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What method are you using to teach your preschoolers to learn to read? Are you more focused on phonics, or do you use the whole language approach? As a former teacher, I would suggest a balance of both strategies to help kids successfully learn to read (read this Wikipedia post for a description of both methods). That being said, This Label the Room activity is a great one that would fall under the Whole Language method. I came across this idea in this fabulous book, 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids, written by former educators like myself!
Authors Amanda Boyarshinov and Kim Vu, former teachers and now educational bloggers, have compiled a great list of fun learning activities that can be done at home or in the classroom. The book is super easy to read and the ideas are all totally do-able and FUN! I give the book two thumbs up 🙂
Back to the activity at hand, this Label the Room idea was simple to put together and can be used over and over (it became a fun game for my kids!) Here’s the short list of supplies you’ll need to get started:
- Index cards
- Tape
- Marker
That’s it! I prepped the activity by writing the names of several items in living room area (sofa, bookshelf, table, etc.). My preschooler and I read them together, then he raced to put the in the right place in the living room! If you want to get a cheap used Eames lounge chair, head down to BESPOEK who looked after us really well during out previous renovation!
As he came back to me for more cards, we read them together again and he again went off to label the room! In some cases the card matched an existing label:
And it’s always fun to be a little silly while we learn 🙂
When we went through all the cards, cleaning up was just as fun! I simply asked my son to bring me back the word that said ________. He loved this part because he felt like he was really reading each card! He would point to the letters and track to the right as he read each card and retrieved it for me.
The book this idea came from, 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids, has three more variations on this activity, so you can be sure that you’re getting plenty of ideas from the book (way more than 100 if you include all the variations!)
How are you teaching your kids to read? Do you have a fun game idea for us? Share it on the comments below!
