The ability to hear the sounds within words and blend them together will help your child when he needs to decode words while reading and spell words when writing. Use your everyday routines to practice this important skill and turn your ordinary mealtime into a fun learning experience. Say a word slowly by saying the beginning sound of the word, pause and then say the rest of the word. See if your child can guess the word and make his breakfast choice!
- choice of two items that have one syllable:
- milk / juice
- jam / toast
- bowl / dish
- cup / mug
- ham / bacon
Step 1: Gather items you will need to offer to your child to have a visual cue.
Step 2: Tell your child that for breakfast today you are going to play a guessing game. You are going to ask him what he would like to have in a funny way. You are going to say a word, one part at a time and he needs to guess what you are trying to say.
Step 1: Offer two choices to your child, saying the beginning sound of the word first, pause, and the rest of the word. For example: “Luke, would you like to have some /m/…ilk or /j/…uice? /m/…ilk or /j/…uice? Allow your child a few seconds to try and put the sounds together to guess the word.
Step 2: If your child does not make a guess after a few seconds, hold up the milk as you say “/m/…ilk, milk” or hold up the juice as you say “/j/…uice, juice”.
Step 3: Continue if your child is interested and have fun with it!
Say only one word at a time and hold up the item simultaneously as you are saying the word parts, offering as a visual cue.
Encourage your child to fill in the answer as you ask: “When I say /m/…ilk together I get the word _______?” Pause a few seconds, hold up the item and let your child shout out the answer!