My oldest is heading into Kindergarten this year and I’m equal parts excited and totally emotional about it. In all fairness, we “red-shirted” Brody last year; so he actually had an extra year to get ready for the big school, but it still feels like a big jump. He turned six on June 27th and I was always pretty sure we were going to hold him back and now that the extra year is over, I am so thankful we did. I love the feeling that he is going into Kindergarten prepared and with a little head start. I know this can be a touch decision for a lot of families and it is different for everyone; but if nothing else, an extra year of maturity was great for us.
With that said, I will be the first to admit that I am not the best at doing “homework” at home with my kids yet. I knew that if I really wanted my kid to learn how to read in Pre-K that I was really going to have to work with him at home. We did a little bit, but not a ton. Fast forward to this summer approaching Kindergarten, and I really tried to find some fun ways for him to learn. I would say that he wasn’t naturally really interested in learning. I think he has improved a lot and finding some great games to learn to read was really helpful.
I wanted to share a few of the items that have worked for us. I think these are great for anyone around age three to six. You will get a feel from your child when they are really interested in starting to read. I read somewhere that reading is a lot like potty training. If you try to teach them to early and they are not ready, then everyone will just end up frustrated! But if you wait until they really start showing signs, it can be great for everyone. That made so much sense to me and I’ve always loved that comparison.
- Sight Word Swat – This one is so fun with the kids! They love the idea of getting to swat things and I try and go through and start with the easy ones first and build up their confidence.
- Phonics Spelling Game – Word completion to help them spell.
- Boggle Junior – I love Boggle. They have different levels of toughness on this game and it can help them learn to read and spell.
- Word Puzzles – This was one of the first items we started with. I think these are great to get kids started.
- Sight Word Flash Cards – We do a lot more flash cards now that we are in Kindergarten, but the wasn’t much into them early on. They were mostly boring to him.
- Word Wheels – Helps them form words using the same letters and sounds.
- BOB Books – We LOVE Bob books. I think these are great beginner books for kids to start learning on. Again, I probably bought these when he was like 3 and expected something. So you may have to wait until they show interest in reading.
- Sight Word Bingo – We have had a lot of fun with this one. Simple Bingo with them identifying sight words.
- CVC Tri-Blocks and Activity Cards – We don’t have these yet, but I love this idea when they really start learning to spell lots of words.
- Sight Word Zingo – We are big fans of Zingo. They make all different varieties that you can try.
What am I missing? What are some of your favorites??
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