games that engage them in practicing what they’ve learned.”
Make It Fun
There are plenty of ways to encourage reading at home. Even having block letters and putting them together to build words is a great way to encourage early literacy skills.
“Maybe have a letter of the day,” Smith says. “If today is the letter ‘K,’ how many things can you find around the house that have a ‘k’ sound at the beginning? That way, they’re getting that concept of their letter and sound recognition. Just looking at print, such as looking at what’s on the cereal box or, when you’re driving, looking at what the signs say, are great ways to practice reading. It’s a real-world use of reading and it’s fun. Maybe in their playroom or in different areas of the house, label things like refrigerator or door or chair, and then they’re seeing ‘okay, this is a chair,’ so they’re seeing that connection.”
Titas adds a lot of research shows that kids learn through play and that is why play is so important.
“Playing is really one of the best ways for children to learn language skills,” Titas says. “Another program that we have is our play and learn station. It’s a playroom that’s open certain hours for literacy-based play. There’s toys and a little corner where they can play house and things like that. Practicing cooperative skills and talking to other people, engaging with others, helps support literacy.”
Games such as Scrabble Junior are great to play with your little one; if your child is just learning to spell, one side of the board has picture clues and color-coded words to help your child match letters to build words.
To further build reading skills, at the end of the day during dinner time, have your child retell their day as a story. As they’re watching TV, ask your child what they think will happen next and any other questions that will engage them. Comprehending what they are reading and watching is just as important as reading and sounding out words.
Being able to incorporate digital ways of learning how to read can be helpful too. Nowadays, many schools are providing students with laptops or requiring them for schoolwork. Some students learn better digitally, while other students may need hands-on approaches to learning how to read.
“When you introduce them to different approaches to learning, such as using technology, it does get them ready for when they see it in different areas and it also helps them find out what works best for them,” Smith says. “When a child is really trying to learn, sometimes hearing it or seeing it in a different way can help them.”
Shaker Heights Public Library approaches the concept of reading through a format that is based on research from the American Library Association called Every Child Ready to Read. This format identifies five practices that parents can do with kids to help them prepare to read.
“Those five practices are talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing,” Titas says. “All of these practices will help kids get ready to read through just very simple everyday activities that most parents probably do anyway.”
The library incorporates these practices through their early literacy programming, mostly in the form of storytime.
The program caters specifically towards babies and preschool-aged children.
“For instance, we sing songs as a group in our storytimes and those songs are selected strategically to reinforce some of the concepts that kids need as they’re learning to read,” Titas says.
Explore Their Interests
Titas emphasizes that it is important for kids to learn to love reading, rather than feel as if it is something they have to do.
“One of the biggest ways that parents can encourage their kids in reading is to allow them to pick what they like to read,” Titas says. “Bring the kids to the library. Let them look around, see what sparks their interest. It’s okay if it’s something that maybe is below their reading level or something that they want to read over and over again. That’s how they learn. The more we can give kids that autonomy to choose what they read, the more excited they’re going to get about it.”
Many parents may feel pressured to have their young child learn their alphabet and letters as soon as possible and practice early literacy skills as much as possible before entering preschool or kindergarten. Parents should not worry if their child does not develop early literacy skills as fast as others, and should rather encourage reading and learning within their child.
“In the younger years, we’re really laying the foundation and parents shouldn’t be worried if their kids don’t know how to write their names by the time they get to kindergarten,” Titas says. “The best thing parents can do is to read with their kids all the time from a very early age, and to make reading a part of everyday life. Kids also learn from what they see. So if a parent is reading for fun, they notice that.”
Parents should choose fun, interactive ways to engage their child in reading.
Reading is much more than opening a book and reading words on a page – children should understand what they are reading, ask questions, and enjoy what they are discovering.
“If anyone’s going to become a reader for a lifetime, it has to be something that you enjoy,” Titas says. “Having reading be just a natural part of our lives and a positive part of our lives sets that tone for a lifetime.”
