A Creative Way to Help Your Preschool Child Learn to Read Words

A great way to help your child learn to read some some sight words is to label objects around your child's room. I came up with this idea when my three year old son announced to me one day that s-t-o-p spells stop. I realized he learned this from seeing stop signs. On the way to and from daycare every day I use to point out stop signs and explain that we have to stop because that sign says stop. Now, he recognizes that particular arrangement of letters as "stop." He can even spell it from memory now. I never tried to drill that word into his head. He was able to learn to read it because he saw the sign often enough for it to stick in his memory.

When I saw that the stop sign helped my child learn to read the word "stop" I came up with a great idea to help him learn to read other sight words. I decided that if I would label certain objects in his room, he would learn to read those words as well. Seeing these "learn to read" signs in certain areas of his room every day would help him learn to read many other words because he would be exposed to them all the time. For example, if he saw the letters "l-a-m-p" posted on his lamp, he would soon realize that those letters spelled the word lamp.

At first I didn't know how I would implement this idea and still keep my child's room looking cute. I didn't want to just put up bland scraps of paper with words scribbled on them all around his room. So, I came up with a creative way to display these signs so he could learn to read as well as keep his room looking cute.

The idea is to create the "learn to read" signs using the same theme that the child's room is decorated in. My son's room is decorated in jungle animals, so I created all of his "learn to read" signs in the shape of various jungle animals with the word stamped on the animal. The "learn to read" signs would not only help my child learn to read, but would also add more decoration to his room. It's also a good idea to laminate the "learn to read" signs so they don't tear up or wear out as quickly.

I used Velcro tape to adhere the "learn to read" signs to the objects. Using Velcro also allows you to play a game with the child after he has had a chance to learn to read the words. After the child has had some time to observe the word associated with the object, you can make a game out of it by pulling the signs off the objects and having the child match the correct sign to the correct object in the room.

You can use any words you want for your child's "learn to read" signs. The words may vary depending on what is in your child's room. I used the following words for my son's "learn to read" signs: bed, wall, closet, shelf, window, door, lamp, light, chair, table.

Having the "learn to read" signs in your child's room will enable your child to become familiar with written words and associate them with objects. Before you know it, your child will learn to read these words and you'll find yourself trying to come up with a new list of words. Simple ideas such as this will have young children reading long before kindergarten.