Family Activities for Kindergarten on Words
If you have a child in kindergarten, it's important to do activities at home to reinforce the words she is learning at school. Involving the whole family in the games is ideal. Younger children can participate to the best of their ability, and older children can help your kindergartner learn.
Other People Are Reading
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Read
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Read to your child every day, as often as you can. This is one of the best ways to help your child improve her vocabulary. You can make this a family activity by having one story time for everyone. Those who can read can take turns reading the pages, while younger children enjoy the story and the pictures. This can be a way to introduce chapter books to your children. Read one chapter each night before bed. Because longer books typically have more difficult words, your child's vocabulary will improve, as will her attention span as she listens to each chapter and remembers the story from previous days.
Word Find
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Write words on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. For children learning words in kindergarten, write down colors and basic objects around the house that are three- or four-letter words. See how quickly your children can match each word or color to items around the house. Choose letters of the alphabet for younger children, and more-difficult words for older kids. Time everyone and see if they can improve their time each night. They will have fun running around while learning to read.
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Sight Word Bingo
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Sight words are basic words that appear in all stories, such as the, it, at, he and she. Find lists of sight words online and write them on a card like a bingo card, then write the words on individual cards as well. Draw the sight word cards, one at a time, and have your children mark their bingo cards, using small squares of paper as markers, if they have that word. Children will learn sight words without burdensome memorization. Add to the fun by offering simple prizes, such as a later bedtime or an extra story.
Outside
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When you're in the car or on a walk, play games to teach words to your children. Play I Spy with letters, saying, "I spy something that starts with T." Or spell words and ask your kids to figure out what the word is by sounding out the letter sounds. Introduce other concepts while talking to your children during this game, such as rhyming words, or words that sound the same but mean different things. Ask them to spot letters and words that they recognize when they're in the car.
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References
- Photo Credit grandfather read book with children image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
