Learning to read is a journey, not a race. As a parent, I’ve discovered that teaching your child to read doesn’t have to be a stressful or complicated process. In fact, it can be fun, natural, and incredibly rewarding! For me as a parent, and for the child.
Through my experience with my two children, I’ve developed a simple, gentle approach that not only helps kids learn to read but actually makes them enjoy reading.
In this post, I’ll share the three key steps that worked for my family – steps that focus on patience, positivity, and following your child’s natural curiosity and readiness.
Whether your little one is a toddler just starting to explore letters or a preschooler eager to decode words, these strategies can help make reading an exciting adventure you’ll enjoy together.
This post contains affiliate links which means that I will make a small commission if you purchase a product after clicking on any of them, at no extra cost to you.
Read, Read, Read To Them
Read to them at nap time, bedtime, play time, any time you get the chance. This builds their vocabulary, which helps when they learn to sound out words.
It also helps them to see you reading and mimic you. And if the books are interesting to them, it can give them a hunger for reading in search of gaining knowledge or hearing an interesting new story.
If you’d like some new children’s book suggestions, click here to see my favorite childrens books to read when my kids were babies.
Teach The Alphabet – Letter Names, Symbols, and Sounds
To begin teaching my children the alphabet, we watch music videos about letters and letter sounds. The Youtube channels: Super Simple Songs, The Good And The Beautiful, and Gracie’s Corner, all have good letter videos that teach with visuals, fun songs, and correct letter sounds, that make it interesting for the kids to learn not only what letters look like, and what they’re called, but also what they sound like.
When practicing letter sounds with your child, make sure you’re making the correct sound as to not confuse them when it’s time to put letters together into a word. Here is a good video for parents wanting to teach their child correct letter sounds.
They need to mostly master their letter sounds first before moving on.
Use The “Learn To Read Activity Book”
After my child seems to know most of their letters and letter sounds, I get out the Learn To Read Activity Book by Hannah Braun M.Ed.
The book has 101 reading lessons in total. We usually did 3 reading lessons per day, but I suggest playing it by ear and if the child is only interested in doing one reading lesson that day, just do one.
I don’t force my child, because it’s important for them to WANT to do the lessons, not resist them. If they are forced to do more than they are mentally able to at the time, it may create a negative feeling surrounding their reading lessons.
We don’t want that.
We want them to be eager to learn to read, and feel encouraged, supported, and praised for their efforts.
It’s important to set the child up for success at an early age by creating a positive learning environment and praising them for the effort they are putting toward learning the material.
Before my first child finished the Learn To Read Activity book, she was already reading up to 5 letter words on her own! (This happened somewhere around lesson 80)
We started the Learn To Read Activity Book when she was 4 years old, and finished when she was 5.
I am currently teaching my second child the letter names and sounds each letter makes (but we arn’t in any hurry, he’s only 2). But I have already purchased the Learn To Read Activity Book for when he is ready!
Be Patient
Remember, this is not a race. Everyone learns at their own pace. Learning letters, letter sounds, and how to blend them together takes time!
Try to be patient, and make learning fun and uplifting for them to enjoy.
When my child attempts to read a word and doesn’t get it right the first time, I praise them for their efforts anyway. Then I go through the word with them to help them pronounce it correctly.
Next, I point the word out in different areas of a story to help them see it and read it out loud to remember it better.
As a parent and your child’s best teacher, you will recognize what they are hung up on. Then you can focus more on that specific letter or word or letter sound to help your child progress.
When the parent or teacher is rushed or frustrated, the child can feel that. Try to remember to take deep breaths (I like to encourage my children to do the same) and keep the mood positive and uplifting for the child.
Final Thoughts On How I Taught My Child To Read
It is a slow process, teaching kids to read. And in my opinion isn’t something that needs to be rushed, but that should begin as early as possible.
And when I say it should begin as early as possible, I don’t mean you should sit down with them and point at a letter and make them tell you what it is and what it sounds like at age 2. No.
I mean, it should start as early as possible by reading short stories and childrens books to them when they’re babies. And make the learning part more fun by listening to alphabet and phonics songs at age one and two to introduce them to phonics early.
THEN once they are showing interest in wanting to do more, bring in the alphabet activities, such as this phonics toy that both my children have loved! And around age 4, start in on the Learn To Read Activity Book, but only if they seem ready for a sit down activity.
If you’re not sure if they’re ready to sit down at the table to learn, just test it for 5 minutes and see how it goes!
Try it 3 times a week and add more time to each lesson, judging by how interested the child is.
Then add in another day of sit down learning for the week. It can be a slow process.
Work your way up to 4 or 5 days of sit down learning with your 4 or 5 year old.
This is just what I did to teach my child to read, and actually enjoy reading. Hopefully it helps you in some way and gives you an easy process to teach your child to read too.
