Reading Games and Writing Activities To Motivate Your Child

When your child is just starting to read, progress can be slow and painful. Early readers stop often to decode words. They pay no attention to punctuation. They read without expression and probably not much understanding of what they are reading. Your child needs lots of patience and encouragement from you to get through this difficult early reading stage.

So why not lighten things up every once in a while by having some fun with early reading games and easy writing activities? It might help to remind your child that reading is really supposed to be fun, something that could get forgotten when struggling through a beginning reader book.

If you find yourself wishing there were books available containing only the words your child is capable of reading, why not try making your own books. What better way is there to motivate your child to read than providing him with a book he has helped to make with his favorite words and his very own ideas captured within it?

Writing goes hand-in-hand with reading and so while encouraging your child’s reading skills also think about developing their writing skills by trying some activities for teaching writing. You can begin with simple games and as their abilities develop move onto more ambitious projects. In no time they will be writing their own little books (no doubt with a bit of help from you). What an achievement!

Below you can find some more examples of reading games and writing activities which I have been doing recently with my children. Each activity is described using step-by-step instructions and pictures so is really easy to follow - just follow the links.

Letter Game for Budding Photographers
Take one camera and one clipboard and you have yourself a fun letter game to help children practice writing words which start with each letter of the alphabet. For more of a challenge, why not write silly phrases instead.

Practicing Visualisation With Poetry
Read poems to your child to encourage visualisation. Then create a play scene to help bring their mental pictures to life. Here we did it with a poem all about autumn. It was a fun way to sneak a bit of reading and comprehension practice into playtime!

Make A Toy Book
Want to turn your child's current obsession into a fun reading and writing activity? Try encouraging them to make their own books about it. Here my children used their love of toy catalogues to help create their very own toy books.

Kids' Newspaper Activity
This activity provides a framework for sharing news articles from your regular daily paper with your child. While your child is having fun matching photos with headlines and captions, they will also be practicing reading.

Code Breaker Game
Most children love to crack a code and discover the secret message hidden within. Mine are no exception. Have fun with this Code Breaker Game which provides lots of opportunities for literacy learning and can be customised to your child's age and current obsessions.

Summer Reading Practice
Plan extra reading time into each day by coming up with fun ideas with your children for unusual places where this extra reading is going to happen. Write these ideas down on cards and ask your child to choose a new card each day.

So don’t delay. Pick one of these reading games, have some fun and watch your child learn, learn, learn.

Why not share your own reading or writing activity? It's easy to do. Just click here and follow the instructions.

Comments