If you look into the home of any family with children, you will most likely find the kitchen fridge covered with pictures, drawings, reminders and an array of colored magnetic letters.
These letters are very common place but an underestimated way to help your kids to read, spell and write.
These inexpensive magnetic alphabet letters and numbers are available in a variety of formats.
From the thick, chunky and tactile plastic versions that are perfect for younger hands, right through to the thinner, illustrated letters that show common objects that start with the letter sound.
From a very early age, children can be encouraged to learn through playing with the letters, finding sounds and blends which will help them learn to read and write.
There are many games that can be played with these magnetic letters.
You can ask the child to collect all of the green letters (if your letters are colored) and read the sounds out.
This will help their color matching skills as well as letter recognition and speech development.
You could also write a simple word, using the S A T P I and N to begin with and leave one letter out, asking them to fill it in.
Simple words such as PAT or SIP can be generated using these 6 letters and it is a really fun game to play with your child.
As they get older and more confident, longer words and sentences can be attempted, also with the use of capital letters.
You can introduce the use of letter blends such as TH or SH, which will increase the child's vocabulary quickly.
It is also important to encourage a child of any age or ability to play with the letters, make nonsense words to try to read and just to have fun.
Learning through play is an important part of a child development and helps them gain confidence and independence.
When you are helping your child, try to remember to encourage them to try and never to criticise them for failure.
These letters are very common place but an underestimated way to help your kids to read, spell and write.
These inexpensive magnetic alphabet letters and numbers are available in a variety of formats.
From the thick, chunky and tactile plastic versions that are perfect for younger hands, right through to the thinner, illustrated letters that show common objects that start with the letter sound.
From a very early age, children can be encouraged to learn through playing with the letters, finding sounds and blends which will help them learn to read and write.
There are many games that can be played with these magnetic letters.
You can ask the child to collect all of the green letters (if your letters are colored) and read the sounds out.
This will help their color matching skills as well as letter recognition and speech development.
You could also write a simple word, using the S A T P I and N to begin with and leave one letter out, asking them to fill it in.
Simple words such as PAT or SIP can be generated using these 6 letters and it is a really fun game to play with your child.
As they get older and more confident, longer words and sentences can be attempted, also with the use of capital letters.
You can introduce the use of letter blends such as TH or SH, which will increase the child's vocabulary quickly.
It is also important to encourage a child of any age or ability to play with the letters, make nonsense words to try to read and just to have fun.
Learning through play is an important part of a child development and helps them gain confidence and independence.
When you are helping your child, try to remember to encourage them to try and never to criticise them for failure.