Source: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf33063405.tip.html

Teaching Toddlers To Read

I was amazed when I saw my midwife's daughter reading "The Lord of the Rings" at 5 years of age, so I asked her how she learned to read at such a young age. She said the trick is: You start teaching them to read by playing a GAME with them at about 16 - 18 months (or older). She said "Kids CAN'T read SMALL BLACK letters but CAN read LARGE RED letters".

So what you do is make a bunch of cards that have BIG RED words on them like "grandma, mom, dad, out, banana, cat, chair, flower", etc. The lettering should be about 2 inches high. Then you put all the cards in a pile on the floor and ask the little one to "bring me the word 'banana' (or whatever word)". Of course you start with only 2 or 3 cards at a time and when they have mastered these, you add one more word every so often. Be sure to give them LOTS of praise whenever they get one of the words right. Toddlers and little ones just LOVE this game! It's fun for them, teaches them to read, and gets them interested in reading at an early age.

My midwife's 5 year old daughter carried a book with her everywhere she went. She absolutely loved to read! Several of her friends were also reading books by themselves at 3 or 4 years of age. Of course you can add to this by also reading them a book each night before they go to bed. My daughter says "It's bed time, go pick out the book you want me to read to you." This way my granddaughter actually LIKES bedtime, and you sure can't beat THAT!

By Cyinda from Seattle

Source: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf33063405.tip.html

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